By Derek Munyon
Arts & Entertainment Editor
Hidden in the brick-walled depths of Legends Comics and Coffee, with Magic and Dungeons and Dragons posters on the walls, is the creator’s workshop. The meeting of Omaha’s creative minds takes place on the first Thursday of every month from 5 p.m. to 9 p.m.
An open-minded and welcoming atmosphere makes this workshop a great place to share creative writing outside of a school setting. Comic scripts, plays, short stories and novels are freely swapped, read and discussed. Advice is given, images are displayed and people unite in a creative way. Everyone sits with their laptops at the ready. Workshop head Chris McLucas knitted as he worked on a story.
While the group this night is small at four people, McLucas said it is usually around ten to twelve.
“Life gets in the way sometimes,” McLucas said.
Will Andersen was one attendee at August 6 workshop. He’s currently working on a young adult novel in a steampunk, murder mystery style. Andersen said that it’s helpful for him to hear other people talk about their writing.
“It’s a nice environment to be in,” Anderson said. “It gets my mojo flowing.” The kind of projects that come into the workshop’s lair is fairly balanced.
Any type of creative work is welcomed. The writer’s workshop was started by Tim Benson and was facilitated by McLucas, who helped place it at Legends, located at 5207 Leavenworth St. McLucas took over leading the workshop when Benson became too busy setting up a local publishing company, EAB Publishing.
“It keeps me honest,” McLucas said, talking about why he likes the spirit of the workshop, and why he continued to host.
Published authors and amateurs are both welcome, like Matt Herbert who has a novel for sale at Legends and at the University of Nebraska at Omaha bookstore. He shared a table with McLucas, who published a children’s book, The Giggle Farm, at the Omaha Comic-con and was there working on a comic book. Excited to share, Herbert quickly ran out to his car to get a copy of his novel.
All in attendance agreed that they would recommend the workshop to other people because it’s fun. With Anderson saying there are a lot of “good vibes.” No matter what project you’re working on, there’s always a place and a helpful opinion at the creator’s workshop at Legends Comics and Coffee.
