‘We Do Language’

Author P.C. Verrone Reflects on the Pacific Palisades Library Association Summer Creative Writing Contest, Which is Now Underway for 2024

By P.C. VERRONE | Contributing Writer

When I sold my first short story last year, I thought back to the stories that I wrote for the Friends of the Palisades Library Summer Creative Writing Contest.

I remembered the award ceremony, which, of course, looked so much grander in my memory: the warm wood and tall windows of that side room, those rows of chairs leading up to a table of certificates for winners.

Though it has been almost 20 years, I can easily recall my hands gripping my seat as the host read off the names of the prize-winning entries, praying that mine might come next. On that October afternoon, I couldn’t help but think that this must be exactly like being nominated for an Oscar.

I’d always felt like a misfit growing up. I think, to some extent, everyone does. That was why I made up new characters to go on fantastical adventures in distant locales.

Coming of age at the height of Harry Potter and Percy Jackson, I felt at home in realms of myth and magic, though I also held a deep love for classics like “Charlie and the Chocolate Factory” and “The Phantom Tollbooth.” I wrote down daring escapades like a scribe recording some magnificent history. A wonderful feedback loop emerged: Writing made me want to read more, which inspired me to write more.

When the Summer Writing Contest came around, I saw it as an opportunity to take these worlds to a wider audience. It was motivation to write something really stellar: something somebody might actually pluck off a bookshelf to discover this new realm I had chronicled.

I recall sitting in the family van on a road trip to Sequoia National Park, knowing that the contest was coming up and furiously scribbling into a composition notebook a tale of getting lost in the woods, climbing waterfalls and fighting (then befriending) bears. It was my riff on Jean George’s “My Side of the Mountain,” which had made me dream of earning my own falcon familiar in the wilderness.

Nothing ever came of that story, I think, but memory of it remains. I can visit those woods and that boy and his bear and falcon now, if I please.

Year after year, I submitted new stories to the Summer Writing Contest, hoping for that elusive first prize. I learned that you can work very, very hard, pour all your time and effort into something, and still only get runner-up or a participation ribbon. I also learned to keep writing after that.

These are two invaluable lessons, not just for making a career as a writer, but for life. I have received countless rejections since I was that kid on the edge of his seat in Palisades Branch Library. But weathering those storms has made the international prizes and recognition of my work even more meaningful.

In the words of Toni Morrison: “We do language.” No matter how we prefer to engage with storytelling—whether through books or television or video games—we have a spark within us to tell our own tales.

When I teach creative writing to young adults, it excites me to see the light enter their eyes when they realize what “doing language” truly means. Creating entire worlds and scenarios just from our own minds is one of the most empowering experiences we can have. There is an extra special shift that happens when we write it down and pull our creations just a bit more into reality.

These days, as we are inundated with ceaseless flows of information from across the globe, doing something meaningful can seem futile or overwhelming, especially for young folks. But by doing language, by actively crafting a story, we can workshop the worlds we want to live in and the people we want to be.

I often say that my writing career began submitting stories to Palisades Branch Library. It was through these opportunities to showcase and celebrate my writing as a young person that I built my voice and my confidence in it. Those stories made me the writer I am today.

P.C. Verrone is an awarded author and playwright. His short stories have appeared in FIYAH Magazine, “Bridport Prize Anthology” and the forthcoming “Elemental Forces Anthology” (Flame Tree Press). His novel, “The Nightlife,” won the inaugural Black Creatives Revisions Workshop (We Need Diverse Books/Penguin Random House). His theatrical work has been featured Off-Broadway and across California. His play, “Crocodile Day,” was published by Playscripts, Inc. He holds a B.A. from Harvard University and an M.F.A. in creative writing from Rutgers University-Newark. He will be a resident at Tin House this fall. For information about the Friends of the Palisades Library and this year’s contest, visit friendsofpalilibrary.org.