One of the members of the group, Dennis Jans, 76, became part of the group when he moved to the area in 2014 after he retired. Jans was an engineer by trade and worked in the automotive industry. He traveled the world for his job, and in retirement, decided to try something a little bit out of his comfort zone.
“I didn’t do any writing. Other than my freshman year in college, I had to write a couple papers. But I didn’t write. But in my career, I had to solve lots of problems by thinking creatively,” Jans said. camaraderie
After perusing the catalog from the Kettering Recreation Center and Lathrem Senior Center, he found a class for creative writers. Jans said he was hesitant at first to join the group, but he joined the group after reading a book thinking he might be able to do better.
“I had been at home reading,” he said. “I do a lot of reading. I was reading some 19th century novel thinking, wow, this is too obvious, and the writing of this paragraph isn’t really good. I could write this thing better.”
He joined the group in 2018. Jans admitted it was nerve wracking at the beginning. He felt a little intimidated by the others in the group as they had been writing for quite some time. Jans decided to do some studying by picking up “Elements of Style” by E.B. White and Wiliam Strunk Jr. and kept meeting with the group.
Jans said that Law usually starts the session by giving a prompt and having everyone write around that. Many people in the group, connect the prompt to another experience from their life and go from there. Jans likes to turn the prompts into adventures he can take with his wife.
“It’s fantasy, but it’s based on some things I have experienced,” he said. “My wife and I no longer go on adventures, but in my story, we’re going on an adventure. I made up a story about going on a dinner cruise on a pirate ship in Caesar Creek Lake. I had a lot of fun envisioning how that might happen.”
Jans said his wife does like some of his stories, and she likes to critique them. Jans said some stories she likes and some she says, “I don’t get this.” Jans also wrote a story going to The Carnival of Brazil with his wife and a story about Thomas Jefferson showing up in his backyard. Jans said he had to explain the modern world to Jefferson, which was interesting.
Beyond the writing, Jans said that he enjoys the camaraderie of the group members. He also enjoys helping them with their stories. The group often reads their stories aloud or pulls them up on a large TV screen so they can all look at the story together. Since Jans has been with the group for going on seven years, he’s less apprehensive to share.
“We’ve been sharing stories now for a few years,” he said. “I’m very comfortable coming in and sitting with them. They are like friends. People who write, bear a little bit of their souls every time they read you something. You get to know the people very well.”
So far, Jans has written about two dozen stories since starting with the group. He doesn’t plan to really do anything with them such as putting them into some kind of anthology. He said he does share some with family who have the patience to listen.
Jans has even learned other things not directly related to writing by attending the group. He now uses a tablet for his writing instead of a PC and uses Google Docs instead of Word. He has also started to learn how to add multimedia to his stories.
He said he will continue with the group, especially since they had a lot in common. He said one group member shared a story about the Our Lady of the Angels fire in Chicago in 1958 where 92 pupils and three nuns died. Jans said he really connected with that.
“Some of them have had exactly the same experiences as I did when I was younger,” he said. “I was a kid at the time [when the fire occurred], so it really struck a chord. Some of us are peers with shared experiences and that’s always easy to talk about.”
MORE INFO
For more information on the creative writing group or other classes offered at the senior center, visit www.playkettering.org/cil-senior-center or call 937-296-2480.
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