The Rowan Writing Arts Club has great news for Rowan’s bookworms, nerds and those looking for a new read: the club is publishing an online zine this Thursday, April 25.
A zine is composed of self-published stories that can either be online or printed. The Writing Arts Club crafted their own “magickal” world, Olympia, where “magick” is different from magic since it’s more of the occult kind. There are two countries in Olympia: Ithaca, where magick is taboo; and Waldwitch, where magick is accepted; but both of the countries do not accept one another, nor mythical creatures.
When asked what made her decide to do a zine, Writing Arts Club president Destiny Hall, a sophomore writing arts and English dual major, said, “I think the Writing Arts Club was in need of a project to do, and because I was the president and I had all of that control I kind of went mad with power and I was like, ‘you know what, why not do a zine?’”
As for the experience of actually putting the zine together, Hall said, “Honestly, it kind of ensured me quite a bit. At the beginning, I was nervous and really didn’t know I could make a website and force people write once a week for seven, eight weeks,” she said. “But it was actually a good experience and I learned about myself as a person and my writing.”
Writing Arts Club vice president Justina Addice, a senior writing arts major, also shared what the experience of writing the zine was like.
“Collaborating with everyone on it was really cool. It’s been really awesome to see everyone put in their two cents on creating this world and the different rules and stuff,” Addice said. “I think that we made so much good progress and I haven’t had the time to write my own thing for the zine, but I did have an idea for it and if I had more time I would have liked to contribute.”
Addice initially had some doubts about compiling a zine as the club’s project, but those doubts were quickly assuaged once the process actually began.
“I guess I just wasn’t sure what a zine was. I kinda knew, but I wasn’t a hundred percent, ‘yeah, let’s do that, I know exactly what that is,’” Addice said. “But I thought it was a good idea and I think where we’re going with it right now is really great and I really love what I created.”
The Writing Arts Club zine can be found at at olympiazine.weebly.com.
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