Washington Square.

On air is the audio town square for the Washington Square Review.

Lansing Community College's literary journal.

Writers, readers, scholars, publishing professionals, citizens of the world, gather here and chat about all things writing.

Hey there.

This is Melissa Ford Luckin, editor for the Washington Square Review.

I'm here today, though, as Professor Melissa Ford Lucken with a composition student, Jennifer Mattson.

Hey, Jennifer.

Hi.

I'm happy to have you on here today.

And I know you're one of my composition students, but you're also a creative writer.

Let's talk about that.

Tell me, how did you get started with creative writing?

Well, when I was about four or five, I started scribbling as kids do, and I would scribble.

I'm like, I wrote a story, I wrote a story.

I wrote a book.

I was so excited about it.

And then I started school and the teachers would have us write little bit of short stories about this or that makeup stuff.

And I thought it was very fun and a good challenge of the brain.

Since then, my love for writing's just grown till me wanting to become a writer.

And finally I decided to take some courses and see where I can go with it.

That's pretty amazing that you remember when you were 4 or 5, was there a particular book that you remember being inspired by?

Charlotte's Web.

Okay, so they must have read it aloud to you guys.

Yeah.

What do you think about that book caught your attention?

I liked how they worked together to save the pig and then how everything just blended together and wound up being a great story.

Were there other kids around you that also really liked the story?

Not that I really didn't pay much attention to the other kids.

I was focused on my adoration for literature.

Okay.

Talk a little bit more about the environment.

Was that kindergarten or first grade?

Well, in about first, second grade, maybe even kindergarten.

Okay.

I loved listening to stories and pretending like I was a writer.

And what do you think about it intrigued you?

Being able to have a voice and share experiences as well as opinions and hopefully eventually get word out on certain life topics that may help somebody else.

So even when you were little, you felt like what you had to say was important to you and you wanted an outlet for it?

Yes.

Do you.

So I'm wondering, a lot of times kids prefer to talk and say what they're thinking.

Why do you think you were more drawn to the writing?

I've always been a very.

How do I say this personal person to where I like to keep things to myself.

So I would just write myself a note and explain what was going on and what I can do to help myself and keep things bottled up that way.

Okay, I hear what you're saying.

So more of an introvert.

Yeah.

So even as a little kid, you just kind of wanted to keep your thoughts to yourself and express them, but maybe not, you know, in a way that's so public.

I think when you're a little like that, the advantage of getting them out is you can think about them for a while while you're writing them.

So they're not going to get evaluated right away.

They still say kind of special and close to your heart.

Yeah.

Because when you're little, you know, it's different.

So when you were little and you were writing stuff, what kind of reception did you get?

Nobody really paid that much attention to it.

It was just like, whatever, it's fantasy, make believe, it's never gonna really be anything.

But I said, well, if I want it to be, it can be.

To me it is.

I think that's awesome that even at that young of an age, you're just, you know, thought, well, you go ahead and think that I'm going to do my thing and keep doing it.

That's pretty cool.

So when you got a little bit older, maybe middle school or high school, how was it looking then?

I still enjoyed it.

I didn't like how it changed how we have to write in certain formats and everything, but I began to get a deeper understanding about how meaningful writing can be and how it can really speak to a person.

So it's a circular thing with the reading and the writing.

It sounds like you.

So you grew to appreciate the process of writing by reading other people's stuff?

Yes.

That's super cool.

What?

Is there anything that stands out from middle school or high school that you read?

Not.

Not really.

You mentioned not liking the formats and stuff.

Talk a little bit about.

So you must have been reading something that you're like kind of like the.

MLA and the APA and all that.

It's just.

I'm used to just writing and then you have to do a certain format and everything else and with all the citations and everything.

Right.

It gets all confusing.

Yeah, it's very different.

The academic writing is very different than the creative writing.

When you were in middle school and high school, what kind of stuff were you.

Were you writing that you enjoyed?

Just pretty much anything.

Whatever crazy thought I had, I would write about it.

Dreams and what I want to do when I got older and everything.

Did you do it in a journalist maybe?

Yes, I did.

Like a diary yeah.

Do you still have them?

I wish I did.

What happened to them?

Getting older and moving so much.

I.

Moving from place to place.

Yeah.

Okay.

So they're still important and treasured memories even though you don't have the documents.

Yeah.

How, when you went to do the writing, did you just write what was.

Just whatever was on the top of my head.

And how.

Talk a little bit about how often you would write.

Usually I'd write usually daily, sometimes two or three times a day.

Just.

If I didn't have anything to do.

Positive.

I would just sit and write.

And how did it help you?

Even though I'm guessing you didn't share that with anyone?

No, it helped me to be able to kind of group stuff together to where it would make more sense, as opposed to talking about shopping in one paragraph and then about a dog and another.

Helped me kind of group thoughts together and make something that made sense.

Can you think of any maybe decisions that you made or things that you thought through on paper?

Anything come to mind?

Not off the top of my head.

Okay.

Because it would have been the normal middle school stuff.

Yeah.

You know, how you felt about things or what your plans were.

Yeah.

And so again, you were doing a lot of writing and you said that you didn't really share it with anyone.

Was there any writing that you did share with other people?

Just essays in class for the teacher.

That's really different, you know, because that gets graded.

Yeah.

What about stories or poetry?

Any of that?

No.

Okay.

So you're really just very much using the journaling to think through things.

Yes.

Yeah.

That's a really.

That's a lot of dedication at a young age to stick with it like that and keep working.

Did you have any friends that did any kind of, like, fiction or poetry or creative writing?

Not that I know of.

I pretty much stuck to myself, so.

