Refine your poems and polish your prose at the forge of Creative Writing Fridays, hosted by the TRU Writing Centre in OM 1411 from 12-1 p.m. Student creative writers are encouraged to gather their favourite pens, dust off their favourite notebooks and join their peers for an afternoon of imagination and creation.
Palmer Vaugn, host of Creative Writing Fridays, explained their process, telling the Omega that each session starts with writing prompts for the first half hour.
“For example, last week was dialogue, and we did a focus on clarity and the flow of the dialogue,” Vaughn said. “Our prompt was to write a dialogue between two characters trying to limit the use of dialogue tags to put more of a clear emphasis on voice and diction and that sort of stuff.”
Vaughn, a fourth-year student majoring in English, originally took creative writing while they were an undergraduate earning their first degree in general studies.
“I took creative writing in my initial undergrad, and I’m in creative writing as a minor now,” Vaughn said. “It’s just something that I’m really passionate about, and I find a lot of fun, so I just wanted to spread that because there’s not a lot of opportunities for people that like creative writing, so it’s nice to be able to host something.”
During the second half of the hour, students engage in a focused critique based on the week’s theme, Goddard explained.
“The feedback piece is not supposed to be a really valuable critique of your writing with people who are experts in the field,” said Jenna Goddard, Writing Centre Coordinator. “It’s not feedback-focused. It’s more about gathering together, writing together and creating a community.”
“I was an undergraduate student [at TRU], and I always felt like there weren’t enough spaces where I could just come in, and there were no expectations on me,” Goddard said. “You don’t have to have an appointment to come [into the Writing Centre]. It’s actually just a really nice space, and there are people who will welcome you, who will recognize you, who will see if you need help. I just would love people to feel comfortable coming into this space and using it in a way that best serves them.”
Creative Writing Fridays is hosted throughout Winter 2024 in The Writing Centre (OM 1411) weekly from 12-1 p.m.