Quizzing – for new creative writers and blocked creative writers

The creative writer’s quiz – what your writing coach will want to know!

What do you want to experience from your creative writing?

What will that experience look, sound, taste, smell, feel like?

What is stopping you having that experience now?

What can you do about this?

What is the first step?

When will you take it?

 

Even bigger questions:

Why are you writing what you’re currently writing?

Do you want to write something different?

 

It will save us some time if you think about these questions in advance!

Creative Writing Groups

At the beginning of any Lonely Furrow Company group session, I like to encourage people to feel ‘in the room’. I use a few Open Space guidelines to settle people down – such as ‘Who-ever comes are the right people’ and ‘Whatever happens is the right thing to happen’. For added safety, I add the Chatham House Rule: ‘What is said in the room stays in the room’.

And then we begin – usually with a free-write on ‘Why am I here?’

I run two sorts of creative writing groups. One is concerned with creative writing and publication. The other has as its focus the well-being of individual participants and creative writing is the means to achieve this. At the point of the first free-write, the nature of the group becomes clear.

Writers concerned with the art and craft of creative writing and the possibilities of broadcasting and publication concentrate on technique – themes and inspirations, characterisation, plotting, location and descriptions, dialogue, editing, language and style and how to approach publishers. They are honing their skills. They may enjoy the ride but the finished product – story, poem, memoir, drama – is their goal. (This blog is devoted to this sort of creative writing.)

On the other hand, in a therapeutic creative writing group, the possibilities of self-exploration mean that technique doesn’t matter. In these groups, creative writing may take the form of journal writing, unsent letters, dialogues, expressions of altered time perspectives, and creatively-written accounts of imaginings, dreams and visions.

These writers may take pleasure in the writing itself. But, for these writers, it is the process that counts. Nothing written can be ‘wrong’. The purpose of the writing is to observe what is going inside the writer and what is going on around them and to bear witness to this. It is not to produce a work of Art.

As, for example, journal therapist Kate Thompson explains in Therapeutic Journal Writing (Jessica Kingsley Publishers 2011): “for most people who practise therapeutic journal writing, the product of their process will be greater understanding, behavioural change or enhanced well-being rather than the writing itself.”

And, released from concerns over spelling, grammar and punctuation, writers – who never thought of themselves as writers – begin to use words fluently to feel into the darkness within and shed light. (The writing blog I have developed for this group is named Light for Shadows (http://lightforshadows.wordpress.com ))

There is another major difference between the two groups – the desire to ‘share’. Creative writers who want to produce stories or plays are not writing in a vacuum. Part of their purpose in writing at all is to ‘share’ – whether this is reading aloud to a group or being published.

But, within the therapeutic creative writing group, seeking to know themselves better, the ‘sharing’ is optional. For some, it’s enough to have borne witness to their lives with only themselves as audience. They may then choose to share with a trusted A N OTHER. Or they may choose to destroy what they have written. Whatever they choose doesn’t diminish the power of the process itself. And their choice not to share is a valid strategy and must be respected.

Sharing your work – one purpose of visit!

Sharing your writing is such an important part of the writing process. It is in fact the main reason for writing – you want to be heard. This is one of the basic human requirements for emotional health – not to be sniffed at. And nothing to be ashamed of.

So, how to do this?

The traditional route has been publication. But – as we all know – although you can improve your chances in many ways, publication is a long slow route to ‘being heard’.

Quicker and – in some ways – equally effective is reading aloud. And you can do this to family, friends, and your local community. Writers’ groups and literature festivals with ‘open mic’ sessions when everyone has an opportunity to read abound. The Way in? To find a group near you, check out the National Association of Writers’ Groups (www.nawg.co.uk.)  

Join several – different demographics. More testing that way – and although you may feel more comfortable with, say, the middle-aged and middle-class – how rewarding if your words impact on twenty-year-old former illicit drug users!

If you live in an almost writers’ group free zone, however, all is not lost. There are a number of on-line writers’ communities for advice, information and critiquing opportunities. Google writers’ groups and choose some that appeal to explore. Some are free. Some cost. Some are a mix. I like The Word Cloud arrangement (See http://www.writersworkshop.co.uk )

A stage beyond this is critique groups run by publishing houses on the look-out for new talent. Check out:

• Authonomy writing community – Helping writers get published (http://www.authonomy.com/) Harper Collins
• Www.youwriteon.com <http://Www.youwriteon.com) Random House.

Let your characters speak for themselves!

There’s far more to speech than words. Whether you want to write plays, field memorable characters in your novel or simply learn more about people for professional and personal reasons, you need to be able to read the signs.

Here’s an exercise to improve your attentive listening skills – which will particularly help you as a writer creating characters.

