zk/writing/fcww/friday-notes.md

2.5 KiB

%title Friday — Critical Reading

  • Intro
    • Intro self (incl "this is for MFA" spiel)
    • Allow others to intro
  • Ice breaker: What is your least favorite part of your favorite movie?
  • Lead into what is a text:
    • Books/writing, yes, but also anything that tells a story --- film, games, etc
    • Thus, what is critical reading?
  • Intentional engagement with a text, especially WRT the self:
    • Back to ice breaker: how do you intentionally engage with your favorite film?
    • How do we intentionally engage with a text in furry?
      • What do we like in a furry text?
      • What don't we like?
      • Notably, not asking what makes a text furry --- that we are furries is what enables us to read in that context
      • Thus, how do we engage with a text that we feel is furry as furries?
  • What goes into critical reading?
    • Layers:
      • Mechanical: presentation, word choice, language usage, writing style, etc
      • Subjective: emotional impact, plot effectiveness, description, evocativeness
    • "7 Trips Through the Score" --- may n ot need that many, but multiple (or at least slow) reading can let us focus on one layer at a time
  • Reading exercise:
    • Pick 1 of these 2 categories to pay attention to first and read, then read for the second
    • Critique tomorrow, but preview: we're not tearing a text apart, we're asking it questions:
      • How did we feel the plot worked? Was there a structure? Could we follow it?
      • What was told? What was left out? How did (not) knowing make us feel?
      • What type of language usage was there? Word choice? Style usage?
      • How about emotional impact? Was the story impactful? Did the mechanics help or hiinder?
      • Was it evocative? How did the furry elements play into it? Did you want to learn more? Was it engaging?
    • Be ready to summarize
    • (~10 minutes to read)
    • Someone summarize
    • Talk through each
    • Talk through how the exercise felt:
      • Was it useful? Tiring? Enjoyable?
  • Tomorrow, we'll go through critiquing writing and actually workshop a piece --- one of mine that has already been workshopped and published, so it's just an example of critiquing for a present author without putting anyone on the spot
  • Do you want optional homework for Sunday?
    • Write a short ~500 word snippet (or offer one already written) to go through a gentle workshopping
    • While writing, think about what we talked through today
    • Email to me, I'll put it online for all to read in the workshop
    • Will be asking how it felt/etc