But kept reading.

Yeah.

Where did you get the books that you liked to read?

The library.

Okay.

Did you go there by yourself?

Usually.

Okay.

Yeah.

I think a lot of people can relate to that.

I know when I was that age, I sort of went to the library on my own, and you have all the time in the world just to look at, you know, everything.

Were there certain kinds of books that you liked?

I usually liked, like, the Indian books and sometimes mostly history books.

Okay.

So nonfiction.

Yeah.

Okay.

Anything else comes to mind that you still like to read?

Just whatever catches my eye pretty much.

And where did you do the reading?

Wherever I could.

Anywhere and everywhere.

Yeah.

Typical reading stuff.

Okay.

So then you graduated from high School and kind of what happened next?

Somehow I quit writing for a while.

I grew up somewhat and moved around and last year or so I've been wanting to get back into the writing and actually go somewhere with it.

Why do you think when you say you grew up, why did you kind of fall away from the writing?

I had a few kids and everything.

Life happened pretty much.

Yeah.

Yeah.

And so maybe you didn't have the time for it.

I didn't really have the time.

Or I just lost the purpose and had writer's block for a while.

Yeah.

It could also be that when you have kids, you have to put a lot of energy, obviously to raising kids and emotional energy and you're really nurturing someone else.

Yeah.

Yeah.

So talk a little bit about what you said.

So recently in the past year or so, how do you think you became called to it again?

I started.

I wrote out about a dream I had and then I'm like, I want to do this.

I want to be a writer.

I want to have my own book published, at least one in my life.

What do you think you would like it to be about that?

I do not know yet.

Would it be fiction or.

Probably fiction.

Okay.

What kind of books are you reading currently right now?

I haven't really read any.

I've been in the literature book from class.

From one of my classes.

Okay.

And what kind of stuff are you.

Reading for that right now?

It's the poetry unit.

Oh, okay.

Nothing's really stuck out yet.

Okay.

What do you think about poetry?

I like it.

What do you like about it?

It's just the way it expresses itself and sometimes has a deeper meaning other than what it looks like it's meaning.

It actually means something else.

Or it can have multiple meanings.

Yeah.

And so different people can get something different from the same poem.

That is pretty interesting.

Do you have anyone in your life that you can talk to, the poet talk about with?

Yes.

My husband.

Okay.

And does he like poetry also?

He might.

Okay.

But he'll.

He'll talk to you.

He'll listen to me and talk to me, whether he actually does or not.

Okay.

All right.

That.

That's.

That's a lot, you know.

So it sounds like when you were younger, you.

You really didn't have someone to talk to and now you do.

Yes.

So that's a big change.

Yeah.

How does it make it more special when you have someone to talk?

I actually have somebody to share my writings with that can give me some constructive feedback, whether it's positive or I need to change Something.

Is there anyone in your family that does creative writing or any kind of writing?

Not that I'm aware of.

Okay, so you're really alone in this endeavor?

Yes.

Okay.

What about your kids?

If they don't have to write, they won't text or whatever kids do, you.

Really are alone then?

Yeah, they're all grown pretty much.

Okay.

So when you think about the creative writing now and how it helps you now, is it different from when you were younger?

Because I remember in class you were doing a presentation and you mentioned the way that you'll write a lot of things down, kind of just anything which sound very similar to what you're doing when you were a kid.

Yeah, it helps me.

I can actually write about, like, deeper subjects and then kind of answer myself and get a little bit more understanding, and then I can share that with other people and get more understanding.

I think what you said in class, that was really interesting to me was that you'll answer yourself not necessarily as yourself, but from a different perspective.

Yes.

So when you're wrestling with trying to figure something out, you can come up with multiple viewpoints.

Yes.

Which is kind of like what we're doing in class right now.

Yeah.

I think that's really fascinating.

And that approach would help you with fiction because you have to create different characters that think differently.

Yeah.

Than you do.

Yeah.

What kind of characters do you think you would want to create?

Probably a family of some type.

What do you think you would pull from your own experience?

Probably some.

And then I'll have some that I've seen in other families and kind of blend them together to make.

I hate to say it like this, but a dysfunctional family, that actually works.

Okay.

All right, I see what you're saying.

Because in fiction there has to be some conflict because that's what people want to read about.

And I like what you're saying about the dysfunctional.

So called dysfunctional.

Right.

Because a lot of people can relate to that.

You know, when they think about their own family, it's easy to see, you know, stuff that is labeled as dysfunctional.

Yeah.

Yeah.

When you think about your academic writing, how does that kind of compare to the creative writing?

It kind of gives me pointers on what I can do better.

Okay.

Any examples?

Not off the top of my head.

Okay.

All right.

Because we've been talking about like thesis statements and doing research, and so when you're working on fiction, you have to do research also.

Okay, that sounds.

There's more to come for you then.

Yes.

As we go through the rest of the semester, you'll find more and more, hopefully parallels, you know, similarities and differences and that kind of thing.

That's pretty cool.

LCC does have a creative writing associate's degree.

Is that something you.

That's what I'm in.

All right.

Nice.

That's excellent.

Anything that you could suggest to other creative writing students?

If you have an idea, put it on paper.

And there's no limit to what you can do on pen and paper.

That's absolutely true.

If you got a dream, chase it.

Cause a dream won't chase you back.

So if you want to write, write.

Beautiful and well said.

Thanks a lot for coming in today.

You're welcome.

Thanks for stopping by the audio town square of the Washington Square Review.

Until next time, this has been the Washington Square on air from Lansing Community College.

To find out more about our writers, community and literary journal, visit lcc.

Edu wsi Writing is messy, but do it anyway.