creative writer's den

The CREATIVE WRITING NETWORK returns

2008-11-01T09:20:00.000-07:00

The group will re-convene for the initial meeting on Monday 17th November at 16.00 – room 202.

Plans this year include the following:

Linking the Creative Writing Network to a new magazine for the Faculty – details to be announced from Luis Monteiro.
Establishing a theme for each semester linked with the theme of the magazine.
Inviting guest speakers, contributing to the monthly CWN sessions.
Reconsidering whether a blog is the appropriate environment for posting our creative writing. An alternative is Moodle or google docs.

As members of the CWN last year (2007) we would like your opinions in order to help us shape the group according to needs and interests:

1.What did you find most useful from your participation in the group last year?

2.What suggestions do you have for making the group more effective?

Please could you complete the questions and return by e-mail to:

allyson.roberts@mail.telepc.pt or leave in my office in 208, Torre A.

Allyson

New Beginning

2008-10-11T18:47:00.000-07:00

'Creative Writer's Den' will be coming back in early November. Don´t miss it.

Creative Writing Workshop with Bruce Holland Rogers

2008-06-22T11:22:00.001-07:00

Writing from different perspectives - Dr Janice Russell - powerpoint

2008-06-13T12:22:00.001-07:00

Writing task in preparation for 16 June

2008-05-25T07:18:00.000-07:00

The train goes on ….

…from Lisbon to Madrid. There is a radio on the carriage which,at one point, lets us know that the date is the 12th of March of 2006 – the day after the train bombings.

Your task is to write a scene from 2 perspectives of your choice, from any character: one that you found easy and one that you found difficult. Please post your writing in SPIRAL BOUND before 11 June so you have time to read everyone's work.

Janice says…
Janice Russel reminded us to try and keep our characters plausible. In order to help you constructing your character and making him/her believable, here are some suggestions on what you might want to know (and let your reader know) about them:[1]
- what are the basic characteristics of this character? What nationality, age, sex … is s/he? What languages does s/he speak? Single, married, …?
- how did your character start smoking? How has their relationship with smoking been? When, with whom and how do they smoke?
- what is s/he going to do right after they step out of the train? Who will s/he meet? Why is s/he going to Madrid?
- Your character is being lectured for some reason (ie being too noisy on the phone) by someone in a position of authority (like the conductor): how does s/he react?
- What does your character most love to do when s/he has free time? Why?
- What would make the character stand out among his/her peers (people in the same profession or age group or ...)
- Create a list of five things you love, now pick one thing and have the character like it as well. Write also on this loved object from your character's point of view, but make sure to change it up a little so that the character's view of the object is slightly different from yours.
- Now, write a list of 5 things you hate. Have your characters like that thing you hate. This will expand your ability to see things from someone else's point of view.
Some more useful advice from Janice:
· Begin with the end in mind: What impact do you want to make on your reader? Do you want the reader to care about the character? What do you want your reader to consider? To feel? To remember? How can you achieve this?
· Put a few pinches of humour in. AND HAVE FUN!

NEXT MEETING 16th June
Please post your writing in SPIRAL BOUND before 11 June so you have time to read everyone's work. Print and bring with you to next session.

[1] some of this suggestions were taken from http://www.creative-writing-solutions.com/creative-writing-prompts.html

Review of session 19 May

2008-05-25T02:40:00.000-07:00

This is how the session went:

Reminder of POINT OF VIEW WRITING: outline of an incident from different points of view with the objective of identifying examples of different 'points of view' writing.
WRITING TASKS
Preparation for writing: scene setting, establishing a common understanding of the context: a train carriage and its associated passengers. Establishing the moment a young 16-year old girl, pregnant, enters the smoking compartment and asks “Have you got a light?
Writing: from various perspectives of these travellers, including: 3rd person past; 1st person though the essays of the girl; 3rd person watching the whole seen, which could include personification, for example through the eyes of the CCTV camera, the cigarette; or through the eyes of someone who does not speak the language.

Writings were read aloud and there was discussion as to which perspective we found easier/more difficult/more satisfying to write in, and the effects on the narrative construction in general.

There is a follow-up to this session. Outline of tasks to be written in preparation for next session will be posted in the blog.

FINAL SESSION FOR THE SEMESTER 16th June, 12.00 – 14.00, room 202.

Next meeting Will be Monday 19th May

2008-04-24T11:15:00.000-07:00

NEW date: 19th May.

Take note all ye writers.! Next session will be VERY PRACTICAL!! Ines and I put heads together and I think you will be very pleased ( we hope) with the resulting input.

