On Thursday, Oct. 8, an event was held in the Keene State Mason Library for Lyle Lynde, a student who won the KSC Eder Creative Writing Endowed Scholarship last semester. The event went on for about an hour and featured Lynde reading some of their own work aloud, including poetry and short stories.
One audience member in particular, second-semester sophomore and business management major John Leclerc, said that Lynde’s work really resonated with him. Leclerc said he had a design class with Lynde in the past and had “never seen them do anything that wasn’t impressive.”
English professor Brinda Charry described Lynde as “quite delightful, very committed, very talented and very motivated.” She also referred to Lynde as “the perfect student.”
“I think it’s important for me to showcase student work. Especially exceptional student work,” said Charry. “I want the campus and the world in general to know that we have some really outstanding students in English.”
She added, “[The Eder Scholarship is] pretty competitive and I think the student who wins the Eder is usually an exceptional student.”
According to Charry, only English majors can receive the award, which is given out every year and covers a whole academic year of tuition. She said this is so the recipient does not need to worry about paying for college and can just focus on their writing. “Students submit a portfolio of work and we judge it mainly on the merit of the writing,” said Charry. “It’s really for a student who shows a lot of promise and has the potential to really become an outstanding writer.”
Lynde said they actually used to be a SPDI (Sustainable Product Design and Innovation) major, but switched to English. They said they were always eager and excited to have a writing assignment in class and decided an English major would suit them better.
Regarding their writing process, Lynde said, “Coming up with an idea that feels novel enough to me that I want to write about it is something that’s kind of hard sometimes. I think I’m very hypercritical of what I’m doing.”
However, Lynde also said they love receiving criticism and even ask their friends about their work a lot. They said they prefer when the criticism is slightly negative so they have the chance to fix whatever is wrong, and that it is important to be open to any criticism so the story can be as well written as possible.
Lynde said they did not like writing in high school and Charry’s creative writing class changed their perspective. Lynde referred to themself as a “non-traditional student,” on account of them being in their 30s. They are currently in between their sophomore and junior year at KSC as a result of switching their major during junior year.
In between high school and college, Lynde said they were a colorist for graphic novels, and actively continue to include illustrations in their writing. They said, “I’m constantly drawing, so it slips in.”
When asked about inspiration, Lynde mentioned authors Jeff VanderMeer and Clive Barker. Lynde also said their wife is a big inspiration to them and they let her read all of their work.
Lynde said that in moments when they are struggling to write, they “force” themselves to do it. They mentioned a Stephen King book where King wrote about how he writes every day no matter what, and Lynde strives to do the same. “Sometimes I write the worst drivel ever, but I try to do it every day,” said Lynde. “I do it probably at least four times a week.”
Lynde described their ideal future as “being an [English] teacher and writing in the summertime.” Presently, Lynde is working on a book that they “want to get out there.”
Alex Perry can be contacted at
alex.perry@keene.edu
