Thin Raft Home page Thin Raft Thin Raft is a workshop for creative writers working in English in Basel and the neighbouring areas. We have been meeting for about three years now and welcome new members. The regular membership is about 5 or 6 people. We use a format developed about 10 years ago to facilitate commenting but with enough structure to prevent the common abuses of group dynamics that marr some writing groups I have attended. The workshop will start with everybody reading their piece aloud, in turn, without any comments.
Every piece of work brought is discussed the same evening.
For long prose pieces previously circulated the author will read a short extract of her or his choice. The author remains quiet during the discussion but is allowed to respond at the end. One copy of each piece will then be distributed at random amongst the group, there is then a 'study period' of 10-15 minutes where everybody reads the piece they have been given. The comments can be general but are best kept as specific as possible, because specific comments are most useful to the author of the piece. There may optionally be a question for the author.