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!