Creative Writing Commons^™

Sugar, Mollie Mcmullan

Gandy Dancer Archives

No abstract provided.

Food As A Literary Device In The Hunger Games: World Building, Characterization, And Plot Momentum, Linzee Mitchell

Undergraduate Honors Theses

Food relates to the experience of life, survival, and memory. It impacts us every day, whether we have plenty of it or not. It influences our memories and connects us to one another, while structuring details of our identities and cultures. As a creative writer and English major, I recognize that food influences a story to accentuate literary concepts and unveil them, such as a character’s compassion or the poison that a villain uses to unfold the plot. The best example of food as an impactful device within a story is The Hunger Games by Suzanne Collins. From the first …

A Scorpion's Sting: Coming-Of-Age Vignettes Focalized On Modern Las Vegas Youth Culture, Vlada Stark

Undergraduate Research Symposium Podium Presentations

Explored themes: mother and daughter relationships, large immigrant community in Las Vegas, adolescent platonic and romantic relationships, hardships of girlhood, abundancy of sex work, increased substance abuse, importance of creative youth culture, disparity between Las Vegas as a city and local life.

A Mind Divided, Molly Venus

A Midwestern Review: A Magazine of the Arts and Issues at DePauw University

Molly Venus is a junior English writing major. Her first publication was in the Fall 2022 issue of A Midwestern Review. She is currently serving as Vice President of Academic Affairs for DePauw Student Government and enjoys cooking delicious food with her friends in her free time!

Walking On A Tight Rope, Miyu Aoki

A Midwestern Review: A Magazine of the Arts and Issues at DePauw University

Miyu Aoki is a sophomore economics and physics major from Yokohama, Japan. Usually realistic and occasionally political, Miyu’s poems center around finding herself in the American landscape. Her hobbies include knitting, snowboarding, and exploring the Greencastle community through volunteering.

650 Words, Anne Gregg

A Midwestern Review: A Magazine of the Arts and Issues at DePauw University

Anne Gregg is a writer and poet from Northwest Indiana. She is also the Editor-In-Chief of a Midwestern Review. Anne Gregg is an English writing major and has been published numerous times across the centuries, but most of her work has been lost to time.

Learning To Shower, Taylor Cripe

A Midwestern Review: A Magazine of the Arts and Issues at DePauw University

Taylor Cripe is in DePauw's class of 2026. She is pursuing an English writing major with a religious studies bridged major. Although she dabbles in fiction writing, she prefers poetry for the nuanced and intuitive way it conveys its themes. She is excited to be a part of this semester’s edition of A Midwestern Review.

The Quiet And Other Fantastical Tales, Emily Nicole Cerda

Theses and Dissertations

This thesis briefly discusses the genres and subgenres of speculative fiction—focusing on fantasy, horror, and science fiction—and is primarily a short story collection that also includes a few novel chapters. The critical introduction delves into the present and overly complex subgenre categorization methods, how and why new subgenres are created, and provides simple definitions for the main genres of speculative fiction and fantasy subgenres.

The subgenres that will be discussed through either a short story, novel chapter(s), or definition include, but are not limited to: fairytales, portal fantasy, paranormal romance, dark fantasy, historical fantasy, magical realism, epic fantasy, mythic fiction, …

The Wackiness Of Wacky World, Michael Dan Mccormick

Theses and Dissertations

This critical introduction takes a closer look at the situations presented in my manuscript “Wacky World” and offer insight on the actions seen from the main character. This insight is meant to clear confusion as to whether or not the character can be viewed as a heroic figure and explore his personality to draw conclusions. “Wacky World”, a full-length play, tells the story of a man with an obsession with a defunct theme park and the deranged actions that he takes in order to prevent its demolition.

I explore the topic on whether or not sympathy …

Smoke And Mirrors, Adara London

Master of Arts in Professional Writing Capstones

When a human trafficking ring comes to town, a grieving graduate student must choose between investigating on her own to save her sister or leaving the investigation to her impassive cop boyfriend.

Sunday, Kyle Sherman

A Midwestern Review: A Magazine of the Arts and Issues at DePauw University

Kyle is from Western Springs, Illinois and is currently a sophomore studying political science. His poetry is inspired by nature and the beauty of the mundane.

Vol. 36, Iss. 1 [Full Issue], _ _

A Midwestern Review: A Magazine of the Arts and Issues at DePauw University

No abstract provided.

