A picture post

 

Monet - Gare St Lazaire

Sisley - The Road

Monet - The Beach at Trouville

Choose one of the pictures, and use it as a starting point for a piece of writing.

You could begin by simply describing the picture - then see where it takes you.

Stories from real life (adapted from Writing Magazine)

 

Note down some significant events from your life. This means significant to you, for whatever reason. For example, here are a few of mine:

• Sitting in a church at the age of about 12 and trying to understand the concept of infinity. (So terrifying I dreaded going into a church for some years to come.)
• Reading Dracula - and then trying to sleep nights.
• Having an interview at Oxford (because it was appalling and humilating.)
• Going to univerity in Durham.
• Going to work in London.
• Going to see AC/DC in London from Leicester. (I didn't even like AC/DC, but I had the chance to do something spontaneous, so I did it and enjoyed it.)
• Meeting my first-born.

NB They're not necessarily the most significant. Some events are too personal for me to want to share them - these are pretty random.

Choose one, and write about it. You could begin with: "I want to tell you the story of how I..."

Who are you writing it for? If it's for someone else, what do you think they will get out of reading your story?

Separation (with thanks to Writing Magazine)

Convey the impact of being separated.

It's up to you to decide who is separated from someone or something; who that person is and who or what they are separated from and why. Person can be fictional or real, or you could write from your own experience.

What are the circumstances that caused the separation?

How does the person experience the separation? What do they feel about it, how do they deal with it?

Write in any style or form, and from any point of view. 

Spring (with thanks to Writing Magazine)

 

Explore themes connected to the new season. Make a list of words and images that you associate with spring: eg new life, buds, eggs, swallows, renewal... how many more can you think of?

When you've finished your list, circle the ones that stand out to you. Then take one as a starting point and begin a new piece of writing in any style or form.

Library Tales (taken from Writing Magazine)

This week, begin a piece of writing with a library setting.

What kind of story could only take place in a library, and what would the library setting contribute?

Who is in the library, and why?

Where in the library could your story begin - in which section?

What particular things could happen in a library? What would the library setting contribute? A hunt for hidden knowledge? Discovery of a life-changing book? Meeting with a fellow bibliophile?

Will you write in the past, present or future? Will your story be grounded in reality? Have supernatural elements? Be aimed at adults or children?

Totally random story generator

 Write a story which includes three of the following:

A car park

An old tea pot

A bus station

A theatre/cinema

A velvet coat/jacket

A wheatfield

A box of old tools

A tree house/shepherd's hut

A piece of costume jewellery

A theatre programme

An old photograph

A book

A postcard

A powder compact

A hat

Picture post

 Look at these pictures. What do you think each of the subjects is thinking about? What might be happening in their life? Are they happy, worried, excited, sad?

Choose one and write a story - or a monologue, in which you get into their head and write as that person about what they're thinking, feeling etc.

The Bride - Eva Gonzales

Market Day - Camille Pissarro

By Toulouse Lautrec

Renoir - Woman with a Veil

Book review

This week, I'd like you to choose a book you've read recently and really enjoyed, and write a review of it. A review will often begin with a brief overview of what the book is about. It will go on to analyse what was good about it, and possibly where it fell short. It may compare the book with others in a similar genre: it can often be useful to quote briefly from the book, to illustrate the points you are making.

I'd like you to focus particularly on what made the book enjoyable - what made it stand out, and what made you keep turning the pages - what made you want to read on?

If you want to look at some reviews, you can take a look at my reviewing blog here. (I'm not suggesting that my reviews are models, but there are quite a few concentrated in one place, so it will provide you some examples, good or bad!)

Heroes and villains

 I have to admit, I like the main chracter of a book that I read to be someone I like, someone I'm rooting for.

But that's not always the case. Sometimes, the hero can actually be a baddie. How hard is that to pull off?

See if you can write a story - or part of one - where the main character - the point-of-view character, the one who's leading us through the story - is really not very nice at all.

