DANIEL ALLAN – CREATIVE WRITING:
Daniel from Plumstead Manor set out the class in a horseshoe shape and made sure everyone had plain paper and a pen. He ran through the following exercises. It was a spellbinding session. (Explanations and rationales are in brackets.)
‘…SYLLABLES – Write down your favourite one syllable word. Pass your piece of paper to the left. Now write down your favourite two syllable word, and three syllable word underneath (extension – go to four syllables). Then pass your new sheet to the left again (this reinforces the movement which is key to later exercises). Make the three/four words into a sentence – comprehensible, no swear words, sexual references. Pass on to the left. Read out examples. REPEAT – one, two, three, four syllables – write a sentence, pens down when finished, others looking to see who not finished, wait for them then offer to read.
COLOUR – think of a colour. Now think of ten things that are that colour (or more). Think literally, things etc, and EMOTIONALLY. Write them down. Read out and rest of class has to guess the colour. Now close your eyes - IMAGINE you are behind your front door, you open it and step through the door and out. You walk, begin your journey and you see the items of colour that you have listed, you see what you have written down. Open your eyes and write the journey you have been on. Start with – I opened my front door, stepped out and saw…. (e.g. blood, roses, fire, anger, burning, rose, wine.)
(Positive praise makes everyone want to take part…Starting with a sentence and some words stops the ‘I don’t know what to write’ thing…Passing work on encourages sharing…Active listening encouraged by having to guess the colour, watch for when people have put their pens down.)
OSCAR AND THE TRASH CAN – You will each write one line on the page AND THAT’s IT! At the end of 30 secs pass it on to the left. Try to keep the story going as it moves round. Start with a sentence that starts it (the same one that we used for colour) Time thirty seconds and pass it on. We did this 30 times, getting faster and faster, having less and less time to read the ever increasing lines of writing above ours! We read them out and they were fantastic (in both senses!). Some extracts would be brilliant story starters. There were some strange disassociations, the occasional ‘sentient one’ (all Daniel’s descriptions – his performance is fluent and captivating). Seeing what people have written – gives them confidence. (Time limited exercise – as are all the others, just this one can get frantic! Rationale for time limiting is that you are encouraging quantity not quality – no thinking, no reading, no correcting, no crossing out, no moaning – just writing. Writers are kept constant and busy, teaches writing under pressure, teaches reading and writing skills, skimming and scanning for meaning. It becomes part of an arsenal of resources. Reinforces the message that you should rewrite only when you are finished. Writing becomes a process of writing and rewriting which encourages the art and value of drafting. Separate the writer from the editor. (Tell story about how writers write at one time of the day and edit at another etc) Liberate the writer – don’t unleash the editor/censor. Gives writers the freedom to express (within the context of the class). Good writers make better readers and better commentators. Helps with assessments where you are assessing writers. Be one to know one etc!
HOPPER WRITING – Pictures speak a thousand words - Daniel handed out Edward Hopper pictures to everyone. Face down. ‘You have fifteen minutes to write about this picture. Turn it into a narrative – keep the pen moving, no hesitation, crossing out, correcting, stopping, editing, moaning, crying, beating your chest. If you get stuck, write and rewrite the previous phrase and sentence until you are back on track (model this – its quite funny, like a jumping record/a repeated rap/ a phrase caught in a loop) Fifteen minutes goes surprisingly quickly. STAGE TWO – go through and underline the words, phrases and sentences that you like. STAGE THREE – extract those underlinings onto a new page and read out – put on sugar paper around the picture – it’s a prose piece, even a poem. Shows drafting!
Dan’s golden rules – keep the pen moving, do not edit, keep writing to time. When students hit exams they will have developed their writing muscles and fallen in love with their writing voice so that they won’t feel the pressure of time constraints and writing with their hands.
(Thought – process vs genre?)
