Word A Creative Writing Commentary

Author: Abigail Mitchell

Senior Charles Logan's interest in writing first materialized in fifth grade when he fell into an "unhealthy obsession" with the Civil War. Naturally, Logan was drawn towards his local group of Civil War re-enactors, "The 55th Illinois." Logan said, recalling his memories, "I was Orion Hatch, drummer boy extraordinaire. Though I never saw actual combat." Years later, Logan chanced upon an old notebook filled with poems he'd composed about the dramatic and premature deaths of soldiers in combat - "All very sentimental and achy."

Staying true to his days of maudlin war poetry, Logan has continued to write ever since (though, thankfully, his subject matter has evolved). This year, he will undertake a creative thesis with the famous Rob Cohen associate professor of English at Middlebury, award-winning novelist and Guggenheim Fellowship recipient, as an advisor. Logan is planning on writing a collection of short stories based in his home-town suburb of Chicago. When asked how much of his own life will figure into his writing, Logan replies, "My own life plays a rather large role in my writing, which is a good and bad thing. I remember reading somewhere that an author's first work is often a thinly veiled autobiography. Well, some of that's true of my current work. How could it not? I write from what I know best."

However, one of the benefits of writing is that it allows us to vicariously live out lives, or moments even, that we could not otherwise. Logan plans to capitalize on this fact in his thesis by letting his characters venture into "the perverse and startling places [he's] too afraid or too limited to venture."

If Logan had to characterize his writing, he would say "It functions in a slightly sick, domestic world." Like the many cynical and sardonic writers in this day, Logan will focus on the undercurrents and facades that flourish in the jaded world of suburbia. He said, "I'm interested in what Lily Briscoe called 'the extreme obscurity of human relationships'" (Lily Briscoe is a character in Virginia Wolfe's "To the Lighthouse"). The stories tackle the subtleties of hope, failure, expectation and multiplicity, while satisfying our urge for perversity, violence and voyeurism.

Right now, Logan is trying to establish a pattern of writing. On some days, two hours produce one paragraph - on other days, a whole page. "I suppose it's all up to the Muse's temperament," he concedes.

Fortunately, Logan has a collection of muses. Tacked up on the wall above Logan's desk are three old photographs purchased in Prague of anonymous people. Standing on his desk are three figurines: a carving of a village elder from Malawi, a sea captain and Senor Misterioso. Of the last, Logan says, "He wears a fedora and glows in the dark. Plus, he's an excellent listener."