Writers bloom at Compose
BY NICHOLAS ALLISON
C o n n e ct. C o lla b o ra te ., C re a te . The
sim ple statem en t on flie rs all over
campus advertise the Compose Creative
Writing Conference on Saturday, May 2 0 .,
Compose is a convention for writers to
gather, whether they write poetry, novels,
comics, songs or perhaps something even
stranger. All are welcome here.
The event started at 9:30 a .m ., and
w ent u n til 5 p .m . It was divided into
five distinct sections. It started with a
welcome address from Tim Schell, then
over the course o f the day one could attend
several workshops, run by individuals like
Kate Gray, a writer of poetry and novels,
Diana Schutz, a major figure in the comic
book industry; and songwriter Luz Elena
Mendoza, along with a number of others.
“ There is no such things
as writer’s block.”
-T im Schell
The welcome address was, as all other
welcome addresses are, unique. Going
in, I had expected a fairly formal affair,
I knew a little about Schell: he was the
co-founder of the Clackam as Literary
Review, he used to work on campus as a
teacher, and hehadauthored a number
of books and short stories over the years.
I had thought he would speak w ith all
the w eight of an aged and experienced
maestro of the written word, and we would
all listen as he dispensed his wisdom.
In some ways, I was right. He clearly
understood the field we all hoped to enter
better than I, and much of what he said
was easy to connect to.
In particular, Schell said one thing that
resonated w ith m e. He said, "Iri your
poems and stories, in w hat you w rite,
you depict the human heart on the brink
of crisis. Yet, the very fact you made the
effort to write ... is optim istic.”
One thing Schell was not, throughout
his speech, was formal. It was a structured
speech, he had clearly rehearsed it well
beforehand, but every few minutes the
audience would be beside themselves with
laughter, as he made one more crack at
his colleagues, him self, or the industry
as a whole.
He spoke of the work he knew he would
be facing putting together the CLR, and
8 ClackamasPrint MAY 24,2017 thectackamasprint.com
knew it would haunt him .
S c h e ll s a id , " U n t il fin a lly , in
Morpheus’ srealm, the nightmares would
begin. Nightmares of deadlines, and not
any deadlines. Rather, deadlines from
the original m eaning o f the word ... a
boundary around a military prison beyond
w hich a prisoner could not venture
without risking being shot by the guards.
There we were, towing the lin e.. . ”
As his speech was winding down, he took
the time io answer a number of questions
from the audience, ranging from advice
about making it in the field of literature, to
questions about Schell’s own writing. One
simple piece of advice he gave was to write
every day, whether a single sentence or a
hundred pages. He answered them all with
the quick wit and amusing antics his speech
had displayed, and with a final answer and
a smile, he dismissed us, and we made our
way to the first workshop of the day*
I chose to attend the workshop Schell
held, "Character is Greater or Equal to
Plot.” It was, as I had expected after his
opening speech, insightful, entertaining
and all around am azing. He spoke of
Writer’ s Block, that terrifying beast for
all artists of the written word.
Schell said, "There is no such things as
writer’ s b lock.”
Instead, Schell said, if you could produce
one sentence, then you were m aking
progress. If in three m onths, you had
produced a single sentence every day,
you would find yourself with more than
ninety sentences, which starts to add up.
Schell also encouraged people to read
their work before going to bed, and let
their unconscious mind sort it out.
Another bit of advice he offered was to
remember that all characters have flaws.
No character is purely good or purely evil,
the th ief m ight participate in the Big
Brothers Big Sisters program, and the
first grade teacher might have a drinking
problem.
Later on I spoke with the founders of
Compose, from before it even bore that
moniker. They were attending like any
other, and had only started coming again
two years ago, having believed that it had
ended years ago, not quite willing to believe
people had been so invested as to continue
it. This pair, Kyleen and Greg Stein, had
eight years ago been walking around the
second floor of a Barnes & Noble, talking
and talking for hours one Friday afternoon.
"W h en we fou nd ed it, it w asn ’ t
Compose, it was just the Writer’ s Club
C o n fe re n c e ,” said K yleen. "H e was
president of the club at the time, I was
just a member.”
For Greg, part of the reason they started
the writer’ s conference was for the club’s
sake. "We had some people graduating,
we were trying to get more people,” said
Greg.
"Seventy-two hours of chaos, and we
went up to Kate [Gray], and said ‘Kate,
Max Wedding, CCC business systems
analyst reads one of his pieces at the
open reading.
we have an idea!” ’ Kyleen said, and a
few weeks of rallying the Writer’ s Club
to their cause, and Compose was born in
its earliest form.
Compose was ultim ately a wonderful
experience. It cost $20 to get in , but
com pared to th e price o f sim ila r
workshops I’ve attended, which can,easily
pass $100, it was cheap. I plan to Attend
Compose next year, and I invite any who
writes in any form, or who wishes to write,
to join me.
Writers at Compose work on their fiction skills in one of the workshops on Saturday, May 20, in Roger Rook.