Seamus Heaney's writing room.
After reading about the writing process in the Dornan et. al selection, I was initially struck with how familiar it all sounded. In high school and college, my creative writing teachers employed what is more or less the "process" (prewriting, writing, post-writing etc.). It made a lot of sense then as it does now reading the passage. The main element missing in my experience, and one could surely argue that it is the most important, is the structured peer-review time. My high school teacher, Mr. Beckman would sooner have shaved his famously thick and bushy sideburns than let us actually converse about our writing. When the door closed, he was in charge, the sole possessor of good taste and style. However, he provided us with opportunities to prewrite in a number of ways, I actually remember doing the bubble exercise where we connected different concepts together for future writing exercises. We also learned a good deal of editing techniques. On the other hand, I realize how much I missed by not sharing my work with my peers and look forward to future classroom experiences where I can experience the strikes and gutters of writing with my students.
I really liked this article in the Guardian that featured writing rooms of famous writers. Be sure to check out Jonathan Safran Foer.
6 comments:
baker, i love the link! what a cool idea. it's like an episode of mtv cribs for the discerning viewer-reader. i imagine david lodge, sporting bling, telling viewers "this is where the magic happens, ya'll!"
Good God, the Rose Reading Room is something else. It's certainly got a life of its own, and could undeniably shape someone's writing. It's funny how so many of these people's writing spots have such great natural lighting (windows, and skylights), when I've almost always done my best writing in the later hours. Of course, I never made a living or any money through my writing, so I can see the need for creating spaces to let the mind wonder.
I gotta say the Dornan text rang true for me, a heckuva lot more than this 6 + 1 Traits of Writing has (as I mention in my posting, it just seems way too dumbed down for me).
Loved the "famously bushy sideburns" and "strikes and gutters of writing" -- nice!
Loved the "famously bushy sideburns" and "strikes and gutters of writing" -- nice!
I also don't remember ever getting much instruction in peer review or in revision at all. I've always been the kind of writer that edits and revises as I write, which is why it takes me 12+ straight hours to write a 5 page paper that I'm happy with. I'm cutting and pasting like a maniac and starting over after writing a significant amount that isn't good enough. Even in the creative writing class I took last year (IN COLLEGE! no less), I found that I was crying out for constructive criticism, asking a million questions of my peers and I got nothin'... not even from the teacher. She was the most ridiculous of all - demanding significant revision but not teaching us what this meant. I was ready to strangle myself.
Constructing something great (i.e. writing a paper) requires all of the building blocks in addition to laying a good, strong foundation. What do they always say, "Rome wasn't built in a day"?
Love this site. What a cool way to help students think about the influence of an author's space (whether public or private) on the writing product. It would be great for them to then find their own place where they feel comfortable, a place where they can let their imaginations wander.
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