(Famously, Agatha Christie's break-through book was the one where the narrator turned out right at the end to be the murderer -and you don't know that till the last page! Very clever. Am not asking you to do that, though.)

Night Walker

Picture by James Maher Photography

NIGHT WALKER (From Writing Magazine)

What impressions could a person walking alone at night generate for your writing?

Who might the person be?

Why are they alone, and where are they going?

What do they feel, on their own, in the dark?

What can they see, hear, smell, that is different from in daylight?

What does the darkness amplify?

Who might they encounter?

What does the person associate with darkness? 

Is it a comfortable or uncomfortable environment for them? 

What might happen?

 

These shoes are made for... writing about!

Photo from Wikipedia

Either: simply brainstorm shoes that you remember, for one reason or another, and write about them:

Or try this - which comes from Writers Online.

'Give footwear a walk-on role in today's creative writing exercise!

The set-up is that a character picks a new pair of shoes, which in some way or another, precipitates something else happening.

Who is the character?

What are the shoes they choose? Why do they pick them? What do they look like? When does the character think they're going to wear them?

Do they fit? How do they make the character feel?

What happens as a result of them buying/wearing the shoes?

Write the story!

 

Stormy Weather

We've had some stormy weather lately, so let's use it in our writing.

Create a character - you could chose a name from the list we created a couple of sessions ago.

Now put them in danger. Imagine a situation from the recent storms. For example:

• You're on an unfamiliar road in a remote rural area, and you're caught in a blizzard. The car can't go any further. In the distance, you see lights...
• You're on our old friend the train. It's stopped - by a tree on the line, snow, floods - take your pick.
• You've just arrived for a stay in a village in the Welsh mountains. It's very pretty - but it rains heavily, and you see that the level of the river that runs through it is beginning to rise...

You might want to introduce another character - perhaps someone you don't know all that well. What does the crisis reveal about this person's character? Does it bring you closer together, or does it drive you apart?
 

Writing about an object

Here's a horseshoe. (Because that was the object I meant to bring to class on Thursday.)

Writing about an object

First of all, take a really good look at your object. Handle it - is it heavy, rough, smooth? Does it have a smell? (Unlikely, but you may have chosen a flower!)

Then, looking at it really closely, describe it in detail.

If there's already a story attached to it - a memory of when you acquired it, perhaps; or maybe it reminds you of a person or an occasion - then you could write about that.

If not, make it the focal point of a story. Make up a character. Was the object given to them? By whom? Was there some significance attached to it? Or was the object used in some significant way - perhaps someone was murdered with the horseshoe - or perhaps a florist saw it in a bric-a-brac shop, and was inspired to create a range of floral gifts centring on the horseshoe motif - which became so successful that they saved her shop from having to close...

Off you go!

 

Tarquin Mosse (or whoever)

 A few notes on how to approach the next task.

So you have your character - let's say he's called Tarquin Mosse. And you have chosen a problem for him to encounter - let's say his car has driven into a ditch.

First of all, make a few notes about Tarquin. Eg: 

How old is he?

What's his backgound? (Sounds quite posh, with a name like that. Or is he? Could he have adopted the name - might he have started off as someone quite different?) 

Does he have a secret?

What does he look like? What kind of clothes does he wear?

What are his weaknesses/strengths?

Then - think about the situation.

What kind of car is it - maybe a Porsche?

Does it belong to him?

If not, whose is it? Does the owner know that he's driving it? Why did he take it? What are the ramifications of the crash?

What is poor Tarquin to do?

NB: if creating an actual story seems too big a stretch, maybe just explore the character: give him/her a bit of back-story - just see where it goes.

Hanging on to Christmas!

 

One last nod to Christmas 23 before we leave it behind for ever! 

Here are two starting points for a possible piece of writing for us to share on Thursday 11th: choose whichever appeals.

