An update from our sixty-fifth Writing Workshop with Conner Bassett A summary of the workshop held on Saturday, April 29 In this week’s workshop, we talked about long sentences. First, Conner showed us two paintings. The first one was Christ Breaking Down the Gates of Hell by Hieronymous Bosch and the second one was The Flight Between Carnival and Lent by Pieter Bruegel the Elder. We concluded that both paintings were full of chaos, with a lot going on in both of them. Then we looked at some examples of long sentences, all similar in some way to the paintings. Some used polysyndeton, lists, or had a turn. All of them were one long sentence, full of action and description. After talking about the examples, we were asked to write our own story or poem in one sentence and to try to make it as long as possible without worrying about making sense. Afterwards, we shared our work. The Challenge: Write a poem or story in one sentence. Try to make it as long as possible. The Participants: Emma, Stella, Anushka, Seva, Philip, Catherine, Liesl, Samantha, Yueling, Ananya, Aaron, Madeline, Josh, Amaya, Samarina
Writing Workshop
How Stories Work—Writing Workshop #64: Voice
An update from our sixty-fourth Writing Workshop with Conner Bassett A summary of the workshop held on Saturday, April 22 Conner started off the workshop by asking the question, “What is voice?” Participants answered the question in different ways, but we eventually summed it up as a “poetics.” A voice differs based on diction, register, and rhythm, and is “how the narrator addresses the reader.” To illustrate why voice matters, we were asked to write down a few things you would think of if you were told to write a one-paragraph story about the Holocaust. Afterwards, we looked at a story about the Holocaust written by the chatbot ChatGPT and compared it to a piece of flash fiction about the same topic, but by a person: “On Waterproofing” by Anne Carson. While the ChatGPT story was generic, boring, and loaded with cliches, “On Waterproofing” had a real voice. This was the same for the other ChatGPT stories we read versus the actual versions—“A Mown Lawn” by Lydia Davis and “Give it Up” by Franz Kafka. After reading these stories, we were asked to think of our own prompts. Conner picked a few of them and asked ChatGPT to write one-paragraph stories based on them. They were just as lacking in voice as the stories we read earlier. Then, we picked one of the stories and rewrote it, but better—in other words, with a voice. Finally, we shared our work. The Challenge: Take a story written by ChatGPT and rewrite it, better. The Participants: Emma, Anushka, Seva, Philip, Stella, Rachel, Polina, Liesl, Ananya, Yueling, Aaron, Madeline, Nova, Josh, Samarina
How Stories Work—Writing Workshop #63: Ways to Begin
An update from our sixty-third Writing Workshop with Conner Bassett A summary of the workshop held on Saturday, April 15 In this week’s workshop, we talked about different ways to begin a story. Conner began by saying we often feel the need to start a story with exposition—to start with loads of background information. We looked at openings of various stories and novels and found that in fact, there are many other ways to begin. We looked at stories that start in media res, or in the middle, such as The Handmaid’s Tale by Margaret Atwood. Other pieces, such as The Metamorphosis by Franz Kafka and A Clockwork Orange by Anthony Burgess, introduce a tone. Some examples, like Jane Austen’s Pride and Prejudice are humorous, others poetic. In the first few sentences of Toni Morrison’s Jazz, we even found the entire plot! To sum up the presentation, we reviewed three ways to begin a work of fiction that don’t involve mere exposition: we can reveal something, establish a style (or mood), or establish a theme or conflict. The Challenge: Write five different openings. The Participants: Emma, Amaya, Anushka, Ellie, Rachel, Samantha, Aaron, Philip, Yueling, Seva, Josh, Madeline, Polina, Ananya, Samarina, Stella, Nova, Catherine, Liesl
