Fathers, garbage men and seduction gurus are all people from
different walks of life. But in UCLA’s English department,
these characters are the subjects of three award-winning short
stories written by fourth-year English students Aaron Fai and Mark
Burnham and English graduate Erika Herman.
Burnham and Herman both recently received the Shirle Dorothy
Robbins Creative Writing Award, a yearly writing honor open to all
UCLA students. Fai received the Ruth Brill Scholarship Award, which
is open specifically to students enrolled in creative writing
classes.
All three students will read excerpts from their winning pieces
today in Royce Hall.
Thanks to a range of inspiration and styles, these three writers
have created significantly different narratives.
Fai’s piece is one of seven stories he wrote for his
senior thesis for the English department. The collection revolves
around the lives of two Asian American families living in
California. The winning piece, “In the Forests of
Nottingham,” focuses on the father of one of the characters
and his various romantic affairs. Fai’s writing environment
provided a positive influence for his creative process.
“I actually stayed in Canada in the winter. I did a lot of
thinking up there and the natural surroundings really helped me
write,” Fai said.
Herman, whose comedic story is about a famous seduction guru who
teaches other men through workshops how to seduce women, used the
Internet to humanize the characters.
“Online you can find a lot of sites about seduction guru
guys which have articles or journals about how to get women,”
Herman said.
These resources helped bring factual depth to the story,
“Riding the Seduction Express with Max Powers.”
Burnham’s “Water Down Drains” took a more
introspective approach. Much of his inspiration came from personal
experiences and the rest came from his imagination.
“My story is about a garbage man who has just been offered
a position at a school where his brother teaches. He does various
runs to people’s houses picking up their trash while
reminiscing about childhood. It’s kind of goofy,”
Burnham said.
The amount of time that each writer spent composing his or her
work varied from a week to several months. The work involved was
apparent to the judges, and each award recipient’s success
can be largely attributed to his or her effort to discover and
develop original voices.
“(Burnham’s writing) is very mature. He has a strong
narrative voice which is confident but casual. It’s a very
acceptable and smart voice,” said Emily Ackerman, a
third-year English student and friend of Burnham.
After graduation, Fai and Burnham will continue to utilize their
writing skills.
Burnham will be taking an internship this summer with Saturday
Night Magazine. He plans to continue writing after permanently
relocating to Los Angeles and becoming a freelance writer,
submitting pieces to journals or possibly writing novels.
Fai has recently joined the Peace Corps and will live in
Kyrgyzstan as a secondary English school teacher for two years. He
then hopes to attend graduate school and attain an MFA in creative
writing.
Herman will continue her current job as magazine editor for The
Spotter.net. Her future plans include going to Emperors College for
a master’s degree in traditional Chinese nutrition. Despite
her interest in human systems, writing will remain important to
Herman, partly because of the endless stories that come from
everyday life.
“The (real world) is where the good stuff is. That’s
what’s going to inspire you. You need to use yourself (as a)
guinea pig, go out into the world and report back to other people.
There is something to be learned from everything,” Herman
said.