Random Writers lets teens’ creativity shine

On Monday nights the Culpeper County Library undergoes a transformation. Its walls spring up to form an impenetrable fortress. Covered in ivy and surrounded by a moat, the castle serves as protection for bright young minds.

Inside sit a group — call them Laini Bostian’s Knights of the Square tables.

Bostain, the Youth Services Coordinator at the library, brings the group together to fight the evils of oppression, disdain and common thought.

Their swords are pens and pencils, their shields multitudes of dog-eared notebooks, each scribbled with fantastic ideas.

These walls, this castle, this sanctuary serve as a place where the knights can share their stories, their poems, themselves and not live with the fear of being judged.

Its walls allow their walls to be broken down.

Random thoughts
Bostian formed Random Writers to give teens, ages 12-18, a chance to let their creativity flow. At school students have to write what they’re assigned, but on Monday nights Bostian’s goal is to be, well, random.

“The reason I started it is because it’s a good place for teenagers to get to know one another in a more personal way,” Bostian said. “I believe everyone can write and I call it Random Writers because I really think if you let your guard down and stop feeling like you have to write this intense product like you do in school, you can get more done.”

The group, attended regularly by eight writers, is one that Bostian calls “perfectionists.” Some will write constantly, rip it up and throw it away. Others will sit before a notebook and not write a single thing. Others will start, stop, start and finally walk away, only to revisit it later when the mood strikes them.

That’s just what Bostian wants to encourage.

All of the writing is unique, even if many of the stories share the same vein: Science fiction, fantasy, medieval times, wizards, warlocks and witches.

“I write fantasy fiction, poetry, I’ve always been good at descriptive stuff,” Kara Smith said. “I come here (the library) all the time, one day I just saw these pamphlets for the group and decided ‘why not check it out?’ I just kept coming back.”

On a recent Monday, Crystal Howard — a teen that helped Bostian come up with the idea for the group — Marlee Laws, Bailey Cribbs and Elijah Wheelock, joined Kara for discussion of their writing, talk of their favorite books and plain old camaraderie. Emily Balderson, Alex Bynum-Surratt and Ryan Frary usually join the group as well.

Helping each other
One of Bostian’s main goals is to teach how to deal with criticism. Not mean spirited degradation, like many of the writers fear, but actual constructive thoughts on how to make their writing more colorful, realistic or whimsical.

“The big goal is to give teenagers a place to make mistakes,” Bostian said.

The group, reluctant at first to share their ideas with each other, warmed up after Bostian put them through a series of icebreakers. Now they feel comfortable enough to work together, reading their stories aloud and taking friendly advice.

“That way you can have someone show you what you did wrong and they can help you fix it,” Crystal said.

Many of the stories take place in a different time period, some in a different universe. Others are even wilder. But each is equally brilliant.

One of the group’s favorite exercises was to work in collaboration with one another, taking them out of their comfort zone. Ice creatures worked with men from the past, giant robots attacked Wal-Mart.

Each group came up with an idea more fantastic than the first.

“My writing usually turns out being the same every time, so it’s nice to work with other people,” Kara said.

Kara, that week, teamed with Elijah — one of the writers that doesn’t share often. But this week, even with a stranger in the audience, Elijah reads from his notebook. Bostian points out that the last time they met, Elijah was hurriedly scribbling away at the end of the meeting, and everyone was excited to find out what he created.

“It’s a Bob story,” he said, quietly at first.

Bob, a stock name that Elijah uses often, was a black wizard this time. The 13-year-old homeschooler started into his story, easily at first, but broke into a maniacal laugh during a pivotal point — surprising everyone, including those in the outer rooms of the library who had no clue what was going on.

“They’re all staring at you,” Kara giggled.

With the door now closed, Elijah broke into his tale again. A wizard summons a demon, but not just any demon.

“A piece of cheese, Bob said. Provolone to be exact master, said the demon he had summoned,” Elijah read.

That part brought forth laughter from the small group as Elijah continued to the climax of the story.

“To get Elijah to put fiction on paper is almost painstaking,” Bostain said. “He’ll actually stop in the middle of sentences when he has ideas.”

The story, Elijah explained, came simply because he wondered “what if this evil black wizard summoned a piece of cheese.”

“I do my best work when I’m not paying attention to other people, and I should be,” Elijah said.

Always be prepared

While Elijah admits that when he opens his notebook there’s a one in 100 chance he’ll actually put his pencil to the paper, other writers have to carry a notebook at them at all times, just to capture the ideas spilling forth.

Marlee is one of those writers.

