Writers in Isolation

Many children have imaginary friends. Even if you didn't have an imaginary friend in childhood, it's possible you would like one now. It can help to create an imaginary friend as a possible reader of your creative writing. Stage 1. A friend is often someone with whom we share interests or points of view. Write down between three and five interests or points of view you would like your imaginary friend to share. Decide on three other points about your imaginary friend. One should be their age. One should be their gender. One you can decide for yourself but it should be something fundamental to that person. Write this all down. Stage 2. It's important that a friend shouldn't be identical to you. The friend has to bring something new to this imagined friendship. Write down between three and five interests or points of view the friend has that you do not share. Stage 3. Write down up to five things that your friend likes a lot and up to three things that your frien...

Just at the moment, many people are thinking more about how to make meals. This writing exercise takes cooking as its starting point - but you don't have to be able to cook to try this writing exercise. Stage 1. Think of a simple meal you have made recently. It should be something you enjoy making or eating. It could be as simple as a sandwich or a little more complicated like a samosa or a bowl of hummus. Write down all the ingredients. Stage 2. Take each of the ingredients in turn and write a description of each using the following senses in this order: touch, hearing (if you can), sight, smell, taste. Stage 3. Think about the points in making the meal where a significant change occurs. This could be when ingredients are combined or when they are heated. This could be as simple as spreading butter or margarine on bread or more complicated when ingredients change consistency in cooking. Write a sentence about the way in which each change occurs.   Stage 4. Now ima...

In a  speech in 2014 , the writer Ursula K Le Guin praised writers who could imagine a way in which the world could be different. Last week, at the end of  an article in the Financial Times , Arundhati Roy wrote of the need to “imagine another world.” So let’s begin. Stage 1. Think of something in the world today that troubles you and that you wish could be changed. You don’t have to know how the change could be achieved. It could be something little like getting rid of self-service tills or something bigger like abolishing homelessness. Write down the change you want to see. Stage 2. Now start to imagine a society or world in which that change has been achieved and a return to the current state of affairs is appalling or unimaginable. Start with someone in the new society and describe their reaction to whatever you have abolished (self-service tills, homelessness) as though its existence or introduction had been suggested as a new idea. Write it down. Stage 3. B...

One of the things that is most demanding when writing is creating a sympathetic character whose view is different from your own. This exercise isn’t about someone who differs from you on a major subject but it is about exploring difference sympathetically. Stage 1. Think of a firm view you hold on an unimportant subject related to an everyday action. For example, do you add milk to tea or put the milk in first? Do you have firm views on how cutlery should be arranged in a drawer? How do you think a bed should be made (if at all)? Write down three reasons why you think your view is right. Then consider how you came to hold this view. Did you develop it for yourself? Was it something you learned or were taught? Does it recall anything in your past? Write this down. Stage 2. Now think of a character who has an opposing view on this subject. Write down three reasons why they think they are right. How did this character come to hold this view? Attach it to a significant memory or se...

I suspect that I’m not the only writer who sometimes talks to myself. This kind of conversation may have become even more common when everyone is socially distancing, socially isolating or in lockdown. It seems a good idea to draw on that experience to try writing in someone else’s voice, while that person is talking to themself. Stage 1. You are going to write a monologue. This means you will need a character and situation. I suggest taking a very simple starting point. Think of someone who you might encounter through their work in an everyday situation. For example, you might choose someone who works at a supermarket checkout or someone delivering the post. Think about a problem or difficulty that person might encounter in their work - and how that person might feel when they return home. Make some notes. Stage 2. Now think of where that person lives. Does anyone else live there? Is it a happy household? Write down a little about it. Think of somewhere that person might be alo...

This is an exercise in writing dialogue, and also in thinking about the way someone may say one thing while meaning or thinking about something else. Stage 1. Invent a character. Start by thinking about something they really want. Then place your character in an everyday setting (e.g. a kitchen) and consider which five things there are likely to interest them most. Why would these be of interest? Write this down. Now think of something that the character tries to keep secret. It need not be anything particularly important. This secret affects the way the character performs an everyday activity. Describe the character performing that activity. Stage 2. Imagine the character leaving a message on a friend’s ansaphone. The character is just leaving an ordinary message but, at the back of their mind, can’t help thinking about the thing they want and the secret they are keeping. Without revealing either, what do they say? Write it down in the character’s voice. Stage 3. Your charac...

