Creative Writing Club introduces new project to eager members

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by Izabella Perez

There are many different ways to express yourself creatively, and the clubs at West Broward help with just that. With Art Club, Choir, Drama and now the Creative Writing Club (CWC), there are endless ways that students can express themselves creatively. Now, with CWC’s creation of a magnet club for West Broward’s own Literary Magazine, there is another addition to the school that provides more opportunities for students to become imaginative without the pressure from teachers and grades.

CWC was first established during Jan. 2018. The original sponsor for the club was Chemistry and Physical Science teacher Dwight Marshalleck before English teacher Gabriel Vazquez took over. Since its creation, the club has worked towards entering competitions such as Literary Fair and on helping its members improve their writing. The club is currently working on a new project proposed by Senior President Natalie Maronas. A literary magazine officially dubbed “Epiphany” is currently in the works by club members that are interested. Volunteers will write, draw or take photos according to the theme of the magazine and their piece of interest.

“It requires a lot of planning and research, but we’ve been making small steps towards finishing our first issue for the semester,” Maronas said. “The size of our team so far has been making progress, but we hope to have a strong start once we really get things going.”

The literary magazine is a showcase consisting of around 16 to 24 pages of students’ submitted works of prose, poetry, art and photography that fit the theme assigned. The theme for the magazine the West Broward Creative Writing Club is currently working on is finding art within ourselves. The intention behind this is to help improve participants’ writing skills and give them the confidence they need to publish their work for others to see.

“This is the first step to gaining the confidence to put your work out there to the world,” Vazquez said. “Everybody is terrified and self-conscious of showing their work, but this could be that first step you need.”

With preparing pieces for the magazine, students are encouraged to interpret the theme in their own way. Sophomore and writer Leviathan Walker is currently working on a joint prose and art piece with his interpretation of the theme, channeling the chaos inside of us into art.

“We were asked to come up with a sub-genre of the theme that we’d focus our piece on,” Walker said. “I really like the idea of finding the chaos inside of ourselves and turning it into something beautiful like art.”

Others chose to view the theme in a more positive light. Seeing it as an opportunity to take inspiration from themselves and to express the deeper emotions they feel accordingly.

“I like the prompt a lot actually. It’s creative and hasn’t been done before,” said sophomore Deborah Jean-Marie. “To me personally, it means going deep inside ourselves and finding out who we are and what makes us different.”

Being in a safe environment among other writers helps bring out the creativity in others and inspires them to be creative. The introduction of a new project is a refreshing change from the years of literary fair and can help people out of the dreaded writer’s block. Expressing yourself in any creative format is a great way to convey emotions and take out stress.

“It doesn’t matter what type it is, whether it’s acting, dancing, painting or poetry,” Vazquez said. “Find some way to express the messages and emotions that are already within you.” Self-expression is key and being surrounded by people who value the excitement of fulfilling a project helps your creativity grow.