When my D23 began her college search, she was thinking of Creative Writing/English as a major. By the time her RD applications were going in, her focus had begun to shift, and now that she is on campus, I’m not sure whether she will ever take a Creative Writing class. But during the initial search, she was looking at programming/resources related to Creative Writing, so I’ve got some familiarity with those at the schools she researched. I’m not sure what the current budget is for the OP, but I wanted to mention that my D didn’t have great success with the need aware schools that are often categorized as targets/low reaches for a student like the OP with a 35 ACT and #2 rank in class (my D had similar stats, good ECs and recommendations, and good outcomes in her process overall, but she didn’t fare so well with those “target” schools). That isn’t to say they aren’t worth applying to! But I just want to be sure the OP realizes that depending on finances, they may be reachier for admissions. Specifically, my D was waitlisted at Kenyon and Denison (she did the summer writing programs offered by both schools, demonstrated lots of interest, etc.) Her older brother with lower stats/rigor and lower need (first kid in college in the family) was accepted to Denison, but their meeting of need resulted in his most expensive cost-to-attend offer of 10 schools and was above their own NPC. Waitlist at Wes as well (I believe someone else here mentioned their need-aware admissions), so I just wanted to give an example to the OP of how admissions may be impacted. Similar outcome for my D at MoHo, Skidmore, Macalester.
If Grinnell is appealing, start demonstrating a lot of interest! Do the virtual tour as well as the virtual info session, reach out to a student and ask questions (last year there was a portal for this through the admissions website), etc. They told my D that all of that matters. Do the optional essay when they release it in the portal after you apply. My D was accepted there with good aid. If Dickinson is a potential add (someone else in the thread suggested it), PM me so I can share with you some more detail about their English/Creative Writing programming - my D dug into a lot before her interview so I think I still have her notes on that. She added it as a relatively safe choice after an early round deferral from Brown, and they gave her their Presidential Scholarship (you have to submit an extra essay for that one, but I think if you interview and submit that essay, you’d be in the running for it). I think when my D added the school, it wasn’t possible to request an interview through the website anymore (late December over winter break), but she emailed her admissions rep directly to request an interview and got one.
As a safe choice, I’d also recommend looking into Beloit. See if they still offer the Creative Writing Fellows program which was something that intrigued my D when she applied last year. They kept offering additional resources to my D after her acceptance, and she felt kind of sad declining the offer eventually.
Other schools she applied to where she found Creative Writing resources of interest in her search process included Bates (but their aid was the worst for us once admissions decisions came out), Bowdoin (check out The Foundationalist there - it’s a literary journal that is co-run by Bowdoin, Iowa, and Yale students), Bryn Mawr, Smith, Vassar…
she liked Oberlin, too, but their aid wasn’t as good as the aid at Grinnell, Bowdoin, Bryn Mawr, Vassar, and others. I’m not sure how much that’s still a factor for OP.
ETA: I saw Clark mentioned as well. My S21 applied, and we visited. There were a lot of things we liked about Clark, but for us, it was expensive - second only to Denison. So I’m not sure where it would fit on the affordability scale for the OP.