Writing for Therapy

First session with Mick (not his real name) this week, and I'm nervous. A victim of a car crash some years ago, he suffered injuries to the brain and has been fighting to come to terms with his changed life ever since. He is desperate to tell his story as a memoir. I'm worried that he sees our writing sessions as a way of recovering lost memories - I don't have a magic formula for this.

In the end, it's ok - in fact it's a good first session where Mick chats, apparently at ease, and I record his words on my laptop so that later, I can rework this first draft material into memoir form. He tells the story of the crash; his epilepsy; his difficulties knowing that the first 21 years of his life have been largely wiped from memory. I'm anxious at the thought that he might leave our session upset all over again after all this reliving stuff.

Then, as I develop his words, searching for a narrative voice, I worry all over again that he won't like the reworked material; that he's imagined it one way and I've taken it in a different direction. This is not going to be easy. But we have a second session booked this week and in spite of my nerves, I'm looking forward to it. I know Mick can do this - I just hope that I'll be able, in my turn, to do his words justice - it has become very important that I do.

It's Haiku Time

Working with year 7 Charlotte this week and she asks for help with the dreaded haiku homework. Her first attempt:

The best time my fave,

Oh daffodils yay they are

Growing in the field.

Oh Geez. Haiku has never been my favourite - and what does a writer do when faced with 'fave' and 'yay'? But working from Charlotte's first draft, we were able to cut words that weren't doing any work; use powerful verbs and introduce my friend the semi-colon. Here's Charlotte's re-worked Winter haiku (I left her to work with those daffodils):

Days fall short; frost creeps -

leaves curl, crisped in ice. Snow packs,

hard as a nutshell.

Writing haiku demands discipline; economy. Every word needs to work - hard. This one uses assonance, personification, alliteration and a splendid simile (Charlotte's image). 

Addressed the prejudice - suddenly I'm a fan!

Carrotsmash!

Tada! At last (rebranding = hard work!) new website carrotsmash.co.uk is live. So:

Visit carrotsmash.co.uk for creative writing workshops and classes; proofreading services and English and Maths tuition.

When Writing Hurts

So I lead a workshop @YorkLibrariesUK aimed at unlocking past memories to generate authentic writing. I'm thinking: fine for those considering writing memoir. What happens? A woman manages to articulate on paper and then, tearfully, reading it back to the group how, after all these years, it felt when she first saw her daughter with her own baby.  A man articulates, on paper and out loud, how it felt to be pushed in a wheelchair and no one, no one at all looked at him - just at his carer, pushing him.

If ever we needed evidence that writing can be so, so much more than words on a page.

Still reeling. Ali x

Time for an update on recent Thoughttree Writing Workshop successes!

2016 (end of!)

Before the Christmas frenzy overtakes us all, we gather in December for a session on How to Write Dazzling Descriptions. Picture this:

First, we look at how experienced writers weave descriptive passages into dialogue, thought and action in order to avoid the notorious ‘info-dump’, that chunk of extended description which stops the story – the part, as Elmore Leonard put it,  ‘that readers tend to skip’.  

Next, we agree that the reader is bound to need a sense of physical location (setting) and some back story, so we explore techniques for describing the essential details without distracting from the story - whilst at the same time conveying the protagonist’s mood and feelings without slowing the pace.

Then, for a while the room is quiet, but for the scratch and rustle of pen and paper;  and finally, we have just enough time to share the results  - and we are bowled over, as usual, by everyone’s deft and dazzling prose!

All this in two and a half hours – fuelled by a coffee and cake break!

2017 (Beginning of!)

As an apt start to the New Year, we call our January workshop New Resolutions in Writing!

The question is: how can we create a sense of ‘authenticity’ in our character, plot and theme? We jot down a list of personal passions, interests and aspirations, choose one and add some detail. For some of us, it’s like opening the flood gates – there’s so much to say.

So, as writers, how can we exploit all this enthusiasm and knowledge, as a way of strengthening our connection with the reader? The answer is to place some of that (ready-made) passion at the centre of your main character’s motivation.  Hold that thought.

Another question: what is ‘theme’? We collaborate on a definition and agree that it is an idea or issue which crops up repeatedly, connecting the ‘internal journey’ of the protagonist with the ‘external conflict’. This drives the action forward, leading to some form of transformation.

Then we write. The scenario is this: a character is faced with redundancy (external conflict).  Set the immediate crisis alongside the potential of pursuing another personal passion or ambition. Does she/he choose the safe or risky option? What is the goal that drives them (internal journey)? Add another problem. Pile on the pressure and you have a story!

 We part company after sharing our sketched out plots – full of ideas and good intentions!

Check the website soon for details of the next Workshop, to be held on Thursday 2^nd February and repeated on Friday 3^rd February, both 10am-12.30, at The Village Paintpot, Elloughton.

Look forward to seeing you there!

Trumped!

O my America! My new-found-land!

As we watch in disbelief the handover of power from one of the most intelligent and sage presidents that America has ever known to – of all people, Donald Trump; as Trumpton stands on the threshold of supreme (ist?) power; lets remind ourselves of just a few Trumpist comments/actions that are readily available to us in the media. There are so many that it’s hard to choose…

On women: ‘Grab them by the pussy.’

On disabled or physically impaired people: crude, physical imitation, waving arms

On gay marriage: ‘very unattractive. It’s weird’

On race: ‘laziness is a trait in blacks’

Cue new wave of novels with perverted, power-crazed despot at centre…

Your Ghosts of Christmas Past

Happy New Year to all you bloggers out there! Bit thoughtful with the coming of January - so here's an offering to all you parents out there...

Your Ghosts of Christmas Past

 It’s all about the before: you make up beds; buy stuff you haven’t had in the house for months like devil-may-care tubs of thick cream; chocolates; joints of ham; spare pillows! Red is best, the tree has to be huge and oh God, you embrace the excess of it. You’re humming to Slade on the radio; Walking in the Air.

Then they arrive: your kids, now adult and they leave their dirty plates and borrow your razor; your new tights (and snag them). The cat is on the beds again. The house is filled with festive mess and noise and on The Day you open presents like you always did, with fuss and hugs. The sweet ghosts of your Christmas Pasts whisper of stockings filled; whisky and a mince pie for Santa; size 3 wellies for a winter walk; Buzz Lightyear and the first doll. Remember when? Never forget it!

Then it’s the after: you strip the beds; the cat settles on your new jumper but you can’t be bothered to shift it. The tree is shedding like crazy so you strip it too and wrestle it outside into the sharp damp of a January morning. Twinkly lights switched off. Kids dropped off at the station, one by one. What next?

What now?