By Adam Buckley: I often envy the Amish, because sometimes, churning butter feels preferable to managing a Google Sheet. Nevertheless, technology is an integral part of being a writer in the 21st century. You’re reading this on a digital site’s blog page just as I’m writing it via digital software. Perspective is key: I’ll take Microsoft Word over the stone tablet any day. The modern writer has many tools in their digital toolkit beyond a simple word processor. Exploring and employing your various online options can make you not just a more organized writer, but a more creative one, too. 1. Google Sheets I know I was just ragging on it, but I’ve found Google Sheets quite a useful tool for story planning. For fiction writers, particularly the ambitious ones, plotting and planning encompasses a large portion of the actual labor of writing. If you enjoy crafting an immense cast of characters with their own sprawling plotlines across a large number of chapters, a Google Sheet is a great tool to track where and when characters are. In my experience, it's low effort and high yield to manage a Google Sheet like this. With some simple color coding and elementary school knowledge of charts and tables, this is a simple but effective way to track a large amount of information. This is a screenshot of a Sheet of my own. I make sure to highlight which character appears in each chapter, that each chapter has its title and (spoilers) if a character died in said chapter. The vast amount of cells in a Google Sheet also allows for experimentation, as seen with the days of the week below the chart. I can track which chapters happen on which day along with everything else, all on one spreadsheet. In addition, with separate pages, one can map out distinct sections of their project, and whether that be “acts” or “parts”, Sheets gives you that flexibility. 2. Planning/Lore documents The next item is more a method of organization than a distinct tool. Creating specific folders for your different stories is a common practice, but I like to make a dedicated planning document separate from the main story document. Here, I give myself the freedom to explore whatever stray thoughts or ideas that come to mind in a dedicated space that I can go back and reference at any time. I use these planning docs as repositories of character backstories, concept/reference art, worldbuilding and potential chapters titles. All of these different collections of ideas can be managed with Google Docs’ chapter system. I label a section in the document itself then change the text's type from “normal text” to one of the “heading” options. These headings then become hyperlinks on the left-hand side of the page that, when clicked, instantly take you to a particular section. It's an amazingly convenient way of traveling through your documents without having to scan every page for what you’re looking for. 3. Canva Graphic design is my passion, and Canva is my best friend. Canva has a premium subscription that opens up many of its more elaborate templates and design elements, but its standard free scheme is perfectly serviceable for writerly purposes. Canva is relevant to writers because it's incredibly easy to pick up and start designing logos for your fictional organizations or banners for your great houses. When creating a “whiteboard” template, you have a blank white field that you can do what you want with. I’ve used it to create timelines for my projects, and its easily moveable elements make it effortless to change things to your liking. These services might not appeal to every writer, but they provide interesting ways to bring your ideas to life. Writing isn’t just the physical act, it's also these oddball ways of expressing yourself with your project in mind. Make some fake propaganda posters on behalf of your Evil Empire, or some in-universe internal memos or stickers with memey inside jokes you can slap on your laptop. Run wild, because who knows, it might open up the door for new ideas you wouldn’t have stumbled upon otherwise.
4. A.I. I do not endorse the use of A.I in any shape or form, but it had to be mentioned. At best, implementing A.I into your written work casts doubt upon your abilities and integrity as a writer, and at worst, you are a plagiarist. Ethically, I cannot and will not advise anyone to turn to A.I. at any stage of your creative journey. Is it tempting? Yes. Is it wrong? Also yes. Generative A.I. gathers text off the internet, without the consent of its authors, in order to spit out answers at any given prompt. Not only is that morally dubious, but there’s no guarantee that text will make any sense or even help you creatively. Many turn to A.I. in the idea-generation phase, when there’s no clear-cut story and only the germ of an idea. Many have said that it's possible to bounce ideas off an A.I. model, but none of these are replacements for genuine, human ideas born from your brain and soul that you’ve workshopped with other real humans. A.I. might have its uses, but none that I could condone in a creative space. 5. Other writers While flesh and blood human beings are not, in fact, digital technologies, they are supremely valuable during any creative journey. Cave paintings, medicine, and the Model-T all pale in comparison to humanity’s greatest invention: community. On campus, your friends and classmates should always be willing to give your work a read or workshop it with you. And if they aren’t, you should make new friends. Your professors and the Writing Center are other avenues to connect with other writers from whom’s experience you can benefit from. Ask them to look at your work but also pick their brain for strategies they use, how they organize their workflow. Don’t feel bad about picking up tricks from other writers; we’re all stealing from each other anyway. These five tools are ones that, as a writer, you should be aware of if you’re not using them. My only ask is that you try on some of these like a new jacket, and if you find that the sleeves are too tight, or that Google Sheets is being a pain, then move on to the next one and see how that treats you. Ultimately, creating a workflow utilizing methods that you find the most beneficial is the end-goal. If none of these suit your fancy, it's important to remember that the internet is a wild frontier filled with other writers sharing their methods and secrets. Keep an open mind and you’ll never know what might help you take your writing to the next level.
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As a passionate writer or creator of any kind, there may come a time when you find yourself overflowing with ideas, pulled in different directions by your imagination. As much as we may prefer to have too many ideas rather than no ideas, this can be overwhelming and halt your overall progress, and leave you with more questions than answers. Which project should you focus on? How do you narrow down your focus in order to decide? What should you do when you begin feeling overwhelmed? How do you deal with it all? There are a few common ways to deal with it, some agreed upon by professors in the Writing Arts department. So you’re very inspired and have come up with multiple projects, maybe two, three, or five, or ten. Maybe only a couple of them are narrative pieces, and others are focused on more technical writing, or another different form and/or genre. However many projects you have, trying to work on them all or decide between them can exhaust you and sap away your enthusiasm. You may become overwhelmed or burnt out. Trying to work on them all could also keep you from finishing any one of them, and instead trap you in a cycle of progressing little by little or not at all. While you could potentially juggle some of these projects and bounce back and forth between them, it’s still a better idea to narrow down your focus to just one or two. One of the best ways to start is to keep your ideas organized. You could keep journals, create folders, put your work in boxes, whatever works best for you. Take notes and make sure you know the gist of the idea and all the factors that get you excited about it. If it’s a fictional project, for example, you could be invested in the concept, the plot, the setting, and so on. Whatever it may be, write it down. You could also add things that inspire you or remind you of the project, whether they be songs, pictures, books, games, and so on. If you organize everything physically rather than digitally, make sure you keep everything together in one place. Your notes will do you no good if you end up just misplacing them. You will want to keep organized so that if you eventually come to work on one of the ideas you’ve put on the backburner, you can be easily reminded about its details and not get caught up in not remembering anything. I myself use folders, journals, the notes app on my phone, and comments in the margins of my WIPs to keep my projects organized. Once you’ve organized your ideas, you can begin to pick and choose which one you’d like to focus on. Each of the professors I’ve spoken to has suggested that you choose whichever one makes you the most excited, which one inspires you and ignites your passion. (However, in a case where you're busy with other things and don’t have the time or energy to devote to that idea, you should choose whichever idea is the most practical). Being passionate about what you're working on will keep you motivated and increase the likelihood that you’ll finish the project and give it 100% of your effort. If you choose one you aren't as passionate about, it may lay abandoned soon after, or you may grow to dislike the idea altogether. If you find yourself struggling or stuck with your chosen focus, the projects you chose not to work on could help reinvigorate your passion. You could carefully switch to another project for some time and then come back to your main project with fresh eyes. Looking back at your other projects, or whatever notes you have for your main project, can make you excited to write and give you time to come up with new ideas. If you’re overwhelmed by everything, it may be best to take a step back and do something unrelated to your project. Go for a walk, listen to music, read a book, play a game. Remember that taking time away from your project can be a good thing. Whatever you end up doing can both relax you and could open your mind up to new possibilities for your WIPs. To summarize, when you have too many ideas, break them down and take note of what’s important. Decide which ones are most attractive to you, which ones feel like you need to complete them. If you’re feeling overwhelmed by the need to narrow down your focus or by whatever you’re working on, do something different and let your mind wander. Or, choose one of the projects you set aside and take a look at it. It may be just what you need. McKenna Harris-Colvin
