1,000 Words Reading Series Features Portland Fiction Project July 6 at the Maiden
Most writers enjoy writing prompts. It helps them get a head start on a new piece, something akin to making a mark on a blank canvas just to have something to work from. I normally steer clear of prompts but last year felt compelled to participate in the extraordinarily prescriptive 1,000 Words reading series, just for fun. And it was.
Melissa Favara, a nonfiction writer who teaches at Clark College in Vancouver, Washington, founded 1,000 Words in November 2007 because she “wanted it to be generative, an excuse for writing something fresh and new.” The parameters for each round:
- Four to six writers individually create one 250-word vignette per week for four weeks.
- Each round has a theme that the vignettes must address.
- Each vignette must contain a series of words and phrases prescribed by Favara.
- Favara assembles the pieces to be presented in a group reading that takes place at the Maiden in Southeast Portland.
The bi-monthly series resembles the French Oulipo, which is based on the notion that restrictions are productive rather than stifling. The idea initially intrigued Favara because she was “interested in how different writers would use the same ingredients.” Her favorite prompt so far included the phrase, during the reading that had as its theme Work, “And when I thought I couldn't take any more, I found myself taking more.”
“People confronted what they'd submitted to [in order] to earn a living,” Favara says, “and it was awesome.”
The works are technically fiction; some writers are more autobiographical than others. The combination of theme and verbatim word requirements generates an astonishing range of pieces. During the May 2009 reading Geneva Zhao, Byron Beck, Daniel Borgen and Joe Pitkin took the audience through ruminations on Swine Flu (remember that?), a poignant shopping mall lost-child situation, a pray-out-the-gay trauma and a fantastical labyrinth of job-interview nightmare.
Favara also sought an out-of-the-box venue for the readings, choosing The Maiden, a bar in Southeast Portland. “There are enough formal readings out there,” she says. “I want to basically allow writers to do rock shows!”
For the July reading, Favara has teamed up with the Portland Fiction Project, whose members will share their efforts based on the theme Lies. Vancouver emo-punk trio We Play Quiet will also perform songs based on the writers’ prompts. Pete Krebs brings his "Gypsy jazz" Monday Night Owls set after the reading.
Monday, July 6, 2009
7 to 9 p.m.
The Maiden
639 SE Morrison St.
The following 1,000 Words reading, on August 31, features myself, Paul Giger and two others TBD.
—Kristy Athens
Because the exercise is so prescriptive! In a good way. Favara decides a theme for the pieces and also gives the writers a list of words, and a phrase, that must be included in their pieces.
Posted by: Kristy | July 07, 2009 at 09:42 PM
It's a terrific event. Where does the dominatrix come in?
Posted by: Joaquin Obrero | July 07, 2009 at 09:33 PM