On Nov. 4, 2015, Delphi Community High School had the great opportunity to have Indiana author Mike Mullin come and present a writing workshop. Mike Mullin is most famous for “The Ashfall Trilogy,” a post-apocalyptic three-book series about a boy separated from his family and trying to survive after the eruption of a supervolcano.  

Mullin, who lives in Indianapolis with his wife and her three cats, delayed his passion for writing as he obtained a business degree in college and worked, unhappily, in corporate America for many years. Once he started writing, Mullin endured many struggles and rejections before capitalizing on “The Ashfall Trilogy.” In hopes of inspiring young writers at DCHS, school librarian, Ms. Lawton, contacted Mr. Mullin about presenting what he calls his “Writing Funshop.”

In Mr. Mullin’s Writing Funshop, he gave the participants helpful and important information. He imparted his “Three and a half Stupid Rules for Writing”―read a lot, write a lot, and give your writing to people who hate you―and the difference between being a “Plotter,” someone who plans out their novel, and being a “Pantser,” someone who makes their novel up as they go along. A tip: if you’re a Plotter, try being a Pantser, and if you’re a Pantser, try being a Plotter. Supposedly, research shows that your best ideas come when operating outside of your typical work zone. In fact, most of Mr. Mullin’s Writing Funshop was focused on getting us out of our comfort zone and writing as fast as we possibly could to “outrun our filters.”

The Writing Funshop was a rewarding experience for everyone involved. Senior Kate Layman was delighted in the fact that she offered him a title for his next book. “I’m hoping he’ll use it,” she stated. “I suggested Sundown.”

JR Dyer, a junior, was a little surprised about how the workshop was presented. “It wasn’t what I was expecting. I thought it would be more serious and writing-oriented, but it was fun,” he said.  

Senior Yovani Moreno said, “He put the ‘fun’ in ‘fun shop’.”

Ms. Lawton was extremely pleased with the Writing Funshop. “Overall, we all learned what the occupation of being a writer involves, and that we all can write. It was a very positive and fun experience for everyone.” When Ms. Lawton says everyone, she truly means everyone. Mike Mullin seemed to have a lot of fun presenting for us prospective writers. In fact, when asked how he felt about his experience at DCHS, Mr. Mullin said, “This is an extremely weird school. Webshow Wednesday on Thursday? Most people learn their days of the week in kindergarten, but I guess it’s different here. Very odd. And I like it!”

YA Literature class granted unique learning opportunity

by Lacie Tomson

(The eight students in YA Lit class all read and enjoyed the first book in Mullins’ trilogy.  Ms. Lawton set up a special opportunity for the entire class—a chance to eat lunch with Mike Mullin and discuss the novel.)

I had the unique opportunity to sit down in a circle with the rest of my Young Adult Literature class and share a lunch with Mr. Mike Mullin, a lunch that consisted of not only Mitchell’s and twizzlers, but also mentally stimulating conversation. After he had signed a few books for Ms. Lawton and the rest of the class, Mike, who earned a black belt in taekwondo as research for the Ashfall Trilogy, taught senior Kate Layman  how to break a board and showed us some pictures of his wife’s cats. We all had a great time discussing Mike’s various inspirations for certain parts of his books and his expectations for them in the future. While he walked us through the basics of the publishing process and how he had procured his cover artwork, we also discussed an array of much more informal topics such as his wife’s hatred of their research trips to Iowa, where much of the Ashfall Trilogy takes place, or how he had failed his senior English class and started an underground newspaper at his former high school. For a while we even discussed a fan war that was taking place on Twitter over who should play the character of Darla if the books were ever to actually become a film or television show. Though for the most part my time was informal and laid back, he gave me one piece of advice I am not likely to forget: “Figure out what works for you and do more of that.”