The Creative Writing Play Date began in December 2007 as a workshop for Sean Zio’s adult and teenage creative-writing students who expressed a desire to continue working with him as an instructor after their ten-week creative-writing courses ended. In the tradition of his classes, he designed the Play Date to incorporate time for both writing and reading aloud to the group.
At a regular Play Date, Zio brings an original exercise that focuses on a literary tool like character development, narrative viewpoint, poetic imagery, or mood. Some exercises require group collaboration. For example, members may contribute words on slips of paper that other members randomly choose as writing prompts. For the first half of the evening, the group silently works on the exercise. In the second half, the group reconvenes and each member reads his or her piece aloud. Time allowing, the group provides constructive feedback, mostly focusing on the strengths of each piece since we are aware that most weaknesses will be the result of the time constraint and of rough writing.
Perhaps the most exciting aspect of the Play Date is hearing the many different responses to the one writing exercise. Participants regularly comment on how much fun they have at the workshop, and many others have noted that they have started and completed literary projects that began at the Play Date.
As an open-membership group, the Play Date attracts a mix of writers, poets, artists, intellects, and musicians. Over the years, the core group has changed several times, yet it has always remained an engaging and interesting collection of people.
The Play Date would not operate as smoothly or effectively as it does without the regular support of Mother Tongue Books. With a long tradition as Ottawa’s women’s bookstore, Mother Tongue is a key example of sound community politics. With a wide selection of fiction and poetry, it has been the perfect home for the Play Date.
