A 'who is he?' poem for Christmas

We've been working on metaphor poems with our young writers - always fun and you can still spot the learning in there (how many of us are falling back on word searches as the end of term approaches? What is the point of these things? They are so DULL!)

So here's a festive 'who is he?' poem (one I made earlier :P) to share as we head into the final week of pre-Christmas term time mania... copyright Ali, this time (its fun writing with the kids, after all...)

He is a mighty throne, draped in rich, twisted silks of crimson and gold.
The soaring, spreading palm tree fresh-fruited with fine dates.
A lone camel that plods across the searing, heat-shimmered dunes.
He is Arabian moonrise, yellowed and heavy in the evening sky.
The promise of starlight on the far horizon.
He is exotic spices haggled over in desert souks.
A precious jewelled casket; a gift of gold.

Who is he?

(One of the!) Wise Men, of course.

Happy Christmas from Thoughttree to all you slightly frazzled by now teachers - you will have earned your Christmas by the end of this week!

Christmas Writing with Kids

Phew - the world is such a difficult place right now. How lovely then to be able to share some of our young writers' seasonal descriptive writing and escape into fantasy. This extract is by Faye, Year 6. We were working on sentence starters - using a preposition, and replacing 'I see' starters. Faye's original 'fox' sentence began 'I see a fox slipping on the ice...' Together we decided that 'A fox slips...' is much stronger. Well done, Faye.

Flying in Snow writing by Faye

The snow blanket covers the wonderful rooftops below.

I spy twinkling light from the windows of awake children hoping to sneak a glimpse of the beloved Father Christmas.

I spot trees in the darkness of night.

A fox slips on the ice and plummets towards the prickled, frost covered bushes. And it is gone.

Below me, the icy sea looks like a puddle because we’re up so high.

As we dash through the clouds, an angel soars through the windy winter skies.

Christmas is coming...

We wanted to say a huge 'well done!' to one of our regular workshoppers, Sarah, who wrote 50,000 words in November! That's 50,000! Sarah, you are brilliant!

December is now upon us... and you'll soon be too busy with the turkey to think about much else. But look out for us in the New Year, when we'll be publishing details of our January workshop and we'll have some exciting announcements to make about new Thoughttree Writing Courses!

Just need to get a tiny something else off our chests... every time the phone rings this internet connection fails! Anyone else have this problem? Grrrrr!

On Kids and Other Stuff

A splendid snippet coming up from one of our young writers, Faye, who is a regular in a York primary school Creative Writing group with a Thoughttree tutor. Faye is Year 6 and needed a boost - we have been working on dynamic verbs, adjectives and keeping the 'self' out of descriptive writing, starting a sentence with a noun instead of the usual 'I can see...' that young writers sometimes produce. We love her short sentence to start, and her use of present tense:

'The sky dims. Suddenly there is an outburst of rain. The cliff looms above. The bold cliff guards a lonely church against the harsh winds.'

Well done, Faye. If you're in the East Riding of Yorkshire and would like a Thoughttree tutor working with your students why not get in touch? We're qualified and experienced teachers, after all...

And just in passing... look out for our Fiction Writing courses, coming in the New Year - and coming to York! Details on the website soon as we can!

On Matters of Talk...

Our second workshop focusing on dialogue was a hit with all who came - and it was a sizeable group that squeezed itself into the upstairs room at @Judsons_ Pocklington. Script writing was on the menu and we looked at ways to use silence in talk - fascinating. Ever tried writing dialogue where your character doesn't actually speak? We did!

Try this for size: married couple, getting ready to go out for the evening. He's tying his tie; she's putting on make-up.

'Mother's had false teeth put in,' he says.
She shrugs; reaches for the mirror.
'I mean. To have them all out at once! You should see her without them IN, Sal. Her cheeks! Bags like empty sacking, they are.' He sighs. 'Age. What it does to you.'
She shrugs again, but applies a second, thicker layer of foundation.

Speaks volumes!

Dramatic Dialogue!

