Written by Stormy
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How do you hone your craft and get to network with your fellow OSU community members? By attending the LAM-OSU cohort writing workshop hosted at ORW by writer and PhD candidate Sam Risak and Dr. Linda Mizejewski!
On October 5, a small group of individuals from both the OSU degree program and LAM showed up and shared all their talents for creative writing and public speaking. The workshop, which was hosted by Sam and Dr. M, was a fun and easy exercise on how to practice creative writing without stress, writer’s block, or outside pressure. Below is a quick recap of our exercise that you can try.
How to Free Write a Creative Story:
- Think of a character who does not fit in with their environment.
- Place that character in any ordinary space within that environment (a grocery store, a bank, etc.).
- Make the character interact with the people they don’t fit in with.
And don’t try to determine the theme or shape of your story beforehand! Your desires for the story will come through naturally in the details you put down on the page.
To provide a model for the exercise, Sam read her short story titled “Sweet Girl.” It was the first “real” story Sam wrote and has been under revision for 10 years! Sam has slowly drafted “Sweet Girl” into a unique, bona fide masterpiece. The reader is left both fulfilled and still wanting more. The details are so rich that they bounce off the pages and play like a movie in your mind. This story is one of a kind and will be remembered and cherished for years to come.
A few of my favorite lines from the story are about the Sweet Girl’s appearance, including her red-licorice locks, rock candy fingernails, and her nougat necklace. Sam discussed the writing process behind this story and the many underlying issues raised in this story. On the surface, the story is entertaining; below the surface, there are many complex levels and layers waiting to be revealed.
If you have an opportunity to read Sam’s story, take the time to do so. You’ll be glad you did.