Happy New Year and, Happy New Members!
Despite the blustery night, and the S.A.W. competitions’ deadline looming, a hardy bunch of us once again gathered at the Mercure to be put through our paces by Nigel Ward, who offered us a couple of interesting writing exercises. We were delighted to welcome two new faces, Amanda and Alan, whose participation was much appreciated.
With a five-minute free writing exercise, based on the opening sentence, “And when it was unwrapped…”, we attempted to clear our minds of everyday concerns, and set our imaginations free.
Nigel next introduced Writing Exercise 1- Exploring Ambiguity.
With the pleasures and perils of the Christmas season still fresh in our memories, he encouraged us to think about the receiving of gifts – appropriate or less so – and the customary tradition of the ‘thank you’ letter. Using gifts (real or imagined) from givers (real or imagined!), our task was to write letters of appreciation for said objects, mining our creativity for ways to be gracious and positive, regardless of what we might genuinely have thought about the gift. After ten minutes’ scribbling time, we were encouraged to share our writing.
The list of gifts was undoubtedly eclectic: a jigsaw puzzle, football shirt, football boots, knitted items of clothing, a floral nightdress, a marble birdbath, a bottle of port for a teetotaller, a laundry drier, and a tea cosy – which got the biggest laugh, added as it did to a large collection of other tea cosies gathered, over the years! One recipient pondered guiltily on how, ever, to repay the quantity of gifts he’d received from his parents, while another deliberately chose to make the present a mystery, leaving us all guessing from diverse clues!
I was impressed by the quality of ‘spin’ conjured by writers who managed to respond with inventive and touching positivity, to ill-fitting, ill-judged, or generally weird items received.
By that time, we were all ready for a tea-break, that invaluable time to chat to friends and make connections with new members, before Nigel had our noses back to the grindstone, for Writing Exercise 2 – Character Creation through Artefact.
From his bag, Nigel produced a wooden boxed filled with all manner of small, intriguing objects – some instantly recognisable, others much more difficult to identify.
Our task this time, was to choose an object to which we were attracted, and imagine a character who might possess such a thing, or for whom such an object could be of crucial importance.
We gathered eagerly around the table and managed to avoid any argy-bargy over who got what! Once again, we were given a timed writing period to create a character, either in terms of a character sketch or character revealed within a scenario, being sure to make clear which item had been chosen.
Nigel’s selection of a miniature tool kit conjured an elderly gent whose life revolved around his practical skills and ability to make good broken objects. A whisky miniature resulted in Gavin imagining a pub where his male character sought refuge from a hard life in mining. Tony’s nutcrackers transported us to a car boot sale where his dodgy character obtained objects useful for his life of violence.
For Amanda, her choice of a letter opener represented the emotional journey of an elderly gent, the implement having revealed both painful and comforting communications over his lifetime. Matt’s digital thermometer was seen as a powerful symbol of anxiety and fear, any reappearance of it, in the life of a child with severe health conditions, signalling a worrying change in symptoms.
Next was one of the mystery items: a universal calendar, prized and used by Carrie’s character, a solar system-addicted teacher who terrified his pupils. Chris’s choice of a stilton cheese knife proved a vital prop in the life of a retired physician who enjoyed using it on evenings when this raconteur indulged in a bit of after-dinner speaking.
My own instinct had been to grab a small, intriguing-looking book called The Typist’s Treasury, 3rd edition 1953. Suddenly I saw a woman whose career was brought to a sudden halt many years later, when the march of progress made her and her precious book redundant.
Jeanette’s character was also a female whose pack of playing cards tempted her away from bingo and into the world of poker. But would she win?
Alan’s choice of a tiny box of water colours created two characters – father and daughter. The father’s desire was to encourage his child in her painting pastime, an expensive one, but preferable to taxidermy! And so, to Linda’s choice – a padlock. For her character, “Tommy the Turnkey”, the keys to this padlock were ‘key’ to his identity, representing his status and the pride he took in his job.
What a wealth of ideas sprang from the objects in Nigel’s box!
Which goes to show, you don’t need any great event to inspire a bit of writing, just a group of like-minded folk, and no distractions!
Thanks to those who came along and thank you, Nigel, for gifting us some useful ideas for future competitions.
Carolyn O’Hara