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