It was so great to meet you all last Friday and to be surrounded by so much talent. I loved hearing the little doodles we wrote at the beginning of class, and it felt really good to be writing again without any real purpose, to just put my pencil on the paper and see what came out. The majority of the writing that I've done at Mills has been focused on product, which is important, but it can start to feel really stifling. It's nice to get free of that, even if only for a few minutes--and, as it turns out, I was quite pleased with the product anyway.
I was also glad that we spoke, however briefly, about abstraction in writing, and about how if we encounter the abstract in each other's work our job is not to shut it down but to examine if the abstraction is working for the piece. And, as writers, it is our responsibility to teach our audience how to read our work. It makes a lot of sense to me to look at story landscapes as they are being presented to you, rather than prescribing what sort of story you wish it was... and to make sure that you stay true to whatever landscape you choose to create. It's something that I want to keep in mind, especially since right now I am a little over the place with my thesis, and I'm sure I'm not the only one!
And, as writers, it is our responsibility to teach our audience how to read our work. You got that right, Katy. And yet, we can't think about the reader too much, but to make the work rigorous. i'm very excited that these discussions are going on.
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agree with the excitement of starting class out with a free write and seeing where it goes for myself and hearing everyone elses work.
ReplyDeleteI'm with you on how writing over the years at Mills has been more about "product" - what I'm interpreting that as, however, is writing papers that have restrictions and specific information as opposed to just writing. Starting the class off with freewrites allows us to break away from that chain that we may be so accustomed to and just write whatever comes to mind and however we want. The product of THAT, then, is more of what we like, as you had said you did (or enjoyed), which is great. And it's also what makes us keep writing.
ReplyDeleteKeeping that mindset is essential for projects being a success, and I'm happy you're approaching your project that way (or not that way if my interpretation is way off).