You may now have a name and a character to fit the name. You may have a story bubbling in your head. Take a moment to think about where the story happens. A lot is written about settings and how you have to describe te place in detail, blah, blah, blah. In fact, when you … Continue reading Where did it happen?
I wonder whether you made a list of names yesterday? If you did, choose one to be the name of a character you will write about. If you didn’t, and even if you did, make up a name now -even make up a list to choose from. Once you have your character’s name sit down … Continue reading Questions for a character
Names are important. Making up names can be fun. If you write stories, you may want to have a collection of names just in case you need an idea for a character. The poet, Alistair Reid, tells us that we should be good namers. We may all have to name something from time to time. … Continue reading Names
Here’s another way to make a word collection -and perhaps even to make a found poem. When you are out and about -or even just inside – look out for letters and words that are not in books or magazines. Look for street signs, hand written messages, names pressed into metal manhole covers, messages sprayed … Continue reading Word Hunt
Every year, young writers in Suffolk, UK, have the opportunity to enter the Suffolk Young Poets Competition which is run by the imaginative and generous Poetry People, who are based in Halesworth, Suffolk. It is wonderful to know how many young writers there are in the county, and to read their fresh and thoughtful work. … Continue reading Young Poets
Eve Merriam is a favourite poet of ours. This very short poem of hers is another list. It’s a list of places to hide a secret message. Where would you hide a secret message? Write your own list. Hey presto, you have a poem! In a raindrop on a windowpanein a moon shellin a raisin … Continue reading Places to hide a secret message
… is a poem by Craig Raine. It’s a list poem. You could write one like it. I imagine you will have plenty of your own ideas. It begins kike this: Here is your balloon. Heart-shaped, hard with helium, filled from an iron cigar. It has more creases than your baby sister’s arm. Be careful. … Continue reading 51 ways to lose a balloon …
The poet, Alice Oswald, often places walking at the centre of her writing. She walks the distance of the rivers she has written about – the Rover Dart, the Severn – and she walks in the lanes around her Devon home. Last week, when asked what she had been doing during this time of enforced isolation, … Continue reading Magnifying glass
The artist, Richard Long, makes walking an art form. He documents the walks he takes in words and photographs. He often builds structures or carries stones from place to place, leaving then at points along the way. He once walked from the west to the east coast of England, picking up a stone from the … Continue reading Walk with a preposition
Today is National Writing Day in the UK. It is a day dreamt up by First Story. The idea is that this is a day when everyone, adults and children, should write together, and have fun writing. Every year there is a theme. This year it is “One Day…” That is a great start to a story, … Continue reading National Writing Day 2020
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