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Ideas for a writing group?

edited October 2012 in - Writing Problems
We’ve started a writing group at Uni. (Hooray!). We’ve had an introduction meeting and the first session is on Tuesday for two hours. I agreed to be second in command, so to speak but the boss is away at a book signing so I’m in charge for a few weeks. (The boss is a mature student and had his own company at one point. He is also a professional ghost writers with I believe three books under his belt including a biography.)

The plan was to have one hour reading a text book and doing the exercises and then one hour reviewing each other’s work. We didn’t realise how long each chapter was or that there was only a five minute exercise per chapter. This means we have an hour gap in which we’re not sure what to do. We’ve already done introductions and know each other’s names and aims. We’re planning to whizz over the chapter and then just sit there talking but really we want something more… creative?

Does anyone have any ideas what we can do as a group to fill the hour gap?

Comments

  • Are you reviewing the exercises StF?

    In our little group, usually 4 -6, we each read a piece of work, a short story or a bit of a longer work, then do a verbal critique. You can only do this with a small group, obviously.

    Glad to see you're getting involved and settling in. You were a bit apprehensive as I recall.

    (Any progress on the chick front?)
  • LizLiz
    edited October 2012
    Also, you can set something to be written between each group session, so that in that hour you could read out what you'd done... comment on each other's. I always find it utterly fascinating how other people write something so different from the same stimulus. It doesn't have to be something long.

    Try Googling writing exercises - but SM is right, there is no point in doing exercises if no feedback is given and you don't discuss how to improve on what has been written.
  • [quote=St Force]The plan was to have one hour reading a text book and doing the exercises[/quote]
    I'm confused, you mean there are textbooks for writing?
  • Yes BM. The book is called "The Creative Writing Coursebook" and teaches you about style, genre and publishing. We have several copies in the Library and you can buy them online for just under a fiver.

    At the moment we’re going to skim read through the first chapter (subject :notebooks and diaries) and complete the exercises. That will take us about ten minutes and then we’re going to review each other’s answers. Then we have a gap of about forty minutes in which we’re not sure what to do. After a ten minute break we’re each submitting a short story and then reading it and reviewing it for an hour, ten minutes feedback for each piece…

    The feedback for the exercises won’t that that long so we’re at a loss what to do. I agree with what has been said so far, perhaps find another exercise to do. I shall Google that now.
  • I'd have thought a textbook defeats the point of creative writing.

    You could do something in the study of different literary movements/theories. Like, one session you could look at surrealism, another session you could look at romaniticism (if you study poetry as well) and so on. That's sure to broaden minds.
  • [quote=BuickMackane]one session you could look at surrealism,[/quote]

    Most writers circles are populated, mainly, by surreal people, so it's just a matter of observation, rather than formal study.
  • You could do some flash writing exercises.

    e.g.Beforehand, on separate small pieces of card write down a variety characters (e.g doctor, mother, lunatic), places (cupboard under the stairs, outer space, the kitchen) and emotions (anger, love, surprise). Different colour card for each set. Shuffle up each set and hand out one of each colour each. Have a short time (10 mins?) for each person to write something inspired by their three cards and read them all out. (but don't force anyone if they don't want to.)

    Or print out some interesting photos and do the same.
  • [quote=BuickMackane]I'd have thought a textbook defeats the point of creative writing.[/quote]

    Absolutely not, lots of quick ideas are to be found in a textbook. No one person or even group of people, certainly students, could hope to contain the wisdom, experience and knowledge of good exercises to create and inspire some writing than could be found in a well-written textbook on the subject .

    The exercise is just the catalyst - the creative spark that realises the idea is clearly not going to be defeated by taking the initial idea from a book.
  • Hi St F, as Heather says flash writing exercises are great for a group to occupy an hour or so especially if they are given a topic. I always find it amazing how diverse the responses are even though everyone has the same starting point.

    Put a key on the table and ask them to write about the room/place/box that the key opens.

    Tell them there's a lone shoe lying in the road - how/why did it get there?

    Just give them a start sentence such as: There was a rustling sound in the bushes...

    Ask them to write (first person) about a time when they were very very uncontrollably angry - and then rewrite the piece in third person.
  • In our writing group, when we have spare time we all pick one word and then each write a story including as many of the words as possible in a given time (say 10 mins). You could do that, then give feedback on each one and then all rewrite for another set period. It would be interesting to see how feedback helped in the rewrites - if it did.
  • And you don't just need to do serious exercises - have some fun ones - we also did consequences, ie starting off a story on a piece of paper, the next person writing the next bit but folding down the first lines etc until everyone has had a go. Nothing like laughing to increase creativity.
  • [quote=St Force]Does anyone have any ideas what we can do as a group to fill the hour gap? [/quote]



    You could swap jam making recipes.





    Or you could try an alternative on some of the comments above ie one thing I've tried is

    a) everybody writes three names of characters including ages on three small pieces of paper then puts them in a pile in the centre of the table

    b) everybody writes three occupations which could be a job or a pastime eg hairdresser, or pianist on three small pieces of paper then puts them in a pile in the centre of the table


    c) everybody writes three locations on three small pieces of paper then puts them in a pile in the centre of the table

    (so you now have three piles of paper and the leader shuffles them all up within their piles)


    d) everybody takes one from each pile

    e) you have 10/15 minutes to write an opening of a story using those three prompts.
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