Drawing it Out
Generating and maintaining student creative writing
Introduction
The aim of this workshop is to provide you with ideas that focus creative writing a bit. Students respond well to prompts, specific tasks and you feel a bit more in control of what can be, and sometimes has to be, vague and mysterious.
I’ve tried to look at three aspects of writing: imagery (andto an extent,sound effects), structure, voice; and how you might deal with these across 1st year, 2nd/3rd year, and TY/4th year.
Maintaining a student writing group has been an incredibly rewarding part of my work these past three years so I will conclude this workshop with a history of the Poetry Factory and practical approaches you can take to generate and raise the profile of creative writing in school.
The work illustrating the examples is by students in class and in The Poetry Factory, most are not first drafts. The prompts referred to in the exercises are all included at the back of this document.
Imagery and Sound
Exercise 1Working with the senses
Quickly check that the class is familiar with the five senses (sight, sound, smell, taste, touch)
Choose a colour and in groups or pairs ask them to write down the sound, taste, smell of the colour and what it looks like and feels like.
Make it clear that you don’t have to be right to write so a colour might taste like a cloud or a dream.
Set 5 minutes for this task. Get the groups to read back their work. Ask the others which ones stayed with them and worked- these will most likely be alliterative, rhyming, sibilant or express something the listener has felt too.
You could take a moment to explain the effects of alliteration, why D is heavy, why S is quiet etc…
Examples Pink is circus candy floss
N.Angela It tastes of bubblegum
And strawberry lip-gloss
It’s a playboy’s favourite colour
Yellow
Is the musty smell of old paper
Is bananas in pyjamas
It zings like bitter lemon
It spills like melting butter
It is cheerful as
a New York taxi
Green is
The wind whistling through the grass
The crunch of a granny smith
The air bursting out of a 7Up bottle
It is the monster on your shoulder
It is prickly holly
It is precious as Emeralds
Creamy mint ice cream
Or lettuce and cut herbs - if you’re that way inclined
Colour
by the Poetry Factory
Pink is the smell of the Sunday roast cooking
Copper clinks like the price of a pint
Green crunches like apples
Black tastes bitter like coffee
White feels like emptiness
Yellow is warm like a blanket of primroses
Gold glitters like Hollywood
Purple smells like the heather on Gannia
Silver sounds like cymbals clashing
Grey smells like smoke
Black is the long road home
Gold is a flickering candle
Silver is a dew laden cobweb
Blue is a howling siren
Exercise 2
Give each group or pair one of the following: two squares of chocolate, a sugar cube, coffee granules, pasta shells, breadcrumbs etc…
Ask them to write a description of their item using all the senses.
Tell them to pick it up, break it drop it crush it etc…
Ask them to add on what it reminded them of.
What did they think it was doing before they picked it up?
Exercise 3
Put a handful of shells or pebbles on each desk.
Get each student to pick up just one that they think is nice or interesting.
Describe it using the senses
Example: It looks like a lemon
It feels like dead skin
It’s the colour of whitewashed pebble-dash
It sounds like cheese on the grater
It is wet summer’s days on the beach
Exercise 4Working with metaphors and similes
Prompt: “What is the Sun?” by Wes Magee
Pass out a copy of the poem and read it aloud. Ask for responses and hopefully they will spot the use of colour. Discuss the poem’s mood and how the images chosen by the poet supported the mood.
Brainstorm What is the Moon?
What are the Stars?
What are the clouds?
What are the raindrops?
Examples by N. Angela
The moon is a ghostly face peeping through the clouds
It’s a spotlight shining on heaven’s floor
It’s a silver coin flipped high at a busker
It’s a ball of cheese that rolled off the giant’s table
It’s a cat’s eye glowing in the dark
A white balloon I couldn’t hold on to
A beer bottle top in an oily puddle
A scoop of ice-cream dropped on a black marble floor
What are the stars?
The stars are glitter on a magician’s coat
They are a firework display visible all over the world
They’re the twinkles of every soul’s eye
The wings of faeries playing hide and seek behind the clouds
They are stones kicked on black tarmac
Sprinkling of icing sugar on dark chocolate brownies
Silver thumbtacks holding up the sky
Structure
Exercise 1Haiku
Pass out and read some haiku and get the class to count out the syllables per line.
Note how efficient the use of language is;tell them a haiku travels light.
Ask the class in pairs or individually to write haiku verses for “What is the Moon?” etc from the exercise above.
Exercise 2Haiku
Ask each student to pick a moment they have witnessed today as they went through the school and capture the moment in a haiku. They re trying to capture the essence of the moment not a description of it so show don’t tell.
Example Glass of orange juice
a taste as smooth as velvet
golden as the sun
Exercise 3Kennings
These two phrase descriptions make a great basis for list poems.