This exercise involves using flashback - a helpful technique whether you are writing a poem, a story, a script, a memoir or something else. Stage 1. Think of an anniversary you or a character might choose to celebrate. It should be the anniversary of an event that happened and that you were aware of when you (or the imagined character) were five years old or older. The event could be something personal, like the anniversary of a friendship or relationship, or the anniversary of a public event, like the first moon landing or a team winning the football league. Choose a joyous event. Stage 2. Imagine how that anniversary might be celebrated today in a home or work setting. Describe how you or your character would prepare for the celebration. Would special food be necessary or particular clothes? Stage 3. Now move into your memory or that of your character. Can you remember or imagine any previous celebrations of that event. If you can, choose one previous celebration and write d...

This exercise may interest fashion addicts (although I’m not one). Stage 1. Answer the following questions: What is your favourite outfit?  Where and when do you wear it? How do you behave when wearing it? What impression do you think it makes on other people? Suppose you could keep only one item from that outfit, which would it be and why? If you could buy any item of clothing at once - but no more for the next year - what would you choose and why? Stage 2. Think of a real or imagined character. What are they wearing when you think about them? Write it down. If you were buying a single clothes item for this character, what would it be and why? Describe their reaction on receiving this item. Stage 3. Now imagine you have to wear the outfit your character is wearing (altered so that it fits you). How do you feel in this new outfit? Think about the physical sensations of wearing the outfit before considering any emotional reaction. Imagine walking around in this ou...

There are lots of stories in which one thing changes into something or someone else. This writing exercise is a way to have a go at writing a transformation scene. Stage 1. Think of a character - someone who lives only in your imagination. Think of that character only as they are seen by the people they encounter in a public role. You might choose a teacher, a politician, a sports person, a scientist, a performer — it doesn’t matter and they don’t have to be famous. Now imagine that character is being interviewed for the kind of magazine that publishes only complimentary articles about people. Write one or two introductory paragraphs and snippets from the interview. Stage 2. Now imagine that character alone, after giving the interview. What does your character think about their public self? What doubts and uncertainties does your character conceal? Write them down. Stage 3. What does your character want? This might be well known or secret - or a combination of both. Write a...

This exercise is about thinking about how to show character and emotion through action, without saying what the character’s emotions are. Stage 1. Think of a regular household chore. It should be one that involves a certain amount of physical activity (for example, washing clothes by hand rather than switching on a washing machine). Write down the activity, breaking it into a series of steps. Stage 2. Think of a character who is experiencing stress or uncomfortable emotions. Think about how they show those emotions physically. How does it affect the way they sit, stand, walk, etc? Describe the character getting up and walking across a room in a way that shows how they feel - but don’t mention the stress or emotion. Stage 3. Now take the character through the household chore you have imagined, stage by stage. Continue to show the emotions through action and movement without mentioning the character’s state of mind. As the character goes through the stages of the task, let the c...

This writing exercise is about thinking of other people’s lives without stereotyping them. It’s only a first step and isn’t a quick solution to the world’s or writers’ difficulties. Stage 1. Listen to the talk by Chimamanda Ngozi Adichie that you can find here . It lasts just under 20 minutes. Stage 2. Think about an important event in your life and make notes on key elements.  Stage 3. Now think of someone whose role in work you tend to take for granted. Write down the skills that role requires. Imagine someone with feelings as deep as yours doing that job. Imagine three or four skills or interests they might have - and these should be skills and interests that you value too. Imagine the family that they love and the friends they care about. Stage 4. Write a story, script or poem in which the person you have just imagined experience an important event similar to the one you chose in stage 2. When you have finished, you may find you want to do more research to fin...

This writing exercise is about building a character from a few objects. It’s also about being a sort of detective - like Sherlock Holmes. Stage 1. Think of five objects that you could hold in the cupped palms of both hands. They should be: - something that can be eaten or drunk - something that can be worn - something that can be played with - something that can be treasured  - something that can be heard Spend time describing each object, using as many of the five senses as possible. Stage 2. Now imagine a bag which will hold all the objects together. What is it like? Imagine an unlikely place where you might find this bag. Stage 3. Become a detective. Using the bag and the objects as clues, work out what sort of person owns this bag. Describe the bag’s owner in detail. Stage 4. How did the bag come to be in the place where it is? How is it reunited with its owner. There’s a story to tell - so tell it, in any form you like. When you have written the story, rea...

This writing exercise is about imagining the development of a relationship between two characters. One of the characters will be similar to you in ways that you choose. Stage 1. Think of (or invent) someone you met once or twice years ago. This should be someone you liked and who might have become a friend had you known one another. Start writing down what you can remember (or invent) about that person. Think about how they moved and the sort of things they said. What was their approach to life?  Now imagine that person is writing a postcard to you after a gap of many years. What is the picture on the postcard? What does the person write? If you can, see if you can show something of their character in the way they write. Stage 2. Imagine a character with many of your own characteristics but three significant differences. Write down what those differences are. Write down three aspects of your character that are important and one that you want to exaggerate. Name the new chara...