Creative Writing By Lilly Barel

Lilly Barels never thought she would be a writer. As a UCLA graduate who double majored in Neuroscience and Dance, her relationship with creative writing ended in High School. However, almost fifteen years later, in the midst of a broken marriage and lost in the fog of un-fulfillment, Barels discovered the creative channel that would transform her from a high school physics teacher to a soon-to-be published writer. After a passionate and healing love affair with poetry, she was accepted into the MFA program at Antioch Los Angeles. In 2012, Barels received her Masters in Creative Writing with a focus in fiction. Barels just finished her second novel, and she is a regular contributor to Huffington Post.

There is inspiration in the journey from non-writer to writer, especially for those of us who come to writing later in life. While there is no doubt we all have the seed of a story somewhere in our life experience, the idea of patiently maturing the seed into a full blown novel can be quite intimidating. In an effort to dismantle my own intimidation, I caught up with Lilly to learn a few of her

“Kill your darlings,” Barels said. “One of the hardest lessons for myself as a new writer was coming to terms with this. Basically, after you have written a piece, it’s not uncommon to have to edit or delete altogether some of your favorite characters or plot scenes.” She went on to say, “If there is something extra special to your heart, you might want to consider cutting it. The points and messages that are so important to us as writers of the story are often the first points an editor will tell you to eliminate.”

Be fearless with your voice.
As a writer, not being afraid will serve you well. Lilly credits writer Kim Addonizio as being the poet who gave her permission to have a voice. “If Kim could write about what she was writing about, so could I.” What we are afraid of saying just might be exactly what needs to be