We will be continuing from Dr. Janice Russell's session, putting your pen and creative energies to much use! JOIN US! Be prepared to start playing around with some perspectives for real.

A brief summary of Creative Writing Worskshop with Dr. Janice Russell

2008-04-18T11:17:00.000-07:00

'POINT OF VIEW' IN CREATIVE WRITING - Dr. Janice Russell

Here are a selection of some of the practical ideas that Janice mentioned in her workshop on 14th April. You just have to put that pen to work – write, write and write!

TIPS

Start writing, anything,for at least 12 minutes, first thing or any time of the day, but everyday.
Begin with the end in mind:
· What impact do you want to make on your reader?
· How can you achieve this?
Take the point of view from something unusual, like a bunch of keys.
Experience from that perspective and write. You can turn anything into a story!
Write the same event from different perspectives: technically this could involve 1st person, 3rd person, omniscient observer, multiple points of view, and, yes, 2nd person.
Make your characters plausible/believable.
Use the senses. Check which you tend to use most naturally and experiment using the others - write the same piece. Each one emphasising a different sense.
Vary pace and length of chapters (book writing! But could also apply to sentences!)
Put a few pinches of humour in.
Care about your characters – or not!
Aim to intrigue the reader by involving them in solving the plot.
Read something then write 500 words in the same style.
Analyse books you have enjoyed, sentence by sentence – pick them apart to find out: “How did the writer do it?”

Be BOLD!

TASK
For next Creative writing session on Monday May 12th:
Experiment with one or more of the above ideas.

Janice has kindly made her PowerPoint available to those who attended her workshop. You can get this from allyson.roberts@mail.telepac.pt

Happy writing.
Allyson

FINAL REMINDER for CREATIVE WRITING WORKSHOP

2008-04-10T07:51:00.000-07:00

A PRACTICAL, DYNAMIC WORKSHOP

Monday 14th April

12.00 – 14.00

Room 202

Limited to 20 participants
3 euros per person
First 20 to reserve their place and pay entrance fee to Ricardo Marques
ricardo.marques@fcsh.unl.pt

Janice Russell is a freelance writer and coaching consultant. She is well published in the UK in counselling, has one self published novel, and gained an MA Creative Writing in the UK. She now lives in the Algarve, and is the President of Network, the association for women working in the Algarve. Janice will be presenting a dynamic workshop, in English, on writing from different perspectives.

Writing task for session 4 - Monday 14th April

2008-03-09T05:19:00.000-07:00

TASK: Write a piece of DESCRIPTIVE WRITING with the title "Returning Home.”
Try to include metaphor and allusion. Play with the perspective; it can be from any character’s viewpoint.

Read the short extracts from Invisible Cities by Italo Calvino and If nobody speaks of remarkable things by Jon McGregor.

OR...If you really do not like the idea above, choose one of the ideas from the link below.

Some things to remember about descriptive writing

Appeal to senses
Use imagery (similes and metaphors)
Be allusive
Reflect and make connections with life issues
Make personal connections, think about what this reminds you of
Tell a story through description
Observe closely
Find your voice
Focus on the detail and the whole
Think about tone: humour, sarcasm, joy, humility, and sadness
Reflect on how the charachter feels

Ideas for topics for descriptive writing from:
http://wwwfp.education.tas.gov.au/English/writers.htm

Feedback guidelines for session 3

2008-03-09T04:17:00.000-07:00

Consider the following when talking about your writing and giving feedback:

The task was to make effective use of powers of observation and to appeal to the senses:

sources of inspiration
process of writing – where, when, how?
techniques experimented with
influences from other sources/writers
effectiveness of description - observation and senses evoked

Reminder for session 3

2008-03-07T03:55:00.000-08:00

Hello!
Room 202 for our third meeting on Monday 10th March, at 12.00.

Bring with you copies of everyone's contribtuions to this session for intial discussion.

Please, Madalena ("A story of the past" ) and Inês ( "In good spirit"), as you missed the feedback from last time, perhaps you could give each other feedback on your Christmas writing at the meeting.

Fantastic News!!!! We will be joined by Janice Russell from the creative writing competition in a session to be arranged very soon.

See you Monday. Please e-mail me if you cannot come. allyson.roberts@mail.telepac.pt

Thanks
Allyson

Creative Writing Competition

2008-03-07T01:38:00.000-08:00

Take a look at this!!!

Network Short Story Competition

The Network Short Story Competition is here – it’s open to anyone living in Portugal, so please take the opportunity to get the creative juices flowing and support this first time venture.

Stories can be on any theme, with a maximum word count of 2000 words. Entries cost 5 euros and will be judged by Jenny Grainer, writer, journalist and tutor in Creative Writing, and Lisa Selvidge, who tutors in Creative Writing in the Algarve and online with the University of East Anglia. Entries will need to be in the English language for this first year, and need to be received by March 31st.

