Creative Writing Excerpts

location_on Location: Burlington A

(Links to papers / posters are embargoed until 4/7)

All times in Eastern Time Zone

• assignment_ind Carlson, M. “ MFA Application Blues ”
  I will analyze my creative process of crafting a short story writing sample throughout 2021 for my 2022 creative writing MFA applications. In the spring of 2021, what began as a rather spirited, academic approach devolved into a seemingly hopeless endeavor. After spending the entire summer on a single short story, I realized by September that I’d yet to write a story that justifiably represented my style and values. My presentation will discuss a transformative conversation I had with my mentoring professor and the three months that followed in which I produced a short story I was proud to send out. I’ll conduct a brief close reading of a story I wrote earlier in the year and compare it with another brief close reading of my eventual submission to detail the humbling and liberating changes my writing experienced over the course of 2021. My presentation will highlight the importance for writers to combat self-doubt and leverage their cultural experience.
• assignment_ind Farrough, S. “ The Protectors of Fortune and Power: An Excerpt ”
  For my presentation, I will be reading a short excerpt from a creative story, “The Protectors of Fortune and Power,” that I have written. A brief summary follows.Crystal Myers is a spy for Xavier, but everyone else knows him as Agent X. When in the field, Crystal uses the name Agent Gem. A new bad guy with the ability to shapeshift arrives in Paris, and Agent Gem is on the case. While facing immediate danger, Agent Gem must protect her secret as well as one of her friends who accidentally stumbles into the center of things. Can she figure out who the shapeshifter is in time? Or will she be fooled forever?
• assignment_ind McGowen, J. “ A Land Beyond Our Own – A Creative Work ”
  A Land Beyond Our Own is a young adult book focused in the genre of high fantasy, and I will read selections from the novel. Based in the fantasy world of Mundae Luminis, Fina Vandyne must find a way to protect her kingdom from an oncoming attack while also displaying how she has the qualities to lead her kingdom. She must keep the secret that she is a Guardian, which is a magical human being that can control a specified element, such as fire, earth, lightning, water, wind or ice. The Guardians were meant to protect the human race but went extinct as they battled amongst their own kind which also resulted in the banishment of magic in the world of Mundae Luminis. Fina must find a way to serve her kingdom while also hiding that she is a Guardian. Now, as the Thunder Guardian returns to claim the throne of Greenwood, Fina must prove herself worthy of the throne by counteracting gender stereotypes throughout her journey, ultimately leading to the battle for her homeland.