Ebb and Flow

Response to the collaborative speedwritng activity: 

The first 3/4 of the first piece remained largely thematically consistent, focusing on confinement and identity related to place. Although the vocabulary and linguistic style varied slightly from author to author, it was mostly done in a reflective, slow-paced narrative style. The content stuck quite directly to both the prompt and the opening author's set-up. The most marked changes came towards the end of the first section when a more mysterious, ominous event was introduced. Rather than being so focused on introspection and themes of belonging, it seemed to focus more on the difficulties of adult life, possibly hinting at financial stress. However, the greatest change in both theme and style came in the last section of the piece which presented a family death and was heavy on dialogue which had been sparse throughout the preceding paragraph. This change in theme was particularly jarring because the subject matter had been so consistent until this point. It was interesting, but seemed out of place and made me question the direction of the earlier work and what its purpose was. The variation in themes adds confusion but also broadens the scope of the piece, potentially allowing it  to address more issues and touch more readers. I think editing and a more consistent tone throughout would allow for these changes in theme to exist in a more cohesive piece. 

The second, shorter collaboration was a more poetic, non-narrative based work. Ideas of place, identity, disassociation and escape bubbled up in different places, interweaving and linking back to one another. It tended to drift off in certain places, reaching ideas such as friendship, reality and earth. However, these all had links back to the overarching theme of escape and each author found a strong grounding in the prompt. I felt that the more consistent tone and style throughout allowed for the thematic variation to exist without seeming out of place or disjointed. I think the shorter writing periods encouraged people to stick more directly to what was written before them as they did not have as much time to take the work off in their own direction or set up many new events. This piece had a strong sense of lyricism and rhythm to it, which meant that any lines that didn't fall into this did not flow as well and drew the reader out of the work a little bit. Overall, it was interesting to see the themes ebb and flow out of the control of the subject setter.