Writers’ Room is Rowan University’s very own screenwriting workshop for short films, features, and episodic series! Created by Cinema Workshop as a subsidiary for those interested in screenwriting, Writers’ Room is a place where people can table read scripts and give feedback, while also teaching the rules of screenwriting and storytelling, developing upon ideas of fellow writers and their projects, and giving a chance for members to act out a multitude of characters from these scripts. Ever since its creation, Writers’ Room has been one of the club’s longest running workshops. I had the opportunity to meet up with the current co-runners of Writers’ Room, Brett Allen and Juliana (Jay) Oliveira, to ask them some questions concerning their experiences, histories, and personal favorite moments while being a part of Writers’ Room and seeing how it grew since they first joined. What's your name, year, and major, and what initially led you to Writers' Room? Brett: My name is Brett Allen. I’m a senior Radio, Television, and Film major, and I am one of the co-runners of Cinema Workshop’s Writers’ Room. To put into perspective, I’ve been part of Writers’ Room when it was temporarily called “Writers’ Zoom”. All jokes aside, it was my Freshman year that I joined both Cinema Workshop and tried to attend as many sessions of Writers’ Room as I possibly could. Then at the end of my Freshman year, I was elected as one of the new co-runners of Writers’ Room with my friend and alumni, Ethan Strohm. Ever since we started running Writers’ Room, the structure of it changed almost immediately. Whereas Writers’ Room prior was very casual on bringing in scripts and more focused on viewing television and film to study great writing, our Writers’ Room set bringing in scripts as a must, holding table reads and giving feedback. It wasn’t all there yet, but the soil was now laid out. After another election, I remained as one co-runner with a new one to work with, my friend (and also Ethan’s friend) and also alumni, Daniel Latch. Where the soil was first laid, Dan and I grew it together, setting into motion what Writers’ Room would be today; a well oiled machine manned by the folks that would bring in all their stories, talents, and ideas to the table. At the end of the year, we not only created a guidebook for future co-runners to follow and edit, but the election process for co-runners now became individual interviews, where the current co-runners and an E-Board member of Cinema Workshop chose a new co-runner instead. Since I still had one more year left, I had the pleasure of seeing this process through, and choosing my new co-runner, my friend (and not alumni yet!), Juliana Oliveira (or just Jay for short), the first Writing Arts co-runner of Writers’ Room. She has done nothing but carry that same talent and efficiency that Ethan and Dan brought to the table, and I can’t give her anything but praise. Today, Writers’ Room is vastly different from when it initially started, but it has definitely grown, and I have been more than honored to see it blossom into something greater in the three years I’ve been a co-runner. Jay: My name is Juliana Oliveira (but everyone calls me Jay). I’m a sophomore Writing Arts major, Film and TV Studies minor, and I am one of the co-runners of Cinema Workshop’s Writers’ Room. During the process of applying for college, I randomly came upon my desire to pursue a career in the film industry. At the time, I had no idea why or what I could do, but it was something that I just needed to try. I started out going to Cinema Workshop’s sister club, RTN (Radio Television Network), but I found that their projects didn’t quite align with my interests. It was there that I was first advertised to Cinema Workshop, and Writers’ Room by extension. I considered the possibility of a career in screenwriting; it combined two of my major interests at the time. But I had yet to actually gain experience in screenwriting. So, I started attending Writers’ Room. Being around all these wonderful creative people and seeing first hand how to pace and format scripts allowed me to enter the screenwriting landscape for the first time, and discover that it was just another genre with which I really enjoyed working. I have always been a writer, so I had simply found another skill to add to my toolbox. It just so happened that it was a skill that I really enjoyed using. What does the creative process mean to you, and how has that connected with Writers’ Room? Brett: For me, the creative process is a great love/hate relationship; you learn to hate what you love, and love what you hate. It’s a constant battle of questioning, re-drafting, throwing a multitude of ideas at the wall to see what sticks, what doesn’t, and what you want to rip off the wall and stomp into the ground. If there’s anything that this process has taught me about writing, it’s that nothing will work if you don’t work with yourself and with others. And that’s what first led me to join Writers’ Room during my Freshman year. Jay: For me, the creative process is never the same, whether you’re comparing two people or two projects. Personally, I have never had the same creative process twice among all my projects. What I think is most important about the process, and something that I lacked in the early days as a writer, is a community aspect. Peer review is so beneficial for all creative work, and this is what drew me to Writers’ Room in the first place. I had heard of Cinema Workshop previously, but once I found out that they also hosted a writing workshop, I was hooked. I was in search of a place where writers could share their work and receive meaningful feedback, and Writers’ Room was just the place. Do you have any particular moments that stand out to you since being in Writers’ Room? Why have they stuck? Brett: One moment that has really stuck with me in Writers’ Room, and it’s something relatively recent, was getting a special guest to speak not only for Writers’ Room, but for Cinema Workshop in general. Over the summer, I created an account for this website named Stage 32; a social media/forum site that catered to sharing thoughts, ideas, and more about every bit of the film process. It’s a place that I made a multitude of great connections with, and one of those connections was Sabrina Parra, a self-employed script consultant that worked in the industry. During the late summer and into this past Fall semester, we discussed our pasts, why we decided to pursue screenwriting and script consulting, and then I told her about Writers’ Room and Cinema Workshop. I can’t underestimate how gracious she was in wanting to lend her time to call in for Cinema Workshop and give the members the opportunity to ask her anything about her career, the film industry, and what advice she had to offer. Although this was an event that happened more or less outside of Writers’ Room, it was still an event attached to Jay and me that we had the capability to carry out on our own and bring to the forefront of Cinema Workshop after months of preparation, coordination, and scheduling. It’s something that I don’t think I would have ever considered if I either didn’t take the route that I did, or never became an active participant and co-runner of Writers’ Room. Having Jay by my side for this event tremendously helped me out in alleviating pressure, with the reassurance that it would all go well with our questions prepared, are times aligned, and the members there to take in all that Sabrina Parra had to say. For me, knowing that outside of scripts, we’re able to make something like that happen, just showed me how much Writers’ Room has evolved and what more it can do outside of our meeting times. Jay: At the end of my first semester as co-runner, I was able to sit at the front and dictate the ideas of the members as we wrote our group script. When I wasn’t typing, I was looking out to the room to see who was raising their hand, or who might have been thinking of an idea. Surprisingly, at some point, everyone had something to say. It was the kind of unity and community that makes Writers’ Room what it is, and it was almost cathartic to experience that first hand. There was no pressure, and everyone seemed to be having a good time doing something creative with the people they had bonded with throughout the semester. It’s the environment that I hope to be able to continue to foster during the remainder of my time as co-runner. What is a script you’ve read in Writer’ Room that you haven’t gotten out of your head? Why? Jay: We have seen the pilot episode of Blood Chronicle by Riley Murray go through several drafts in Writers’ Room, and although it’s been a while since I’ve had interest in a complex fantasy story, this particular script, introducing a fantastical world and the story of a young man becoming unwittingly involved in a plot to kill god, kept me hooked through every draft. I was excited to see it every time, curious about what feedback was taken and used, and what