By: Grace Goze

As English majors, it’s no secret we love reading, but let’s not forget about our passion for writing. Whether you’re a Creative Writing major or not, it may be hard to find groups on campus that just let you write for the sake of writing. Well, fear not writers, here is a compiled list of some of the big writing organizations on campus!

 

Organization: Writers’ Community

Meeting Time: 8 PM on Monday in RB 284

Contact: writers@bsu.edu or tdmckinney@bsu.edu

“The Writers’ Community is a creative writing organization where folks can share and get feedback on their writing. We accept almost any medium of literature in most any genre. Folks have shared short stories, parts of novels, poems, songs, and much more.

The organization is beneficial to students interested in writing, because we offer feedback and advice on shared works and creative writing in general. Students are free to share and discuss their ideas, plans, current works, etc. I encourage anyone who writes or who is interested in writing to come on down to a meeting and check it out.” — Ian Roesler

To find out more, check out our blog post specifically on Writers’ Community.

Writers’ Community can also be found on Twitter.

 

Organization: Poetic Summit

Meeting Time: 7 PM on Tuesday in LB 112

Contact: bsupoeticsummit@gmail.com

“Poetic Summit is a spoken word poetry group at Ball State University. We like to cultivate a safe space for poets to share their work and talk about social issues through spoken word. It’s a great place to make meaningful connections with other Ball State students as well as share your written works. Every month we host an event on campus to showcase our poets, this is a great opportunity to perform.

If you love poetry and are looking to improve your craft you should definitely stop by one of our meetings! Joining is absolutely free and you can come anytime during the semester.” — Executive Team Members

Find Poetic Summit on Twitter, Instagram, and Facebook.

 

Organization: BSU Tonight (Writer’s Staff)

Website: BSU Tonight

Contact: bsutonighttv@gmail.com

“The BSU Tonight Writing Staff is a group of talented and driven students whose job it is to write and pitch comedic concepts and sketches for Ball State’s only late night talk show. Writers should consider joining the Writing Staff because it’s one of the most creative and liberating spaces for writing on Ball State’s campus. If a writer has ever wanted to grow as a comedian, better understand conventional screenplay format, or simply have a platform to share his or her ideas with a group of like-minded individuals, then he or she should absolutely consider applying for the BSU Tonight Writing Staff.” — Ben Barry

***BSU Tonight takes applications for comedy writers at the the top of the academic year, so unfortunately, they are no longer looking for writers this year. If you are interested, keep it on your radar for next Fall.***

Keep up with them on Twitter.

 

Organization: Something Else

Meeting Time: 8 PM on Tuesdays in LB 127

Contact: info.somethingelsetv@gmail.com

“Something Else is a sketch comedy club that does a wide range of comedy for all aspects of short filmmaking. We create sketches that make people say “That was something else…” We do acting, writing, directing, editing, audio, etc. — Everyone has a role in the process and we have a great time throughout. We accept anyone, so not everyone has to be a Telecommunications major! It’s beneficial for writers to join to just get started. It’s pretty easy to get a script made into an actual sketch. They say the hardest part for writing is starting, so start with us!” — Max VanDongen

Follow their Twitter.

 

Organization: The Broken Plate

Website: thebrokenplate.org

Contact: brokenplate@bsu.edu

“The Broken Plate is Ball State University’s nationally distributed literary magazine. We seek to publish work in the following genres: fiction, creative nonfiction, poetry, and visual art. We receive hundreds of submissions every from writers all over the country, and student writers from Ball State. Last year, we received so many that those whose work was accepted were among approximately 5% of overall submissions. The printed magazine is launched every Spring during In Print: A Festival of First Books. Our submission window is open now and will close on October 31st. Visit thebrokenplate.org for more information on submitting content and to read previous issues!

 

Not only is The Broken Plate an excellent way to obtain experience in submitting creative work, it is an immersive learning course offered at Ball State in which students gain professional skills in design, editing, and publishing.” — Kimmi Beard

Those interested in registering for The Broken Plate immersive course for 2019-20 will need to email Prof. Sarah Domet (sdomet@bsu.edu) for an interview later this year.

For even more information, follow The Broken Plate on Twitter and Instagram.

 

Organization: Digital Literature Review

Website: Digital Literature Review

Contact: dlr@gmail.com

“The Digital Literature Review is an undergraduate journal of literary research produced each spring by Ball State undergraduate students. Each student in the journal is designated to a particular team— design, publicity, or editorial. Students who are involved with the DLR must, barring any scheduling conflicts, sign up for a year long class, the first semester of which provides time for the students to learn the literary theory on that year’s theme (which differs year by year) and the second semester of which allows for the publication of the actual journal. Each student who works in the DLR must complete a long, in-depth research project that they must then submit to the journal; throughout the first semester, the faculty advisor requires students to turn in research proposals and annotated bibliographies in order to scaffold the students’ learning.

This year’s theme is Brave New Worlds: Utopias and Dystopias in Literature and Film. We are currently accepting art, photography, blog, and paper submissions. (Papers should be 2500-5000 words, written in MLA format, and sent as a PDF; blogs should 400-700 words with similar format and submission guidelines.) Submissions are due January 9, 2019.” — Leah Hiem

If you’d like to be a part of the DLR for the 2019-2020 academic year, when the DLR‘s theme will be “Ghost Stories and Cultural Haunting,” please contact Debbie Mix (dmmix@bsu.edu).

Check out the DLR on Twitter and Facebook.

 

Organization: Odyssey

Website: Odyssey

Contact: odieontherun@gmail.com (for 2018-19)

“Odyssey is an annual arts and literature journal that publishes creative works from Ball State Honors College students. The journal is student-run and aims to celebrate the talents of the Honors College across a variety of mediums. In the past, Odyssey has published poetry, prose, screenplays and all types of visual art such as sculptures, lithography, photography and illustrations.  This year, Odyssey will expand as a creative space by accepting music and video submissions on our online platforms. Submissions will open shortly, with the final publication becoming available in the Spring semester.” — Lauren Delorenzo

Watch for further submission information on Instagram and Twitter.

*** Odyssey submissions are only open to Honors College students. ***

 

Now go out there, and get writing BSU English!