By Brystol Beatley, Staff Writer
As an English writing major, I have had my fair share of awkward literary workshop experiences — stretched-out pauses bracketing timid comments shared with the silent author, who usually is not permitted to respond during the critiques and praises.
Whinkling meetings, however, are a horse of a different color.
As a subgroup of the Tolkien Society, the Whinklings are a writing group founded in 2013 based on J.R. Tolkien, C.S. Lewis and Hugo Dyson’s writing community, “the Inklings.” On the first and third Tuesday of every month, students come together to provide feedback for two pieces of any genre that they submitted for review at the previous meeting.
Laura Stanifer, the Tolkien Society’s advisor, described the group as enthusiastic.
“There’s no incentive to show up,” Stanifer said. “That’s what makes this group special — people just rally around an author and celebrate what they’re doing.”
Emma Harvey, a junior studying education and English, authored a pirate novel. She also credits the Whinklings with helping her rediscover the joy of creative writing and described her first experience with the group as hospitable.
“They really genuinely care about everybody’s piece, and they want to pump it up as good as they can and motivate you to write more,” Harvey said.
The celebration of one another’s work is not only encouraging, but also theatrical. At the Sept. 16 Whinklings meeting, the group focused on the first chapter of Harvey’s pirate novel. John Nicol ‘23 and Jonathan Hendricks ‘23, both Wheaton graduates, attended dressed head to toe as pirates.
For Acacia Grime, a junior English writing and classical languages major, Whinklings was a factor in her choice to attend Wheaton College. She was looking for a campus writing group that could provide accountability and camaraderie for her fantasy novel, a seven-year writing project she started in seventh grade.
Grime recalled how last spring, despite her nerves, she took a leap of faith and submitted a short section of her work for feedback.
“I can easily become blinded to the good aspects of something because I’m very critical about my writing,” Grime said. “It was encouraging to hear people say, not only what I should work on, but also the things that were done well.”
Stanifer highlighted the diversity of majors represented in the group, which ranges from biology to communications. The breadth of expertise among the writing enthusiasts strengthens the variety of feedback given on submitted works.
“It doesn’t matter what year you are, doesn’t matter what major you are, everybody’s welcome. And there’s a strength to that,” Stanifer said.
Grime also emphasized how this openness contributes to the encouragement she receives after her work has been workshopped.
“One thing that I appreciate about it is that anyone can submit to it,” Grime said. “It’s not just for writing majors or people taking writing classes.”
One such student is Benoni Richards, a senior communications-media major who has dedicated much of his time to writing academic papers and articles. However, what he truly loves to write is poetry.
“I wanted to see both how my writing held up but also in what ways I could improve it, because I really do enjoy it and it’s something that I always find myself tending to just drift toward when I have free time,” Richards said.
As the semester picks up speed, Stanifer recognizes the busyness of college life but remains confident that this energetic group will always be available to students who desire a space to grow in whatever genre of writing they find interesting.
“It really depends on what the current needs are on campus and who’s hungry for a group like this,” Stanifer said. “It’s there for them.”
