As a creative writing minor, I took several classes that helped to hone my skills at writing short stories, novels, and screen play treatments. I also took a class about adapting books into film. Below are some of my creative writing samples. If you want to read any of these stories in their entirety, or if you want to see any additional samples, please contact me.

Wedding Plans: This is the beginnings of a stage play that I have been working on based off of a Moliere play I once performed a scene from called The Learned Ladies. I performed the first scene and my guess about where the story was going to go was completely wrong. Well, I liked my idea better so I decided to put it in play form. I am thinking of finishing it up and sending it to the Denver Center for the Performing Arts sometime this summer.

Excerpt:

Lilania: What? No... I... no.

Rachel: No, just asking.

Lilania: He’s not my Deklin anymore, he’s yours.

Screenplay Treatment: Running-a young girl witnesses a crime and has to take on a new identity and go on the run with her dog. If you want to see some or all of the treatment, please contact me.

Simon Says: I wrote this story in 2nd person because I wanted to experiment a little. It is about someone who is being controlled only in this story that someone is you. Here is an excerpt.

Excerpt:

    You’re walking down a dark side street and, though it frightens you, it’s the quickest way home. Night is starting to fall and the darkness is overwhelming. A clashing sound to your right causes your heart to pause, only to continue beating as a cat scurries from the dark and darts past you. A sickening feeling floats about the dim passageway; the old brick covered in dirt and muck from the trash bins creating a sort of eeriness about it all. The stench of rotten bananas and stale cardboard is overwhelming, but you plug your nose and pick up the pace, eager to get home.

    That’s when the cell phone rings. Quickly, you flip open the phone–not bothering to glance at the screen–and put it to your ear.

    “Hello?” you ask, your voice quivering a little from the cold and the overall fear that the dark is creating in you.

    “Simon Says.”

    Something in the back of your mind clicks to life. You stiffen, the shaking and fear completely gone. The deep voice on the other end continues to speak.

    “You’re orders are to go to the source on Brant street, obtain a package, then...” though you continued to hear his words, you started to grow confused. What was he talking about? What was he saying? What source? In a moment, the line goes dead and so does your ability to control your own body.

The Shaft: This is a short story I wrote for the same Advanced Creative Writing Class as "Simon Says." It started off as a young adult short story, but I am now transforming it into a book. It's about a young boy and his dog who get lost in an abandoned mine shaft in Silverton, Colorado. I am hoping to adapt it into a screenplay too, just for fun.

Excerpt:

Walking closer, he found that there was a large opening in the ground that went down. He could see, with his flashlight, that there was an incline but he couldn’t tell how far down the pit went. Trying to get a better look, he crawled onto the muddy rocks and faced his flashlight downward. Fort whined at him and, in that instant, his sneaker slipped and he tumbled down into the hole before him. The dog, being a good companion, tried to hold him, but the slip had been a surprise and she found herself being dragged in after him.

    The two slid down in the dark, terrified that their ramp might drop off into an endless pit at any moment. Their fears were confirmed as they reached the end of the incline, but at least the drop wasn’t endless.

Statement of Poetics: A statement about what I have learned about myself as a writer. I decided to write it creatively because doing a normal one just wasn't cutting it for me. This was also for my freshman creative writing class.

Excerpt:

Fiction is associated with make-believe, fairy tales, and fakery all too often. These are horrendous misconceptions that could lead to the downfall of the human race. How? Well, that is another speech for another time.