Spoof Christmas roundup letter

I think it was Jude who suggested this: make up one of those round robin Christmas letters that some people include in their christmas card. You know the kind of thing: It's really been quite the year, with Freddie gaining a triple first at Cambridge, Beatrice starting her first job in a merchant bank (on £80 000 a year, lol - but with a promise of a raise in six months!), Mary writing her fifth best-seller (sorry, not meaning to boast!) - and me completing a one-man expedition to the north and south poles in the space of three months (it's okay, am nearly over the frostbite!)...

It could be from a made up person, or possibly from a well-known figure whom you find particularly inspirational - eg Suella Braverman? Michelle Mone? 

Ghosts of Christmas past

This doesn't have to include ghosts - it's simply an invitation to remember a particular Christmas in the past - or perhaps more generally, how Christmas used to be when you were a child. (Think of decorations, family traditions, food, presents, weather - and how Christmas felt then.)

Place - adapted from Writing Magazine

This week's homework is on place. Choose one of the following:

Cave

Use a cavern as the location for aomething to happen.

Where is your cave? What is there about its geology and geography that makes it significant?

What is the atmosphere like in the cave? What colours, textures and flavours does it hold? Is it spacious? Dangerous? Treacherous?

Is it home to anyone or anything?

In what way could your cave be an element in a story, poem or piece of creative non-fiction?

Watching the sea

Explore memories of watching the sea.

Write about a particular sea. Think about where you or a particular character were, and what qualities the sea had that made it particularly memorable. 

What colours was it? What did it sound like? What did watching it make you feel?

Why does your chosen memory of the sea stand out? Was it because of the sea itself, or because the sea is associated with a particular person or circumstance?

Opulence

Consider how to create an atmosphere.

Think of an opulent setting, either real or imaginary.

What effect does it have, and on who?

What do you want the opulence to convey to a reader? Choose your words carefully. If the ambience you want to create is one of power and oppression, the way you write about it will be very different than if you're wanting to craft a sense of luxury and ease.

Write a passage of prose or poetry where the opulence is intended to have a particular dramatic effect, either positive or negative.

People

•  First, find a picture of a person who interests you (preferably someone you don't know, and probably not a celebrity).

• First, look at the person. Then describe them carefully. (Physical appearance.)

• What do you think this person's like? Describe their character.

• They have a secret. Something that may have happened way back in the past, something they've never talked about, something they've tried to forget. What is it?

• In the present, something happens to remind them of this secret. Maybe a letter or a message, maybe a scent or a glimpse of a familiar figure, maybe a piece of music. Whatever it is, it disturbs them. And things start to happen.

WRITE THE STORY!

First lines

 Choose one of the opening lines below, and write either a short story or the beginning of a longer piece following on from it.

In so many ways, it was a bitter winter that year.

As the mug slipped from her fingers, her heart sank, for Elizabeth knew that she could never replace it.

The river ran deep. Who knew what secrets it held?

I thought I recognised the figure walking up my drive, but I was wrong.

I will love you till we die, but I hope you die first.

That day, she did something that would change her life and the lives of those around her forever.

Choose your title

This week, I asked everyone to contribute a title for a story or a non-fiction piece. Not quite sure which of these are supposed to be non-fiction - take your pick!

You can choose whichever title you like - now all you have to do is write the piece that goes with it!

The Colour of Clouds

Under a Midnight Sky

"What now?" I asked.

High Jinks at the Town Hall

The Life and Times of a Total Moron

The Rat who Lived in a Mine

Four Children, One Mum

Once Upon a Time...

The Christmas Party

Tell us a story...

This task is from this month's Writing Magazine - it's the subject for a competition. (If you'd like to enter the competition, the story has to be 1500-1700 words, and the closing date is 15th December.) If you don't want to enter the competition, it can be any length that suits.

Tell us a true story using all your best narrative techniques - whether it happened to you, somebody you know, a distant historical figure, or even an inanimate object.