Typing away, pen to paper, thinking, senior Taryn Stilson escapes reality with the dystopian societies and complex storylines her imagination fabricates.

“One day of recess in fifth grade, I got in trouble, and she made me sit against the brick wall for timeout,” Stilson said. “And, I didn’t really know what to do. So, I just started making a story in my head, and I was like, ‘Wait, this is actually really enjoyable.”

Stilson moved from Chicago to Prosper before her sophomore year, which shifted her priorities.

“It fell to the wayside for a while – I hadn’t been writing as much since I moved to Texas,” Stilson said. “I had stuff that I would start and just not finish. But, when I started applying for scholarships and stuff, Mr. (Jonathan) Smith was helping me with writing and he was encouraging me. I was like, ‘Okay, maybe I should take this more seriously,’ and I really got back into it again.”

Stilson applied to a range of scholarships and writing contests ranging from the UNC Thomas Wolfe scholarship to Writer’s Digest contests.

“It was Mr. Smith who helped me find my career,” Stilson said. “He was like ‘Just promise me you’ll never stop writing. Because you’re really good.’ I was like, maybe I should incorporate this professionally. I don’t know why I’d never thought of that before.”

Previously, she was studying medicine in the Prosper Independent Career Study class, but she shifted her project to medical journalism.

“Over the last several months, I had the honor of helping to guide Taryn’s literary efforts by reading her sparkling ideas, planning out revisions, and discussing publication plans,”AP English teacher Jonathan Smith said. “Taryn’s considerable strengths are two-fold: her bountiful heart and imagination.”

Stilson said she explores all realms of writing genres. Currently, she is writing a play.

“It’s very relaxing. It’s easy, and it’s kind of a way for me just to turn my mind off,” Stilson said. “Writing comes naturally to me, so I don’t have to think about it as much as when I’m doing calculations or something.”

Her topics combine real life and imagination, mostly sci-fi, dystopian, and poetry.

“It’s interesting for people to see this other side of me because I’m not very expressive with my words, unless it’s writing,” Stilson said. “Just the comments – ‘Oh, your writing styles are so different than I expected,’ or ‘Wow, this is so good.’ It’s just really encouraging.”

The public can view her writing on Instagram. @taryn.creative.writing

“Taryn’s talent for writing has grown so much in just the past two years, starting with her success in AP Lang and her creativity in college applications,” junior Brooklyn Stilson said. “I have seen her prioritize writing more in her life, and she has been able to become more confident to elevate her writing to pretty much a professional level. I help her occasionally when she is brainstorming ideas for her next piece, but she doesn’t need help. She could write about anything, and it would be amazing.”

Stilson’s favorite work is her dystopian short story “The Experimental Citadel.” 

“Sometimes, as I write, I just continue on an idea, and then it kind of morphs into something else,” Stilson said. “So, I think that that’s what happened, and I created my own dystopian society. Mr. Smith said it was kind of Star Trek II accidentally – I don’t watch Star Trek. The main point of it is the justice system, on a guilty-until-proven-innocent basis, and everything’s controlled. So, it’s kind of a mix of Fahrenheit 451 and Star Trek.”

The creative outlet and hobby have grown even if the scholarship and contest results were not what she had hoped.

“Taryn’s heart allows her to be an intellectually courageous young author who, in the face of deadlines, rejections, redirections, and apathy, gnaws on a project over long stretches of time until it cracks open, and she can extract the truest forms of her efforts,” Smith said. “Taryn’s imagination manifests itself in the literal tens of thousands of words she writes, in addition to her writing-heavy academic load, to bring her ideas to life. With this trove of virtues, Taryn is bound to continue to excel and draw diverse successes to her.”

To read Stilson’s writing portfolio click here. Read her poetry publication on ENO here.

This story was originally published on Eagle Nation Online on February 23, 2024.