Read some examples like the following:
Examples
Anger
Body-shaker
Bone-breaker
Teeth-grinder
Fist-clencher
Pillow-banger
Room-wrecker
Feeling-hurter
Ranting-rager
Try a variety of animals, pets, homework, friends, TV, sports etc…
Remind the class of the usefulness of alliteration and assonance
Voice
Exercise 1: When I look in the Mirror
The object here is to get the students to think about themselves as a subject and hopefully incorporate the use of the senses and metaphor that they’ve been exercising with.
Encourage them to see past their own face to family features they’ve inherited, perhaps future versions of themselves …
Examples from The Poetry Factory
Oscar:
When I look in the mirror I see my father’s hair,
stubborn and thick as a mat
Vivienne:
When I look in the mirror I see my auntie’s nose,
long like a sleeve with a button on the end
Deborah:
When I look in the mirror I see my Daddy’s ears,
so pointy I wonder were my early ancestors elves
Sinead:
When I look in the mirror I see the stature of my father’s family,
Tall like the rainforest but awkward as silence
Catherine:
When I look in the mirror I see my father’s dimpled chin,
A finger print in marla or clay
Exercise 2What is my place?
This can be applied directly to the student themselves but emphasises persona and voice if you choose a character from a poem, story or novel with a different cultural context to us. The character Widge in Gary Blackwood’s “The Shakespeare Stealer” or Wil from “Goodnight Mr. Tom” work well. Get the class to brainstorm the situations the persona found himself in, the soundtrack that might have been played for these situations, the colours that would have suited his mood, the tastes he knew, surfaces he touched, smells he experienced.
Example
My place was among the bullies in the schoolroom
in grey threadbare clothes
It was the place of air raid sirens
It tasted of blood and of dust
It felt like the sting of a leather belt
Until I met Mr Tom
Now my place is a room in the eaves
it is thick-ribbed corduroy
it is a place of organ music and country accents
it smells of oil paint
it tastes of warm tea and hope
Exercise 3Persona poems, prompt: “Paper Dreams”by Bobbi Katz
Set groups to work on Toy box Dreams, Pencil Dreams, Paint Dreams, Needle and thread Dreams, etc.
Begin with writing a description of it using the senses then really think about the character of the subject. Its important not to just write a description as the real purpose here is to show not tell.
Imagery
The object of these exercises is to demonstrate how imagery supports theme and character.
Exercise 1 Prompt “City Jungle” by Pie Corbett
A quick examination of this poem shows how the poet used the senses to bring the scene to life. The poem also builds on work we did last year on personification.
Ask if the poet makes the city seem a welcoming or unwelcoming place, note that the choice of imagery was the deciding factor.
Write about “The Blackboard Jungle”
Exercise 2 Prompt “Uncle” extract by Dylan Thomas
Let the students read this extract and see how the animal imagery captures the sense of the uncle’s character and his relationship with his wife. Note the hyperbole.
Write a short story or poem set in your sister or brother’s room in which you show with imagery rather than tell what he/she is like and what your relationship with him/her is like.
Example:
Rooms
My older sister’s bedroom faces mine on the landing.
The rooms contrast with each other in every way.
Hers an explosive mess
of crumpled clothes, mascara wands,
strewn posters of pop stars and forgotten photos
of how we used to be…
That familiar sweet scent of her Calvin Klein
lingering in the thick air
and lingering on my heavy heart.
Mine a spacious, spotless room
all my possessions neatly lined on my dresser
all my clothes neatly hung in the closet
precious photos,
diamonds of time carefully pasted into scrap books,
they represented what was mine.
Both rooms so different, but each
a true reflection of the holder’s way of life.
Memories are preserved between the four yellow walls.
They glitter in the summer sun that streams in
Through the crack in the drapes.
Memories of how we used to sit
and talk out those long nights in hushed whispers
till three in the morning.
Memories of how I’d sneakily slip in and cautiously tiptoe
over a disarray of mismatches shoes, and favourite books
music sheets, our songs from The Kooks.
And now I stand in her empty room,
Dreams we dreamt and stories we wrote
reflecting on her tarnished mirror.
She came and she packed all her stuff away
leaving it more like my room every day.
Gone now are the crumpled clothes, mascara wands
posters of much adored bands,
mismatched shoes and favourite books.
Gone now is the music we heard from The Kooks
But the familiar scent of Calvin Klein’s still there
it mingles with the loneliness hanging in the air.
Sinead Carr
Exercise 3 Prompt “Handbag”by Ruth Fainlight
Read the poem and see how the poet appeals to the reader’s senses to evoke the person who owned the handbag and even the era. Ask each student to think of an object that characterises a person they know. Build on last year’s work with the senses. Describe it using the five senses and use specific detail to give the description more intimacy. So name brands and places and bands etc…
Example:
Nuneaton
I remember cobbled streets
like overgrown pebbles beneath my feet,
The smell of green and clear of
the flowers that slowly disappeared
to a friend, a lover, a mother or a bedside
the taste of town cuisine
that was far from lean
fish and chips dressed in the best of the weeks news
and pigeons searched for scraps and released gentle coos
On market days the town bustled with sound
One, two, three for a pound
The yellow stone fountain flowed and flowered out
While George Eliot sat in monochrome
Book in hand, a ghost from home
Catherine Buck
Exercise 4 Prompt“Warning”by Jenny Joseph
Read the poem and ask why she chose purple. Build on last years work on colour. What attitude does purple have?