next steps might have possibly been taken. Riley has been one of our most avid attendees, and his dedication to both feedback and submissions is incredibly admirable. I hope to see the second episode of Blood Chronicle soon so that the story may continue. Additionally, I have to shout out Starchild by Grace Fox and Juliette Hunter. The very first Writers’ Room I attended was the week of Halloween during my freshman year, and because the projector wasn’t working, the hours were dedicated to helping Grace and Juliette brainstorm ideas for their script, in which the titular character traverses the universe in search of her mother, meeting friends and learning lessons along the way. That was when I realized that Writers’ Room wasn’t dedicated to the peer review part of the writing process; it could be so much more. I am proud to say that I was there to see that script being brainstormed, all the way through to its production. I watched it come to life through nearly every step, and I am so proud of everyone involved and the final result. Brett: There have been many brilliant scripts brought into Writers’ Room over the years, and it’s truly hard to only choose one that’s stuck with me. If I’m permitted, I would like to highlight three pieces that have stood out to me during my tenure. The first piece that comes to mind is a short script called Cherry Sorbet (written by Daniel Latch), “…a young man who observes how death permeates life around him in order to face a critical juncture”. Aside from being set in only the walls of a convenience store, Daniel's greatest strength is subtlety, carefully laying out the interactions and events that occur in the store which reflect the protagonist’s unspoken turmoil throughout the story. It’s visually brilliant, and the characters that surround the protagonist are wonderfully written to stand out on their own and indirectly assist the protagonist to come to his decision. Next comes Starchild (written by Grace Fox and Juliette Hunter), about the inventive and curious Starchild who travels the stars in search for her mother, meeting new friends and enemies along the way. Before it was produced into the beautifully constructed puppetry feature for Cinema Workshop, it started out as an amalgamation of ideas on a whiteboard in Writers’ Room. In an odd sense, it was the first script that I really saw come to life in Writers’ Room, starting out as a string of ideas big and small, and later formed into the small, yet grandiose script which captured my attention not only for its inventiveness, but heart as well. Then finally, there is All the World’s a Stage (written by Devin Burton), an episodic series about the hijinks and missions of a theater company heist crew. Technically it was multiple scripts that Devin brought into Writers’ Room, but each episode exemplified great character writing, a consistent flow of action and comedy, accented by that small blend of discomfort and world building that took it all home. The show essentially became an insider part of Writers’ Room, where every instance someone asked what they missed in Devin’s newest installment, it would most likely be met with a, “you had to be there for it”. Even with these three scripts as highlights, I can’t stress enough how creative every member in Writers’ Room is. There’s no script left unturned or forgotten, and I know I’ll be checking in on the members of Writers’ Room and asking how far along they’ve come with their projects. What hopes do you have for Writers’ Room and for Cinema Workshop in the future? And how would you wanna go about the next step towards that? Jay: As much as I love the way that Writers’ Room works now, I hope that in my final year, my new co-runner and I can implement some new practices to allow our members to get more personal attention, even if they aren’t writers or submitting scripts. Presentations are great, but it would be even better if we could put them into practice. Writers’ Room isn’t a class, but it is a workshop, and I feel as though the members should be able to come out of it with a new skill or new knowledge about screenwriting. As for Cinema Workshop, I definitely hope my new co-runner and I can create a more symbiotic relationship between Writers’ Room and CW. As a writing workshop, we could be so much more involved in the pre-production process, especially for the fests in the Fall semesters, so I’m hoping to figure out a way to better the process for those smaller productions. Brett: If there’s anything that I would like to leave behind for Writers’ Room and Cinema Workshop, I would say to not give up on each other. Community, kinship, and kindness go a long way for people, and that’s what Writers’ Room and Cinema Workshop should be built on and uphold. I’ve had the privilege to be a co-runner for three years, and a Cinema Workshop member for four, and I can’t stress enough how the connections and friendships I’ve made along the way helped me realize the potential I have, as well as recognizing the potential others have as well. We’re all different in the ways we look, the ways we talk, the ways we think, and that’s something that everyone should embrace. Don’t cast each other aside and turn a blind eye to those who aren’t of the same mindset or experience. Without community, without people, there is no Writers’ Room, there is no Cinema Workshop, there is nothing. Cast out your lifebuoys and keep track of your crew; when a ship needs to make it back to shore, we need all hands to set sail in the right direction. Is there anyone specific you’d like to shoutout for your time at Writers’ Room? Brett: There are two people I’d like to thank for this… okay, it’s actually a group of six people and a person separate from Writers’ Room but bear with me on this… Okay before the group and the separate person, let me thank Writers’ Room first. To all the folks that have come in and out of Writers’ Room, those new and old, those who are there actively or only stopped by once, I’d like to thank you all. Without the people, there is no Writers’ Room, and it’s because of the people that I had the pleasure of co-running, the pleasure to see all of your passions and creativity on paper and on screen, and for bringing nothing but laughter, tears, and fun to my tenure here at Rowan. Alrighty, now onto the six people. Kyle Foor, Taylor Drake, Joe Pidgeon, Ethan Strohm, Daniel Latch, and Jay Oliveira, thank you all. Without any of you, Writers’ Room would have never been my second home, the place that I would learn, teach, and love the ropes of screenwriting; to take a deeper look at what’s between the lines and how it translates onto the big screen. I feel I sound like I’m on my deathbed writing this out, but you all mean the world to me, and have brought a greater appreciation not just for screenwriting, but for filmmaking and teaching as well from what you all have given to me. And lastly, I would like to give a great thanks to one of the professors here at Rowan, someone outside the RTF major; Professor Fera. Professor, if you’re reading this, and I’m sure I’ve expressed it to you before, but you have no idea how much you truly helped me during my Freshman year here. I was stressed out of my mind, juggling online schoolwork, personal life, and my first two shoots with Cinema Workshop all in one semester, and I was uncertain as to how I was going to get out of it with good grades and a good mindset. I felt the final straw that was about to break my back, but you caught it just before it did. You helped me see that asking for help was okay, that admitting that I couldn’t handle all that was on my plate wasn’t a sign of defeat. Maybe it was also the fact that your son is also in film that brought on another level of understanding, but nonetheless, you truly uplifted me from the hardships of not only being in a new setting, but a new mindset and work environment as well. Whether it be College Comp. II or Writing Children’s Stories, if I had to take those classes over again with you as the professor, I gladly do it in a heartbeat just for your wisdom and virtuous educational skills. Jay: If I gave every name, the list would go on forever. Firstly, I’d like to thank my predecessor, Daniel Latch, who introduced me to Writers’ Room in the first place. He helped to create the environment that I came to love so dearly, and encouraged me to try out for co-runner as well. I want to thank him for the opportunity, and commend him for the legacy he left behind for me to fill. He’s a wonderful writer, and I hope to see his name on a world-famous script in the future. Secondly, I’d like to thank my current co-runner, Brett Allen, for welcoming me into the position. Not only was it an honor to be chosen for co-runner, but it’s been wonderful to work alongside Brett. He is insightful, accommodating, and he has made the transition into the position so much easier for me, so as excited as I am to continue with my new co-runner, I will certainly miss him, and I wish him the best. Finally, I’d like to thank all the active members of Writers’ Room, the people who are so adamant about showing up every week, the people who are confident enough to share their scripts, and everyone who has ever participated in Writers’ Room. It has been so fun reading their scripts and seeing all the ideas that they have, and nothing has made me happier than to watch them deliberate on a script and bounce ideas and feedback off of each other, forming bonds all along the way. I have truly had the best time co-running this workshop for everyone that attends, and the Room wouldn’t be the same without them. Cinema Workshop’s Writers’ Room meets every Thursday in Bozorth Hall in Room 118 from 7:00 PM to 9:15 PM. You don’t have to be a writer to join Writers’ Room! We welcome all voices, whether you just want to give feedback, voice characters, or meet new people. Thank you again to Brett and Jay for the chance to interview them, and we look