Another excellent workshop by Janice who had taken time to put together some ‘ideas’ packs, which contained a variety of CDs showing Janice’s eclectic musical taste. She claimed many were her son’s, but I know she’s a real heavy rock chick at heart. Along with the CDs were newspaper cuttings of both general stories and diary entries to give inspiration to the common day activities we could use in our writing. Finally, there were books on different aspects of writing or languages.
A complex system of numbering each member to be split into groups then ensued, at least we seemed to make it complex, with 1’s and 3’s crossing paths with 4’s before finally we got settled into our respective literary corners for some alleged brainstorming. Here, stories were intended to come flourishing forth like a proverbial waterfall or maybe just a dripping tap.
As usual, the quality of the creativity in the room didn’t disappoint, with so many excellent ideas, including a most brilliant story about a young man late for a fancy dress party, borrowing a Fez from his Grandfather, before carrying out some wonderful Tommy Cooper impressions. Whoever wrote that story is nothing short of talented. Perhaps though, as I had to be reminded that I was the nominated blogger, I’d forgotten to take notes on the night, so apologies for the much better stories which I cannot recall beyond my own dubious effort.
I think on this workshop, Janice, by taking her own time to assist the rest of us, showed how widespread the possibilities for inspiration are: from newspapers, books, music, onwards no doubt to conversations, observations, television and film. There are a million prompts being thrown at us constantly, so no excuses!
Andrew Leslie