What colour might a person wear if they were frustrated, misunderstood, stereotyped, in their brother or sister’s shadow? What would they do to protest or proclaim?
Structure
Exercise 1Couplets
Write couplets based on each of the five senses when doing the “Blackboard Jungle” poem above
Exercise 2Sonnet
After doing a sonnet as a poem for the exam try to get theclass applying the structure to a poem on their place. Build on last year’s work on place. Describe the town or townland in the octet and reflect on its history, myths, symbols, nature, and thewriter’s relationship with it in the sestet.
Voice
Exercise 1What I love
Read the following sentence starters and allow time for the students to write responses.
I love the sound of…
I love the smell of…
I love to see…
I love the touch of…
I love the taste of…
My favourite place is… when…
I believe in….
I love…
I love…
When the answers are written get everyone to read back their answers, replacing the sentence starters with “I am”
Example:
I am the sound of old library books shutting
I am struggle to draw breath with laughter
I am Body Shop strawberry moisturiser
I am sun cream soaking into fragile skin
I am the early sun rising above the back yard
I am a soft dressing gown on bare skin
And damp grass on my feet
I am bagels and soft cream cheese
I am friends gathering for a night in
Ruby Malone
Exercise 2 Prompt: Buttons
This is similar to the descriptive work last year on shells. Pass a box of buttons (the noisier the better) around the tables and let the students get their hands on the buttons. Ask each one to select the button that they find interesting. Describe it using the five senses. Begin the lines with “I am” rather than “It is”. Using the button as narrator, write its story. Where did it come from? What are its dreams? What crises has it had? What are its songs? What is it waiting for?etc…
Exeercise3 Pleased to meet you
Put the class into four groups and give each group one of the following sentence starters:
I hope…, I wish…, I pray…, I am…
Example:
Let me introduce myself
I am ……
a rainbow in a world of grey clouds
a butterfly fluttering through a bouquetof roses
I am the fizziest drink in the fridge
a shimmering grain of sand on Portsalon beach
a dazzling diamond on a bed of rocks
a big fish in a small pond
the stripy shell on the white shore
I am part of God’s creation
forever flying free
the brightest light on the Christmas tree
I am grand
the busiest bee in the hive
the brightest star in the velvet sky
in a world of my own making
I hope…
to live to tick off my to do list
to live my life in HDdhd colour
my life is forever summer
to live a wild life
to live a rock and roll life
to live an eccentric life
I wish…
I could sit upon a cloud and look down on the world decomposing
I wonder …
If you are as interesting
2ndyear English
Imagery
Exercise 1A sense of place
This builds on first year exercise on voice and 2nd and 3rd year sonnet.
Write a verse describing your town/town land, in a particular season, using the senses.
Write three more verses for the other seasons. You may find you have loads after thinking about one season.
Example
Downings in Spring
The army of yachts returns to Mulroy,
hulls freshly painted,
a new generation at the helm.
Lambs bleat and stagger on unaccustomed feet,
while Gania Mor heaves a sigh of relief.
Harsh wind’s in the past,
new beginning at last.
Dust particles somersault and daringly dance
dodging the yearly attack of the dusters in the thatch.
Yellow drops of sunshine show their wicked side,
slyly hiding thorns, yet pleasing to the eye.
Meevagh awakens in the early morning sun,
dewdrops dive to the murky depths of Pollgorm.
The regiment of yellow oil-skins return s from a
hard days battle
to see Mc Veagh with the catch of the day.
The retreating tide reveals footsteps on Tra Mor
along with freshly slimed rocks and crabs galore.
Waves of blooming heather crash overKinnelargy,
Dooey begins to slowly relax
while the threatening surge of the ocean slips into the past.
The dunes of Downings celebrate,
For they have won the battle-
Winter has been defeated
And seeds of joy are sown
In the fields of Dundoan
Stacey Mc Nutt
By now the students will have a clear idea of what prompts are and will amaze you with what they can come up with.
Exercise 2Prompt: “Echoes” by Michael Longley
While it’s included here under imagery this exercise is also concerned with editing and structure.
Get the class to look outside through the window and restrict what they can write about to what they can see from their seat. Write descriptions of the view, the sky, and the light. Listen to what sounds there are. Again restrict them to what isactually happening at the moment. Pass a sheet around and get all the responses recorded. Type these up and in the next class pass around the collated work. Get each pair to decide on a sequence. Prepare for a lengthy debate. Discuss why they grouped the lines that way. It will probably be by subject but hopefully they will be tuned in to assonance and alliteration and line length too.
Example
Room 109- Tuesday in February Transition Year composite piece