forward to seeing you all there. Armaine Dela CruzTo know and understand Sara, the child storyteller, who became Sara Dudo, the poet and educator, is to see the world as she might see it – like a journey filled with wonder with peaks, valleys, and every possible terrain in between. Poetry is like that; the writer brings the reader along on a journey to delve into one’s soul. Professor Sara Dudo paints pictures with words. She looks at the world with what can almost be described as a camera’s lens. In her writing, nature is important to her, especially when compared to the body. To imagine her thought process, one might look at some of the photographs she took when she and her husband Ray lived in Las Vegas at the end of 2021 until July 2023 when they moved back to New Jersey. It is at such a place, at the intersection of the human body and nature’s landscape that Dudo found a space for her art. Her poetry dances off the page with a simultaneous ability to pierce the heart with its stark, raw vulnerability and hidden truths. The shared experience between author and recipient can be as intimate as it can be life changing. For example, in her poem "Devotion" the opening line creates imagery that glistens, while it also immediately sets the piece into a specific mood and place. By the last stanza, the poem hits you with the theme of deep familial bonds and an image of a mother and child that plays out almost cinematically. A flutter of wings, silver echoing shimmer reflects the plastic of the hothouse, a tan moth whirlpools in a browning tub of water. - An excerpt from “Devotion” by Dudo Dudo grew up in the small town of Estell Manor, New Jersey. As a child, she wrote stories and gave them to her teachers. After high school, she enrolled at Stockton University. Initially, she began as a fiction writer until she took an advanced poetry class. It opened up something in her that couldn’t be ignored and would begin to inform her relationship with life and the development of her craft. “It didn’t take very long for me to realize: I think this is a little more so me,” says Dudo, “not that I don’t write stories now. I still love going into different genres. I really like hybrid work too, where you write a little poetry here, a little prose there. So, I like combining things. But I primarily focus on poetry.” By the time she was an upperclassman, one of her professors told her that her work was reminiscent of the award-winning poet Larry Levis and that she should buy his book. Dudo had not yet heard of Levis, but on the advice, she quickly went out and purchased Winter Stars, which deals with the subjects of acceptance and loss. “I bought his book, and I read it,” says Dudo, “I must have read it, I don’t know, twenty times, just taking extensive notes because I was just like this is awesome. This is exactly what I want to do….What I really like about his style. At times it was gritty in content, but it still talked about something that was so beautiful.” But first, there was the beginning of a lovely romance. At Stockton, Sara became aware of fellow student Ray Dudo from Mays Landing and felt an immediate attraction. She said, “He was a really cute guy who played guitar.” Soon after the two had been introduced by a mutual friend, Sara discovered she was becoming more in command of herself – a person of purpose. Normally, she played it safe. But she began to take risks. She became a radio DJ, joined the school’s track-and-field team with no prior experience, and then there was that cute guitar player she couldn’t get out of her mind. She recalled, “We had a Shakespeare class together my senior year, and I told myself at the end of the class: on the last day at our party, I would make him a mixed CD and inside of it, I would put a 3-page letter telling him that I liked him. I did that,” she adds. She gave Ray the letter in December. For several months, she would bump into him occasionally. He said nothing about the contents of that letter. Then came Spring. “I used to work at a flower farm in Vineland, New Jersey,” says Dudo, “I’d worked there for about three to four years at that point. I was about to go back in the spring and work there through the summer. He heard that they were hiring, and he went and got a job. He worked there for about a month with me. I wasn’t sure if he was doing it because he was taunting me or if he liked me. And then, he finally asked me on a date.” After Ray took the job, she began to notice he was losing some weight, but she assumed it was from the cardio from all the walking on the job. Then, everything changed. “We started dating in June of 2018, and he was diagnosed in August of 2018,” says Dudo about Ray’s diagnosis of Hodgkin's Lymphoma, at which time he immediately began treatments. Both Sara and Ray continued their undergraduate studies. Ray was still living at home, and so his mother was a huge help to him. Sara accompanied him to as many of his bi-weekly chemotherapy treatments as possible. She also visited him daily to encourage him and cheer him on. When it was discovered that the chemo didn’t really work, he did radiation therapy in the spring of 2019 until about May. Also in May, Sara and Ray walked at graduation together. Relief came in June of 2019 when he was cleared, and radiation seemed to have worked. They celebrated in August of 2019 by embarking on a cross-country road trip, living out of their car - having a wonderful time. Then, their world was about to face challenges once again. During spring of 2021, the cancer returned. This terrible news came right as the couple was planning their wedding. At that same time, Sara was sick with autoimmune troubles. Still, they were wedded in June of 2021. In July, Ray went in for a complete stem cell transplant. Sara became his full-time caretaker. Luckily, this treatment would be a success, and in the Fall of 2021, he was cleared of cancer. The experience infused Dudo’s writing, creating some of her most personal work to date embodying reflection and introspection on health. “I ended up writing a series of elegies,” says Dudo, “instead of a traditional elegy of someone passing, a kind of an elegy to these ideas of youth and of things not being the same. The idea of parting. In a stem cell transplant, the chemicals and the chemotherapy that the body undergoes, it kills every single stem cell in the body, and it produces brand new ones based on the infusion that they have to get. So even elegies to the stem cells that would have to be destroyed, stem cells that I felt we shared in experience being together. I ended up doing a lot of research in the desert, on the desert and the ecosystem and its landscape, and I got really into doing a lot of comparisons between his body and my body with its autoimmune issues.” The couple relocated to Las Vegas beginning at the end of 2021. At the University of Nevada Las Vegas, where Sara graduated with her MFA, she taught Introduction to Creative Writing, College Composition I, College Composition II, and was the course creator and developer of ENG 451B: American Literature II. In July of 2023, the couple moved back to New Jersey. In 2023, Dudo published a micro-poem in the Cincinnati Review called "Remission," in which the complex work beautifully reinforces the focus of the subject, her husband, by the repetition of using his name. The piece balances reference to the side-effects of his chemotherapy treatments, but at the same time, reflects on and elevates specific moments from his childhood. ray the bird in you the jade in you the try in you ray the wren you watched from child window ray the flowering-pear phalanx on Main rounding the haste in you ray your voice ray locked in pink brine ray crystallizing the caramel ray rust water and freeze ray the green grass not green land dry dirt desert landscape in you ray the thin hair too thin for your thickness ray ray the plucking huckleberry mouth invite the pies Mary baked ray the name belongs to you, brown moonrays thousand knive an orange creek a secret bridge herring run ray a thickness to reach in to pinch fish at midnight with a hand ray rays hand an old church two hands makes a cathedral rays Holy Thursday candlelight puncture choral mouth ray the sound of your body dredging bees congregation around purple rhododendron bloom ray the sound of love waiting on brick porch barrier island Italian pancakes a nose full of salt a rose bush somehow stays alive ray. "Remission" by Sara Dudo Posted by Cincinnati Review on June 28, 2023 While the work was perhaps cathartic, the emotional repercussions would be ongoing. “Even if he survived, and obviously I was very happy he was doing well, there would still be a sort of death of the relationship that we had, our youth, of things kind of being what they were and knowing that in the future things were always going to be different,” said Dudo, “so grieving is another kind of shift,” she added. Yet, like in poetry, there have been moments in their narrative of not just shadows, but of lightness and enchantment – like on June 4th, 2021 when the two married at her grandparent’s old blueberry farm. At one point in the day, as the young couple commemorated their relationship and celebrated with the gathering of more than two-hundred friends and family, it began to rain. And like a poem, they clung to each other, droplets from the sky nurturing their union, like words planted on a page. Today, Sara and Ray are busy in their careers in academia. Sara is an adjunct professor of Writing at Rowan University. Last semester, she taught College Composition I at Rowan, as well as a College Writing Intensive at Stockton University. This semester, she is teaching The Writer’s Mind at Rowan. Ray is a busy high school English teacher. The couple enjoys road trips and travels with their dog, Layla. They also have a cat, Mosie. They enjoy spending time with family, which is part of the main reason they returned to the area from