• Take your notebook to a public place.
• Settle down and listen. Not to the content. To the way speech is delivered.
• Make notes on the voices you hear:
• Think about pace – is the speaker speaking quickly or slowly, interrupting their ‘dialogue partner’?
• Are they waiting for their dialogue partner to finish – without really listening – so they can then say what they want to say
• Are they finishing sentences for other people?
• Are they greeting each statement or question with a pause and what impact is that silence having?
• Do they have an accent? Is a regional flavour present in their choice of vocabulary or the sound of their words?
• What does this tell you about their educational background or class?
• Do they have favourite/characteristic phrases which they repeat?
• What is the tone – high, low, aggressive or appealing?
• While you are listening, does this change? How does it change?

By doing this, you will develop some guidelines for when you are creating your own characters. But, be careful. People don’t like to be listened to, un-invited. One of my clients was embroiled in a heated exchange for listening and note-taking too obviously. Be discreet!

 

Deadlines – How to make the most of them

When I was a little girl, during school holidays, I used to love waking up and thinking: ‘What shall I do with today?’

Some days had no deadlines. No teachers or parents telling me what to do. And I could relax. Paint a picture, read a book, write a story – whatever made me feel good. Then adult life took over, and days like that, days of infinite creative possibility, became rare.

What’s changed?

The arrival of deadlines in my life, that’s what’s happened. Deadlines set by other people. Deadlines set by me. And, now, I find, in my diary, every day has far too many deadlines flagged up. Waiting for me, before I even turn the page.

And, as soon as I do turn the page and see what’s written there, I feel the surge of adrenalin. Some times, in my youthful journalistic life, I really enjoyed that form of motivation. But now when – in my anxiety to meet the deadline – my head reels, my stomach churns and I break into a cold sweat, I think: ‘There must be another way.’

Am I alone? I don’t think so. Inside all writers is a quiet place constantly fretted by this jangle of deadlines and demands.

But – by meeting the deadlines set by others we demonstrate our professionalism. We’re also demonstrably productive. And these accolades are  worth achieving.

So how can you make deadlines work for you?

A Deadline Coping Strategy!

ü     Evaluate the success of each deadline by asking: ‘Did I produce my best work when trying to meet this deadline?’ This supplies you with insights as to your own working style and capacity for the next round of deadline negotiation.

ü     Contract for deadlines on your own behalf. You know your own obligations and responsibilities best

ü     Ensure deadlines are realistic and on a timescale you can manage – unrealistic deadlines make you ill

ü     Be assertive about your own requirements while being adaptable to the requirements of others

ü     If you have no contract – to establish your productivity schedule – set your own mini-deadlines.

And stay in control.

For those who like to plan ahead!

As Summer fades into memory, creative writers among Out of the Box Workshop participants are going to look closely and briskly at technique. And, when we’ve mastered the techniques used in writing fiction or in writing creative non-fiction such as memoir, journaling and travel writing, we’ll move on to a Creative Writing for Publication series! Of which, more later.

Lonely Furrow Company Events 

Current Listings:

(All events will take place at The Conservatory, 28 Park West, Heswall, Wirral CH60 9JF unless otherwise stated.)

September 10th 2011 (10am – 12.30pm) Creative Writing Techniques - Memoir and journaling. (£20)

September 24th 2011 (10am – 12.30pm) Creative Writing Techniques – Finding your voice (Part 2) (£20)

October 22nd 2011 (10am-12.30pm)  Creative Writing Technique – Plotting (£20)

November 26th 2011 (10am – 12.30pm) Creative Writing Techniques – Memorable Characters (£20)

December 3rd 2011 (10.am – 12.30pm) Creative Writing Techniques – Place and setting (£20)

January 21st 2012 (10am – 12.30pm) Creative Writing Techniques – Travel Writing (£20)

In the Autumn, place and dates yet to be fixed, Lonely Furrow Company will also run a series of monthly lunchtime meetings for ‘blocked’ creatives – people who don’t know where to start or can’t keep going. These will be based on the programme devised by Julia Cameron in her international best seller The Artist’s Way. You’ll be expected to bring your own lunch – soft drinks, tea and coffee provided – but you will – more importantly – have the opportunity to monitor your own progress while supporting other creatives through their recovery. A low fee is meant to encourage as many creatives as possible to commit to this programme.  Please contact me on elizabeth@lonelyfurrowcompany.com for further information and to register your interest in joining us.

So an agent rejects you!

You start off with a carefully-garnered list of twelve agents. Then you send out your well-crafted book proposal. And then, your book proposal comes back.

Is this the end of the road?

Very few experienced writers would assume it is.

The agent may feel justified in rejecting your proposal because:

1)You misjudged the market  - for example, you have sent in a collection of colonial stories – reminiscent of Rudyard Kipling – when anti-imperialist views prevail in society as a whole.

2)You have misjudged the agent’s area of interest – you have sent the agent a book on military history when their main list (ie where they make their money and concentrate their efforts) contains romantic comedies.

3)Your prose style is poor. (ie you actually prefer wood-carving – or give that impression.)

4)Your plot is full of inconsistencies – Where was your mind when you were writing this? And have you made friends with your Inner Editor yet?

5)You haven’t got your MS polished and ready to go. (Well, really.)

These issues demonstrate a lack of professionalism. Remedies exist.