2022 Summer Teen Intensives Photo Recap: Back to “Almost” Normal!

Every Summer Intensive season is unique, but the summers of COVID–2020 and 2021–were particularly challenging. In 2022, we were almost back to normal. In-person (if safely masked) at Drew University, enjoying laughter, literary adventures and creative madness, Frisbee, and plenty of writing. We were grateful for the reprieve from pandemic, hurricanes, and hybrid instruction so that we could truly enjoy our tenth anniversary season. (Our tie-dye t-shirts recollect the many brilliant colors we’ve worn over the years.)

Take a look at just some of what we did this summer. And don’t forget to read a sampling of this summer’s amazing student writing in the 2022 Writers Circle Journal.

Getting to Know You and Your Writing

Getting started with fascinating images that open up the mind and start ideas flowing.
Writing in teams get everyone creating together. Six brains are better than just one!
Intern Ayana writing down her group's ideas.
No Summer Intensive would be complete without our morning texting argument!
Reading back the texting argument to the group.
Intern Hannah reading back the wild and crazy results of our morning game of "Wiffleball Words."
First there was "Dear Abby." Then there was "Dear Livvy!"
Our literary crime scene, ready for examination by our crack team of young journalists.
Examining the evidence.
Writers reviewing the literary crime suspects' profiles and coming up with their in-depth reports.
One of our literary crime scene suspects, the romance writer Melissa Carstairs, played masterfully (and in full costume) by Michelle!

Off to Class!

Mike Bell talks tropes in his Sci-Fi/Fantasy workshop.
Chip Davis introduces our writers to Screenwriting.
Darcey Gohring teaching Memoir.
Michelle Cameron takes students through a sensory visualization exercise in Elements of Fiction.
Mike Allegra being scary in Horror Writing!
Cat Doty sharing Poetry under the trees.
Judith Lindbergh helping writers diagram their plots in Elements of Fiction.
April Darcy answering questions in Creative Nonfiction.

Intern Groups and Circles

Whether it's time for an outdoor class, peer critique session, or group writing, at TWC we take our circles seriously!
Intern Jake leads his group in peer critique.
Intern Livvy takes notes as students share their writing.
Intern Jordan and his group having a blast planning their group project.
Enjoying the shady lawn during an outdoor workshop.

Free Write and Focus

Free Write - the quietest and most beloved hour of the day.
Writing by hand.
Writing on computers.
Writing outside.
Writing on picnic blankets.
Writing on the floor.
Writing back to back.
Writing in pairs.
Writing solo.
Writing.

Frisbee and Fun

Time for Frisbee! Leave it to Livvy to get everyone involved.
Huddle up.
Let the game begin! (And have Judith capture it on camera.)
Not everyone feels like running around at lunch. In this unusually hot summer, lunch also meant taking shelter from the sun.
When it got REALLY hot, we had to watch out for spray bottle battles!
Back on the frisbee field, Sci-Fi/Fantasy instructor Mike Bell joined the game. He coaches frisbee at his regular teaching job!
Post-game interview with "General" Jake Schapiro, leader of the winning team.
On "twin day" several students dressed up in character. Here's Elizabeth and Jordan. Aloha!

Reading and Sharing

Every week at the Summer Intensives ends with a reading where students get to hear selections from everybody's work.

Wednesday Literary Adventures

Week 1: Grounds for Sculpture

Ayana's on duty for bus check-in before heading to Grounds for Sculpture.
They're off! Time to explore the gardens and...
...interact with the art!
What's behind this door?
Oh, no! It's a SCREAM!
We made friends with strangers.
And had tea in the garden.
Sometimes you just have to take a moment to sit in the shade.
Things got a little distorted.
And then there were works that really made us question!
Time for lunch and writing. (The statue offered everyone coffee and the service was excellent.)
It was *hot* in the garden, so some groups took shelter in the gallery to eat and write.
Time to perform! As always, there was plenty of drama.

Week 2: Make Your Own Mythology at Drew U.

Making our own mythology required a cast of characters right out of ancient lore.
Each group picked their roles from a hat....
...and selected props to represent each character.
Getting all the scenes outlined required every inch of space on the giant blackboard.
Everyone had ideas and shared opinions.
Groups spread out all over campus to start working on their scenes.
There was time for writing...
...time for rehearsing.
Let the show begin!
Costumes denoted characters, played by different "actor/writers" in each group.
There were magical battles...
...leaping dances...
...mysterious messages...
... and just plain mischief.
But in the end, our stories ended with love!

