Who:

Writers of all levels with an insatiable passion for creation.

What:

Think improv games…but for writers.

Where:

Filter Cafe

1373 North Milwaukee Avenue
Chicago, IL 60642
(773) 904-7819

When:

First  & Third Thursdays of the  month at 7:00 pm

Why:

Because the critique method is not for everyone and this group strives to do something different.

How:

Writing activities  that are as random and disorganized (and yet terribly effective and addictive for that matter) as the writers in the group.  They are somewhat inspired by the Story Workshop Method taught at Columbia College Chicago, but retooled for an informal writing group.

 

RAW is an acronym for “Random Arrangement of Words” which is a perfect description for first seeds of a story.  It may not be pretty , it may make sense only to you but you’re sure there is something there worth exploring.   RAW also refers to the story that is not quite there.  The one that has powerful moments but isn’t quite following through.  The story that is several re-writes away from being publication ready.

RAW will seek to provide support for stages 1-5 of the writing process.

The writing process:
1) Idea Generation/ visualization
2) Put thoughts on paper (perhaps an outline, perhaps nearly nonsensical jibber jabber)
3) The rudiments of scene
4) Turning scene to story (fleshing it out)
5) Re-writes and Re-Works 1-1,333 (and so on)
6) Polishing nearly finished material for publication
7) Editing for grammar and style
8) Submission
9) Publication

RAW is a writing group focused on the beginnings of story/novel development.  Whereas many writing groups (and classes) focus on the last bits of polishing before publication, RAW focuses on idea generation and support throughout the early process of story development–well before its reached a polished completed state.  We do a lot with word games, reading our work out loud and providing instant feedback.  RAW is pretty flexible however, we mold the group to the needs of the members rather than following a set structure.  Lately we have been doing a novel intensive where all members of the group have read each others novels up until the point where we left off writing them. We workshop the chapters (in a very raw state) as we finish them and help nurture the endings of our novels.  When we were all preparing submissions for the exercise sponsored by Sourcebooks  we spent several meetings on one-page synopses.  We like to joke that the “A” in RAW stands for Anarchy because our group prefers to define and redefine its structure as we go along, approaching writing from an organic, build-your-wings-on-the-way-down point of view.