I knew it was coming the moment I heard "assignments". This was not about you writing because you want to, but you writing because you have to.
I had my fair share of assignments in college and if writing - just writing anything - made you a better writer I'd be better than Ernest Hemingway by now. Alas, one does not become better by writing alone.
One must read the right books and likewise write the right stories.
What follows will be an immensely subjective evaluation of the Scripture Union's Young Writers' Camp, 2008. It will be, in other words, my opinion.
Dividing into teams, each one of us had to write something to fill up our paper. Our word count was budgeted; our stories edited. By the end of the camp some of us may have mastered the fine art of writing what your editor wants.
Unfortunately such accommodation I did not find particularly amusing nor enlightening.
I ought to say that I have no qualms about journalistic writing. My experience at a New Straits Times journalism course taught me a lot - including the joys of writing newspaper articles. They can be fun. It was there I learned how to write the perfect bite size article for a reader with an excruciatingly short attention span. The nut graph? Check.
It was not because I knew all these things when I sat through the sessions that made it so unenjoyable. I think it was because from the start, we had to write something that had to come out a certain way, meet a certain expectation. Of course, writing is always about meeting expectations. But as you'll see below, I was troubled about what those "expectations" were.
I noticed fiction was almost non-existent here. Obviously. And that is the problem. Non-fiction is almost always more powerful than fiction (and indeed, I read more of the former than the latter) but in the recounting of facts and figures creativity is stunted.
A facilitator remarked to me that this was less a creative writing camp than a journalism one. Perhaps that was the organizer's intention, but he spoke to me as if he had expected something else. As if the end result was not quite satisfactory, not quite intended.
A brief digression: I must say that the camp was one of the more energetic and fun ones that I have been to (although that may have been because we were confined entirely to our mountain retreat in the previous year's camp).
The cave trip was different, and provided a respite. When I found myself back at Harvest Haven (run by the amazingly genial staff there) though, I found myself back into the expected, into the required. I vaguely remembered college.
We learned about writing alright. I just wonder that, in the process of editing pictures, transcribing interviews and meeting deadlines the real point of us going here - to learn how to write - was lost.
I also wonder, in our rush to admire our writing in our make believe newspapers, did we have the wrong conception as to what writing was?
The Writer's Slam, where our works are commented and criticized upon showed as much. Less than half of the campers actually came up to speak, which either shows that they were lazy or had nothing to write. If it was the latter, then that is troubling indeed.
I learned little about inspiration in writing, which for many is so so very important. Without inspiration our writing will be hollow. Or, as is the case most of the time, we end up writing nothing at all. And if your only inspiration happens to be deadlines, do not be surprised if you find your writing so uninspiring.
I suppose that has been my problem. Less with the program than the idea behind this camp. My issue was with its philosophy, which I don't like. But forgive me, I suppose my idea of writing is still so romanticized. Time, always the dependable teacher, will tell.
__________________________
I would like to thank the facilitators and other organizers (and subsidizers, hehe) who made this camp happen. Sorry, I had no other way to word it. I really, really appreciate what you guys have done and please, keep the Young Writer's Camp alive.
I had my fair share of assignments in college and if writing - just writing anything - made you a better writer I'd be better than Ernest Hemingway by now. Alas, one does not become better by writing alone.
One must read the right books and likewise write the right stories.
What follows will be an immensely subjective evaluation of the Scripture Union's Young Writers' Camp, 2008. It will be, in other words, my opinion.
Dividing into teams, each one of us had to write something to fill up our paper. Our word count was budgeted; our stories edited. By the end of the camp some of us may have mastered the fine art of writing what your editor wants.
Unfortunately such accommodation I did not find particularly amusing nor enlightening.
I ought to say that I have no qualms about journalistic writing. My experience at a New Straits Times journalism course taught me a lot - including the joys of writing newspaper articles. They can be fun. It was there I learned how to write the perfect bite size article for a reader with an excruciatingly short attention span. The nut graph? Check.
It was not because I knew all these things when I sat through the sessions that made it so unenjoyable. I think it was because from the start, we had to write something that had to come out a certain way, meet a certain expectation. Of course, writing is always about meeting expectations. But as you'll see below, I was troubled about what those "expectations" were.
I noticed fiction was almost non-existent here. Obviously. And that is the problem. Non-fiction is almost always more powerful than fiction (and indeed, I read more of the former than the latter) but in the recounting of facts and figures creativity is stunted.
A facilitator remarked to me that this was less a creative writing camp than a journalism one. Perhaps that was the organizer's intention, but he spoke to me as if he had expected something else. As if the end result was not quite satisfactory, not quite intended.
