SFUAD’s Student Writers Association (SWA) has recently launched a new series of craft seminars aimed at enterprising students hoping for more opportunities to expand their work. Led by their peers and held during lunch hours so as to accommodate students’ busy schedules, each session individually focuses on an aspect of creative writing, such as character development, dialogue or plot. “The seminars are meant to reinforce what we’re learning, as well as adding some new ideas on those very topics,” says Jen Hanson of SWA, the mastermind behind the seminars. “I felt that there are some areas of craft that classes cannot delve deep into, as there are a wide range of things which need to be taught and learned. In creating these seminars, my hope, and SWA’s hope, is that students will have an opportunity to really dig deep in specific topics.” Amaya Hoke, a sophomore Creative Writing major from Texas, took on the task of hosting the first seminar on Oct. 13. Entitled “Split ‘Em Open,” the session focused on character and characterization. “It was definitely a joyful experience, so many people showed up!” enthuses Hoke a few weeks after her seminar. “I gave the attendees an option of two exercises. They could create a schedule for their character, like 8 am – wake up, just to try and show the daily life of a character. Another was to try to portray how their character was by describing the contents on the inside of their car. There were some pretty amazing results!” Hoke chose to focus her seminar on characterization because “I’ve always been really passionate about characters, I feel like they make the story. I feel like if a writer can’t love and dedicate time to their characters, then who can love...

SFUAD Creative Writing major Marina Woollven recently won third place in Playboy Magazine’s annual fiction writing contest. Jackalope presents Woollven’s award-winning story. “How long has it been?” Anna asked. “Since you last saw George?” They were at the pool because they had no place else to be on a Saturday. Anna worked on the weekdays to fill her time but for Marcy, the housewife, every day was a Saturday. Long and empty, begging for the time to be filled. She was glad that for today, she could fill that time by sinking and gliding into deep cool water, instead of vacuuming the same carpet and dusting the same shelves for the fifth time in a week, or sitting on the couch and watching sitcom reruns until she could recite the lines. “Seven months,” Marcy said, slow and firm. She hadn’t trusted herself to say it. Out in the air, did it sound bitter? If it did, Anna didn’t notice, or pretended to not care. “That’s a long time, hun.” It was, wasn’t it? Seven months since George went to ‘find himself,’ as if having a midlife crisis when he had barely finished College. Maybe that was harsh, but he married her and three months later, left her beautiful face with a beautiful house and no one to appreciate either. He wanted to go to Alabama, of all places. Not Ireland. Not England. Not even New York. Fucking Alabama. “Just the boys. Old times. You understand, right?” he had said. She was young. Only twenty-two. She didn’t want to fight when George had given her everything… even everything came from his inheritance instead of his career, like other men. Still, she was grateful. “It’s fine,” she’d told him. The lonely bride even believed it for...

Marina Woollven, a Creative Writing junior from Texas, recently won third place in Playboy Magazine’s annual College Fiction Contest. Playboy has long had a prestigious reputation for publishing short stories by some of the most notable authors of our time, and it is an honor to have Woollven’s work recognized out of the thousands of submissions for the contest. Jackalope Magazine sat down with Marina to discuss her winning story, “Atlas,” and her life as a writer.   Jackalope Magazine: Please tell us a little bit about yourself. Marina Woollven: I’m from San Antonio, Texas. My interests are TV, lots of TV! I’m a huge TV junkie! I like TV series much more than movies but I do love movies. I dabble in photography. Sometimes I draw. I collect dolls, so that’s a thing!   JM: Why did you want to become a writer? MW: I’ve always been fascinated and addicted to storytelling. I just felt that I had things to say. I love to read, and I wanted to put something out there. I’m very grateful I chose this path.   JM: Could you tell us about the story that you won third place with in the Playboy College Writing Competition? MW: It’s called “Atlas”, and essentially it’s a sci-fi piece set in the future and it focuses on this very young housewife named Marcy, and she’s recently married but her husband has just decided to go on a trip for six months. So, she’s getting lonely, and she ends up purchasing a very human-like robot that she calls Atlas, and the story is kind of focusing on the relationship, but really, it’s about the human desire to not feel alone and the different ways in which we fulfill that.   JM: How did it feel when...

What do 10 minutes, an umbrella and six boxes have in common? They are some of the innovative ideas being employed within a new, student-driven campus project being billed as SFUAD’s First Annual 10 Minute Theatre Play Festival. The idea for the 10 Minute Theatre Play began as the brainchild of two SFUAD students, Bissi Ademulegun and Zoe Baillargeon. According to the co-founders, the inspiration for “this shindig,” came from a playwriting class they took last semester. In the class, taught by Dale Dunn and Lynn Goodwin, students were given an assignment to come up with a 10-minute play.  Though they had not yet talked, both had the same reaction: “It’s kind of like Flash Fiction for the stage.” As the idea took hold, they thought, wouldn’t it be great to give other students, campus wide, a chance to to be able to present a 10-minute play of their own work too? “We feel that sometimes departments compartmentalize or students feel they aren’t perhaps given the space and opportunity to truly explore an idea they might have,” Baillargeon says. But with the 10 Minute Theatre, students will get the chance to witness their work go from the page to the stage. Ademulegun and Baillargeon also see this as a great opportunity for creative writers to come on board.  “[Creative Writing Department Co-Chair] Matt Donavan has been incredibly supportive in helping us get the word out, and encouraging writers to get involved and submit original works,” Ademulegun says. But it’s just not about writers. It’s about anyone wanting to work with a group to bring an idea to life. “Often times here on campus, the only chance you get to see work performed is through the Theatre Department….but we want students to know that what...