Another fantastic thoughttree workshop coming up... look out for us at @Judsons_ on November 10th 6.30pm - 8.30pm. We'll be delving into the sticky matter of writing decent dialogue - full details on our website www.thoughttree.co.uk but hurry - places are limited!

Happy Birthday to us!

Thoughttree is one year old! We're celebrating, as we've now delivered 12 of our writing workshops to take us through our first year. What larks we've had!

With thanks in particular to our hosts at #Cave Castle; York Writers at #Brigantes,York; #Judsons at Pocklington; #Drewtons Farm Shop; #Fudge at Hull.

Want us to come and workshop at your place? Get in touch and let us know!

Plenty more to come... but for now, it's a big HAPPY BIRTHDAY and may there be many more workshops!

With grateful thanks again - to Fudge, in Hull

We had a great morning in Hull's #Fudge - the second of our recent 'tightening tension' workshops - where we explored revelations - such as the moment the hound appears in Conan Doyle's famous Baskervilles tale, and the exquisitely handled moment of entrapment in Susan Hill's #The Man in the Picture. Workshoppers wrote some great atmospheric descriptive pieces in response to our 'Park in the Dark' writing task.

After coffee and cake (naturally!) we delved into issues with dialogue - how to say a lot without saying a lot - and chewed over an illuminating extract from John Williams' novel, Stoner.

Our group of writers enjoyed the experience - thanks once more to Fudge. And talking of chewing... gotta say: the cakes were just luvverly!

With thanks to York Writers!

We recently had a splendid evening visiting York Writers at #Brigantes, Micklegate, York. A truly Gothic Evening where we explored how some of the best Gothic Great writers do their stuff - and had a try ourselves at eerie atmospherics in descriptive writing.

Interesting to take a look at domestic, contemporary Gothic as well as some of the loved traditionals - thanks, York Writers, for making Thoughttree feel so welcome - we'd love to come back another day!

Championing young writers

Our education system can fail to acknowledge or value true talent in our younger learners... Tom, early year 4, is struggling with primary literacy because his spelling is poor and his letters aren't joined. Or at least, that is how he is assessed in school.

But after working with us in a Thoughttree action writing session, his pen was flying across the paper! Tom wrote a whole page of an exciting chase scene in present tense, using short sentences. He instinctively used a light comic touch and patterning in his sentences. We say, Go Tom! Here's a snippet (spellings corrected by Ali, because frankly, we don't care much about that!)...

'Saturday morning. I am playing football in my street. Bob pushes me over. I run. He follows me. I run faster. I dash round a corner not knowing where to go next. I charge. I am surrounded by Bob's mates! 'Now what do I do?' I think...

...I run into my room. The window's open. Bob's seen me! I see a trampoline. I leap out of the window but Bob's after me. I land on the trampoline and Bob lands on me. I yell. Bob cups his hands over his ears. So I leg it!'

PS: Tom loved the idea of using 'leg it' as a synonym for 'run '!

Gay? Normal? WE think so!

Greetings bloggers... it's not often that we at Thoughttree step into the political or controversial arena to comment (and to be fair, this has nothing to do with writing!) BUT we just can't help ourselves:

#SimonJenkins, writing in the Guardian, has it right: as things stand, there is nothing sullying Edward Heath's name except unsubstantiated rumour. The guy is DEAD - he can't defend himself. But while those who make claims against him enjoy protection and the possibility of (naturally...) compensation, his character is defamed and there is nothing - apparently - that can be done to prevent this.

This has nothing to do with politics - it doesn't matter whether he was Tory or Labour. It has nothing to do with justice - because how can what is happening now - 'trial' by public gossip and paraonoia - be right? It has nothing to do with whatever outcome is reached. But it has everything to do with homophobia. 

Here's our view, for what it's worth: just because a person leads a private life; just because a person might - or might not - be gay; it does not make them a paedophile.

Know what, homophobes? You can be gay and NORMAL.

Phew! Glad we got that off our chests! Back to sit in the sunshine, guys!

Summer greetings from Thoughttree! We do hope you're enjoying the sunshine.

 

We've been busy planning future local workshops and events, commencing in September - and watch this space for details of our new venues in York!

