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.