“I’ve learned that sometimes you have to just write stuff down and not let yourself forget what you just thought of because you may never know when you’re going to use it,” she said. “Being in this group has taught me how to write without thinking who might be reading it.”

Bostian points out that Marlee, and many of the others, are a sponge for ideas.

“She was writing a lot of Lewis Carroll-sounding poetry. We sent her home with a book of poets, I think she read William Carlos Williams and she came back with a poem in a completely different style,” Bostian said.

How to get more involved
The Random Writers have been the best-attended group at the library. Other teen activities Bostian has attempted haven’t been as popular, and other ideas have fallen flat before even taking off.

The teens have put in their thoughts. Crystal would like a photography group, or one dealing with music. Others would like a coffee house night, allowing them to share poetry, art and music.

“I did meet a teen who said he wanted to do an open mike type of thing, but he didn’t show up,” Bostain said. “If teens get in touch with me by e-mailing me, or by calling — the sky is really the limit with what we can do here.”

In other towns Bostian reached teens by distributing flyers in the schools. For security reasons, Culpeper County Public Schools doesn’t allow flyers, so she has turned to technical tools, offering a blog — ccclvateen.blogspot.com — and a Livejournal blog for writers.

Livejournal has drawn some interest since it’s anonymous, something that’s important for the writers.

Many pointed out they were afraid of sharing their creative writing at school, mostly because they were worried peers would judge them differently.

“I don’t want any of my friends from school reading what I write because there’s a major difference of what I write around them, and what I write in my notebooks,” Kara said.

“It might be the fact that you say something you have to live with because you’re going to school with them for another four or so years,” Bailey added.

A rare opportunity
The Random Writers meeting Feb. 2 is the last opportunity for teens to join to be eligible for a video chat with acclaimed author Kathi Appelt on March 16 from 6 to 8 p.m.
Bostian, who knows Appelt, asked her to join the group via Web cam to talk about her book “The Underneath.”

“I’m really looking forward to talking to the kids at Culpeper Library, especially in such an informal way,” Appelt said. “And not only that, but the group at Culpeper is specifically interested in writing and since I was a teen writer myself oh so many years ago, it makes me happy to think that a new generation of writers is so interested in the details of our work.”

Back to work
As the stranger walks away from the castle, the sound of mighty battle is already at hand. Pens and pencils have hit the notepad shields and new ideas are being brandished. In a few hours, the walls will come down and the library will morph once more into a quiet sanctum — until Monday.

Not ‘stereotypical’ teens

The word “teen” brought about another interesting discussion. Do they care for the term, or is it something just created by the mainstream business world to find a way to market books, music and TV shows?

“Pretty much when you hit 13 you can’t call us a kid anymore, call us a teen, it just makes it seem older,” Kara Smith said.

And even though her writing betrays her, Kara says she’s a stereotypical teen, holed up in her room typing on her computer like a maniac.

But some, like Elijah Wheelock, don’t particularly care for the term.

“Teen does convey a sense of being between adulthood and childhood, but we’re all people,” he said, adding that ageism is something that has bothered him since age 8.

Dealing with teens isn’t a challenge, though Culpeper County Library Youth Services Coordinator Laini Bostian laughed when she recalled the “giggly-girl” challenge.

“We got over that at some point,” Kara said, laughing as well. “We had to write about something that was in the bathroom and we put it on our back and we had to guess what we were. And I was running around trying to look at it.”

Out of all the teens, Kara and Bailey are the most talkative. Crystal Howard chips in with insightful thoughts, Marlee Laws listens intently, and Elijah scribbled away in his notebook.

All of this is part of Bostian’s larger plan, to give teens a social outlet — an option for those that don’t go out and party,that would rather discuss the latest Anime or Manga.

“I want to do more social things because teens that do this sort of thing don’t get to go to the same parties, or necessarily want to go the same parties as other people,” Bostain said. “To give them a place where they can be creative and comfortable is important.”

With their group having been set for a few months, the writers aren’t sure how new “blood” would mix, but they’re sure that after awhile, anyone would be accepted.

“It might be hard to get a new person in because of the initial awkwardness,” Bailey said. “But I think we would get over that just with me and Kara laughing in the background.”

“Would you like a lollipop,” Kara offered, laughing.

“Now we know why you act crazy,” Bailey countered, “it’s because you eat all that sugar.”

— Jeff Say

Teens, want to go?
What: Random Writers
When: Monday, 6 to 8 p.m.
For: Teens, ages 12-18
Online: cclvateen.blogspot.com