Writing
Kill Your Darlings Writing Group
June 2020 - Present
Every week I meet with a group of MIT grads and current students to workshop our writing, discuss books, and hang out. During each session, I provide feedback on what I enjoyed about each piece and how it can be improved by analyzing structure, character, syntax, and other elements key to the craft of writing. I adore this writing group and have had so much fun and learned so much from my peers! The picture to the right features our Halloween session; I'm dressed as my favorite character of all time (Crowley from Good Omens).
"Kill Your Darlings" sounds a little morbid, but it's a writing term that means that sometimes you need to cut-out parts of your writing that you love if they hinder the larger work -- it's all about editing!
Pelagic
June 2020 - Present
I've been working on a secondary-world fantasy called Pelagic, the first book in a trilogy. It's inspired by Greek Mythology, Pirates of the Caribbean, The Legend of Korra, and the Endless Ocean games. The main story takes place in a setting based on the Eastern Mediterranean with a 1930s level of technology. I finished the rough draft January 2023, and now I'm revising and rewriting the story for the 2nd draft, which is part of my creative writing thesis. I plan to professionally publish the series.
The Antithesis
2015 - 2018
Throughout high school, I worked on my first novel, The Antithesis. I completed the rough draft and revised it to a second draft in 2018; I earned a Silver Key from the NJ Scholastic Writing Awards for the novel. I illustrated the story and printed author's copies using Kindle Direct Publishing. I played around with the idea of going by a pen name (Laurel B. Alder), though I've decided to publish under my real name in the future. Although I don't plan to professionally publish The Antithesis, I learned so much about who I am as person and as a writer from working on it.