Vegas. Still, the wanderlust in them may take them on new adventures, destinations unknown with landscapes that will inform new works. “Talking about the body and the landscape and the land, at the same time I did a lot of thinking about the land here in South Jersey and how that’s where we grew up. And how our bodies are so interconnected to this land. The root of it is, I was afraid to come back here because, in the desert, we both had a period of health where nothing was really wrong. We were healthy. My body was behaving. His body was behaving. He was doing well after the stem cell transplant and a fear of coming back here to the land where everything has always gone wrong,” says Dudo. She has some tough emotional memories of growing up in the area, including the death of an uncle who died suddenly and the passing of her grandmother. “I finally could grieve for my grandmother who helped raise me and get distance, enough to see her beauty as well as her shortcomings and how she often pressured me as a child to be a third parent for my brother with Down Syndrome.” There was also some hesitation about how the future would play out. “I was also scared to return to a place where, though I hoped everything would be the same as when we left, I knew my sister-in-law was about to have a baby and my best friend as well, and I was nervous about facing the looming uncertainties of our fertility and the possible pain and physical/emotional turmoil that we might face in trying to move to the “next chapter” to assimilate, in a way, with our family and friends.” Note: Sara Dudo has been published in The Cincinnati Review, The Atlanta Review, The Idaho Review, The Portland Review, Southwest Review, Red Rock Review, and Oakland Review. She is a Pushcart Prize nominee, and a recent “Best of the Net” nominee. In true style of an artist, we can only imagine that Dudo will continue to explore life using her expressive talents for writing words that will form into lines of poetry, images that create lasting impressions, stories that will continue to resonate with readers and honor their own life events with a dignity that comes from one who has reverence for the work. By: Kelly McCarthy
Growing up, I always felt isolated and disconnected from those around me. It was hard for me to connect with my friends on a personal or emotional level. Sure, there was some teen angst involved, but it was more than that. Social interaction wouldn’t come naturally to me, and I felt weird for how I acted and how my brain worked. I didn’t even fully comprehend the things I felt and thought. I just felt disconnected and ostracized, like a stranger to the human race. That experience is where my love for art began.
Art helped me deal with these internal struggles I held. The lyrics of music specifically meant a lot to me around the end of middle school and all throughout high school. Seeing other people express themselves and put the emotions I had into tangible words grounded me from feeling so distant from the world. I was able to put a description on all these different things that I was, and found a connection I had never truly felt through others’ words. “I spent my life weighed down by a stone heart Drowning in irony and settling for anything Somewhere down the line all the wiring went faulty I’m scared s***less of failure and I’m staring out at where I wanna be” “I Just Wanna Sell Out My Funeral”, The Wonder Years These are a set of lyrics that I held dear to my heart when I was in my teen years. These lyrics felt like someone was able to reach inside my brain and pull out all that was within. I felt less alone, less like some oddity – as if someone else had similar thoughts and feelings, and they were able to explain it so simply. The lyrics captured how I felt defected, like something with my brain was made wrong, how I felt stuck with who I was, how I looked at others with jealousy and longing. “With a winning smile, the poor boy With naivety succeeds. At the final moment, I cry I always cry at endings.” “Get Me Away From Here, I’m Dying”, Belle & Sebastian This set of lyrics builds upon this idea of doubting the best to happen – a pessimistic worldview, which I used to find myself in. I don’t know if I can describe the bigger emotion of this writing. It’s this sadness of things ending, even when it's for the better. I often find myself crying to the endings of happier pieces of work, like Hayao Miyazaki movies or love songs. In the world and in my household, growing up made it seem shameful for a man to get emotional as often as I did. Hearing a guy from the nineties sing about crying to endings regardless of their outcome made me feel more secure in my sense of self, and allowed me to grow into a better person. “In a world that I can’t fix With a hammer in my grip, I’m no closer to heaven. I can stay here in the darkness Feels like I’m wandering in circles for days I may never reach the gates I’ll keep walking anyway I’m no closer to heaven” “No Closer To Heaven”, The Wonder Years These lyrics express a dread that bubbles inside me. As an eternal people pleaser, I want to help the people around me, friend or not. I hate to be an inconvenience, and I feel especially terrible when I can’t help the ones I love. It can be very hopeless, but the second set of lyrics remind me that I need to keep moving forward and not let that feeling take over. This moves into a different kind of writing that I think everyone points to as comforting. Motivational writing creates a space that helps you to keep moving forward, keep doing your best, and keep living life to the fullest. Personally, it's always been nice to have a short set of words to repeat to myself whenever I need to pull myself up and out of a dark headspace. “This is not where we belong, But it's where we are right now. Find a spot and settle down.” “Sunny Brixton”, Superchunk This has been the perfect mantra for where I am in my life currently and where I may continue to be throughout the rest of my twenties. Maybe it will take a while to get to a time where I have a successful career, a place to live, and a life with the people that mean the most to me. But that doesn’t mean the time it takes to get there has to be any less enjoyable. I need to enjoy the life I have and enjoy it now. “Time isn’t holding us, Time isn’t after us.” “Once In A Lifetime”, Talking Heads It’s beautiful; it’s simple; it’s comforting; it’s everything to me. It’s these positive affirmations that life will be okay, that all my problems will not be the end of me. Words are able to create such a feeling within me, within all of us. Because writing has that power over us: to inspire, to cradle, to move us. It makes us who we are, as authors and as humans. As I’ve drafted and written this article, I wonder how much of myself comes through not in my words but in words I find solace in. I wonder what your favorite quotes, passages, and lyrics are and if they speak towards the person you are now or at least, the person you want to be. I want to end on what I think is the most important piece of writing I have heard in my life. The atlas of my outlook as I am now. What I always try to keep in mind as I go about my days. And I hope it shows the power writing can have on anyone. The musician, Jeff Rosenstock, wrote the lyrics 15 years into his career, after hundreds of other songs. You will always find new feelings to express and new words to express yourself. Keep writing and write from your heart; it might just touch someone else’s. “And it’s not like the love that they show us on TV, It’s a home that can burn, It’s a leg to freeze. Love Is Worry.” “…While You’re Alive”, Jeff Rosenstock By: Robert Scanlon On February 29, 2024, the Rowan Writing Arts Department was honored to have award-winning author Nana Kwame Adjei-Brenyah on campus for a live reading of his novel, Chain-Gang All-Stars — which was a national bestseller, New York Times’ Top 10 Book of the Year, and a finalist for the National Book Award. Prior to the main event, Adjei-Brenyah held a “fireside chat” Q&A panel with several Writing Arts students at James Hall. All were given a copy of Chain-Gang All-Stars, to which some had already read and came ready with questions concerning the story and others who were just excited for the opportunity to chat with an author like Nana Kwame. Regardless of the classroom setting, there was never a moment where we felt detached from talking, and what stood out to me was the reality of the room — a room full of writers learning from another. While Adjei-Brenyah answered many questions centered around Chain-Gang All-Stars and his previous work Black Friday, he also discussed his writing process and the thoughts, feelings, and habits that coincide with it. When asked about long-term writing, he mentions that the art of creating a novel isn’t about the novel itself but about the smaller pieces — that focusing so much on creating something as long as a novel could easily burn you out. “No one writes a novel. But they did write a bunch of sentences.” Part of the process, he mentions, is understanding how those small foundational pieces matter. “How can I make this sentence matter — how the syllables sound in that sentence? Do they flow? Does it sound like a person? Does it sound like That Person?” When discussing this piece-by-piece way of writing, there was something that personally clicked: that the focus on phrasing, punctuation, and musicality of your own piece are all things that don’t go away as you continue to read and write. (Which is something further stapled by Adjei-Brenyah’s reading of his novel later on.) With writing, Adjei-Brenyah hones-in on habit — that once you keep rolling with a set of words each day as part of a routine, you’ll find your “itch to write”. Writing becomes less like a burden and more of a necessity, grounding you in the process. “Get your mind to get used it.” Moreover, Adjei-Brenyah also touches on his love