 

We'll be offering our next workshop, Tightening the Tension, in South Cave and Pocklington (venues and dates to be confirmed) All good stories revolve around some kind of conflict - social, psychological, physical - so we'll focus on hooking the reader, building and sustaining tension and handling suspense. As always, we'll look at how some of the best authors do it, have a go at some enjoyable practical writing tasks - and share the results!

 

And to keep your creative juices flowing during the summer months, we're announcing our first Thoughttree Writing Competition! Write a short story(or a piece of memoir writing), maximum 1500 words, on a theme of your choice and submit it to us by email before 15th September. The winner will receive a book token, tutor feedback (which we are offering to all entrants) and public acclamation as Writer of the Month on our website. Further details on the Thoughttree website (thoughttree.co.uk) and do pass it on - anyone can enter! 

 

Good luck and happy holidays!

We're back!

Hi Bloggers... we're back after a rather intense spell marking exam papers (well we are teachers, after all!). So look out for details of our September courses and our short story writing competition - coming soon to a blog near you!

Woman in Black... a bit Grey!

At Thoughttree we're Susan Hill fans -  and so grabbed the chance last week to see the West End touring production of #The Woman in Black at the #Alhambra, Bradford. The production made good use of Hill's prose, and neat work of simple staging using stool, storage trunk and clothes rack (particularly liked the carriage and horse!)

But oh, the Woman in Black. She was perfect - horribly scary - in her 'unrealised' form, visible only as an indistinct shadow of black - hairs on my arms stood on end. Trouble was, when she burst through the stage curtain for the climactic moment of ghostly revenge, she resembled the Wicked Witch of the West a little too closely for serious theatre: the impulse was to laugh - and several in the audience did. Was it lighting, or was her face a Wizard of Oz green?

Two things:

1) Less is often more!
2) If you find yourself laughing when you know you should be immersed in a moment of serious theatre, the production has failed.

Take note, #StephenMallatratt!

Coming up...

We're out in the styx for the summer season... coming up is our latest half day workshop: Putting Poetry into Prose. We'll be exploring how war writing can use sympathetic, or pastoral imagery to convey its message of horror. We'll also be experimenting with imagery in our own writing. Want to know more?

When: Saturday, 6 June, 10 am - 12.30
Where: Hotham Village Hall

Should be a good one!

Cuckoo!

Yesterday, I heard, of all things, a cuckoo. And just for a moment, it was as if time had reversed: the view of the church; trees newly greened; a tractor in the lane.

It seems we've been forever attempting to capture that essence of pure, pastoral England. Take Edward Thomas' poem Adlestrop, which recalls a journey taken in June, 1914,with its

'Willows, willow-herb, and grass,
And meadowsweet, and haycocks dry...

And for that minute a blackbird sang
Close by...'

Pure pastoral. With VE day still fresh in our memory, its worth noting that the days of war were far from idyllic; Kate Atkinson, in her novel Life After Life, conjures a 1940's life of hardship, privation and endurance. Yet for all our knowledge of those dreadful times, we persist in cloaking them in a mist of fond nostalgia.

Why do we yearn for a more simple, pastoral England, caught spellbound 'twixt hedge and field?

Dunno, but I'm on it: back to the church, the trees - and the odd cuckoo.

Inner Thought to External Action.

Writers... talking of crime and violence as we have been in our latest @Thoughttree2 workshops... it's an interesting discussion point: when do you cross the line from private, inner thought to (public) external action? When plotting, it's a significant moment: until this point, we may be allowed to share in thoughts - first person or omniscient narrator permitting. Inaction. But once the character moves to the external there's no undoing it. So the plot is driven forwards; events will roll towards the climax. Action.

It was so for Macbeth, wasn't it? While his thoughts were his alone, he could remain in stasis. But once he shared with his wife - uh oh. She whipped him along until the external drove him.(Did she? Can we/he hand responsibility to her? GCSE students - discuss!)

It's fascinating: consider the moment the woman, who has endured, reaches for the knife and stabs her cruel lover. Did she dare herself to do it? The split second before, it was her own unreal thought. A moment later, we crash into the external. The frighteningly real. Things will never, ever, be the same.

