In groups of three-four, the writer reads her piece aloud. Afterwards the responders and the writer freewrite for ten minutes on the following questions. The freewrites can be used in order to begin the workshop.

The Writer

Freewrite about your own piece using the following questions as prompts.

  1. How did your essay sound?
  2. What surprises you about your piece? Why are these surprises?
  3. As you read, what were the most interesting points? Why?
  4. What points seem rough, a bit unclear, a bit confusing? Why?
  5. What other thoughts, memories, associations emerged as you read?

Responders

Freewrite about the piece using the following questions as prompts.

  1. What do you observe about the piece? What do you see going on in the piece?
  2. What sticks out? What is memorable? What do you like the best?
  3. Is there any point where you felt confused? A little lost?
  4. What would you like to know more about?

Another variation of this is to have someone in the group read the writer's essay aloud. This gives the writer a new perspective on her essay--to hear it read by someone else. The writer could either freewrite to the writer prompts or freewrite to the responder prompts as if she is a responder to her own essay.