My first guest session of the season – Poetry in Collaboration – was such a success! With sixteen enthusiastic participants and one lively, energetic facilitator, the hour flew by before we knew it. Haiku, renga, nonets, free verse–we explored it all.
Often, we believe that writing must be a solo activity. We have creative thoughts and ideas, and we want to have full control over them. However, collaboration can lead to unexpected, sometimes beautiful, consequences. Sampurna is a serial collaborator, as she describes herself, and the stories she shared about her collaborative writing experiences were lovely. Step by step, she led the participants through their own work. How does one begin? What methods can we follow? How do we go on, while being mindful of our own creative impulses as well as those of our partner’s?
In a whirlwind of a workshop, Sampurna visiting one breakout room after another – there were eight in all! She helped overcome roadblocks, gave the pairs suggestions and feedback, and helped each writer ask questions about the choices they made. The poetry module of my writing programmes is almost over, and this was a grand way to bring it towards its conclusion.
A few key takeaways:
- Listening to your partner is important! Collaboration is about working together with a clear goal in mind.
- Collaboration works well when your partner is different from you. If you already have similar tastes and ideas, you are much more likely to create something quite predictable.
- Choosing a setting that both partners are familiar with, but in different ways, leads to surprising results.
There were so many more ideas and thoughts, but an hour’s workshop has never felt shorter. Here’s to more workshops filled with ideas and magic!
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