Group Meeting 3 19 08

Our last group meeting was, as usual, a good source of feedback and an interesting sampler of the work everyone has been doing. To our last group meeting, Katie brought a continuation of her short story, Julia brought more short story material, Allen brought the start of a new short story, and I brought some more pages of my script. Personally, I felt the "movies of the mind" concept was effective in providing raw feedback, pure mental data that hasn't already passed through the filter of interpretation. I felt it was informative to see what was going on in everyone's heads as they read my piece - the "movies" technique was especially interesting as applied to an actual movie. Everyone's work seems to be moving along and I can't wait to see what's next.

-Trevor

My bad on late post

Alright, so our fifth meeting was a very successful one. All four of us had pieces that we were excited to share and recieve feedback on. Trevor introduced the beginning of his script addition to his screenplay project; Julia added teo pages to her short story; Katy had the beginning of "Gaia," her short story inspired by the fantasy works she is reading; and I presented the beginning of my story inspired by Edgar Allan Poe. We found the Question based feedback method the most effective and took turns questioning our own pieces and answering eachothers. I asked whether or not the rhyming worked for my piece and recieved mixed yet helpful feedback. Thank you by the way.
We spent alot of time talking about Trevor's script and how it was interesting to see the third person character of the storyline have a voice and personality that a script reveals. We talked about the direction Julia's piece was going to take and how the memories or flasbacks add to the drama and effect of her piece. Both mine and Katy's pieces were just beginnings and generated suspense as to what our next drafts would be. Katy's story followed a botanist on her way to a convention and my story showed an individual ravaged by the loss of a loved one. Leaving meeting five I remember we were all excited to see the next step in our pieces on meeting six.
Parliament of Owls, hoot hoot!

Our 4th Meeting

We had our fourth meeting today, in which we once again had a very diverse array of written pieces. Katy brought in a poem, and asked whether or not the rhythm of the poem worked, which lead to our discussion on the effect and impact that rhythm has on poetry. Trevor brought in the first two pages of the script for the short movie he's writing, it was very exciting to see the story put into a dialogue. His question was if there was too much dialogue, or any unrealistic dialogue in the script. The script was actually very realistic and we decided that the impatience of the main character came across in his few lines. I brought in the first couple pages of a short story, and my question was whether or not the shift from past to present moments was too confusing. Having so many different types of pieces is beneficial to the group because we have plenty of things to discuss and I feel that we are able to learn a lot from one anther.

-Julia

Last Group Meeting

Hey guys. During our last class period, we all found interesting ways to contribute to the group's sharing and discussion. Trevor is working on his screenplay and brought in an updated treatment. This continued the story of the anonymous "businessman" into the final bits of the screenplay, showing in what direction his is going with his project. Julia has been working on some original poetry in the sonnet format. We talked about the meaning behind the poems and their structure. I have decided to expand upon my "Writer's Metaphor" piece and make it more polished. For me at least, it's been engaging how none of us so far have really been working on comparable pieces, and we all find unique ways to contribute to our discussions of the writing process. See you D block!

Pointing and Center of Gravity

Last class, we did the pointing and center of gravity exercises with the pieces we had all brought in. Unfortunately, we were short one member because Julia was sick. The pieces we brought were written in very different styles. Katie brought a dialog between two sisters, Alan brought in a persuasive article about Ron Paul, and I brought in the first part of the treatment for my script. One thing that stuck out for people about Katie's was her use of colorful description, such as "I thought her eyes would explode." Something that stuck out for us about Alan's piece was his comparison of Ron Paul's policies to the U.S. declaration of independence. In all, I found it to be an informative meeting, and I'm looking forward to seeing what everyone brings next time!

Last Group Meeting

Last class the Parliament had our first real productive meeting. We sat around and shared the writing object pieces that revealed a little bit of each of us, discussed our goals and dreams for this next semester, and revealed the varying range of works we are currently reading. At depth we went into Trevor's challenge of writing a screenplay and how it is something he has always wanted to do. Katy is engaging herself in foreign poetry and seeing the differences between translated versions. Julia is reading an interesting novel and I am reading boring political stuff. Our group chemistry is almost frighteningly good and I look forward to cultivating my voice with you unique and brilliant individuals.