Writing in the Margins
Hello, Patchworkers!
The first session of the third round of Patchwork (wow!) was absolutely fantastic. I think that this is going to be a delightful adventure.
Unlike previous rounds of Patchwork, we’ll have a specific focus on fiction writing for the next six weeks, based on the interests of the folks at our first meeting. You are always welcome to branch out from this and explore memoir or non-fiction writing in the prompts, or poetry, or songwriting, or comic creation or whatever else appeals to you! You can also to do any combination of any genre of writing you like. The prompts, though, will be geared more intentionally towards fiction, and specifically short fiction pieces and character and scene sketches. As always, this is a collaborative process and I’ll be touching base throughout the next six weeks to make sure the prompts are working for you.
For registered Patchwork participants I’m available throughout the course to read and offer feedback on your partial or completed writing pieces, and I’ll be sending a recap email after each session as well as sending writing prompts throughout the week. You are never expected or obligated to share your work either with me or with the group, and how (and whether) you respond to the writing prompts is totally up to you. If you’re writing along with the group but have not registered, I also offer editing services and one-on-one in-person or skype writing coaching, at a negotiable fee.
If you do want to share your work with me or with the group, you can send it by email. Let us know if it is a just-written response to a writing prompt, or if you are looking for critique.
Patchwork, like all Writing in the Margins workshops, is based on Pat Schneider’s Amherst Writers and Artists (AWA) method. That means that we have a few guidelines in place that will be part of each session, and part of our interactions outside of the sessions.
These guidelines include intentional respect for each of our unique, creative voices and selves, assuming that all writing is fictional unless specifically asked to treat it as autobiography, respecting the privacy of all participants by keeping each other’s stories confidential, responding to just-written work with encouragement rather than negative critique, and creating an environment that is non-hierarchical, honest, and safe.
My commitment to you is that I will respect these guidelines, and will make sure that they are respected within the workshop space. In addition, if there are other considerations that would help make the Patchwork space feel safer and more welcoming to you, please let me know! The goal of the group is to support and encourage your writing, and that’s only possible if you feel safe. It is my job to create that space for you as much as possible.
With that out of the way, let’s recap our prompts!
First, we completed this “personality test“. We spent five minutes on each question, and answered as a character. For everyone at the session we ended up with some really cool world-building and character creation! I’m excited to spend more time with the as-yet-unnamed elf that emerged onto my page, and to see what the rest of you create.
Our next prompt came from the book 642 Things To Write About. “You’ve seen the same squirrel ten times in the course of the day. The squirrel beckons to you and you follow.” We wrote for 15 minutes on this prompt. Some of us stayed in the same world, others moved around.
Your Tuesday prompt is this: Take whatever element you find most interesting from the “personality test” set of prompts and expand on it. Set your timer for 15 or 20 minutes and see where you end up.
Remember that it’s totally normal to struggle if you’re writing in a new genre, and give yourself permission to use as many cliches as you need to let yourself get into whatever world you’re creating. First drafts do not have to be perfect, and whatever you’re stretching towards is going to be awesome! I feel confident in that, because I’ve been running writing workshops for almost four years now and I have yet to work with a writer who wasn’t capable of truly stunning work, no matter how awkward and challenging they found the process at first.
Welcome to Patchwork round three – the fictional, the fantastic and the fae.
– Tiffany
