SSU Writers' Series Reaction

Steve, Robert, and Matt proved to be quite the dynamic trio in last week’s presentation.   Hearing their own writings, in their own voice, lent itself to a unique experience in and of itself.   Also curious for me was to hear what material is currently being circulated and published by aspiring and established writers.

The most meaningful part of the evening came in the Q&A session.  Steve made a lasting comment in regards to an audience question that stuck with me: “The physical and tangible needs to happen, how a character moves—make it strange, keep yourself aware.”  The three then encouraged the audience, assumedly aspiring writers, to utilize this practice of breaking beyond the barriers of writing.  As Robert advised, “Write what you know,” and later reinforced by Steve, “take and idea and run with it.” 

At heart, what appeared to be integral to the process is the role of description.  This was very apparent in Matt’s “The Cartographer’s Girl,” where not only alongside descriptive navigation by symbols we got a very good sense of the cartographer himself, his character, his emotions—we were able to develop a keen sense of who he is and what the plight he faces, roaming endlessly around for a lover whose whereabouts are unknown. 

Steve’s piece also addressed the importance of description.  From the start, he catches us with sensory appeal, the “tapping finger on a manila folder.”   Early on it becomes clear he is quite attune to the stylistic elements of setting up a sentence.  This is seen as he stylistically employs techniques like end focus and “if then” subjunctive clauses.  We see him cleverly personifying a computer (“let is sleep”) and effortlessly incorporates witticisms and puns.

Description is central to Robert’s story as we develop an image of Abraham, his bold white and red pajama suit and the play on these colors muted with images of life, death, and cleansing.  Robert heavily exercises repetition to enhance description which at times presents ‘odesque' elements to his writing (“Remember this man, Remember this boy”).  Unlike Matt and Steve, Robert utilizes description to further provocative symbolism and imagery in his writing that captures the essence of the human sensory experience, “each night my dreams are filled with the thunder of clothes.”  All in all, this experience was quite memorable and overall inspiring to see and hear firsthand.