Prompting My Inner Writer

Writing

Tales from my writers group

I suppose that every writer dreams about writing the Great American Novel. And I’m no exception. Hardly a day goes by that I don’t think about plots and characters. Should I write about hitch-hiking through Europe in the early 70s, the recovery of art stolen during World War II or a road trip across the U.S. with my college roommate? How about the story of how I gave birth in a VW bus in Munich during Oktoberfest? The operative term here is ‘gave birth,’ not to be confused with the concept of conceiving a child in a VW bus during Oktoberfest. That I did NOT do.

Over the years, I’ve been in countless writers groups where we offer each other encouragement and constructive criticism on works in progress. I’ve read numerous books about writing. And I’ve followed the advice offered by nearly every successful author: read, read, read.

I’m currently in a writers group that has just three members, including me. Being in such a small group has a lot of advantages. For one thing, it forces us to write something every week. In larger groups, not everyone is called upon to read from their work each time. But with just Mary Ann, Nancy and me in our group, there is plenty of time. Each of us reads something new for 10–15 minutes, while the other two listen with a critical ear. We allot five to 10 minutes for feedback. We point out the things that we think are strong about a person’s piece but also make suggestions for how it could be improved. For instance, authors sometimes forget to share certain information with readers, so that a character’s actions or a twist in the plot are confusing. Or there might be inconsistencies in the piece that the author has overlooked.

But my favorite part of our writers group is the first 15 minutes each week, when we do ‘the prompt.’ The way this works is that we alternate bringing in something — an object, a quotation, a photo, for example — and we each write spontaneously about it for exactly five minutes. For instance, one week, Mary Ann set a transistor radio from the early 1960s on the table as our prompt. Another time, Nancy brought in a small animal’s scull that she had found in the woods. After five minutes of writing, each of us reads what we’ve written. Time and again, we are amazed at how strong the writing is. It might seem intimidating to have to start writing when you think your mind is going to be blank. But in fact, it’s remarkable what simply flows out.

My favorite results stemmed from a tiny photo I brought in of a Victorian-era woman. Nancy wrote about family photo shoots at Christmas and how the siblings squabbled each time. I wrote about my grandmother, who reminded me of this woman. But Mary Ann delivered the zinger. The woman, she wrote, was on her way in her carriage to sit for her engagement photo. Along the way, she ran into her fiancé, causing her to arrive late for the appointment. We’ll leave it up to readers’ imagination as to why, in the photo, the woman’s hair and scarf are askew.

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