Wordwork's Workshop: Tale as Truth

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In this news article: Results of BeccaJS’s Workshop: New Beginnings |:star: wordworks’s Workshop: The Tale as Truth: Modern Folk Narrative :star:|A New Year, New Hosts |First time you have heard to Writers-Workshop? This section is for you!

Results of BeccaJS’s Workshop: New Beginnings


A word from Writers-Workshop ...

This workshop was quite successful, with 26 entries taking very different approaches, and it looked to me like most everyone was successful to some degree. Thanks to all of the people who made rounds leaving feedback, there were a fair amount of you, and I'm sure the workshoppers were grateful for the feedback.


:iconbeccajs:


BeccaJS’s response...

When I decided upon this workshop idea, I had originally wanted to incorporate the use of music introductions to help inspire and influence people. However I am glad I avoided this, because the way this workshop has worked has given everyone a raw own framework opening to a possible longer piece.

The beginning of a piece of writing is perhaps one of those elements that perhaps isn’t realised just how important a factor it is. It doesn’t matter what form you are writing in either, if it is fiction or nonfiction, writing a play or a poem. They all need to draw in the reader and engage them straight away to help get them to continue reading your piece.

Although there were only two poetry entries, I can’t echo again that this does apply to all forms of writing and although people may be more encouraged to read a whole poem due to length, if the beginning isn’t interesting the level at which the rest of the poem is read at may be with low expectations.

As for the prose entries, I was impressed to see so many, as well as a good range and volume of critique and responses. It reassured me who when seeing that there were 25 entries knew I would struggle to respond to every single one. There was also a great deal of effort made by those who had submitted, responding to their critique in a way which to me is a true element of workshopping work.

What interested me in this workshop is that people won’t ever get it right first time, and that will be the same for most writers. I think that there are people who do think that these things can work out brilliant on the first attempt and they won’t ever have to redraft. If we’re looking at an initial paragraph or stanza, without some dedicated redrafting you will not get that hook for your audience. I also found it interesting that because people participating were restricted to only writing the first paragraph, a lot of information was being crammed into that first paragraph. I believe the people who had that overbearing information were the ones who had drawn out more of an idea of where this piece was going to go and perhaps the excitement of starting a new piece with such little space to write in was why they were so packed. The good thing is that upon revision these pieces can be pulled out and separated into more than one paragraph. There was also a lot of ‘telling’ instead of ‘showing’ in the pieces, again perhaps the restriction of the single paragraphs affected the writings. When you are writing you want your audience to be there too, visualising and sensing where they are and what they see, and realising that the characters being described are real. It is an element of writing that only comes with constant practice and development.

There were some good attempts, some which did provoke interest further and with some polishing there could give us what we are looking for. Nicktroptopolis for example in Gone  created a wonderful beginning, presenting us to a character and then a series of events that had led up to a rather unhappy conclusion. dr3amup with War Given Right also delivered an interesting character that people could instantly recognise and connect to. These two pieces for me were the ones which stood out and :devnicktroptolis: especially gave me the intrigue of wanting to know what had happened and showed me a slice of the action.

Thank you to everyone who got involved in this workshop, from submitting to critiquing and to responding and supporting! It has been most enjoyable.



wordworks’s Workshop: The Tale as Truth: Modern Folk Narrative

:iconwordworks:

wordworks is a twenty-four year old writer living in Philadelphia, in the United States. She is currently employed by a private university and is working towards her second Masters degree. She has been a member of deviantART since February 2007. She likes coffee and Clint Eastwood; she would face a moral dilemma if asked to choose between the two.


The Tale as Truth: Modern Folk Narrative

Hello everyone and welcome to my Workshop! I'm elated to be appearing as a host and hope you'll find this week's task stimulating. The theme has hitherto remained a mystery, even to the Writer's Workshop staff, whose patience may be only be described as saintly. However, the time has come to throw down the gauntlet. First, we'll begin with a question.


What is a Folk Narrative?

According to the Encyclopaedia Britannica, the term folklore refers to the "total of traditionally derived and orally or imitatively transmitted literature, material culture, and custom of subcultures within predominantly literate and techonologically advanced societies."

If that academic definition leaves you feeling dizzy, do not despair; you actually know more about folklore than you probably realize. The beauty of folklore is that it is the creation of a culture and exists in even the smallest cracks. This becomes apparent in the much more concrete definition of folk literature:

"it is transmitted by word of mouth and consists, as does written literature, of both prose and verse narratives, poems and songs, myths, dramas, rituals, proverbs, riddles, and the like. Nearly all known peoples, now or in the past, have produced it."

While the folktale may be transmitted in a variety of forms, what I would like to focus on for this workshop is the folk narrative</b>. This form of folktale takes many shapes itself, but familiar shapes. If you have ever read a fairy tale, been told a ghost story, or been passed an urban legend, you have come into direct contact with the folk narrative.

In fact, I wager many of you are already intimiately familiar with one of the first apperances of a recorded folk narrative, if you recognize the names "Hansel" and "Gretel".

True, it is common knowledge that story Hänsel und Gretel was published by the Brothers Grimm in the 19th century, but many people are not aware that it was among the many Germanic folktales collected by the brothers and adapted into the written word. In short, the story existed long before the Grimms. This is one of the major precepts of the folklore tradition: there are no authors, only performers.


:bulletblue: The Task: Create a Modern Folk Narrative

My challenge to you all is to create a modern folk narrative. Yes, I am asking you to become that forbidden "author" of folklore, but therein lies the challenge! Because a folk narrative is essentially a symbol of a culture and its values, I would like you to take a look at modern culture--any, but using your own may be the simplest approach--and craft a short folktale that you feel is representative of that culture.

