Twelve writers sat in a circle on couches or chairs, under dim lighting. They chatted about classes, favorite authors, weird things they wrote or wanted to write. Student Writers Association’s Jan. 27 meeting resembled a coffee shop more than a classroom. “The quiet, comfortable atmosphere is what makes this group so successful,” said Creative Writing major Amaya Hoke. She noted that part of the growing success of the often ramshackle organization was the switch from a boring Benildus classroom to the O’Shaughnessy Performance Space. Senior Brandon Brown has attended every SWA meeting, seeing his role as more of an advisor than a president. “This is about building a foundation,” he said when asked about the group’s goals. Of the 12 in attendance, most were underclassmen, a demographic that is key to establishing the group’s future. The laid-back vibe of the meeting is deliberate. Brown saw that establishing a connection with other writers, who are usually a solitary lot, is just as important as any craft exercise. “You can make friends. You’ll see someone walking in the hallways and say, ‘Hey, I know that person, because I hang out with them for two hours every Tuesday night,” he said. “I feel like it works. [The meetings are] always easy, it never feels like a chore.” Missing the intellectual stimulation, recent graduate Curtis Mueller started attending meetings last November. “We’re really spoiled here,” he said. “Here, people are talking about things they actually want to do. Out in the real world they just want to talk about stupid bullshit.” Though the group is informal, Hoke organizes a writing exercise every meeting meant to remove the writers from their comfort zone. Some are structurally complicated, like a three paragraph flash piece that changes genres each paragraph. Others...

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...

  It was 8:15 p.m. on Sept. 16, and writers—mostly freshmen—were trickling into Benildus 101 for the Student Writers Association(SWA). Junior Adriel Contreras, current co-head of SWA, was drawing the SWA logo on the white board. Senior Katie Johnson, also co-head, was organizing her materials together. It was about five minutes past their starting time when everyone was settled. Johnson apologized to Contreras, and erased his logo in order to write the opening exercise. It’s been four months into Johnson and Contreras’s first year running SWA—a task that not many writers were excited to tackle. “What I didn’t realize was how much work SWA is,” said Contreras. “I’m an RA, I’ve been working in the mail room. It’s been challenging juggling everything.” Johnson asked the group to toss some words at her and the collection of writers were only happy to oblige. Pineapple, golden, obscene, ragamuffin, clout, juggernaut, panarama, and ostracices were some of the choice words among them. After compiling a list of 20 or so words, Johnson instructed the group to write a poem or flash fiction for the next 20 minutes using all or as many of the words that they could. “SWA is good for creative writing students to just be seen on campus. It’s very easy for writers to stay locked up in their room and not be appreciated for their work,” said Johnson in explaining SWA’s unofficial mission statement. “It’s wonderful to use SWA for writers to have an on campus prescence.” Contreras shared that sentiment and continued on the importance of collaboration. “It’s important to have a community of writers to really establish itself,” said Contreras. “When you write, it’s so singular, it’s your own process. It’s important to get other people’s perspectives.” Next, Contreras and Johnson...