Week 3: Halloween in August at the Deserted Village

Our guide to the witchy (and completely made-up) history of the Deserted Village, Rebecca gathers our students for a tour.
Our unsuspecting students set off on their tour.
A visit to the graveyard reveals the characters of our tale.
Writing time begins with the creating and sharing of poetic spells.
Hexes, jinxes and curses are also encouraged.
Time to spread out and write our inspired tales of witch trials. This group finds a table in the woods.
Writing continues through the heat of the day...
...interrupted by occasional but very necessary spray-bottle battles to cool off.
Time to perform!
That umbrella turned into a valuable prop!
There was poison and death.
...and prayers for regeneration.
There was singing! (Really good singing!)
Then it was time to set off deeper into the woods.
We wrote in a clearing in the forest.
We wrote sitting on the ground.
We wrote leaning on each other's backs.

Weekly Full Group Shots

Week 1
Week 2
Week 3

This summer–and every summer for ten years–the Intensives would not have been possible without our truly incredible instructors and staff:

Catherine Doty taught Exploring Poetry all three weeks.
Mike Bell taught Crafting Imaginary Worlds: Sci-fi/Fantasy in Week 1.
Mike Allegra taught Writing the Funny: Humor in Writing in Week 1 and Horror and Dark Matters in Week 2.
April Darcy taught Writing the Weird World: Creative Nonfiction in Week 2.
Darcey Gohring taught True Lies: Memory & Memoir in Week 3.
Chip Davis taught Writing for the Screen: TV and Film in Week 3.
And our INCREDIBLE INTERNS! Here's Hannah!
Livvy!
Jordan!
Prisha!
Ashley!
Anjali!
Jake!
Ayana!
Audrey!
Alyssa!
Venya (who came all the way from California to be with us)!
And Ellis who jumped in at the last minute when one of our interns was out with a cold. (NOT COVID!) Ellis will join us next summer as an official intern--yay!
And the truly incomparable Rebecca Kilroy, our "Chaos Coordinator" who has been with us through thick and thin. We were so happy to see her enjoy a relatively calm Summer Intensive season at last.
Rebecca even got to indulge in some relaxed time at Grounds for Sculpture!
Here's our fearless Founder/Director Judith Lindbergh sitting on the ground and outside, which is her usual happy place.
And our equally fearless Co-Director Michelle Cameron, humoring Judith with a smile for the camera.

All this awesomeness happened at Drew University, Madison, NJ

JOIN US in 2023!

Add your name to our email list to hear the minute we open registration.

See you next summer!

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The classes were amazing and an incredible opportunity, and the teachers were great.

I love that every aspect of story writing was taught.

I plan to take the skills I was taught in Elements of Fiction with me into future writings and already consider the strategies each time!

Each poetry exercise made me a better poet.

Something about Elements of Fiction really fed my imagination and made me write my thoughts coherently.

Cat is a great person and she really knows how to appreciate poetry and speak wisely.

This Horror class was AMAZING. Taking this class gave me the confidence I needed, and I realized that I am actually good at it! I loved every minute.

I took the same class last year, and yet I still learned so many new things this time around.

Judy gave me some wonderful feedback on where to move next with my story!

I loved the setting exercise! Especially the guiding questions Judy did while we had our eyes closed. They gave me quite a few ideas that worked really nicely.

I love how Mike taught us and had class discussions instead of only him talking, and then we would have time to write.

Even though I’ve never written horror, with Mike’s guidance I felt comfortable and happy with what I wrote in his class. The prompts he gave us were really creative, and he was funny, too.

I took this class last year, so most of the activities were familiar to me, but I had a new experience with writing them because I am a different person now.

Michelle gave some really good tips that I had never heard before when taking a writing class.

THE BEST PART

The Intensives opened a whole new world for me in my writing.

The free writing time. It gave my mind a chance to run free and I channeled my thoughts into my work.

I unlocked a part of my brain that allows me to speak my mind and get emotions through to readers.

It was very helpful to get feedback from people closer to my age.

I had plenty of opportunities to apply what I learned. Everyday we got an hour of free write to play around with the tools we had learned earlier in the day.

I really liked that we could focus on stories we’re already writing to get advice and work on those in a more professional setting.

The most valuable part of the Intensive for me was the writing time and the classes. A lot of times at home I want to write but never find the time, or I just don’t get around to writing. At The Writers Circle, I got so much writing done during free write, and even in classes too.

It was an amazing opportunity to learn, improve, and just an overall incredible time. I have met so many amazing people here, and I’m definitely going to continue attending this camp for years to come.

FROM THE PARENTS

I wanted my son to have a shared experience with other teens who love writing and learn from professional writers who are passionate teachers. I feel that your program was on the mark for both!

Your workshop gave my child the experience of being immersed in a super creative environment among other writers.