MiracleArts empowers MSU’s creative writers
MiracleArts held its inaugural event, “Celebrating the Written Art,” Friday in the Multicultural Center, featuring Minnesota State students Darlington “Destined” Sehgbean Jr., and Amber McFadden who both presented their work and their writing process.
The purpose of the event was to highlight the various career paths writers may take. MiracleArts, an art-based organization founded last December, dedicates itself to empowering artists of all fields to reach their potential.
McFadden is a technical writing major with a minor in computer technology. She presented her journey as a writer, the growth she has made, what her main inspirations are and what forms of writing she does most.
She said she mostly writes short stories and poetry. One recent story called ‘Envision’ includes a character who, anytime they look into their mirror, it predicts the future.
“It’s kind of like a suspenseful story. A little bit of horror as well.” McFadden said.
Having started writing at age 9 and continuing for 12 years, McFadden said her path as a writer consisted of “a few creative writing classes growing up.”
“Mostly, I am in the creative writing group so I guess that’s mostly where I practice my craft.” she said.
For what inspired McFadden to write, she said her main inspirations are best-selling horror series “Goosebumps” and the comic-style book series “Diary of a Wimpy Kid.” She said she incorporates some of their elements and themes into her own stories.
“For ‘Goosebumps,’ I always liked the cover of the books. I also liked the suspenseful essence of it. And I also kind of liked how cheesy some of the dialogue was as well because it was written back in the 90s,” McFadden said. “And then for ‘Diary of a Wimpy Kid,’ I just kind of like the art style of it. And I always just found the series really fun to read. And I would also read them with my mom as well so we just kind of compare notes.”
As for future plans, McFadden shared what her plans as a growing writer consist of and what other genres she would like to explore later on.
“Someday, I would like to maybe publish a book of either short stories, poems, or haikus and maybe even make a short film out of some of the stories that I’ve written,” she said. “I’d be open to suspense, some thriller and maybe even some humor as well. I kind of like to write that off to the side for fun.”
McFadden shares what she hopes to present and to inspire potential student writers at Minnesota State.
“I’d just say the importance of having a support system. Just always being passionate, always trying new things. Even when you encounter hardships, like during the creative writing process, just always pushing through and just finding a way to make or see your ideas come to light.” McFadden said.
For more information about MiracleArts, visit their Instagram page @miracle.arts
Write to Anahi Zuniga at anahi.zuniga@mnsu.edu
Header Photo: Minnesota State students Darlington Sehgbean Jr. and Amber McFadden shared their written work with the campus Friday in the Multicultural Center. (Nathanael Tilahun/The Reporter)