for the revision process over the draft process. He calls his writing as “superimposing intention” — that if you write with purpose, all you need to do when returning to it is making sure it’s made clearer with every revision. And most of all, emphasizing that fact of simply putting the idea down first and fixing it later. This idea would circle back into his thoughts of approaching novel writing and feeling your finality as part of the intention of your story. Following the fireside chat, Adjei-Brenyah’s main event took place at Boyd Recital Hall, which many students, faculty, and visitors came excited with their love for him and his work. Prior to him coming to the stage, two amazing Writing Arts students and Poetic Justice executive board members Maureen Castle and Mia-Sara King performed their original spoken word pieces. Although their pieces touched on two drastically different perspectives, the both of them stunningly set up the passion in hearing writing come to life. While the pieces themselves already weighed-in with their experiences and their emotions, you felt their intention in the words as they spoke. In other words, it felt much less like a performance and more a showcase of who they are and who they want to be. There was a specific shift from when Adjei-Brenyah walked on stage to when he started reading excerpts within Chain-Gang All-Stars. After a welcoming introduction from co-organizer Amy Woodworth, Adjei-Brenyah was a warm, welcoming presence in himself. But the room suddenly weighed in silence as he began reading — an air that felt different than the person that just introduced himself. Adjei-Brenyah began with the prologue to his book (to which he notes: “always read the prologue”); one that immediately took everyone’s attention whether this is your first interaction to the novel or your one in many. Other excerpts included audience participation of chants and hums that existed in various points of the novel. Being in that crowd, his vision within the words came out of the pages, almost like a conductor at the front of his orchestra or a director leading a table read. There, Adjei-Brenyah immediately made known that superimposed intention he had stated before — that purpose in writing. We can sometimes gloss over novels like they’re textbooks, but hearing everyone hum in unison to a scene that translates to the ultimate defeat in something as unconquerable as the prison system wasn’t just heard but intentionally felt. Following the reading, there was a Q&A held for the larger audience which was moderated by Professor Ariana Tucker. Adjei-Brenyah expanded on story choices within Chain-Gang All-Stars, specifically his deep-dive research into the inherent racism and classism of the American prison system and how it embeds itself into a plethora of organizations complicit in its violence. He also puts into perspective the purpose of making his main character, Loretta Thurwar, a black queer woman. A highlight of the Q&A was in discussing the weapons that she and the other characters used, such as his accident symbols of a hammer and scythe through death and labor that he was originally inspired by the anime Soul Eater. Adjei-Brenyah also expanded on some earlier topics of the fireside chat concerning the writing process and why we write in the first place. One question led to him to discussing very passionately that someone will need your writing even when you don’t think so. He exemplifies that writing is an art that might not create as obvious of a result as something like sculpting, but someone will find the need in it — that someone will need your writing. While it can be easy to discuss about Nana Kwame Adjei-Brenyah and Chain-Gang All-Stars by their successes, what’s more to it is a writer and his book, a person and their story. From both events, students didn't take away the step-by-step process of becoming a successfully known author; they didn't need to because that wasn’t the purpose. Adjei-Brenyah exemplified why personal purpose is all the more important, especially in an art like writing. Just as long as you allow it to find its own finality. Thank you to Nana Kwame Adjei-Brenyah for visiting Rowan University and the Writing Arts Department faculty, staff, and students for making this event. Armaine Dela CruzPound for pound, Avant Literary Magazine is one of, if not, the most invaluable resource a Rowan Writing Arts student has available to them on campus. As the university’s second oldest club, it's been producing collections of undergraduate work each semester for nearly 60 years. For those who participate in either the club meetings or serve on the Executive Board, Avant provides a wealth of experience in giving and receiving criticism as well as seeing how a literary magazine gets made. As an Assistant Editor myself (and Avant’s #1 fan), I’m going to take you inside Avant with descriptions of what we do and interviews with the E-Board.
Firstly, what’s it like to go to an Avant meeting? Undergraduate students submit their work, whether that's a short story, poem, or even a drawn piece of artwork or photography, and then we compile them into a manuscript that we read together during meetings. I went to club meetings my entire Freshman year before joining the E-Board, and I can tell you that Avant takes all kinds. There’s talkative ones (like me), but if you wish to simply read and keep your thoughts to yourself, you’re free to do so. We read or view the piece before going through praise, then critique, and finally, voting. Yes, club members get to vote on what gets accepted into the magazine. One can vote “accept”, “submit” or “abstain”. Abstaining is usually reserved for those who may have missed the initial reading or know the author personally, or are the author. Sometimes, with pieces we especially like but might not be quite an accept, we deem those a “strong resubmit”, one’s we’d like to see again sometime. Unlike most other lit mags, you can resubmit a piece to Avant as many times as it takes for it to get accepted. My job as an Assistant Editor is to receive these submissions, write down feedback during meetings and let the author know the status of their piece. But it takes a village. My good friend Steven Flickinger is also an Assistant Editor. We split the work by alternating the note-taking duties in meetings and catching new submissions whenever we can. I asked him what the best and worst parts of the job are, and this is what he told me: “I think the best is probably…being able to be an editor and an active member of the club and contributing to the magazine at the same time. Worst part is, I’d say, Hell Night emails. Something part of the regular process is turning people’s critiques into something we can put in an email.” Being on the E-Board hasn’t stopped any of the members from still submitting pieces to the magazine and getting accepted. In the case of resubmits, Steven and I turn that feedback into a concise email for the author to take into consideration. What Steven was saying is that sometimes that feedback can be hard to transcribe. “It's giving Shakespeare vibes” is a little too vague to put down in an email, yeah? Oh, and there’s Hell Night. Hell Night is the meeting following the submission deadline, where we start early and end late. Sometimes the number of submissions reaches 100 and over. Afterwards, the Assistant Editors go through and send out feedback emails. Steven and I work closely with the club President, Editor in Chief—our boss—Kelsey Pederson. We put the submissions in the right folders and log them in our spreadsheet so Kelsey can compile the pieces into the meeting manuscripts. They help guide the conversation from praise to critique and finally, onto the vote. We make a lot of hay during the discussion and voting process but it wouldn’t much matter if we didn’t have someone to put the actual magazine together. Sam Szumloz is our Graphic Layout Designer, “...which means that I make the latest editions through Adobe InDesign. I copy and paste the latest pieces and artwork into the page layout design software and basically prepare it for hardcover printing", she explained. It's Sam’s job to make sure each piece appears in the magazine as it should be. (No pressure.) You’ll be able to see her work in the upcoming Fall 2024 edition of Avant. Our Social Media Coordinator is Rob Pallente, master of the digital domain. Most recently, our social media accounts reached out with a call for more artwork and the announcement of the March 27th submission deadline, (get those pieces in now, folks). Last but certainly not least is our Treasurer, Jackie Ganter. While Jackie isn’t a Writing Arts major, she’s a huge part of making the magazine possible: “I manage our budget for printing and food! The magazine is a great way to get involved with the writing department, even if you aren’t part of it!” Avant will be hosting a standard meeting on Marth 20th after we return from Spring Break. We meet in room 301 at 260 Victoria Street from 7PM to 9PM on Wednesdays. Hell Night is always on a Friday, so feel free to stop by at any point in the process, whether that means when we first start and still have light and hope in our eyes, or after midnight when we can hardly form a thought. Even if you can’t make it, picking up an issue around campus and giving your fellow students’ work a read, or even submitting your own work before the deadline, is a great way to not just get involved, but be a good literary citizen in your local writing community. It's a big, scary world out there when it comes to publishing, but Avant can give you a starting place to start learning about working at, and with, literary magazines. Hope to see you at Hell Night. By Adam Buckley You’ve probably heard by now that there are different types of writers and different ways people go about creating a story. Perhaps like me, you learned of them while trying to gain a better sense of who you