Playfulness: what appears at first glance to be ‘just a game’ can be the start of a new way of writing. We have been thinking about activities and games that can be a part of becoming a writer. I am fond of this activity because of its inventiveness and the likelihood of humour and surprise … Continue reading Q & A
This is a little like a found poem. You start with a text that already exists and transform it, picking words and phrases from it and covering the rest to make a new story, a poem, or even, maybe, a message. You might approach it as a ‘black-out poem’ but I prefer the idea of … Continue reading A Humument
Here is a playful way of listing words and noticing how they are formed. Make a list of words and phrases in which the last section of each becomes the first part of the following word or phrase. It could be that there are whole words within compound words: pigtail - tail end - endpaper - paper … Continue reading Word Chain
It’s a word collecting day. I have younger children in mind, but we all love words that sound well in the ear. There is always room for a list of words. Once you start writing them down, more spring to mind and before you know it you have a story or a poem, a song … Continue reading Tittle Tattle
You may have made a list of words that sound like each other and like to go around in pairs [see Tittle Tattle, January 20th2021). That list will come in handy if you would like to compose a counting or a counting out rhyme. Here’s one from the Caribbean: Abna Babna Lady-Snee Ocean potion Sugar … Continue reading Onery twoery
In our last post we thought about ways of naming the landscape and parts of the landscape. Here is aa nice frame that you could use to put them to use. Here are some lines from a poem by Ian Macmillan about the walk to school: Down Barking-dog lane past the street with the boat … Continue reading Routes
Today it is all about touch: about hot and cold, about rough and smooth; slimy or dry; crispy or silky. Make a list of words that are all about the touch of things, the texture of things, the heat and shape of things. Now let’s freewrite. Here are some sentence starters to get you going: walking … Continue reading In touch
Startword – I thought that I had made it up, but the word exists. It means a sequence of letters that begin a word that could exist in a particular language. ‘STR’ could begin any number of words in English -how many can you think of? But if you saw the letters ‘DZI’ you wouldn’t expect an … Continue reading Startwords
Here is Lois Ehlert again: she says that, when she visited the aquarium, an idea for a book floated into her head. She stopped and noted her thoughts before they floated out again. You don’t have to make a special visit. An idea for a story or poem may come from a walk down your … Continue reading Seize the moment, list the words
Here is a playful challenge: Write out your name. Make a list of all the words you can find using only the letters in your name. You may only use each letter once in any one word. So Danny Brown could have three ‘n’s in a word but only one ‘d’ or ‘b’. His list might begin … Continue reading Words in your name
Writing Box 