Or the moment the troll presses the 'send' button. Private (unpleasant) thought, now shared, made external. The unreal into the real. Or, if you like, absolute control into loss of control.

As Lady Macbeth would say: What's done cannot be undone.

Indeed! Have a lovely weekend, everyone!

It's the author's skill what does it...

That's my feeling, anyway. If you missed my article in the Hull Daily Mail (5th May), here it is:

I’m a little tired of publishers’ claims that a novel is well written when – sometimes – it clearly isn’t.

When a book is published by one of the ‘Big Six’ publishing houses, an enormous marketing machine rolls: it’s a sensation; you won’t be able to put it down; it’ll stay with you forever.

But all too often, the novel is a disappointment. Three chapters or so into a recent ‘International Bestseller’ and, no matter what the media hype, I couldn’t care less whether the central character lived or died – I just didn’t engage with him. The author hadn’t succeeded in drawing me into the narrative. I felt cheated, because the novel didn’t live up to expectations, and cross, because readers are increasingly being spoon fed opinions about what makes a ‘good read’. Do we need Richard and Judy to tell us? Can’t we make up our own minds?

What’s more, turn the last few pages of your copy of ‘the most thrilling story EVER written’ and, increasingly, you’re likely to find a handy list of questions for you and your fellow reading group members to answer. This reduces what could be a stimulating discussion of author’s intention and aspects of narrative to, at best, what feels like a GCSE English question and answer session. ‘Why do you think the central character kills herself?’ No idea, but this patronising line of questioning makes me want to stick my head in the nearest oven.

We need to return the focus to the writing, because it’s not the characters that make a novel worth reading, it’s the author’s skill. Perhaps it’s my conspiracy theory paranoia surfacing; I can’t help thinking that if we are directed towards character motivation we can’t dwell on the writing skills of the author. But we should, because some incredibly badly written novels are finding their way, on the back of clever marketing, to the top of the fiction charts. How many of those novels end up in the nearest charity shop basket, or propping up the leg of the kitchen table?

Perhaps help will come from the next generation of discerning readers. At A level, students of English are encouraged to develop critical distance and evaluate a novel in terms of author intentions. There is a developing consciousness about writing technique and this is the right pathway to take, for that way lies greater knowledge and understanding of the skills behind writing and their potential impact. Ultimately, readers may feel confident enough to say we don’t need you, Richard and Judy. And be astute enough to tell the Big Six to publish - and be damned.

Woolf Words

Impressed by what we've heard about Wayne McGregor's  ballet, #Woolf Works - if he can create a sense of the collage of ideas presented in Virginia Woolf's modernist, stream of consciousness writing, our hats are off to him.

Woolf herself said: "Words... are full of echoes, of memories, of associations. They have been out and about, on people's lips, in their houses, in the streets, in the fields, for so many centuries".  So true.

What a brilliant concept: the synaesthesia of the written word with dance movement.

Lets hope though, that this production isn't reduced to a Sylvia Plath-esque focus on Woolf's death. That would be such a waste, for it was life that was, is, in her words.

What Larks!

What larks we had at @Judsons_ last weekend - our Crime and Violence workshop was a resounding success and not least because the buffet lunch was so good - thanks again, Judsons for making us so welcome.

We explored a load of stuff: writing openings; avoiding cliche; how to handle violence; using fairy tale as a template for crime and violence stories.

We ate a load of stuff: quiche, potato salad, prawns with cous-cous, all manner of wraps with all manner of fillings.

We wrote a load of stuff, but none of us quite managed to 'step over the edge' and write the words of violence we were aiming for. We discovered we are all pretty clever at avoidance writing. Still working towards, then!

Thanks one and all for joining in and making it such a great day. We'll be back!

Beverley FM

We're delighted to be invited... to chat to #LesSmith @Beverleyfmonair about our writing workshops, so listen out for us!

Don't forget - April 18th is our Crime and Violence workshop where we'll be hanging out @Judsons_ for the day. If you'd like to join us, get in touch at our website www.thoughttree.co.uk. It'll be thoroughly wicked! (see what we did there? Yeah, we know.)

