LESSON: A Writer's Date

Discussion in 'Creative Writing' started by lovelyxmalia, Nov 29, 2007.

  1. lovelyxmalia

    lovelyxmalia Banana Hammock Lifetime Supporter

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    A Writer's Book of Days - Judy Reeves

    A Writing Date

    Writing with someone else changes the energy of the practice sessions. Another person can offer moral support, a friendly ear for your words, and companionship for those times when writing solo is just too lonely. Writing with someone else and reading your work aloud to each other creates a kind of intimacy, a writerly friendship that's unlike any other.

    Invite a friend or someone you know from a writing workshop for a writing date. Cafes are good meeting places, as are parks or other outdoor settings. The absence of homelife distractions and the benefit of being in neutral territory make public spaces better than individual homes for this sort of date. If you choose a restaurant, make sure the proprietor looks kindly on the lengthy occupation of his table that a writing date implies. Allow a couple of hours.

    Naturally, you'll want to chat first, catch up on any news, and get comfortable in the space and with each other. But set a limit for your chatting. All talking and no writing do not a writing date make.

    Each of you bring prewritten writing prompts (three each), or jot them down as you prepare to write. Commingle the topics in the center of the table (written on a small strip of paper, folded to conceal the contents); select one and write for five minutes. After each person as read aloud what they've written, select another topic and write for ten minutes, then do one for fifteen, a ten-minute, a five-minute, reading after each session.

    Begin a completely new piece with each prompt or continue the same piece using each new prompt to alter the course of your writing.

    Over the course of 45 minutes that you write together, you may notice that your writing has informed one another's. You may pick up images from one anothers writing, and it's not too unusual for each person to write identical or similar image or use the same unique word like pomegranate or grandiose. Call it coincidence if you want.

    A writing date doesn't have to be limited to two people. Invite three or four for a session. More than five and it becomes a party rather than a date.
     

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