Tag: Mark Hennion

Presenter(s): Sarah Weishaupt

Faculty Mentor(s): Mark Hennion

Oral Session 4 DL

Creative writing is unique in its ability to give form to our immersive inner worlds: it is the only art form that can give a direct voice to thought. In “The Hollows of the Heart,” I explore my experiences with mental illness and relationships through metaphor. When I conceptualized this piece, I endeavored to incorporate several themes, such as addiction, loneliness, and self- control; I constructed narrative elements in the vein of speculative fiction, also known as fantasy, to represent those themes within the story. However, through the revision process, I found that these themes and metaphors got muddled together, and that the story improved when I constrained it to one or two metaphors and ensured the plot was cohesive. In the end, the act of transforming my feelings though metaphor and sharing the product with others helped me clarify them and find closure.

Presenter(s): Madeline Walters

Faculty Mentor(s): Mark Hennion

Oral Session 2 DL

My project explores the various methods authors use to tell stories in the second person point of view, and how these methods portray a powerful empathetic effect in the reader. This particular point of view is not often used in traditional narratives. Rather than using I, he, she, or we, some authors choose to use “you” in a stylistic manner. In analyzing multiple stories, I’ve found many different methods of using the second person in various stories over more than one genre. I’ve analyzed these methods in order to answer this question: How is the second person point of view told to make the readers more empathetic towards different narratives? As a writer myself, my goal is to share the art of reading and writing stories that portray an in-depth experience of emotion.

Presenter(s): Andrew Tesoriero

Faculty Mentor(s): Mark Hennion

Oral Session 4 DL

“Greener Fields” is a story of unrequited love in a dystopian future. The ambiguity of the narrator—who has no name or gender—explores questions of identity and conveys the mutability of the story’s theme across genres. The narrator shares this sense of unknown identity and inner turmoil with the story’s setting: a future defined by corporate servitude and an endless war. As the narrator visits their childhood friend Aaron, now a veteran, in a strange facility, they are forced to confront their history with Aaron and their future without him. When writing this story, I considered how science fiction can explore themes of unrequited love in new ways. I wanted the larger world to be ambiguous as to focus the story on the two characters, and found through revision which details of the outside world are important to defining the worlds of the characters. “Greener Fields” confronts love and loss amidst the uncertainty of the future—while exploring how this future is painfully tethered to the past.

Presenter(s): Andrew Tesoriero

Faculty Mentor(s): Mark Hennion

Oral Session 1 DL

Authors evoke narrative surprise to catch the audience off-balance. While plot twists are often associated with film, fiction also employs foreshadowing to build towards their reveals. However, fiction is a different medium than film. Film is often seen from outside its characters whereas fiction often puts the reader in a character’s mind or over their shoulder in the third person. Thus, interiority can make a plot twist more satisfying. When inside a character’s head, a reveal that they are not what they seem is more impactful than if viewed from the outside. Authors such as O. Henry, Ursula K. Le Guin, James Tiptree Jr., Seth Dickinson and Kazuo Ishiguro have used plot twists and narrative surprise to catch the reader off-balance. The meaning and emotional impact of each of their works is enhanced by the plot twist, but all in different ways that suit their disparate genres and tones. These authors’ varying works demonstrate multiple ways of executing plot twists: some feature dramatic reveal moments, others never acknowledge the twist and wait for the reader to figure out what is going on, but each of them use narrative surprise to support the tone and meaning of the piece.

Presenter(s): Kaya Noteboom

Faculty Mentor(s): Mark Hennion

Oral Session 3 DL

The personal essay, as a mode of creative writing, allows total agency in the representation of stories coming from writers of under-represented backgrounds. As an artist who identifies as a trauma survivor, as queer, trans, and mixed-race, I prioritize telling true stories from my life because I feel an urgency to complicate the sparse existing narratives surrounding these identities. “On Being Full” is a personal essay that mediates on two opposing fears: the fear of unplanned pregnancy and the fear of infertility. Within it, I weave expository elements with scenes of unpleasant doctor’s visits, and flashbacks of pivotal moments in my family history. This essay is a meditation on fertility—for the purpose of procreation, and creating as an artist. “On Being Full” provides a queered perspective on pregnancy and motherhood, contributing to the visibility of stories and lives that are seldom given light in the literary community.

Presenter(s): Kaya Noteboom

Faculty Mentor(s): Mark Hennion

Oral Session 2 DL

Auto-fiction is a literary form that situates autobiographical elements of the author in fiction. How much is made-up and how much is factual varies on a spectrum from almost all to almost nothing. This is a form interested in challenging monotonous expectations of fiction by utilizing components of non-fiction. My research explores how narrative voice and character interiority function differently in fiction compared to non-fiction, and how narrative voice and character interiority can be used to subvert expectations of fiction in works of auto-fiction. I analyze the writings of Ben Lerner, a prominent auto-fiction author, and contrast his work with personal essays. My research is guided by the critical analysis Amit Chaudhuri and Ben Marcus, who practice versions of auto-fiction themselves, and provide helpful opinions on the subgenre. By exploring the role of character interiority and narrative voice in blurring the line between fiction and non-fiction, we might gain insight on how to better innovate components of fiction that are tired and expected.

Presenter(s): Lisa Kwan

Faculty Mentor(s): Mark Hennion

Oral Session 3 DL

My short story “Variations on Affection” is told in first person point of view from the perspective of an Asian-American mother. The fictive present follows the mother on her daughter Sophie’s wedding day as she is walking down the aisle. The story alternates between this short time frame and flashbacks detailing important moments in their relationship. It is largely focused on exploring the difficult relationship between mothers and daughters, which is a result of cultural and generational differences. Mainly, it puts the ideas of individualism and collectivism in contention, contrasting Sophie’s independence with her mother’s stubborn traditional upbringing. The navigation of these tensions and their eventual reconciliation, though ambiguous, reflects the experience of many second-generation children and their immigrant parents. As the title suggests, there are many ways in which love and affection manifest.

Presenter(s): Rory Allen

Faculty Mentor(s): Mark Hennion

Oral Session 1 DL

When writing a story, an author usually tries to erase all trace that the world and characters have been constructed so the reader seamlessly slips into the fictional realm without being reminded that a writer exists and is directing the story from behind the curtain. However, second person narration has the potential to disrupt this dynamic. My essay argues that the second person narrative style as utilized by Italo Calvino’s metafictive novella, If On a Winter’s Night a Traveler, redefines the fictional space that the protagonist and narrator inhabit. This, in turn, forces the reader to confront the roles of the author and narrator and exposes the construction of ‘story-telling’ in both the fictional and real realities.