Thoughttree - working with Mind

We're excited to be working with Mind Hull and East Yorkshire (HEY) in April. Mind works so hard to support those with mental health difficulties - we're proud to be associated.

We'll be dropping in to Mind HEY HQ to deliver a one hour taster workshop, where we'll invite participants to recall an earlier memory and use it for therapeutic writing.

Thanks for asking Thoughttree, Mind. April 16th. 2 - 3pm. We'll be there.

It's Crime - and it's violent!

Fascinating to hear that Scotland Yard is to reveal some of the gruesome contents of its Black Museum... cooking pots which tell the story of Dennis Nilsen's efforts to boil away traces of murdered young men (his murders are uncomfortably recent; he is still in prison and it's unlikely therefore, in the interests of sensitivity, that these will be shown); gall stones and remains of dentures that survived in the sludge to betray Acid Bath Murderer John Haigh.

Couldn't make it up, could you? Or perhaps...

Join us at our latest writing workshop on Crime and Violence (The Upstairs Room, Judsons - April 18 - 10am - 4pm) - and find out how it's done!

LATEST SCOOP - REVEALED - CRIME AND VIOLENCE WRITING WORKSHOP!

STOP PRESS CRIME AND VIOLENCE WRITING WORKSHOP

• EXPOSE the murky world of Inspector Cliche!
• DELVE into the sinister world of fairy tale violence...
• UNCOVER how other writers do it!

Not a crime writer? Not a problem - it's for ALL writers!

When? Sat 18 April 10.00 - 4.00

Where? The Upstairs Room, #Judsons Pocklington YO42 2QW

How much? £65 inc lunch and refreshments - places are limited to 12. Book before 4 April for discounted rate of £60

Contact Ali 01759 305392 or Deb 07855042763

Goodbye to all that

We're mourning the loss of Sir Terry Pratchett - we have teenage sons and daughters who have been Discworld addicts. Writers like Pratchett are significant in building a fan base of young (and older!) male readers - no mean feat in our Playstation-Selfie world. Say what you like about the cosy Blyton world of Harry Potter, but J K Rowling has played her part too - again, sons and daughters alike, totally gripped.

So (apologies Mr Graves for pinching your words) its goodbye to all that talent; that inventiveness; the humour; above all, the satire.

Going Corporate

Thoughttree is going corporate! We've just had fun putting together a corporate workshop focusing on all those goodies such as team building, communication and trust... presenting to the whole group, winning creme eggs... all that stuff.

But seriously - we rather like this.  We're talking self belief.  We're talking sense of achievement! We're talking about stepping outside one's comfort zone into the scary World of Challenge.

Like the idea? Fancy a bash at our version of Chinese Whispers, Recording Memory activities and team presentations that bring out the best in your employees? Then get in touch! As we're newbies, we can probably negotiate a discount that will keep the smile on your face and put tomorrow's lunch on our table...

Find us at thoughttree.co.uk

Humber Renewables

We're delighted to be attending the Humber Renewables Awards Evening tonight at the Mercure Hotel, Willerby nr Hull - thanks for the invite HETA - we're looking forward to a celebratory evening with a great table!

Thoughttree at Judsons

We had a great time at #judsonspocklington this week! Great group of people, few glasses of wine - needless to say the writing flowed!

Many thanks to all at #judsons for making us feel so welcome. This was our second memoir writing workshop - let there be many more!

Find us at thoughttree.co.uk, on twitter or facebook

Share the love (of writing!)

Latest THOUGHTTREE Workshop - Memoir

Thursday 26 February 9.30 am- THOUGHTTREE Writing Roadshow: Memoir – Blending Fact and Fiction

The THOUGHTTREE Writing Roadshow is coming to Drewton’s!

Come along and join in a lively workshop suitable for writers of all abilities. Deb and Ali, both experienced teachers and writers, will introduce you to a powerful mix of activities for you to try. Priced at just £15, this workshop will stimulate your creative juices – and there’ll be coffee and cake available, of course!

