Help for aspiring writers on the Main Line

by Joyce Ward staff writer

Within the circle of chairs, 14 people were feverishly scribbling on their paper, trying to beat the IO-minute clock. Just then the buzzer went off and the instructor said, 'Time is up. Who wants to share their work with the group?"

Although this seems like a typical classroom, the writers in this group were not competing for grades in any school, but were voluntarily participating in a creative writing exercise at the Borders bookstore in Bryn Mawr.

As behooves an area replete with institutions of higher learning and art, the Philadelphia area has many opportunities for budding poets, aspiring novelists, struggling short story writers, essayists and journal writers to gain inspiration through writers groups and continuing education classes.

The creative writing workshop at Bryn Mawr, offered free to any interested member of the public, is the newest addition to the area's writing groups.

The workshop is the inspiration of Bonnie Neubauer, who has designed a special prop called the Story Spinner. The Story Spinner consists of a several wheels that can be spun to give a variety of settings, starters and words.

The participants spin the wheel to get a setting (e.g. in a mansion), a starting phrase (e.g. All I wanted was ) and a word to include in the story. For some exercises, the participants were asked to provide foreign words, or words from a familiar setting as well.

Using the starting phrase and the setting, the participants write a story for 10 minutes. At the end of that time, volunteers share their work with the rest of the group. At a meeting of the group on Tuesday, Nov. 10, several of the participants created fascinating tales using this method.

Neubauer introduced her product on a local access program recently. She said that she hopes to market the Story Spinners through her company, Customized Commu-