Building my writing toolkit
I’m now six weeks into my writing course and it feels like I’m in a completely different place from when I first started! The sessions are interactive and involve writing activities, as well as taking turns to read our writing out loud to each other. I have found this interactive approach to learning really useful in terms of developing confidence with my writing.
For example, each session is two hours long and we will do around 2-3 short writing activities. These activities usually include creating a short list and then picking an item from the list and writing spontaneously about it. For example, one week we were asked to write down ten things you would find in a persons bag and then to create a character who would own this bag. We then wrote a spontaneous story about the character. I found this fun and a good way of getting into the flow of writing, which can be difficult to break into!
I felt very nervous the first time I read my writing to the group, and can remember my heart was racing so fast, but I don’t worry about this anymore as sharing our writing has become a routine part of the sessions. It has also been interesting to hear other people read their writing and to hear their different writing styles. I am so impressed by how creative people are and how they have used interesting concepts like time to punctuate their writing. Hearing other people’s writing has been a valuable source of inspiration and learning opportunity for me.
In addition to carrying out writing activities and taking turns reading our writing, we have also had group discussions around themed topics, such as:
Creating characters
Immersing the reader by using sensory descriptions such as sound, touch, smell, etc.
Developing a plot and planting bombs!
Point of view and voice of the writer (first person, second person, and third person)
Tense and sense of time
I have found exploring the above topics to be really useful and it feels like I have been given the tools to write and feel more confident and self-aware about how I am approaching writing. It seems strange to think that six weeks ago I didn’t have this knowledge or these tools, and to find that I am suddenly armed! I have found myself less stifled and able to write more easily as a result, which is great!
I have also noticed that my mind is a lot more active during the day and I constantly have ideas popping into my head about characters and plots. It has been overwhelming at times, as it feels like a lot of creative energy is flowing through me which has been unleashed from the course. These ideas have enabled me to write more freely in my own time and I have had spurts of creativity, during which I have sat down spontaneously and written for a few hours. This has been very positive, as I have done more writing in the last six weeks than I have done in my adult life, which is really what I wanted the course to give to me!
At the recommendation of our teacher, I have also joined my local library and made an effort to read more fiction, as a way of observing different writing styles. I recently read a book which was written in first-person, which reminded me of why I fell in love with writing as a child and teenager - because I love seeing the world through another persons eyes. This has made me realise that as a writer I would like to explore writing in first-person. Interestingly, when I looked back at my writing it is all in third-person so far, so I haven’t actually been writing in first-person which may feel more natural to me. This is something I would like to explore as part of my ongoing writing journey!