Alec Carlson
Staff Writer
Mira Costa senior Claire Bendig has been writing since middle school, and now upon her journey to college is taking her writing to the next level.
Claire Bendig started writing creatively in fourth grade due to her love for reading. At the time, most of her writings were short stories.
“When I was little, I absolutely loved reading,” Bendig said “My favorite book was Harry Potter, the book’s creativity inspired me to start writing myself.”
When in middle school Bendig discovered and fell in love with the television show Bones. This gave her the inspiration to change her writing style from short stories to screenplays.
“After watching a particular episode of Bones I realized that a different ending would have been more interesting” Bendig said “So I wrote my own version which lead to my new found love for writing screenplays.”
In seventh grade Bendig began to post her pieces on Fanfiction.net, a website where people can publish their stories, to gain writing experience and advice.
“I wasn’t too sure about the site until one night I decided to post on it” Bendig said, “When I woke up the next morning, I received tons of emails with advice on my writing, from there I grew as a screenwriter”
Bendig’s eighth grade english teacher, Ms. Wolberg, had a great influence on her and her writing. She encouraged Bendig to enroll in Costa’s honors english program which in the long run broadened her writing.
“I’ve have had an incredible experience with my english teachers” Bendig said “They’ve taught me so much.”
During Bendig’s freshman year, joined Write Girls Foundation, a foundation of about 100 teens and 100 mentors in LA. Once a month, she would get together with this group and write.
“Write Girl is a foundation that really helps any young writer flourish” Bendig says “They help you get published and as a senior, will help you get into college”
Throughout the rest of Bendigs high school career, she continued to publish her stories both online and in print. She was published in Teen-to-teen magazine 2011, Mira Costa’s reflection magazine 2012, 2014, and Write Girls Anthology 2014.
“My favorite published piece is called “Caught Glimpse” in Teen-to-Teen Magazine” Bendig explains “I’ve had some really great experiences with publishing and I can only hope for growing publications in the future.”
She hopes to work for a network in the future, to write for television shows.
“Growing up, I had a few experiences around the sets and would love nothing more than to work on them after college.”
Bendig will be attending Chapman University next year with an english major. She hopes to intern at local studios during the summer.
“Chapman has always been a dream for me and I cannot wait to start this new chapter of my life”
Bendig aspires to take her writing to the professional level and write for television shows. Ideally she would like to work for a big name television network.
“I am very proud of my sister,” said sister twin Lauren Bendig. “She is already successful in what she does and I believe she will take her talents far.”
Leave a Reply