Quilt
Lately I’ve been choosing a monthly theme for my writing classes.
December was “home.”
January has been “using fictional techniques to improve your memoir or creative nonfiction.”
I asked my faithful, week-in, week-out students last week if there was anything in particular that they wanted to work on in February.
They said,
- the basics of first person vs second person vs third person
- writing in multiple voices
- what is the next step for all these fragments we create?
- how do you build a scene?
- what is narrative arc?
- how do you build a framework for a piece?
February will be “Quilt.”
Jeanne confirmed that a quilt is made of a top layer, the batting (which I called the stuffing), and the backing.
Every week we will create the top layer of written fragments, beautiful scenes to be stitched together into a more beautiful whole.
We will start with the backing, or the framework, the narrative arc (Week 1)
The stuffing is next: persons (Week 2) and voices (Week 3).
Finally we’ll put it all together (Week 4).
A quilt: another way to tell, my word for 2012.
Sometimes it all fits together.
2 Comments
Illuminay
I love it! and the stitches that hold it all together!