9.30 am – 12.30 Limited places available. For more information and to book call 01759 305392

It’s the way in which your own imagination filters experience, or memory - that’s when the fun begins!

Workshop Roadshow now rolling!

We're delighted to announce that our Writing Roadshow is up and running beautifully, with places filling fast for our next Memoir Writing workshops which are due to take place on:

24 Feb 6.30 pm Judsons, Pocklington
26 Feb 9.30 am Drewton's, South Cave
5 Mch 10 am Judsons, Pocklington.

We had a great time at #Cave Castle, and have been made very welcome at #Judsons in Pocklington - now a firm favourite for a venue - thanks, Judsons.

We're excited that we can also offer our first workshop at #Drewton's, South Cave. Much coffee will be drunk and much cake eaten, no doubt!

Herewith links to websites so you can see what fantastic venues our workshops are running at:

http://www.cavecastlehotel.com/

http://www.drewtons.co.uk/pages/home

http://www.judsons.co.uk/about-us

Fifty Shades... So Sick

Yeh - Fifty Shades - we're so sick of hearing about it! Had the misfortune to hear Radio 2's #ChrisEvans banging on about it, if you'll excuse the pun. But seriously... what can he mean, promoting such grubby stuff on a morning programme with all those kiddies around?

More seriously, what does it mean when such stuff celebrates the degradation of the female? Is this the end of feminism? Do we all go get ourselves a roll of double sided tape and a few zip ties from B & Q, shut up and get on with it?

Or do we say no? NO NO NO NO NO! Not reading it. Not watching it. Not listening to Evans and his little groupies talking it up.

End of.

On a much healthier note... look out for us in the March issue of #Myslexia, when one of our writing group activities will be shared - writing with colour and emotion, using the Chakra colours of meditation. We had fun - if you're a writer, we hope you enjoy it too.

Still Winter... Still Snowy

Winter can be a slog, can't it? Just recovered from all the Christmas feasting (and the Christmas cold) then felled by the latest virus - jolly quick way to lose those festive pounds, but I'd rather diet any day. Then there's the weather...

To lift our spirits lets share another of those wonderful descriptive pieces by our younger writers. This is by George, Year 6.

The Winter Star

The snow quickly lays a thin plain blanket above the green grass.
A spruce fir tree vibrantly stands out from the plain snow.
The aquatic pond beams out its azure colour.
Twinkling mirror-like snowflakes finally arrive after a long tough journey plunging from heaven.
A lone barn owl flies.

Thanks, George - suddenly I feel a whole lot better!

Watch out for our next 'Society Cafe' #Thoughttree Writers' Workshop, btw - coming up later in February and, since the first was so popular, another splendid session on memoir writing!

January Wind

No, not the leftover Christmas sprouts, but some brilliant descriptive 'windy' writing by our young authors. Get a load of this:

Wolf Wind

The wind howls at the racing skies like a lunatic wolf.
It pounds across the stone-cold path.
The freezing grass quivers.
The moon hides.
The wolf-wind shadow scares.
I scream; my voice gets swallowed in the gust of fierce wind.
Gone...

That's by  Ellie, and we love it! Year 6, no less.

And while we're here - a quick mention for our Memoir Workshop running on 22nd January at #Judsons Wine Bar, Pocklington. A good time will be had by all, we hope - we'll be doing our best to unlock all those childhood memories and put them to good use.

Cheers!

thoughttree Writing Workshop Roadshow!

Happy January all! Off we jolly well blog again - this time to announce our latest Writing Workshop, currently being roadshowed around East Yorkshire.

This time we are all about writing memoir - the first of this series ran this morning, and we are now set fair to repeat it this evening and next week, so look out for us.

Today we delved into our childhood memories, using visualisation and stream of consciousness writing. We mapped significant childhood locations, using sensory memory. We explored the way 'factual'  memory becomes fiction with crafting and reworking. In short, we had a jolly nice time at #southcavecastle - we will certainly be back!

Soon to be repeated at #judsonspocklington and looking forward to it.

Find us at thoughttree.co.uk