At this Charlotte teen creative writing group, community comes before critiques
Under a humming HVAC, surrounded by anime doodles, flyers on dating and a reminder to be tidy because house elves don’t exist, a group of teenagers sit around a table, pencils and notebooks at the ready, awaiting the day’s directive.
This isn’t a study session or a test prep class. There’s no red pen for corrections or an expectation of perfection.
It’s a discussion on battle scenes and depicting motion minus the verbiage but with the right amount of flair. It’s a game where teens literally judge books by their covers or personify the characters they’ve dreamed up.
This is Inkspill. A writing group for youths ages 12 to 18, who want to let their pens roam, their imaginations loose and their writing community grow.
Inkspill is one of the teen programs at the Charlotte Mecklenburg Library — University City Regional branch. It was started more than a year ago by librarian Alyx Reid. Her goal was to provide a space for teens looking to put their thoughts into words and a place to vibe with others like them.
“Teen writers, I think, are extremely important. That is where a lot of stories, that even adults write, come from,” Reid said. “There are teens out there in our community who are writers or interested in writing, but they may not have an outlet to share their work or the time to spend on writing or meeting others who are also into writing…
“Having that ability be nurtured even if it’s by people their own age is a fantastic opportunity.”
Inkspill 101
Inkspill is Reid’s ode to her former teen desires. She started writing when she was 12 but never found a group setting to share her work.
Once Reid joined the teen staff at University City, she knew her first course of action would be creating a teen writing group.
Each session starts off with a check-in. That can either be an icebreaker prompt, a warm-up or just a chat about their days.
Then Reid gives the group the main activity that can look like a longer writing prompt that either sets up a scenario or starts off with a sentence. These can be interactive as well.
There’s the judging of the book covers, where Reid will have the group choose random books from the Young Adult section and write a blurb on what they think the book is about based on the cover.
At the end, they read aloud what they wrote, if participants want to.
The group isn’t focused on proper grammar or critical readthroughs. Some peer feedback is given but that isn’t the main reason for sharing.
Reid emphasizes that she isn’t a teacher and the group isn’t about learning writing technique. It’s just a space.
“It’s not a writing class, it’s not a workshop,” Reid said. “This is really just a space for you to write… A space away from school, away from home… I really wanted this to be a safe space.”
And so far, it has been, Reid said. Not only are the teens’ talents growing, their personalities are opening up as well.
Words and community
A big focus for Reid is space.
Allowing the group to steer the activities. Giving people the chance to share or not. That’s been the main draw for participants.
“My mom told me to touch grass (and get out of the house), so she started looking at programs and stuff to do at the library,” said Rebeca Ciurca, 16. She’s been coming to Inkspill for a few months. “But this has become a consistent thing. I like to write and I have a lot of stories in my head.
“There are a lot of things going on in my brain that I need to get out and if I write things down, that makes it a lot easier to process,” she said. “Here, I can talk about brain doom things that nobody else is interested in, and I get to hear what other people are interested in.”
Nyla Clyburn echoed the sentiment. She’s homeschooled, and many of the other participants are as well’ So the group provides that needed socialization.
“This is something I can depend on,” Clyburn, 15, said. “There’s no judgment. It’s just healthy feedback and it’s a really supportive group.”
Then there’s the motivational aspect.
Elena Lane, 15, said since joining the group well over a year ago, she’s actually stuck to writing. She’s been working on a fantasy novel for five years and Lane is hoping to get that published one day. With Inkspill, she gets to work on it every Tuesday.
“So many other things I’ve fallen off of. I did ballet and then I stopped. I did piano and then I stopped. But this, I want to finish this,” Lane said. “Coming here, I’ve almost filled up notebooks, which never happens.”
Overall, it seems the group has really been about finding a voice.
Keagan Cavanaugh, 16, was terrified when she joined the group. Terrified to share or interact. Now, she’s one of the participants who has attended the longest, about six months, and she’s really vocal.
“It’s a fun way to connect with other people your age that write,” Cavanaugh said. “I really enjoy being able to see how other people write and… how people’s voices develop.”
Tuesday’s session
On a recent Tuesday, Reid had a full house. Some old faces and some new ones crammed into the teen corner, ready for the afternoon adventure.
Reid started off with some introspective prompts.
She asked three questions: what does writing mean to you currently? Where do you see yourself when it comes to writing in five years? When you get the opportunity to publish your first book, what would you want it to be?
After about 30 minutes, the group shared their thoughts.
“Writing is a form of art that needs no color for it to feel lively.”
“I want to see how writing changes as the world changes and how writing impacts the world changing.”
Next, the fun prompt. Reid gave everyone three random words. Their task: write something using those words at least once. The words ranged from red dress, to a candle, an owl, a tattoo gun and snails.
Tales were indeed woven. One person wrote about shapeshifters. Clyburn wrote about a woman obsessed with snails and begged the question, do snails have toes?
Reid said if time allows it, she’d love it if everyone shared their work — but no pressure.
“The fact that they want to come and they come regularly, to me, that’s the most important thing,” Reid said.
What’s next for the program?
Inkspill happens every Tuesday but the program will go on hiatus, possibly starting in mid-December, as the branch prepares to relocate.
University City is getting a bigger branch in the Waters Edge development, a 20-acre project that includes housing, retail space and a lakefront park. The new branch will be on Waters Edge Village Drive and is set to open in February.
Programs are expected to restart by March, Reid said.
And Inkspill isn’t the only teen program at the University City branch. It also offers a board game night and an anime club. The branch also brings some programming to nearby schools as community outreach.
Reid said other library branches create their own programming and some of these groups are similar at other library locations. The Plaza Midwood branch has a teen writing group and the Mountain Island and West Boulevard branches also have anime and manga groups.
The new University City branch will have a larger teen space. Reid’s looking forward to adding some new programs and events.
With Inkspill, she hopes more people start coming to the sessions, especially more boys.
“I feel like there are a lot of male writers out there who may be just a little nervous about coming,” Reid laughed.
A “lofty” goal she has is maybe creating a newsletter showing off some of the teen’s writing.
The group will ultimately dictate what happens next, Reid said. And as long as that involves writing, she’ll be down for the ride.
“Some people don’t have other people to talk to when they’re having these creative thoughts and they want to get it out and I think that in general it’s extremely important for young people to find someone,” Reid said. “Find us. Find that one person who is willing to support you.”
Or a group that can answer the real remaining question, do snails have toes?
So, what are the teens reading?
Stephen King says you “have to read widely” in order to refine your work as reader. The teens in Inkspill are certainly doing that. Here’s a list of their favorite reads, most of which this writer has added to her “to be read” list.
- Maryam Khan, 14: The “Shatter Me” series by Tahereh Mafi; “The Girl in the Castle” by James Patterson
- Rebeca Ciurca, 16: “Ender’s Game” by Orson Scott Card; “Murder the March Hare” by H. Lyall
- Elena Lane, 15: “A Game of Noctis” by Deva Fagan;
- Keagan Cavanaugh, 16; “The Starless Sea” by Erin Morgenstern; “No Longer Human” by Osamu Dazai
- Nyla Clyburn, 15: The “Amulet” series by Kazu Kibuishi; “It’s Always the Husband” by Michele Campbell
This story was originally published December 2, 2024 at 6:00 AM.
