Broken glass. Bloody smiles. Binding darkness. The images that were described flashed by one after the other. “Take this room and turn it into something terrifying,” he had told the kids. Towering as a six-foot wall of black clothing, the man listened intently, hooded eyes gazing at the boy currently reading aloud. After being given a few minutes to write, the students now took turns sharing their pieces with Mark Clements, four-time published author of suspense and horror.
This brave boy was one of the 120 high school students that, with a nametag stuck to his shirt, had eagerly waited for the start of the second Canyon Crest Academy Writers Conference.
On February 23, CCA held its annual writers conference, in which volunteer speakers from all different careers in the writing industry gave personalized workshops on their craft. This year, there were sixteen guest speakers total, composed of poets, journalists, playwrights, songwriters, literary agents, and authors of different genres. Three, 40-minute workshops ran at a time, giving attendees the opportunity to select which presentation they wished to see for each rotation.
Because of the generosity of sponsors like OSI Soft, GE Digital Energy, and Summa Education, this event was free to participants and included an expenses-paid lunch from Jersey Mikes.
Devyn Krevat, the founder of the event and a junior at CCA, created the concept after going to an SDSU Writers Conference with her mom and seeing she was by far the youngest there. “We wanted to bring this experience to the students, and give them the same inspiration I felt at my first conference,” she said.
Speakers had free reign on what they chose to do with their time. While some also used Clement’s approach with hands-on prompts, others used power points or handouts, like Nancy Holder, the New York Times best-selling author of the Buffy the Vampire Slayer series.
“It’s not hard to get the speakers to participate,” explained Krevat. “They are all passionate about their work and want to spread their knowledge to others.”
“The fact that there were actual authors there and not just teachers made it seem like an even more valuable experience,” said Megan McEldowney, a sophomore at San Dieguito Academy who recommends the conference to anyone curious about writing. “It was great being able to ask questions and just talk personally with them.”
After this year’s success, Krevat is eager to make the next conference even bigger for more students to partake in, hoping to be able to have future speakers come in from around the country.
“There’s something really special about being surrounded by people who all care as much about something as you do; who are all as ready to learn and teach,” said Krevat. “I think people left the conference that day inspired to write, and that was the goal.”