Telling the Truth/Making Stories

by Amita Murray

In the third workshop, the group practiced writing the "truth", using elements of storytelling. The idea was to draw an experience like a scene, instead of a summary. Some fabulous, moving, mesmerizing, evocative, tasty pieces of writing came out of this workshop. It was thrilling and humbling to hear the experiences that people had had in their travels, relationships, research explorations, and forays into the past. The pieces were at once dramatic and easy to relate to. 

Writing Voice

The second workshop focused on figuring out what the heck a writing voice is.

A writing voice is about authenticity, a unique take on what's going on. It's about what you notice, how you understand it, and how you communicate it. It's about filtering your mass of thoughts and feelings, making them conceivable and understandable, but at the same time, not losing the vulnerability that comes from revealing who you are. When you write from your writing voice, it can leave you feeling exposed and vulnerable. Yet. It also allows you a sort of catharsis, a reflection on and a re-experiencing of your thoughts and feelings. It allows your readers to engage with you, empathize with your feelings, and relate to your experiences. It shows you how mundane experiences can be about something much bigger.

In the first exercise, the group thought of someone they knew fairly well. And narrated an event, a story, an incident from this person's point of view. 

In the second exercise, the group wrote in third person, where the narrator was looking at them doing something.

Writing Place

The first workshop focused on Writing Place.

Place plays many functions in writing. It is not just factual, but gives texture to the writing. It creates and establish a visual image, and scene. The description of place acts as a metaphor for feelings, and creates mood and atmosphere. The place establishes not just the natural or urban landscape, but also the social and cultural politics of that location. It tells you who inhabits that place, who travels there, what encounters you are likely to have.

In the first exercise, the group was asked to look around the room, and allow one of the objects to lead to a short piece of writing.

In the second exercise, the group was asked to remember and narrate an encounter on a street.