writing

Last night I went to a writing workshop at Early to Bed with a friend. Now, this wasn't just any old writing workshop it was a romance/erotica writing workshop. I think it was billed as romance, but um, hello, if you are going to Early to Bed what do you think it is going to be? If you expected heaving bosoms and throbbing parts then you are sadly mistaken. At this workshop we called a spade a spade.


I feel like we live in a very schizophrenic society. On one hand there are billboards, tv ads, tv shows, movies and magazines that all use sex to sell, but yet we aren't supposed to talk about it. There were a couple of people at the workshop who had a very prurient nature. They were afraid to even put pen to paper, let alone read what they had written to our small groups. I understand being shy and normally something like this would be fraught with tension for me but it was a very small group. I think I was frustrated because their discomfort was making me feel like I was the one who was a freak. Being a writer means putting yourself out there and if you can't do that then don't write.


The trainer opened up the workshop with having create four columns to divide up words that were either crude, sexual, clinical or euphemistic. Then we all had to contribute words to the group and put them in the, what we thought, were appropriate column. It really made you stop and think how you use words to evoke certain images. I also think that my crude or sexy words were very different from some of the other peoples. There are a lot of words that used to foul or unacceptable to me that I have reclaimed. Instead of being derogatory they now have a certain amount of power. Not only do you have to be concerned with setting and character development but the words that you choose to denote a certain act can have severe implications.


We had each picked two pictures from a pile the trainer had brought when we first came in. Then when we broke into groups we had to write for 3-4 minutes about each picture. We then passed our pictures to the next person and wrote about the pictures they passed to us. By the time we were done I had 6 very short starts or middles of stories. It was an interesting exercise, and very useful because I believe that the fear of the blank page is what holds me back. Using the picture as a starting point meant that I could let my imagination flesh out the page. If she would have just said I want you to write for three minutes, I wouldn't have been able to have created a scene that quickly in my head.


My first 3 picture stories were very tame. Almost ridiculously so. I kept skirting around the elephant in the room and leading up to it but never quite jumping in. Finally I just dove in and the tone of my stories really changed. We then shared our stories with the group which helped me because reading out loud what you wrote makes you really hear what needs to be changed and the feedback from the group was very positive. Granted we were told to be relatively positive but it helps to hear from someone else what works.

It was an experience that pushed the boundaries of my comfort zone and helped me realize I can create. At the beginning of class she asked us if we were writing for our self, someone else, or to sell and right now I am just not sure. Anais Nin started out by writing erotic stories and is a very literary writer in my mind. I think it may be possible to merge the two. I guess I will just have to try.

If any one ever wants to workshop their writing let me know. It can be any writing! I find it is really hard to create in a vacuum. The times I have been most prolific in my life were when I was taking writing classes in school. I'm not very disciplined when it comes to writing but when I have a deadline I do better.

Oh, and if you are looking for date ideas go to Early to Bed. There was a couple there who weren't on their first date, but I would say they were probably in the early stages. I thought it was a great idea for a date. Definitely not dinner and a movie!