A brief digression: I must say that the camp was one of the more energetic and fun ones that I have been to (although that may have been because we were confined entirely to our mountain retreat in the previous year's camp).
The cave trip was different, and provided a respite. When I found myself back at Harvest Haven (run by the amazingly genial staff there) though, I found myself back into the expected, into the required. I vaguely remembered college.
We learned about writing alright. I just wonder that, in the process of editing pictures, transcribing interviews and meeting deadlines the real point of us going here - to learn how to write - was lost.
I also wonder, in our rush to admire our writing in our make believe newspapers, did we have the wrong conception as to what writing was?
The Writer's Slam, where our works are commented and criticized upon showed as much. Less than half of the campers actually came up to speak, which either shows that they were lazy or had nothing to write. If it was the latter, then that is troubling indeed.
I learned little about inspiration in writing, which for many is so so very important. Without inspiration our writing will be hollow. Or, as is the case most of the time, we end up writing nothing at all. And if your only inspiration happens to be deadlines, do not be surprised if you find your writing so uninspiring.
I suppose that has been my problem. Less with the program than the idea behind this camp. My issue was with its philosophy, which I don't like. But forgive me, I suppose my idea of writing is still so romanticized. Time, always the dependable teacher, will tell.
__________________________
I would like to thank the facilitators and other organizers (and subsidizers, hehe) who made this camp happen. Sorry, I had no other way to word it. I really, really appreciate what you guys have done and please, keep the Young Writer's Camp alive.
6 comments:
You've got a point. But I think there's some value in learning to do what we -have- to instead of what we -want- to. Life, after all, isn't always about what we want.
(there wasn't enough time for everybody to speak at the writer's slam btw)
Hehe, like I said, college (and for others, school) taught me about compulsory writing a long time ago. I guess it was my bad for assuming the YWC was going to give me a respite from that. :P
Don't worry, you'll get your taste of deadlines (and adrenaline) once you go to college. More than you can ever dream of. ;)
(True, there wasn't a lot of time, but there weren't a lot of people who wrote their pieces either, as per my conversations)
As for me, I've come back from the camp feeling an urge to write. I didn't really write because i ahd to but because I wanted to.
I guess in any program, there are its flaws. Sometimes due to factors beyond control. But this being my 1st YWC and all, I found it pretty interesting though. Maybe the aim was for exposure. True, I did expect like seminars on how to improve your writing, tips and stuff like that. But reflecting on that, that would be rather boring as compared to experience actually producing our own newspapers, with other young writers such as the bunch we had. Experiences many of us would not have the opportunity to experience elsewhere.
I actually enjoyed the complete turnaround of this camp. As someone used to writing whimsical "fluff pieces" I thought it was really exhilarating to be put in a situation where you're pressured to get the facts right and do it on time. Sure it was vaguely reminiscent of college assignments. But I think I got far more fulfillment out of it than the former.
On the philosophy of the camp. I do agree that it was a large deviation from the norm. Sessions on creative writing, fiction vs. non-fiction, poetry and the like were wholly absent. But I do think that they encapsulated the spirit of writing very well. See, we were analyzed and critiqued and read and exposed to the best and worst of our writing. And yes, while the style of the camp probably wasn't very welcoming for the newcomers or less seasoned writers, I still think it was done pretty well.
Writer's Slam. Ugh. I got SLAMMED. To be honest, I was kinda...put down. Being the first to read. I don't know if people hadn't "warmed up" to "praise mode" yet. But like, if you want to get mathematical. My improvement feedback grossly outnumbered my "awesome" feedback. And when other campers KEPT ON SAYING NICE THINGS ABOUT OTHER PEOPLE'S ARTICLES even when it was time for the "improvement" feedback. It didn't really lift my spirits. I'm cliche. :(
hi daniel. joyce here. i just found your blog so this comment is a little late. i do agree with you on some points. such as where creativity was stunted. i dare say i didn't find ywc as enjoyable as i thought it would because almost 90% of the camp emphasized on journalism and that wasn't why i signed up for this camp. emily mentioned that you don't have to like writing to be a journalist. you can hate it and still be a journalist. exactly. to me it can work the other way round - i can love writing but hate journalism.
but true, we can't always get what we want in life. i'm grateful for the exposure and experience that this camp has given me. i agree that this camp may not be welcoming for newcomers (that would be.. uh.. me) or less seasoned writers, but i guess this is teeny taste of the real world. people don't really care if you're new or old, you just have to get it done.
jared, i think everyone else hasn't warmed up yet when you read your piece. i do remember that i liked your piece very much, just that i hadn't had the guts to speak up then. have you thought of posting it in your blog? i think we would all love to know what was the exact quote in which lisa misquoted you. something to do "writers we will stay.". ;)
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