Imagine a place to improve your skills before pursuing your dream career — that is what the Teen Writing Group at Novel intends to be for young authors. Since their creation in August, the Teen Writing Group has met bimonthly to write and receive constructive criticism in a friendly and productive environment. The members typically write for a given prompt and may share it for feedback after. The group is operated and attended by high school students who either want to write professionally, or just enjoy the art of literature. 

“It’s just so hard to find a group that you are comfortable enough with to share your writing,” Lila Amen (10), a student at Houston High School, said. “You’re writing all of your thoughts down and it’s very vulnerable, so to have a space where you’re comfortable with sharing these ideas is very crucial, and that’s one of the big reasons [we created the writing group].”

The newest feature of the Teen Writing Group is a writing contest open to all high schoolers in Memphis. Competitors could enter a short story from five to 15 pages or a poem from one to five pages. The announcement was made on Novel’s Instagram, and was met with many enthusiastic comments.

“Instantly I was really excited and I remember I have this page of me brainstorming things to do, and I just ended up never doing anything,” Morgan Yates (11) said. “But I thought it was a really cool idea because there’s not a lot of writing contests.”

For most high schoolers, a writing contest is a new experience. As technology grows and television becomes a more popular pastime, many writing endeavors have been abandoned. The growth of electronics to replace books has left many readers feeling more alone, so a writing contest helps build a  community that enjoys the same hobbies.

“People tend to lose affection for literature because it’s not the main source of entertainment anymore,” Amen said.  “I think [the contest] is very good because those who want to write can find their people and get used to that environment.”

Although the competition was met with excitement, there are a few aspects that concerned writers. As this was the Teen Writing Group’s first writing competition, it served as an experiment to discover what works well. Along with an extended deadline, there have also been recommendations of creating more specific prompts. As they learn more about what makes a successful writing competition, the creators hope to expand it and change up the requirements, taking suggestions for change as a chance for improvement. 

“I do think it was a good start for our first writing contest because you want to give the contestants a bit more freedom, but I think for the next contest we should be more specific with the prompt just because those who have done it before have something to base their ideas off of,” Amen said. “But I do think this is a good start for everyone learning their writing styles.”

No matter in what direction the contest turns, the contest was a creative option for aspiring authors to practice their writing. By sharing their work in an anonymous competition such as this one, young writers can become used to receiving constructive criticism in order to improve their writing in the future.   

“I think it’s really important to just get your work out there and to have exposure, and to get used to submitting and not being so shy or self-deprecating about yourself, so I think having opportunities like this are good,” Yates said.