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Up Drafts and More Author Visits

7/24/2020

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This blog post was written by Emelia Gauch '21 on July 23, 2020

Emelia here!
This week, we began our "up drafts". Basically, the idea is to give our "downdrafts" a sense, as Mr. Berman wrote, of "whole." Personally, I've found this really exciting and interesting as it's given me a chance to look back at what I've been working on and see the concepts I introduced than forgot about, create a more distinct narrative, and further develop the voice of my character. We also filled out outlines, for those of us writing a story, there was a fiction plotting activity and, for those doing poetry, a poetry anthology activity.

At our weekly meeting, we had our second author visit from Whitney Scharer, author of The Age of Light. It was so lovely to be able to talk with her and hear about her experience writing, researching, and publishing The Age of Light. She had many great tips for us and we got to learn more about her book, which many of us have read. For me, I found this experience especially helpful because, like Scharer did, I am writing historical fiction. 
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We've continued to meet one-on-one for boosts, which I've found to be endlessly motivating. There is nothing like having someone clap for you and you getting to do the same for them. I love hearing other fellows work and it's really nice to be able to talk to people who are going through the same process that you are, that are feeling similar feelings, and encountering similar difficulties.
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Down Drafts, Weekly Boosts and Author Visits

7/18/2020

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 This blog post was written by Elena Su '21 on July 17, 2020

During this past handful of weeks, we’ve been developing our “downdrafts”––initial, rough sketches of what our final projects will be. Our target was to have a completed first draft by Friday, July 18. Throughout this process, Ben has always emphasized that we should be focusing on quantity rather than quality; later, there will be ample time for editing and revising. We’re tasked with turning off our “perfectionist switches” so that we can produce a large volume of writing in a relatively short span of time. It’s been liberating. I can discard my inhibitions and speak my mind. 

We’ve also been having weekly “boosts,” which are one-on-one meetings with another Fellow. These meetings allow us to share our progress and to receive some (much-needed!) praise and validation from our own small writing community. For me, writing has always been equal parts difficult and lovely and solitary. It’s been great to receive support from people who understand the same, intimate struggles as deeply as I do. 
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Other exciting news: we had our first guest visit this past Wednesday! Grace Talusan is the author of the brilliant and impactful memoir The Body Papers, which won the Restless Books Prize for New Immigrant Writing. Grace imparted some advice for budding writers and shared some details about her experiences with writing, teaching, and publishing. We had all previously read The Body Papers for our Fellowship, and many of us asked her about her memoir writing process during a Q&A session on Wednesday. Grace’s visit was in equal parts poignant and enlightening, and we’re so grateful that she was able to leave some of her wisdom with us. 


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Intensive Writing Workshops

7/4/2020

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This blog post was written by Madison Allen '23 on July 2,2020

I can hardly believe that we are in our 7th week of working, learning, and growing as writers. During the midst of a global pandemic and a racial justice movement, these past seven weeks have been a reprieve that has given me the chance to direct my energy and my conscious stream of thoughts inwards to my writing. This week we have had 2 intensive workshops that took place on Wednesday, July 1st and Thursday, July 2nd from 9:00-1:00. During our workshops, we underwent a myriad of the following crash courses included, but not limited to character development, narratives, and how to structure your writing. The crash course that I enjoyed the most was about exploring writing utilizing different points of view which allowed me to remain adamant about the message I wanted to convey within my writing but be adaptable in how I conveyed that message. 
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In the coming weeks, we look forward to deepening our writing skills and hearing from the authors that we all collectively voted on to read their books earlier during the program. On July 15th, we expect to hear from Grace Talusan about her book The Body Papers: A Memoir, on July 22nd we expect to hear from Whitney Scharer about her book The Age of Light, and on July 29th we expect to hear from Danielle Legros Georges about her book The Dear Remote Nearness of You. During the time that we convene with the authors, we will have the opportunity to ask questions about their books and continue to learn how to craft a piece of writing that will ultimately be submitted for publication and be presented in front of a public forum in the fall. I look forward to continuing the work on my project and working with the cohort of other aspiring writers and the esteemed faculty.


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    This blog is maintained by Whipple Fellows as they embark on their summer fellowship.  They use this blog to describe their incredible work and journey as writers.

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