Creative Writing Commons^™

Ex Astris - 30 Minute Sketch Comedy Concept, Grayson Mckim

Honors Thesis

"Discovering NASA’s intentions to retire him, an aging scientist attempts to pivot his declining career into film directing, hoping to prove (amongst other things) that aliens exist"

Ex Astris is a 30 minute animated comedy TV series that blends the traditional sit-com structure with aspects of sketch writing. It revolves around the conflict between creative and scientific thought, and is meant to be a wholesome narrative about self-esteem and expression.

To Live With, Serina Lund

Honors Thesis

To Live With is a story about an individual, Charlie, living with schizophrenia. The story follows Charlie as he grows up, from a time of no definitive signs of schizophrenia to his first major episode and the consequences that follow. I utilized knowledge and research stemming from my nursing education to create a character meant to connect with readers in a way that broadens their view on mental illness. This story only shows one view of what living with schizophrenia may be like and is in no way intended to encompass all of schizophrenia. I searched for ways to show …

Overgrown: A Collection Of Supernatural Narratives, Emily Dawn Cote

Honors Thesis

Overgrown is a collection of short stories stemming from nontangible anxieties, such as death, violence against women, and the queer search for acceptance. Each of the three pieces, including Thoughts of a Downed Oak Tree, Wrong, and For the Living, touches upon how individuals experience these anxieties and how they face them. I also selected Overgrown because all included pieces had to deal with a piece of reflection, overcoming or discovery. The Title Overgrown reflects both the sense of nature these pieces bring, but also the aspect of personal reflection they conjure. These characters engage with a degree of …

Love In A Bleak Climate: A Tale Of Desolation In The Deserts Of New Mexico, Remy Rogers, Han Dai-Yu

Honors Thesis

As an illustration major and English minor, my thesis melds the two mediums of the written word and visual imagery. One half of this thesis is a short story I’ve written about an old woman and her dog who become stranded in the deserts of New Mexico while on a camping trip following a coyote attack. Using the classic format of book illustrations, I chose 10 scenes from my story to interpret, decorate, and visually explain through the medium of traditional illustration: hand-drawn ink and watercolor drawings. A quote from each scene is included in the illustration itself. The purpose …

Explorations Of Liminality And Intersectionality In Tabletop Games, Alyna Kim

Honors Thesis

In fantasy role-playing games (RPGs), especially tabletop role-playing games (TTRPGs), participants are required to collaborate to create not only fantasy personas in the shape of characters, but also the world and space that makes up the game itself. Participants therefore create a sense of both time and space that exist outside of basic reality. The created space and time––referred to as a world or a story––exists as a liminal space that participants and characters use as a tool to both exist and explore. While the participants exist physically in the real world, the game space allows them to go beyond …

Slotus, Alison F. Huntley, Michael F.X. Daley

Honors Thesis

When a paranoid, image-obsessed woman becomes Second Lady of the United States, she will protect herself and her family from the (often non-existent) eyes of the press no matter what - despite her three step-children’s protests.

Hansel And Gretel: A Feature And Study On How Fairy Tales Have Changed, Nazeli Ekimyan

Honors Thesis

Once upon a time, the Little Mermaid watched her Prince marry another woman, the Sleeping Beauty was raped by a Prince and woke up from her deep slumber to find out she was the mother of twins, the Little Red Riding Hood never made it out alive, and Goldilocks broke her neck jumping out of a window. This project examines original fairy tales and how they have changed over the years through various adaptations in media and film. The purpose is to find an answer to the question of why these sugarcoated changes have been made over time. In order …

Blogs And Feature Articles: Foster Youth In Higher Education, Superheroine Figures In Film, And More, Amanda Hayes, Jessica Langlois

Honors Thesis

Herein is my portfolio which exhibits my collective work in a journalism workshop class. This includes several blogs and feature articles that were completed within a semester. The blogs and articles mainly cover the topics of foster youth in higher education and a current issue/trend within film and television culture. As a current LMU Guardian Scholar, my interest lies in covering news and feature stories that highlight these Guardian Scholars Programs on other college campuses in the greater Los Angeles area and what various social support services they are providing to their students to help them combat the hurdles of …

T.S. Eliot: A Never-Ending Exploration, Kristina Krupilnitskaya

Honors Thesis

The following thesis explores the work of T.S. Eliot before and after his conversion to the Anglican Church. While the paper explores the stylistic qualities of Eliot's poetry, the main focus of the essay lies in bridging the pre and post conversion works together in order to show that both of the periods were significant in the poet's life. While many critics viewed Eliot's early poetry as a lot more exploratory and challenging, calling his later poetry banal and bland, my essay aims to show that even though the poetry had shifted in its content, its significance, complexity, and experimentality …

Always Hope: The Matthew Jessen Story, Christopher Jessen

Honors Thesis

Everyone is at risk of a brain injury every day. The effects of a brain injury can range from the minimal to the debilitating. Matthew Jessen is a brain injury survivor and my brother. His story is one of struggles and triumph as he overcame an injury that could have killed him. This documentary examines the impact brain injuries have through Matthew’s story. It describes Matthew’s journey through his initial seizures, his stay at the Mayo hospital and the brain injury facility On With Life, and his return home and to school. The documentary also shows wide range of effects …