What's different about Authentic Writing?

What happens in an Authentic Writing workshop?

Frequently Asked Questions

 

WHAT'S DIFFERENTABOUT AUTHENTIC WRITING?

Authentic Writing approaches writing as art.

All true art is first person ~ a recreation of the artist and the artist's world. Art can take any form, but it must be a sincere effort to reveal the artist and the artist's world.

Great art does not seek to copy or please.

Authentic Writing directs writers to return to their most essential, personal material – the content of their actual lives – and to render those stories not in pious ephemeral terms, but in tough, concrete ones.

This is no place for platitudes.

In every workshop the participants actually write – they don't talk about it, they don't take notes about it, nobody theorizes about it. We write.

Authentic Writing maintains that writing – like all art – is an alive intuitive process not strangled by thinking.

The best writing emerges when allowed to take its own course, without imposed plans, expectations or – worst of all – forced resolutions.

The Authentic Writing workshops place no value on standard academic criticism and make a point of not making didactic suggestions to the writer about what to do next. Nothing could be more detrimental to the organic, life-giving process of writing.

The results of such an approach are immediate: a distinct and powerful writer's voice, a release from any form of Writer's Block and the creation of vivid, artful writing.

WHAT HAPPENS IN A WORKSHOP?

Note: Workshops are adaptable to any size group and length of time. We have conducted workshops with almost 100 participants and as few as ten, lasting anywhere from an afternoon to five full days.

The workshops begin with a period of writing. A short phrase is offered by Fred or Marta, something that has come out of recent writing in the group or a phrase that seems relevant to the group at that moment.

This phrase is offered as a way of bringing a memory or specific scene to mind. Sometimes what comes to mind seems utterly unrelated. No matter. We encourage the writer to begin there. As in dreams, the material that can trigger writing is unpredictable. And, as in a dream, it comes from mysterious places and may at first seem trivial when in fact it is huge.

After a generous period of writing, participants reassemble and are invited one by one to read their work out loud. There is no pressure to read. In fact, it is best to write with no commitment to going public -- although most quickly feel comfortable doing so in this supportive, confidential context.

Those who do read find it an invaluable component of the workshop, almost as important as the writing itself. Writers gain an important perspective on their work impossible to have while actually creating it. In addition, they receive invaluable, respectful response from the group.

The response is given in terms of what details mattered most to the listeners, what moments were particularly compelling, which events or characters came through most powerfully. This response propels the writer further into the writer's work.

Although the writing that appears in workshops is invariably deep and personal, participants maintain a disciplined focus on the writing itself. The workshops are thus saved from becoming idle exchanges of personal stories or quasi-therapy.

Fred and Marta are almost always full participants in the workshops as well as facilitators. They do not stand apart as "teachers." They write and read their material, using the workshops like everyone else to fuel their own writing.

FREQUENTLY ASKED QUESTIONS

Where did Authentic Writing come from?

Founded in 1993, Authentic Writing grew out of Fred Poole's lifelong career as a professional writer followed by his years of serious practical study, first of drawing and painting and then of liberation theology. These three passionate pursuits ~ writing, art and a theology that celebrates God's presence in the visible world ~ were critical to the creation of the Authentic Writing program.

What’s the difference between coming to the weekly groups and coming to a retreat?

The weekly groups maintain the momentum of the writing, ensuring that all participants are not just thinking about writing, but actually doing it. The weekly groups are a powerful adversary to all obstacles – tangible and intangible – that rear up to put a stop to writing. During the longer retreats stories unfold from stories and the momentum builds in a different way. Writers are drawn deeper and deeper into their own material, allowing a profound exploration to take place.

Is this art or is this therapy?

Art is therapeutic, there's no question. And the better the art the more life-giving it is. When people write on their own terms – without loyalties to any technique or handed-down version of the truth -- they invariably are rejuvenated.

What kinds of writers attend these workshops?

All kinds ~ from published writers to journalists, to those who are just beginning -- and you usually cannot tell who is who. Novelists, screenwriters, poets and playwrights attend these workshops to unearth their most important material, and then mold it into their preferred form.

Why write in a group? Isn't it better to write alone?

The groups generate enormous momentum and productivity. One receives immediate response to one's work. One learns without being taught what makes a voice unique and what makes writing strong from listening to the work of others. The groups are high-octane fuel for the writing life.

Can you help with Writer's Block?

Writer's Block occurs when a writer gets trapped between wanting to write his story and unconscious loyalty to some forbidding authority – familial or institutional. It occurs when the writer tries to force herself into writing something in which someone else – but not the writer herself – believes. Authentic Writing is the writer's ally. Writing Block almost always disappears – both suddenly and gradually -- with unflagging support and continued writing.

What happens during a private session?

This varies greatly from writer to writer depending on what is needed at that moment. Sometimes writing takes place during the session. Or writing is brought to the session, read and discussed. Sometimes the private session is a chance to talk about possible new directions the writer can go in, or what the writer is avoiding in her work. These sessions can be especially useful to writes who are melding their stories into full-length works. For those who cannot get to weekly groups or for those who want, for whatever reason, focused individual attention.

What do people do with the writing they create in a workshop?

The stories written in these workshops become essential first drafts that writers go on to use as they wish. Some have transformed their workshop writing into poetry or plays, others into book-length manuscripts. Still others prefer to leave their writing as it first appears, seeing in these pieces a beauty that needs no alteration. Many current participants are finishing book projects, often using only material written in these workshops.

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