Writers in Isolation

This exercise is a bit different. I’m providing a pattern for an 8-line rhyming poem in which some words at the ends of lines are provided and the rhymes are also set out. See if you can write a poem that fits this pattern. Keep the lines fairly short and even - aim at 7-10 syllables a line (4 to 5 beats). Line 1 ____________ (must rhyme with “day”) Line 2 ____________ flower Line 3 ____________ (must rhyme with “deep”) Line 4 ____________ try Line 5 ____________ deep Line 6 ____________ (must rhyme with “try”) Line 7 ____________ (must rhyme with “flower”) Line 8 ____________ day When you have a first draft, read it aloud. See if you can add to the effects by varied punctuation (not just or always at the end of the lines). If you can, ask someone else to provide four words and see if you can write another poem to the same pattern but with different rhymes.

Dreams can be a good starting point for creative writing but they rarely produce something complete. This is because dreams often involve strange jumps in location, the sudden and inexplicable arrival of familiar people, shifts from one kind of story into another and - worst of all - interruption at a crucial point when the dreamer wakes. However dreams can still provide useful raw material. Stage 1. Can you remember a dream or part of a dream you have had? If you can’t, invent a fragment of a dream - the stranger the better. Now start writing down your dream and when the dream runs out, keep writing. If you can’t think of anything else just write random words as they come into your head without worrying about sense. The important thing is that you don’t stop writing for at least ten minutes. Stage 2. Pause for breath - or a cup of tea. Then look over what you have written. You aren’t looking for complete elements of a story or train of thought - just words and phrases that sugge

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 is an exercise is which you can take one of your own memories, alter it, and give it to  a character you have invented. Stage 1. Choose an event or occasion you remember. Don’t choose anything that’s very personal or emotional. It could be a pleasant walk or a surprising incident or conversation. Write down all you can remember.  Write down how the memory affected all five senses (touch, smell, taste, hearing, sight). If you can’t remember how it affected a particular sense, imagine how it might have been. Stage 2. Choose a character who lives in a home similar to the place where you are. Make this character different from you in three key aspects. These might be chosen from (for example) gender, age, life experience, relationships. Apart from this you can draw on aspects of your own experience, Imagine this character standing in a room similar into the one where you are now and looking out of a window. What does this character notice? How does the character react? Write i

I’ve been reminded that, in times of crisis, a popular British response is to have a good moan. It’s also been suggested by experts that grumbling is healthy. This writing exercise provides an opportunity to practise skills in moaning and grumbling. Stage 1. Think of something slightly irritating or mildly annoying. This shouldn’t be about a person but about a thing. Perhaps you don’t like the colour of postboxes or you are annoyed by the absence of herons from your neighbourhood. Make it something you wouldn’t usually consider complaining about. Stage 2. Now you have the subject of your complaint, think of someone you might complain to. This could be a real person (someone you don’t know personally) or it could be an invented person (e.g. King of the Birds). Decide how you can blame this person. Stage 3. Write a letter of complaint about the cause of annoyance to the person you have decided to hold responsible. Go into elaborate detail. Explain exactly how this minor

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 could actually be carried out while on hold to one of the help lines and essential services struggling to cope with a hugely increased number of calls. Stage 1. If you have had to make an important call lately, some of these lines may be familiar to you. All are recorded messages: “Your call is important to us”, “All of our operators are busy”, “Please continue to hold”, “We apologise for the delay” and “You are in a queue.” You may also have experienced a repeating musical track. Note down your reactions or imagined reactions to each of these statements and the music when you first hear them, when you hear them half an hour later, and then when you hear them two hours later. What might you do while waiting for a human response? Stage 2. Turn some of your responses into a monologue (a speech for one person) responding to the recorded messages and music. Read it aloud and edit it. You will probably want to include the recorded messages in your monologue.