Aly Lopez is an outgoing sophomore at George Ranch. Lopez enjoys creative writing and making people laugh. She is a dog loving giant.

The Wrangler:  How long have you been writing creatively?

Lopez: I’ve been writing creatively for as long as I can remember. Words have always been my outlet and I’m constantly finding new ways to organize them.

The Wrangler: Is your family creative like you?

Lopez: Creativity has definitely been embraced in my family. My brother, Canaan, devotes his time to practice art in different mediums such as painting, drawing, and music.

The Wrangler: What writing style do you prefer?

Lopez: I typically write spoken word poetry, but sometimes I just write anything that comes to mind in any form I can manifest it into, like essays or one-act plays.

The Wrangler: What writing movement or writer would you say influences your work most?

Lopez: The age of innovation we live in has had an incredible influence on my writing, as I’ve been able to look back on many years of others’ work and constantly receive new ideas that are made possible through our changing society as well. Some of my biggest inspirations are Walt Whitman, Social Club, Bo Burnham, and Various playwrights/other artists.

The Wrangler: What kind of writing is unappealing to you?

Lopez: I tend to appreciate a piece of writing for the meaning behind it and its influence on the audience, so cliché or redundant themes in writing/music that don’t present new ideas or old ideas in a new way usually don’t appeal to me.

The Wrangler: What inspires you do create your writing?

Lopez: I listen  to music or look up synonyms for common words to get inspiration before writing. Sometimes I’m not directly inspired and words just form in my head so I scribble them down as fast as possible.

The Wrangler: What’s your favorite piece of writing?

Lopez: Some of my favorite pieces of writing are Leaves of Grass by Walt Whitman, Illusion by Richard Bach, and Hamilton by Lin Manuel Miranda. I definitely have many more but these are just some sources that have shaped me creatively. I’m always looking for new things to change my point of view so I can write word that may change someone else’s too.

The Wrangler: What do you like about your work?

Lopez: Writing provides a secure place for me to be confident and expressive, which is why I try to like my work. The initial fear of producing something horrible is difficult to overcome, but once I do I’m able to write comfortably and creatively.

The Wrangler: What do you dislike about your work?

Lopez: That being said, there are plenty of things I dislike about my work. I look back on things I wrote 10 years ago and things I wrote last week and not only do I cringe at those pieces, but I get tons of writing done in between that time as well. There are gazillions of ways to arrange them and you have to take that one-in-a-gazillion chance that you made the right choice, otherwise you wouldn’t have anything at all. Although I have an abundance of pieces that I dislike I just have to work through the rough times and hope that I’ll eventually create something worth reading.

The Wrangler: Why do you enjoy  writing?

Lopez: I fell in love with writing in second grade when I had to write a biography based on a biography of Queen Elizabeth I and it became sort of an unspoken competition between  my friends and me to write the longest essay (which I did by the way. I peaked in second grade what can I say). As I evolved as a writer I was able to confide in my work and adopt writing as a creative outlet and a part of my identity as well.