By Rory Dulock | Staff Writer
The Wordsmith Society has only existed for a year on campus, and in that time its student founder created a club that offers a professional creative writing environment.
Laguna Beach, Calif., senior and founder Reese Wensinger said they started the club to find other people who were serious about creative writing and wanted to have their work published.
“The reason why I had wanted to do a creative writing minor at all was [because] I was hoping to find a community of young authors like myself at Baylor, but there really wasn’t [one],” Wensinger said. “I wasn’t really finding those people that were very invested and interested in writing their own work.”
Wensinger said a lot of people that they met were taking creative writing classes at Baylor because it was “an easy English thing to do,” which made it hard to find others who shared their passion creative writing.
“People assume that creative writing requires less work than an analytical English class, which I disagree [with],” Wensinger said. “So I was really struggling to find that [community].”
Wensinger said they spoke to the English department chair to find a way to get involved in creative writing on campus and discovered there was no creative writing club at the time.
“The one [club] that was getting started was not what I was looking for either,” Wensinger said. “They weren’t really trying to focus on the beauties of storytelling and all that. They were doing a more informational thing, like a mini class. I wasn’t looking for that. I was looking for other authors, other creatives at Baylor, and wanting to inspire them and be inspired by them.”
Wensinger said they originally only opened the club to people who were already taking creative writing classes because they wanted to make sure that it was reaching that particular demographic rather than the wider population of Baylor. However, Wensinger said they are open and flexible when it comes to deciding on applicants during the application process.
“We’re always eager to meet other creatives that are interested,” Wensinger said. “We’re pretty flexible. … We change with the people that come into our space.”
According to Wensinger, submissions are currently closed for this semester.
San Antonio junior Saunsa Allee is a recent member of the Wordsmith Society. She said there is a common misconception that the club is the Baylor Creative Writing Club on campus, but the two are different in terms of end goals.
“[Wordsmith Society] is more geared toward people who are really serious about going into publishing or being an author,” Allee said. “With most creative writing clubs, it’s more of something that’s a hobby, like anyone of any major can do it — which is great — but we’re getting really serious about what we’re going to write.”
Wensinger said their favorite part about starting the club has been the inspiration that has come from being around other like-minded creatives .
“It’s just been the way that this society has grown past myself and how I’ve seen everyone contribute to it that’s come in,” Wensinger said. “Everybody that I’ve brought in has been so excited about it. To find that community for themselves as well. … I hope that everyone can find a space like the Wordsmith Society on campus.”