are as a writer. If you haven't, then you’re in the right place. We call these types of writers Plotters, Pantsers, and the lesser known but more common Planters. These are some of the well-known ways writers identify themselves. However, just because there are different types of writers doesn’t mean that any one type is better than the other. But what exactly do these types of writers do, and how do they differ? How do their differences affect the writing process? How do you know which type you are and how can knowing help you? Well, I’m here to tell you. Plotters Plotters, as their name suggests, plot. Point by point, beat by beat. These writers are your planners and your outliners, complete with sticky notes and journals filled to the brim. Plotters focus on the little details and how they connect together to form the big picture. They want to know how their story progresses step-by-step in order to reach a structured approach. Of course, this planning can look different for everyone. Some writers may create elaborate maps and charts or pages-long documents with every little detail laid out. Others may spend their time world building or designing aspects of their characters, such as appearance, history, quirks, and tastes. If you find yourself caring more about the details and having trouble with writing without a guide, you’re probably a Plotter. Pantsers Pantsers dive headfirst into their stories, flying by the seat of their pants the whole way. These are your adventurers, the ones for whom a plan is unnecessary. Pantsers, if they plan, would perhaps only do so for small parts of their story, scattered here and there in a less structured manner than their Plotter counterparts. For the most part, Pantsers begin a story and are content to see where it takes them. They are not constrained by any previous planning or a need for control like Plotters usually are. Pantsers don’t need to have the details perfect on the first try, rather the details are fluid – they can easily be changed later. They may write large sections of their story with no goal in mind, indulging their ideas as they come to them. If you find yourself having trouble following outlines or your attempts at planning, you're probably a Pantser. Planters Planters are what most writers are, even if they don’t realize it. These writers are the in between, following a mix of styles of Plotters and Pantsers. They plan sometimes and write on the fly at others, usually doing one more than the other depending on their writing style. This tendency towards plotting or freewriting more is why people usually think they’re one or the other rather than a Planter, though there may be the occasional Planter that strikes a near perfect balance between the two. For example, Planters may go into detail when designing their characters but then write their story with no outline. Or they may write freely and begin to plan later on to account for new or surprising developments in their story. Whatever they do, you can count on Planters to have a well-rounded experience while crafting their stories. Why does it matter? So why does it matter? When you sit down to write and you plan, don’t plan, or do a little of both, it can help to know from the start what steps you need to take to get your creativity going. Understanding more about how you write can help you increase the efficiency of your writing process and help you figure out where your strengths lie. Comprehending which type of writer you are can also help you if you’re collaborating with other writers, too. You can find collaborators that can compliment your strengths and help you develop and revise in areas of weakness. You can help others as well, and give them insight mutually. If you've figured out what type of writer you are after reading this, congrats! However, if you’ve found yourself thinking that neither Plotter, Pantser, nor Planter sounds like a fit for your writing style, that’s okay too. No type of writer or way of writing is better than another. The way everyone writes is different and may not be easily identifiable or recognizable as one of these types. However you write is the way you’re meant to write, and you can learn and improve as you go. McKenna Harris-Colvin
Rowan’s dedication to writing is proved by its focus on writing through its Writing Arts classes and major. However, even before the Writing Arts department formerly existed, Rowan supported writing in groundbreaking ways. Rowan University was first called Glassboro Normal School, which opened in 1923. Its support of writing began only sixteen years later, with the start of the school newspaper The Whit. The Whit, which still exists today and recently produced a special centennial edition, started in March of 1939, while President Bunce was head of the university. The Whit is a school newspaper whose informative purpose has remained constant since 1939. There were other early writing organizations on campus as well. For example, Avant Literary Magazine’s first issue was created in 1960. Avant is still in existence, and recently released their Fall Semester 2022 edition on October 9th, 2023. Another example is the publication Venue, founded in 1967. Venue was a student-opinion magazine on campus that ran from 1979 until 2012. However, writing soon began to be embraced on a level outside campus-level publications. In 1966, six faculty members split from the English department to create another department. This department is unique because it’s focused on writing instead of literature. The man behind this was George Reinfeld. Reinfeld’s dream was to create a separate department to focus on writing and journalism. The faculty members who came with him in this venture were John Collins, Sam Duryee, Mary Anne Palladino, Glen Thomas, and Allan Weinberg. Information about this split is found in the 50th Anniversary video of the School of Communications, here. During this time, this division was called the Division of Liberal Arts and Sciences. However, the communication aspects of this were bigger than the rest of the division. Eventually, the communications aspect had so many students enrolled and was such a big program it had to separate. It transformed into the Department of Communications. The communications department initially housed five specializations: Communication Studies, Journalism and Creative Writing, College Composition and Rhetoric, Radio Television and Film, and Public Relations, as explained by Professor Ron Block and Dr. Libro during their personal interviews. A major goal for College Composition and Rhetoric was to handle teaching the Composition I and II classes, and educate the entire campus. This was a huge task — and at some points they even needed help from the English department. This department was positively received by academics at conferences, as well as boasting high enrollment status. The effectiveness of their department was proved in 1980. In 1980, the State Board of Higher Education designated the Department of Communications as a Program of Distinction. This was a high honor, and continued to positively affect the department’s reputation and enrollment. In 1992 Rowan received its generous and historically significant donation from Mr. Henry Rowan. Because of this, Glassboro State college then became Rowan University. The shift from college to university had rippling effects that were felt all over the expanding campus. During July of 1996, the Board of Trustees voted and unanimously decided to evolve the Department of Communications into School of Communications. This changed the specializations into departments. Dr. Antionette “Toni” Libro was appointed dean of the school. Toni Dr. Libro described these changes as “technical terms” that still reflects “the development and growth” of the communications school as a whole. The Ric Edelman College of Communication and Creative Arts start as the Department of Communication is crucial. Because the college started as a department, it meant the faculty and courses used to be intimately connected. When a department becomes a school, it becomes harder to work together because departments are so specialized. Linda Bateman described her own time while the school was a department, stating, “We had a lot of flexibility in courses we taught and could cross what are now department lines easily. For instance, after only a semester of teaching College Comp I, I began teaching an advertising course, publication layout and design and College Comp I or II, eventually spending several years teaching Advertising and related courses without teaching CC. I was advisor to the Ad Club…” Because of the communication school's roots as a department, there is a history of collaboration between all of the departments. Dr. Antoinette Libro and Linda Bateman both described that there was a shift when the departments separated, and and that interdepartmental connectivity was harder to maintain. However, as Libro recounted, the relationships and bonds still persist from that era. Because of this, the school is strengthened by its earlier traditions of community. Along with being dean during the time of this transition, Dr. Libro also contributed in many ways to what would become the Writing Arts program. Dr. Libro oversaw and championed the launch of the Master’s in Writing Arts program in 1999. This was the first master’s program in the School of Communications in over thirty years. The first one was a master's in Public Relations in 1969, created by Professor George Reinfeld and Donald Bagin. This momentous day was celebrated by hosting illustrious speakers. Gay Talese and Barbra Lounsberry attended and spoke at this event. Talese is an international best-selling author, and Barbara Lounsberry was his then-partner in editing an anthology. This event was enjoyable and impactful to both the new graduate students, and the undergraduate students as well. The Master’s in Writing Arts program by far