Meeting #6: Criterion-Based Feedback

There was little distress in the meeting because, as it turns out, most of the comments we have received have been criteria based. We came up with questions similar to previously asked ones, but new that dealt with the style and other qualities of our writing. There was no non-fiction so we spent most of our initial discussion time conversing about the criteria for fiction pieces. There was some debate over the legitimacy of the criteria. Some felt that it was too rigid and fiction is to broad a style to be bound with set criteria, while others felt that there could have been more criteria or that some of them could be worded a bit differently. In the end, most comments we gave or revived seem to deal with pace, in fact we all had some issues involving our pieces being too fast.

Chris Khatami

Meeting #5: Voice

The group presented their questions in the beginning of the meeting. We read it quickly, but spent a significant time finding the sentences that jumped out to us. Luckily, no to members picked the same sentences. We discussed what it meant to read "for a purpose," and found interest in accepting ridicule. We also shared what kind of voices we use and how they intermingle with each other. Our group had an interesting mix, but a fair amount of sarcastic or cynical voices, which may say something about high-school or Lick. Then in discussing the reading we agreed that the voice ad a fascination too it similar to childhood joy.

Chris Khatami

Meeting 2/29

After asking our questions and reading the voice piece we all shared our "5 star quotes".

One of our favorites ones was "voice gets to the heart of how we as writers come up with words, because we often write best when we feel we are 'giving voice' to our thoughts; and we often revise best when we sense that the voice doesn't sound right and change it to get closer to the voice we want." We talked about this quote and how it helped us to realize the ways in which we write. As we have been talking about voice a lot for the past couple of classes it has come to be an important aspect of the way we think about our writing. We talked about how a good way to write is to say things out loud, because we believe that good writing sounds as though it is being spoken. Also, we said that in revisions it is important to always reread, scanning for continuity of voice and making sure that you still find truth in it.

-Maya L

Thermal Energy Meeting #3

Last meeting we discussed different group members work. First I described the project I'm doing and then I did a "mock" interview. The group gave me a couple suggestions for question ideas and I got an idea of how to best conduct the interviews. Next I read a short story about a fish that I wrote. The group used the summarize and the sayback method for giving me feedback. Next Mike talked about the story he is writing. It is a mystery from three different perspectives. Lastly our group decided that we need to get down to business and start bringing in our writing so we can give eachother feedback on the different pieces.

Writing Group Meeting 1/31/08

For the first part of this meeting, we read over the "Pointing and Center of Gravity" exercise and the sample essay about sprinkles. The essay was really stupid, but we were still able to get a grasp of how to "point" and how to find a "center of gravity." Then, we did this exercise for each of own pieces. Most of had just revised our object story, except for Chris, who brought something new in in the form of a script. Doing this helped us to point out the most important phrases in our writing and where you can identify the main ideas. One new addition to our meeting guidelines was that we should read our work as quickly as possible, yet still trying to be thorough, in order to spend more time on discussion and less time on actually reading.

Again,
-Mike E.

Writing Group Meeting 1/23/08

Our first group meeting went really well, and I think we set a really good tone for the rest of the semester. First, we each read our object stories. It was really interesting to hear about which object each person wrote about and the role it plays in their creative process. Then we each shared our different metaphors and what they represent about us as a writer. We then came up with personal goals and discussed how we can support each other throughout the semester. One way we decided to support each other was to look for improvements in specific aspects of our writing, including vocab, fresh ideas, or clarity, depending on whose writing it was.

-Mike E.

(Untitled-Any Suggestions?)

Lauren Gerber
January 31, 2008
Block F-Cultivating Your Voice
Creative Writing Piece

Inspired by an accident of a girl I know:

My eyes aching to open – I felt somebody anxiously squeezing my hand. As I struggled, the pain resurged throughout my entire body. I wanted to scream, but my mouth could not open. It seemed as if it could be surgically glued together. I removed my hand from the person’s grip, bringing it toward my face. I gradually moved it across what I thought would have been my mouth. But rather, it felt as if someone injected me with an overdose of collagen. Whatever it was, it was “blimp-like” to say the least.

I raised my left eyebrow at the person sitting in the chair adjacent to my cot – the same person from whom I had released a tight grip. I pointed at my mouth with the most inquisitive look. My mother stared at me solemnly, carefully reporting, “The doctor says that you’ll be able to talk within the next month. I’m so sorry honey!”

By the strain in her face, I could tell she was trying to hold back a fair amount of tears; nevertheless, they were creating a spherical puddle on her lap. I tried to look down at my body, but I was not in a propped up position for my viewing “pleasure”. But at that moment, I wasn’t sure if “pleasure” was the correct word to describe this situation. In fact, I would have used it to describe its antithesis. Perhaps, I really didn’t want to know what my remainder looked like, and then maybe, just maybe, I could avoid the actual truth for a longer period of what seemed, an interminable moment of horror.