Precision in Prose Writing

SQUAD 10 ONLY

Squad writers have no shortage of great ideas – but a great idea sinks or swims with the words on the page and how skilfully they’re chosen and crafted. In this workshop, we will focus on and get excited by the word-by-word craft that changes decent writing into great writing.

‘The best words in the best order’ was Coleridge’s definition of poetry – but poets don’t have a monopoly on precision and careful word choice, and we prose writers can really benefit from breaking our work down to the level of the word and the sentence.

In this workshop, we’ll be asking ourselves: What are ‘the best words’, and how do we choose them?

In a relaxed, supportive environment, we’ll do exercises that highlight the power of precision in the word-by-word shaping of our writing, and we’ll workshop excerpts you bring in – see Essential Preparation below.

You’ll leave the workshop with a new grasp of the exactitude that good writing demands and a fresh enthusiasm for how word-by-word crafting can transform a piece.

Essential preparation

Please bring one excerpt (strictly 100-120 words) you’re willing to share, from any prose piece that you’re working on. Resist the temptation to show off something perfect/finished/published. We will be workshopping your pieces, so if it’s something underway, you’ll benefit from improving it.

Try to choose an excerpt that doesn’t require a whole lot of backstory/explanation/contextualising.

Have your excerpt on your computer, so you can paste it in the chat thread for workshopping – avoid pieces that rely on complicated formatting as that might be lost in the chat format.

This is a Squad 10 workshop, any grads who want a place should one be available should contact billie@writingsquad.com