Madonna Pen puts its own twist on horror
By Jillian Law
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A guy finds love on an app called Undying Love and gets a twist when his date is a vegetarian zombie. A mother is convinced that a spirit is haunting her in the form of her daughter. A girlfriend brings her boyfriend back from the dead with a spell. These stories and more came from the pens of Madonna Pen members were working during their Reimagining Horror event Oct. 30 in the Writing Center.
The Reimagining Horror event aimed to encourage Madonna Pen members and other writers to reinterpret their favorite horror tales in new ways. These writers found inspiration in everything from classic tales like Edgar Allan Poe’s “The Tell-Tale Heart” to more contemporary fare like the 1998 film Practical Magic.
“I’m not the biggest fan of horror stories, to be honest,” said Raechel Daniels, Madonna Pen vice president and psychology major. “But it was fun to embrace my inner spooky and try to keep people invested and at the edge of their seats wondering what was going to happen next.”
The writers involved were given two hours to write as much as they could in whatever form they liked: short stories, poetry, or even one-line puns. In the last hour, everyone checked in on their progress and shared their scary stories. Prizes like a cat-shaped ring-holder and bags of Hershey Kisses were awarded to the spookiest tales.
For some members, writing scary stories allowed them to flex a different writing muscle than they usually use.
“I like the suspense in horror stories and that the outcome is usually different than what you expect,” said Rachel Fry, a biomedical science major.
Reimagining Horror is the first of many events that Madonna Pen hopes will engage more writers and attract more members to their club. Next month, Madonna Pen will partner with the Writing Center for Late Night Against Procrastination on Nov. 25 from 6 p.m.-12 a.m.
The aim of that event for Madonna Pen is to gather writers to work on projects they usually don’t have time for in honor of National Novel Writing Month, also known as NaNoWriMo.
“It’s important for fellow writers to get together and have creative outlets with each other,” said Daniels. “It can be stressful being surrounded by people who like to write or just having to write for school all the time. So taking a break from al that to get together and write is really great.”
For Fry, attending Madonna Pen events like Reimagining Horror and monthly meetings give her much needed time to write.
“It’s a good way to practice our writing skills especially with the time limit,” said Fry. “I also like getting to know an awesome group of people that share a passion for writing.”
The stories and poems written during the Reimagining Horror event and other written work will be featured on the fall 2019 edition of MU Voices. For more information on Madonna Pen or to submit work to be featured, contact Madonna Pen at [email protected].
[email protected]
A guy finds love on an app called Undying Love and gets a twist when his date is a vegetarian zombie. A mother is convinced that a spirit is haunting her in the form of her daughter. A girlfriend brings her boyfriend back from the dead with a spell. These stories and more came from the pens of Madonna Pen members were working during their Reimagining Horror event Oct. 30 in the Writing Center.
The Reimagining Horror event aimed to encourage Madonna Pen members and other writers to reinterpret their favorite horror tales in new ways. These writers found inspiration in everything from classic tales like Edgar Allan Poe’s “The Tell-Tale Heart” to more contemporary fare like the 1998 film Practical Magic.
“I’m not the biggest fan of horror stories, to be honest,” said Raechel Daniels, Madonna Pen vice president and psychology major. “But it was fun to embrace my inner spooky and try to keep people invested and at the edge of their seats wondering what was going to happen next.”
The writers involved were given two hours to write as much as they could in whatever form they liked: short stories, poetry, or even one-line puns. In the last hour, everyone checked in on their progress and shared their scary stories. Prizes like a cat-shaped ring-holder and bags of Hershey Kisses were awarded to the spookiest tales.
For some members, writing scary stories allowed them to flex a different writing muscle than they usually use.
“I like the suspense in horror stories and that the outcome is usually different than what you expect,” said Rachel Fry, a biomedical science major.
Reimagining Horror is the first of many events that Madonna Pen hopes will engage more writers and attract more members to their club. Next month, Madonna Pen will partner with the Writing Center for Late Night Against Procrastination on Nov. 25 from 6 p.m.-12 a.m.
The aim of that event for Madonna Pen is to gather writers to work on projects they usually don’t have time for in honor of National Novel Writing Month, also known as NaNoWriMo.
“It’s important for fellow writers to get together and have creative outlets with each other,” said Daniels. “It can be stressful being surrounded by people who like to write or just having to write for school all the time. So taking a break from al that to get together and write is really great.”
For Fry, attending Madonna Pen events like Reimagining Horror and monthly meetings give her much needed time to write.
“It’s a good way to practice our writing skills especially with the time limit,” said Fry. “I also like getting to know an awesome group of people that share a passion for writing.”
The stories and poems written during the Reimagining Horror event and other written work will be featured on the fall 2019 edition of MU Voices. For more information on Madonna Pen or to submit work to be featured, contact Madonna Pen at [email protected].