Five stacked notebooks sit in senior Kari Hill’s bedroom, notebooks full of words that sketch the beginnings of a young adult fantasy series. Hill has been working on this four book series since she was 14 years old.
Hill founded a fiction writing group last year with only a few people on the roster, but hopes to increase membership this year. Her own project inspired her to create a group to discuss their work.
She writes about young heroes in a foreign world where there are no adults, and the characters go through a right of passage as they learn adult responsibilities. Hill hopes to have the series finished and published within the next five years, and although she constantly thinks about what needs to happen next with the plot, she doesn’t know all of the specifics on how it will get there.
“The characters have the answers,” said Hill. “If you find yourself stuck, you can always refer to them.”
If she gets an idea, she’ll write a short five sentence sequence to remind her to think about the idea later.
“Some of the best ideas come to you when you aren’t thinking about it,” said Hill. “That’s why it’s good to share your ideas with others, so that they can help direct you towards constructing a good story.”
Every Tuesday the fiction writing group meets in Franz 33 at 7:00 p.m. to talk fiction. The fiction writing group not only helps students share their creative ideas with one another, but also conducts exercises like story building to help inspire creativity .
“We are here to help each other,” said Hill. “You only need a pinch of inspiration for a great idea to take off.”
Hill is advertising the group in her fiction writing class and hopes that spreading the word will attract new members. Only about four people regularly attended the weekly fiction writing meetings last year, one of them being senior Sterling Duracher. Duracher is working on a fantasy book called “Fallen Skies,” a fantasy story about a world with elves and humans coexisting, and is eager to get the gears turning again this year.
“Eventually it would be nice if the club became official,” said Duracher. “Even though I probably will not still be here by the time that happens it would be neat to leave something behind.”
