Session 2: Outline

Session 2

Getting Started & Story Mechanics

In this session we're going to look at how we can get started and shift gears from freestyle to focus, and we'll take a first look at some story mechanics, or how stories work. This will be especially useful for editing your own and others' work.

We will also look at another piece of writing from the group, and give some awesome, helpful feedback. :)

Specifically, we'll look at:

1. Getting started

• Writing prompts feedback: how did it work for you? What did you discover/observe?
• How to segue from freestyle to focused writing: finding your way into the project; character; chronology.

2. Story Mechanics

• Theme vs. Plot, Idea vs. Action
• The Central Dramatic Question

Session 1: Wrap-up

Writing: What and How?

1. We kicked off by talking about:

• What are your obsessions? (Put this away as a metric check for later.) 
• Why did you start writing? And/or why are you here? to start or continue writing? 

2. The in-class exercise was on Writing and Self-Awareness.

• Write a paragraph about a moment that you were surprised, or about some event/occurrence that surprised you. 
• Look at what you wrote and observe the way you wrote it: the words, the rhythms, the description, the topic, the emotions. 
• With your Editor's Hat on: does your writing remind you of a specific Genre of writing? Or even a particular writer? (This is an exercise in positioning, and also it will be helpful when you come to looking at what might be missing in your work, according to the genre norms.) 

This was a rich discussion, and we talked about:

• the challenges of setting an entire context for a surprise
• the expectation of a pay-off for the reader adds a layer of pressure to the writing
• do we think about the reader when we are writing?
• do we set the scene for the surprise with a long, detailed lead-up, or start with the surprise itself?
• do we really write what we mean as we strive to bridge the gap between what is in our heads and what comes out on the page?
• a style of writing can emerge that's not your usual style (e.g. using contractions, which doesn't fit with the preferred genre of historical fiction; some also noticed the blandness of their words and even the lack of words, when they first started)

The exercise becomes about not only what the reader finds out, but how they find it out, and when …

Across all genres, surprise is important, but it must also fit within the story. There is a tension between providing surprises to pique the readers’ interest and keep them engaged while making sure those surprises authentic.

We discussed whether people first write what they are going to write about, or whether they just begin writing (plotting versus pantsing). Even those who start with an outline can find that the outline itself is a daunting expectation to follow through on, or that they veer pretty quickly from the path they laid out.

What other tools, other than outlining, help reduce the pressure of the bank page?

3. We talked about giving feedback, with reference to our chosen guidelines, and there was mutual agreement that the guidelines serve as a great starting point for how we'd like to conduct our feedback.

4. We read a submitted piece and there was robust and respectful feedback given. We also observed that if you as 10 people ... you'll get 10 different responses! Good to bear in mind when you're getting feedback on your own work, because it's all about not taking it personally!

Quote of the week:

“The everything for you is the nothing for other people, and our job is to make it something for others.”  Thanh-Nu Leroy

Session 1: Exercise

Here is an exercise for you to complete in preparation for Session 2.

Freewriting prompts

• Sit down and write whatever comes to mind
• Write as much as you can without the letter ‘e’.
• Generate a first sentence from this website: http://writingexercises.co.uk/firstlinegenerator.php ... and then write!

Session 1: Outline

Session 1

Writing: What and How?

In this first session, we take a broad brush and look at the what and the how of our own writing, in order to build self-awareness.

Self-awareness is very useful because, when we have it, we are far more likely to be able to step back from our work, jam on the editor's hat, and look objectively at what we've been writing.

What do we like to write? What are our obsessions?

These questions will not only be clarifying for us personally, but they also give us clues about possible genres for our stories. As we always need to be thinking of the reader when we're putting our story into an earthly Story Container, knowing the genre is a useful first step that can help us with the form of the story later.

How do we write?

This question will lead us to look at: the words we choose, phrasing, rhythm, topic, theme. And this is a good way to start to look critically at the mechanics of what makes up a piece of writing. (More on this in Week 3.)

Specifically, this week, we also look at how to give the right kind of feedback.

*
We will look at:

• What are your obsessions? (Put this away as a metric check for later.)
• Why did you start writing? And/or why are you here to start or continue writing?
• Exercise: Writing and Self Awareness
• How to give feedback, with a live feedback session.

Welcome!

This week marks the first of our 12-month Odyssey into the World of Writing.

As a starting point, we have a quick exercise that we're going to revisit periodically over the course of the year.

Exercise:

Write a paragraph (or page) about your obsessions.

Not only will this eventually give us some fun metrics (what did I think? how have I grown? how have my ideas clarified?) but it helps us start to become aware of ourselves and what drives us — as a person and, by extension, as a writer.