At the February meeting, 17 members and guests were treated to a Workshop on editing by local poet, Jane Seabourne. Jane was her usual lively self, maintaining pace and ensuring a worthy amount of work was completed in the available two hours.
We began by listing answers to:-
In three words, what is your favourite colour and why?
In two words, what is your favourite drink and why?
In one word, what do you like best about where you live?
From the six words, choose 3.
‘Not only are you now an editor, but the words chosen will give an indication of your style of writing.’
We then looked at composing Verbatim Found poems. A Found Poem is one composed from words found in other writing. Select a passage of text from writing that is not meant to be poetic and add line breaks.
Do’s and don’ts:-
Do * Take out the odd word or reverse a contraction to make a line scan better
* Add or remove punctuation marks for consistency or effect
* Use italics to denote speech, change of voice or emphasis
* Replace numerals and symbols with words
Don’t * Add your own words
* Delete words to change the meaning of the text
* Cherry pick words and phrases to force a poem that really wasn’t there
* Take text from a poetic source such as a poem, song lyrics or a novel
The third exercise was to edit a piece of work which each member had brought with them. As far as possible lose the following words:
I, THE, AND, IS, LIKE, HE, SHE, ALL, IT, AS.
Then tidy and perhaps put a few words back, but only if essential.
*
Thanks were expressed to Jane for organising a valuable and enjoyable Workshop.