The winning story will receive 100 euros worth of book vouchers, sponsored by Network, the Magna Carta Bookshop, and the Griffin Bookshop. The event is supported by the Portugal News who will publish the winning entry. Winners will be announced on 23rd April 2008, international book day.

For more details and application form, please e-mail :netpres@networkalgarve.org,ring Janice Russell on 915 584 668,ask at the Griffin or Magna Carta bookshop,or download the form by clicking here.

Second meeting review

2008-01-30T02:12:00.001-08:00

A brief review of the session on January 28th:
1. We shared experiences of producing our 1st piece of writing:

•sources of inspiration
•process of writing – where, when, how?
•time taken
•redrafts – how many? What edit in and out
•feelings when writing it
•feelings in general to the whole process – going public
•your identity and how it changed
•feelings about the product – what/change?

2. Giving and taking feedback/criticism (handouts available at next session).

“The problem lies in knowing how to take it and what to do with it.”

We need to:

establish a distance from our writing.
let go of experiences, ideas, words, feelings which feed our writing.

Feedback/criticism :

becomes a source of inspiration, a breath of fresh air, a second wind, by breathing new life into our work and giving new perspectives .
is practical and practicable.

3. Giving feedback

Individual feedback of what we enjoyed about each piece of writing led to the following discussion:

Watch this space > " ...... "

It was decided NOT to comment on language mistakes, whether native or foreign language. Use the suggested links in this blog for checking language use. Any for Portuguese? Please send links to allyson.roberts@mail.telepac.pt

4. Task for next meeting:

A descriptive piece of writing - no need to be a story, which requires powers of observation and appeals to the senses.

a journey from home to work/university
leaving somewhere
a short trip

This can be seen through the eyes of characters or as pure description.

This link gives you food for thought on setting and context.

http://jerz.setonhill.edu/writing/creative/shortstory/index.html#setting

Post your writing in Sprial Bound blog.

NEXT MEETING- March 3rd, 12.00 - 14.00. room to be confirmed.

'baby' blog for creative writing

2008-01-15T02:58:00.000-08:00

The place to post your creative writing is in the 'baby' blog, called Sprial Bound, found at http://spiralboundcreativity.blogspot.com/. To be invited to this blog, send your e-mail to allyson.roberts@mail.telepac.pt

As the Spiral Bound group grows in size we will make another 'baby' blog of creative writers. The optimum size for these small writing groups is about six.

You can post your writing in either Portuguese or English. Our next meeting will be on Monday 28th at 12.00 in room 202.

First Meeting

2007-12-18T11:28:00.000-08:00

Welcome those who came to the first meeting on Monday 17th December, spoken in both Portuguese and English, as each desired, and hello to those yet to arrive.

After an initial introduction on how the group could work, we set off down the road to finding out why we are all interested in joining a creative writing group. Reasons and desires ranged to include the aspiration of becoming a writer, of being able to express self through creative writing and poetry, exploring a topic from differing perspectives, learning techniques of creative writing, and learning through and from others in the group.

We decided to set up an initial small blog (soon to be announced) to link to this main Writer's Den blog, in which our creative writing can be posted.

We looked at Stephen King's approach to editing his work after a 1st draft from his book; On Writing, a memoir of the craft (2000).

Given Christmas is approaching, we read Moira Andrew's poem which takes the form of a letter the nativity: Mary's Christmas. We also have a short story to read over the holidays; No Room in the Inn, by Katherine Paterson.

Both these Christmas texts may help to inspire us for our first writing task:
and this is it!

Write anything that associates in any way with the theme of Christmas. There you go! Open, with lots of room to move - prose or poetry.

Those at the meeting will post their writing in the new blog (soon to be announced). Feedback the first time will be face-to-face at the next meeting. Each person in the group is to bring with them comments on 3 of these pieces of work.

Next meeting: Monday January 28th @ 12.00, room to be confimed.

Happy writing and a very HAPPY CHRISTMAS.

Some Notes on Workshop Criticism - Bruce Holland Rogers

2007-12-13T07:29:00.000-08:00

Bruce Holland Rogers offers the following suggestions when it comes to giving and receiving eachother feedback.

For the writer, what to bring:

1. The story or poem that you submit for criticism should be "finished" work. Ideally, you are showing the group a piece that you would send to an editor to be considered for publication. This means no rough drafts! Write, re-read, and revise your work, then bring it to workshop. If there are problems with the manuscript that you already know how to address, then it's a waste of the group's time to point them out to you.

