Experimental Writing: Hum, murmur, mutter is a 5 week course led by artist and writer, Fiona Glen.
How can a text speak? What are weight, texture, tone, flow, shape, direction, and resonance in writing? And how can written language – seemingly static, two-dimensional and disembodied – relate to movement, physicality and embodiment?
During this course, students will consider their writing and reading voice, and expand their practice through creative exercises. Together, we will experiment with secrecy and performance, concealment and revelation – soaring fabulation, whispered confessions and urgent declarations. Testing out many voices and connecting with embodied modes of writing, our aim is to surprise ourselves: to write into the unknown, so that we can encounter our writing from a new angle. Alongside conventions such as the lyric poem and libretto, we will explore interdisciplinary and conventional writing, journeying through poetry, essay, fiction, writing for voice, and further forms which resist classification.
This a practical, participatory, workshop-based course. It is best-suited for people who write creatively in any capacity, and who are looking to discover exciting new approaches. There will be opportunities for reading and discussing one another’s work, enabling participants to try new approaches and learn from each other. Around one hour of at-home reading, writing and editing time is built into the course per week, and participants will gain the most if they make space for reflection and experimentation outside of our shared sessions.
This course will cover:
-Challenge and expand perceptions of literary modes, share work by diverse writers, and introduce a wide range of conventional and experimental techniques
-Foster critical reading, creative discussion, and constructive feedback in group sessions
-Offer space and support to hone individual practices, both in-session and out-of-session
-Collaboratively explore written ‘voice’, figuring in writing, and the materiality of text, nurturing critical yet expansive thinking around these ideas
-Help writers break out of habits and perceived limitations, discovering new routes and courage in their practice
This course is suited best for people who write creatively in any capacity, and who are looking to discover exciting new approaches.