Drowning Dreaming, Micaiah Furbert

A Midwestern Review: A Magazine of the Arts and Issues at DePauw University

Micaiah Furbert is a junior DePauw University student from the island of Bermuda. He has a love for poetry which started in high school and his poetry is often influenced by his background growing up on an island and his identity as a person of color.

Eternal Colleagues, Audrey Ickes

A Midwestern Review: A Magazine of the Arts and Issues at DePauw University

Audrey Ickes is a junior at DePauw University, majoring in English writing and double minoring in history and communications. She is a member of the sorority, Alpha Phi. She is also the Outreach Coordinator for Tiger Catholic and co-hosts a WGRE radio show. These are her first published works.

The Crumpled Pink Receipt From My Dorm Drawer, Eliana Jolanda Alzate

A Midwestern Review: A Magazine of the Arts and Issues at DePauw University

Eliana Alzate is a sophomore majoring in English writing and computer science with a minor in media studies. On campus, she’s the managing editor of The DePauw and a video streaming specialist for Media Services. During her free time, she loves singing karaoke and writing poems in her secret journals.

The Rock Pile, Jenna Reynolds

A Midwestern Review: A Magazine of the Arts and Issues at DePauw University

Jenna Reynolds is a junior English writing major. Fiction is her preferred genre. She’s an actress, so stage/screen plays are some of her favorites to write, but others find her real life to be far too interesting for her to not also write nonfiction, so she gave it her best shot.

Absolute Rhythm, Taylor Cripe

A Midwestern Review: A Magazine of the Arts and Issues at DePauw University

Taylor Cripe is in DePauw's class of 2026. She is pursuing an English writing major with a religious studies bridged major. Although she dabbles in fiction writing, she prefers poetry for the nuanced and intuitive way it conveys its themes. She is excited to be a part of this semester’s edition of A Midwestern Review.

Falling Down The Rabbit Hole: World Building In Ya Literature, Claire Webb

Undergraduate Honors Theses

World building is a key component to many young adult novels, but what is world building and what are some different styles and techniques that authors use when constructing fictional universes? In this thesis, Falling Down the Rabbit Hole: World Building Techniques in YA Literature, I will examine Alice’s Adventures in Wonderland by Lewis Carroll (1865), The Princess Bride by William Goldman (1973), and my own unpublished novel, The Sun Kingdom, to compare different techniques and styles of world building. These works will be explored through the aspect of world building, focusing specifically on the importance of the geography, language, …

Coffee Black & Melancholy Bright, Lisha Elizabeth Mccurry

Open Access Theses & Dissertations

A hybrid memoir encompassing a collection of personal essays and poetry that tells a story of depression, grief, and family intersecting in a journey through destruction and healing.

Illuminations, Kristina Michelle Thoman

Open Access Theses & Dissertations

Abstract: Illumination is the multi-general story of a Jewish family, and their oral traditions. The story will trace the family from just before the biblical exodus, through the holocaust, and follow them to modern day America. The family will face antisemitism at each place in history along the way, losing a child to the pharaoh's cruel decree to slay the male children of the Hebrew slaves, narrowly escaping a death camp in the holocaust, and finally facing growing anti-Jewish hate in America. In the last act of the story, the family will be faced with the question, if you are …

Dish Pit, Leah Beecher

Gandy Dancer Archives

No abstract provided.

Requiem In Dee Miner, Evan Youngs

Gandy Dancer Archives

No abstract provided.

[Oh, September], Madelyn Malgieri

Gandy Dancer Archives

No abstract provided.

Devour Me, Kaelin Martin

Gandy Dancer Archives

No abstract provided.

An Ode To The Not-Me // Some Of The Things That I Do Not Know // To The Weeds That Might Be In...My Garden, Kendall Cruise

Gandy Dancer Archives

No abstract provided.

Duo, Megan Moran

Gandy Dancer Archives

No abstract provided.

Overdose, Lauren Basile

Gandy Dancer Archives

No abstract provided.

Little Eulogies, Griffen Labianca

Gandy Dancer Archives

No abstract provided.

An Interview With Sarah Freligh, Lili Gourley

Gandy Dancer Archives

No abstract provided.

I Got A Boo-Boo From A Car Crash, Madison Butler

Gandy Dancer Archives

No abstract provided.