Copywork - A Retypeable Evening at the Typewriter

Before there were writing classes, there was copying. Hunter Thompson typed out The Great Gatsby, page by page, to feel what it was like to write those sentences. Joan Didion typed Hemingway's stories when she was fifteen. Monks did it with sacred texts for a thousand years.

What are you doing Tuesday?

Join us for an evening on vintage typewriters. The theme is copywork: bring a passage you love and type it out.

What this is

A small group of people, each at a typewriter, retyping writing they love and then writing an original piece of their own.

Type out whatever you like. A paragraph or a page from a novel, a poem, an essay, a song. It doesn't need to be famous and it doesn't need to be literary. It just needs to be something you'd like to feel from the inside.

When you retrace an author's words, you get to feel their decisions and live inside their language.

At the end of the evening, you can write something of your own. Not a competition with it, not a test of whether yours is as good. Just something original that moves forward based on what the retyping lit up for you.

I'll walk you through the machines and a couple of helpful moves, including a trick with the red and black ribbon selector.

Here's how the night goes:

8:00 - Arrive. Quick intro to the machines for anyone who hasn't used one before.

8:10 - First pass. Type your passage.

8:30 - Second passage. Another you brought, one from the table, or a swap with a neighbor.

8:45 - Short break; optional sharing phase.

8:55 - Retype the first passage again with a different focus.

9:15 - A few minutes of talk about what you noticed. Optional.

9:25 - The main event. One stretch of writing your own thing, with what you noticed as a springboard.

Come solo or with friends

If you come with someone, you can swap passages for the second round and see what their favorite sentences feel like to type. If you come on your own, you'll be in good company.

What you should know

No special experience needed. Retyping is the easiest possible way to start on a typewriter, because the words are already there.

Bring something to retype if you can, whether it's a book, a printout, or something on your phone. There's also a table of passages you can choose from.

Sharing at the end is optional, if you'd like to read what you wrote. A reading circle isn't a critique - it's about listening to a fellow writer's work-in-progress and enjoying what's alive about it.

Whatever you write goes home with you.

The typewriters do most of the work for you. They're beautiful machines from the 1950s and 60s.

Drinks are available at Fortune Teller. Food trucks are parked right outside.

Parking. Free lot on the property.

Machines, paper, and passages are provided.

Capacity

There's a limited number of seats available. RSVP early if you'd like to come.