I had my creative writing class today; round our way so many people have been struck down with a lurgie, a nasty miserable cough/cold/headache/nausea/lassitude/fluey horrid sort of a virus which lasts weeks… thankfully two of my writers had thrown it off and came along with their writing to share, but another was still languishing when we met this afternoon, and another had an emergency crop up.
Our usual pattern for our two hour session is for me to start with a few welcoming and jolly remarks and mention any news, in this case it was a list of writing competitions I thought people might be interested in, then for me to introduce the focus of the day’s meeting, maybe a new challenge, maybe a particular theme, or something to discuss. This usually lasts for about fifty minutes to an hour then we have a ten to fifteen break for refreshments, and then after tea, coffee and biscuits, the group take it in turn to read what they have written since the last meeting.
With group one, I usually set them a task, a subject or theme to write about, sometimes with some stimulus such as a picture, a few random items, the beginning or end of a story… and many other stimuli too.
With today’s group, group two, which is a smaller group, the writers all have their own ideas or on-going things to write about and although I always have suggestions to make for next time, in general they just do their own thing! Today there were just the two, so the amount of time taken by reading was considerably curtailed. This didn’t matter at all because each of them (and me as well!0 had so much to talk about to do with writing, inspiration, other writers, stories from childhood, stories from other times in our lives, difficulties and success in the writing we have done since we last met… The time just flew by!
One of the ideas I put to them was that of using fairy tales or myths or legends; not necessarily just transposing them into modern settings, but being inspired by the themes in these old stories, or by the style in which they are recounted. In turn Mr W. gave us an almost Dickensian account of his experiences working in London as a young man, with an authentic humorous turn of phrase, and clever, detailed descriptions lightly sketched. Mrs D. has a great ear for the sort of conversations so often caught from passers-by, on buses, in cafés, and skilfully turns them into short pieces to form amusing, picaresque accounts of what might have been commonplace if she wasn’t so good at writing.
A most interesting, stimulating, and enjoyable afternoon!
Lois Elsden 