2. However, you may feel that your poem or story is "broken" in some way, and does not yet deliver the experience that you want the reader to have. Such a work is suitable for workshop discussion as long as the manuscript is as complete and as finished as you are so far able to make it.

3. For the sake of uniform presentation, please submit your work in manuscript format, just as you would send it to an editor.

For the readers, what to say:

0. Before you say anything at all, write notes about the work on the manuscript so that you can refer to your notes and can also give the manuscript, with notes, back to the writer after the discussion concludes.

1. Your first job as a member of the workshop is to "test drive" the story and offer your experience as a reader to the writer. What do you think the story or poem is trying to accomplish? Were there places where you had to stop and re-read? Did the work contradict itself in a way that you imagine was not the author's intention? In short, articulate your experience as a reader, showing the writer where the writing did or did not function as the writer probably intended.

2. Once you have shared your experience as a reader, you may make suggestions to the writer about how the manuscript might be changed to be more effective. Keep in mind always that you may be wrong in your assessment of what the writer is trying to accomplish, so don't imagine that your suggestions are necessarily the things that the writer should or will do. You are making provisional recommendations.

3. If you are able to explain an underlying principle of how storytelling works or how the sound of words will affect the reader's emotions, do offer those insights in support of your recommendation for a specific change. (With experience, you will be able to offer such explanations more often.)

4. It can be difficult at first, but try not to address the author. Sometimes it even helps to look at ?someone other than the author when you speak about the manuscript. Phrase your comments so that it is clear that you are speaking about the qualities of the work, not the qualities of the writer. Some workshop members go so far as to say "the writer" whenever they might otherwise mention the author's name or refer to that person directly.

5. In the same vein, keep the focus only on this work, not on other writing that the group has seen. Don't rank the works you are discussing. Don't say, "This is the best poem we have seen tonight!" Don't compare the work to other work from the same writer, saying that this story is better or worse. The issue is not where this work ranks, but whether or not it succeeds on its own terms.

6. Be sure to point out what you enjoyed and thought was effective. Praise whatever is praiseworthy!

For the writer, how to listen:

1. You will get notes back on the manuscripts, but don't rely on these. Write down what you are hearing as it is said. Sometimes readers will offer very helpful insights that just occurred to them, things they didn't write down. Also, writing notes as you listen demonstrates to the readers that you are paying attention to them, that you value their efforts.

2. Try to listen dispassionately. Some feelings of disappointment are inevitable. You have shared the work of your heart, and these people seem to be finding imperfections in it. It is fine and natural to feel badly. You are free to feel what you feel, of course, but try not to dwell upon your disappointment. If you are too busy emoting, you may miss a tremendously helpful observation or suggestion.

3. Depending on the format of your workshop, you probably will not be allowed to speak until all the readers have finished speaking. There are very good reasons for this rule as what you say can keep readers from sharing information that you really should have. Since you can't speak, make notes about comments that you didn't understand and will want to clarify.

4. When you are done listening, when the criticism has finished, it is good form to say "Thank you." Offering earnest criticism is hard work.

For the writer, what to do next:

1. Go home and have a good cry. Well, with any luck it will be a rare workshop that really makes you want to cry. But emotions are part of the experience. All writers approach a workshop hoping for nothing but praise and adoration, and even long-time professional writers who use workshops seldom have that imagined literary coronation. Whatever your emotions are, let them settle. Wait a day before doing anything with your notes.

2. Look over your notes. You will probably find lots of contradiction. The first thing to be alert to is material that you know is right --- observations of problems that you agree with, suggested changes that excite you. Begin a revision list of things that you do intend to change accordingly.

3. Beyond the observations or advice that feel right to you, are there things that many people agreed on? Literature is not a democracy, and the majority does not rule your writing. But give careful consideration to things that many people agreed on.

4. Remember that there are at least three possible responses to a suggestion. One is to adopt it. Another is to ignore it. The third, and sometimes most interesting option, is to do the exact opposite of what was suggested. Andre Gide advised young writers to discover what others despised in their work and then cultivate it as their own special gift. A writer might abuse that advice, but often criticism points to an opportunity but is exactly wrong about how best to exploit that opportunity. Be as creative in interpreting and using criticism as you were in imagining your work in the first place.

REDE DE ESCRITA CRIATIVA (CREATIVE WRITING NETWORK)

2007-12-07T06:33:00.000-08:00

1ª REUNIÃO
SEGUNDA-Feira, 17 de Dezembro de 2007
AUDITÓRIO 1 12-14h

envie um email de inscrição para ricardo.marques@fcsh.unl.pt

TRAGA IDEIAS!