Below I've compiled the basic characteristics of the folk narrative to help you get an idea of what I expect. On top of that, there are a plethora of resources on the internet alone, full of examples flowing in from a wide range of cultures.

The major ideological elements of the folk narrative are as follows:

1. The tale is the truth. A folk narrative is meant to be told and taken in the spirit of reality, regardless of any supernatural or even fantastical elements.

2. The mundane is magic. In many folktales, even the most unexceptional aspects of everyday life undergo a magical transformation.

3. The culture is the core. In its purest form, a folk narrative is a representation of a particular culture and its associated norms, taboos, beliefs, and superstitions.

4. The author is unknown. Because the folktale is told in the spirit of truth, it is believed to be without individual origin; it takes its shape from the performer rather than any creator.

When it comes to the actual structure of the folk narrative, there is no right or wrong way to construct the story, so long as adheres to the basic tenet of promoting some moral or message in the outcome. Hansel and Gretel, for example, conveyed the very real dangers of starvation and famine, breakdown of the family structure, and temptation of strangers. Often, the message of the story is open to interpretation.

The Russian folkorist Vladimir Propp (1895-1970) compiled a list of common themes, narrative units, and characters that appeared within those narratives. He introduced a Narrative Structure including 31 narrative units and seven character types. Joseph Campbell, the American mythologist, introduced the Seventeen Stages of the Monomyth particular to heroic narratives.

While I encourage everyone to research before writing, I by no means want to overwhelm the participants in the workshop. I think you'll find that the more simplistic the approach you take, the easier it will be for you to construct your folktale. Remember, a large percentage of these stories are told to children. I personally like New Zealand folklorist Moira Smith's idea of the folk narrative as "looking at the overlooked."


My rules are few and just as simple:

1. Only prose entries will be accepted.
2. The entries must be no longer than 1,000 words. There is no minimum, so long as the message is conveyed.
3. The narrative must be written in a modern setting.
4. The narrative must convey some message or moral related to the culture represented (if additional explanation is required, feel free to included it in your Comments section).

Good luck to you all. If you have any questions or concerns, feel free to send me a note.


Additional Resources:

Folklore Societies and Programs
en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Folklore…

Full-Texts of Folktales
www.pitt.edu/~dash/folktexts.h…
www.americanfolklore.net/sinde…
www.pantheon.org/areas/folklor…
www.rickwalton.com/folktale/fo…
russian-crafts.com/tales.html
www.sacred-texts.com/afr/fssn/
www.sacred-texts.com/afr/saft/…
www.taiwandc.org/folk.htm

(The above are just a few examples. Folktales from virtually every region exist in full-text form on the internet. If you are interested in a particular region, I encourage you to do some browsing.)

How to Submit

After submitting your entry as a new deviation or scrap, send us a note with a link to your piece. Include the subject line "FOLK" in your note. The deadline is midnight 21 January 2009. All times are set for GMT. wordworks will respond to the entries on 25 January.

A note from Writers-Workshop Please note that this is a PROSE workshop, meaning that we will accept only prose entries. Proofread your work before you send it in so that grammatical and spelling errors are minimal. And most of all have fun with it!


:postit:On Accepting Critique

:bulletblue: Always thank the critic. This gratitude must be as sincere as possible, even if you did not like the critique given, because the critic has taken time to offer his/her opinion of the piece.
:bulletblue: If you do not like the critique, it is not necessary to mention so. Simply thank the critic and move on. You can always ignore their suggestions, while not making a scene of it.
:bulletblue: If you are unsure of what the critique means, feel free to ask the critic what s/he meant. Building rapport with your critic is one of the best ways to survive in a workshop and to learn. If you want examples, ask. Similarly, if you like the suggestions given, mention it. Critic's have feelings too. :)
:bulletblue: In the unlikely case that a critic offers rude/sexist/racist/etc comments, feel free to contact Writers-Workshop in a note and we will try to help you. A decision regarding the rudeness of the critique will be taken, and if we're not sure ourselves, we will consult with one of the GDs or anyone else high up on deviantART.


:postit: A New Year, New Hosts

We would like to firstly wish all of you a very happy New Year! As we move into 2009, we are into our 11th cycle at Writers-Workshop and we are looking very forward to the year ahead.

However, we cannot continue without consistent contributions from our members, and therefore we would like to encourage you all to consider hosting a workshop. In particular we are looking for people to host free for all and prose workshops, as poetry is actually booked until April! If you would like to host a workshop, please check out our hosting a Workshop journal to find out how to go about it.

We know many people have reservations in their self confidence as to whether or not they have the ability to host a workshop, but you don’t know until you try it! If you have a good idea for a workshop, we will help you get your workshop together.


:postit:First time you've heard of Writers-Workshop? This section is for you.

Writers-Workshop is a literature community that focuses on the development of a writer. We intend to provide a non-competitive workshop environment on dA, as well as to push good, polished writing over winning prizes or "networking".

Workshops will be conducted every fortnight; prose, poetry and free-for-all sessions will be rotated. For more information, read our FAQs section or note us with queries.

:bulletblue: We have been working on a list of resources for our writers: Resources for Writers which we think is worth going through. We are open to suggestions as well.

:bulletblue: Our Diary has a list of upcoming workshops.

:bulletblue: You canhost a Workshop , too.


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:iconbeccajs: :icongaioumonbatou:
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