succeeded the creators expectations, and became very successful in enrollment. In 2002, the first international students joined the Master’s in Writing Arts Program. Also in 2002, Rowan was chosen as a site for the National Writing Project. This was a huge honor and meant that Rowan would be hosting writing conferences in the summer and winter. The goal of this was to inform educators about teaching writing. More information about this can be found here. The years between 2004 and 2005 were huge for what would become the Writing Arts department. To begin, in 2004 the Composition of Composition and Rhetoric was awarded the Conference on College Composition and Communication’s (CCCC)’s Writing Program Certificate of Excellence. Around this time as well, is when the departments began to be restructured. The Journalism department split from the Department of Journalism and Creative Writing. The Creative Writing specialization, now merged with the College Composition and Rhetoric department in 2005. This brought clubs Venue and Avant into the new department. It was at this point that the Writing Arts department as we know it was created. There had already been a focus and interest in creative writing. Writing Children’s Stories and Creative Writing I were hugely popular. This is discussed in Writing Arts intern BriAnna Sankley’s article, “Top 3 Writing Arts Classes: Makes them So Memorable?”, which reveals that Writing Children’s Stories and Creative Writing I are still the most popular classes on campus. College Composition I and II, which were a hallmark of the department, were carried over into the Writing Arts department. New classes began to be formed - chief among them, the Writers’ Mind, a course that Linda Bateman and Dr. Antoinette Libro both acknowledged by name while discussing prominent courses in the major. This broadening of the program led to changes in the goals of the courses and instruction. Now, the desired outcome was for an ever broader understanding of writing, according to Dr. Libro. Specialized courses, like Intro the Technical Writing, Biomedical Writing, and Writing for the Workplace were created as well as courses focusing on reactive writing. This makes the Writing Arts classes not only appealing to the fascinated lovers of creative writing, but to any major and individual on campus. The accessibility of writing for everyone was furthered in 2009. In 2009, the Writing Center was founded under director Deb Martin. The Writing Arts program has continued to evolve and grow in recent years as well. In 2011, the Glassworks literary magazine was launched. Now Glassworks has a graduate class, an internship, and connections with influential writers. The Writing Arts Club was created in 2018, as confirmed by former president Diana DeSimine. Even this year, 2023, a new writing-themed club Poetic Justice was chartered by the SGA. There are lots of influential and evolving events even besides new clubs. This semester hosted the new class, Worldbuilding taught by Professor Tim Donaldson. This class has never been taught before — and was a huge success. The Spoken Word was introduced as a new special topics class in fall of 2022, and then evolved to a regular class in Spring 2023. This information is confirmed by Mia-Sara King, a former member of the class. and e-board member of Poetic Justice. This summer, the campus hosted their first ever “Writing Arts Career Day". Last semester, the Writing Arts department piloted “Writing Ambassadors Program” led by Dr. Amy Reed, Dr. Jaclyn Partyka. This program saw three Writing Arts majors, Nyds Rivera, Chloe Mortier, and myself talk to CC1 classes about possible Writing Arts classes they could take. The Rowan writing program has been constantly evolving since 1966. It continues to evolve and grow now. The only constant is the emphasis and support for writing and creativity within our department. Cecilia CombsWelcome to Rowan University, where you can actually major in Writing Arts, not to be confused with English Literature. Here the University doesn't group writing in with English, we have our own department to excel in. This leaves opportunity for many different Writing Art’s classes that each have valuable information to teach. The question is, how do we decide which ones to take? I have conducted a survey, to determine the top 3 Writing Arts classes here at Rowan University, with the help of students who have seen the magic that happens in said courses. They have taken the time to rank the classes offered in the major, and explain why they felt so strongly about each course. My hope is that other students, even ones who aren’t Writing Arts majors, will feel inspired enough to take these student recommendations, and enroll in one of the courses mentioned. The responses that the Google Form received were from Writing Arts students who all had a creative writing concentration in common. This common ground may have influenced the answers to sway more towards courses geared towards creative writing, but one could argue that all writing is creative. For the final reveal, the top 3 Writing Arts classes are….
Writing Children’s Stories had an 80% vote in first place, Creative Writing I had a 60% vote in second place and Intro to Writing Arts had a 40% vote, in third place. Are these results surprising to you? I honestly would have to agree with my peers, as I believe this is a fine list of the top 3 classes in the Writing Arts department, but of course every course has something specific to teach that can be beneficial to an individual's writing. That’s why section tally is a great tool to utilize, in order to see all of the wonderful courses the Writing Arts Department has to offer. Students were asked, what was the most memorable Writing Arts class to you, and why? A senior Writing Arts major had responded, “My most memorable Writing Arts class was my Creative Writing 1 class with Professor Romano. It was the first class I took for my Writing Arts degree, and she really pushed us to leave our comfort zone and try new things. There are so many writing techniques and ideas that I likely would not have tried, had I not taken that class. I have carried those things with me to other classes, both Writing Arts and not.” What a beautiful answer, thank you for sharing! I remember taking Creative Writing 1 in the Spring, and I also learned many different writing techniques, due to workshops and lessons that pushed me out of my comfort zone. Writing is about taking risks, and going outside of the box. Sometimes you may surprise yourself, and create something you didn’t know you were capable of. Creative Writing 1 was definitely a memorable experience, and I think many Writing Arts majors would agree. Students were asked, Which Writing Arts class would you recommend to someone who is considering majoring in Writing Arts at Rowan? Why would they enjoy it? Quite a few students had responded with the course, “Writing Children's Stories” as their answer. A graduate student in the Writing Arts MA program had responded, “I would suggest the class Writing Children's Stories. The writing involved offered a wide range of age groups to study, each with its own structures and nuances. It really helped me grow as a writer and understand how to choose a target audience that fits my writing preferences. Poetry is also a good choice. It teaches the subtlety of language and the use of metaphor and imagery. These skills recommend themselves to any form of writing.” A senior Writing Arts major had also responded, “This was such an enjoyable and light-hearted class, especially for anyone who wants to write for a younger audience. You get both the opportunity to read excellent examples of children's fiction, and also to write some for yourself, using the techniques you learn in class. I always looked forward to going to this class.” I couldn’t have said it better myself! Writing Children’s Stories is a wonderful class that teaches writers how to write for many different age groups starting with picture books, and ending with young adult novels. It’s set up to dabble in each age, and show you the differences as the class goes on. I remember when I took the class, we actually wrote and illustrated our own picture books. Although picture books were an entertaining task, it was also eye opening to see how much work goes into them. The focus surrounding picture books was on, “page turns”, you wanted to make the story interesting enough on each page, that the reader would have a reason to turn it and read more. That lesson stuck with me in writing, not only children’s stories, but writing in general. I find myself questioning if what I’m writing is something that an audience would feel compelled to keep reading, if the answer is no, then I know revision is needed. It’s a tool you can use in your writing life, ask yourself, would you turn the page? A few senior Writing Arts majors had responded that, Intro to Writing Arts, would be a beneficial course to recommend to a new student in the major in order to get them acquainted with how the course work is organized. I would have to agree, although it is a requirement to take this course, it was extremely helpful for me, especially as a transfer student. When I transferred into Rowan, I had joined a group of students who had already been in the major for 2 years, where I was completely new. Intro to Writing Arts taught me many different styles of writing, and it explained many opportunities and events that the major had to offer. Definitely don’t wait to take this course if you're a Writing Arts major, it will help you on your road to success. What are you waiting for? Writing Children’s Stories is the number one class here in the Writing Arts department, take a chance and add it to your Spring schedule. You might just find your all time favorite class, and a new love for picture books. BriAnna Sankey |
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