Resource for writers and teachers

A Resource for Writers and Teachers

All you need is a pen and paper and a text or image to get you started. Whether you’re a lone writer or part of a writing group we hope that you’ll be inspired to have go.

Start by reading an inspiring text; a good poem or story

Consider what you find interesting; perhaps key themes, and particularly effective writers’ techniques. Write.

Share your work, read it aloud (to someone else if you’re brave enough) and offer constructive feedback to your fellow writers – we all need to know what works well for our readers, and what might not be so clear. Other writers can give you great ideas to improve your work. Helping them to edit their work will build your creative muscles too.

Edit.

* The following list gives the key content of the workshops where these poems were created:

‘Cygnet’ by Maddi Hastings, ‘Packed Lunch’ by Matt Varley Read: ‘Mother, Any Distance’ by Simon Armitage. Consider: Shared, everyday activities that reveal relationships Techniques to try: experimenting with line-breaks & layout

‘Aubade’ by Rhiannon Culley Read ‘Aubade’ by Phillip Larkin, ‘The Sun Rising’ by John Donne, ‘Dawn Revisited’ by Rita Ora Consider: explore contrast between day and night, qualities of daybreak Techniques to try: Aubade form, linking emotions to a time of day

Skirt Sonnet’ by Jo Castle & ‘shall i compare thee to a cup of tea?’ by Zoe Hammick Read: ‘Sonnet 18’ by William Shakespeare Consider: extended imagery, careful comparisons Techniques to try: unexpected comparisons, the sonnet form

‘Here’, ‘Apartments’, ‘Almost Saved by Vivienne’ by Shania Richards

Read: ‘The Love Song of J Alfred Prufrock’ by T S Eliot

Consider: rhythm and narrative

Techniques to try: enjambment, setting the scene through key images, inventive with layout 196

‘Photograph’ by Rosie Rivers, ‘Machine Wash Only’ by Jessica Jenkins Read: ‘Second-Hand Coat’ by Ruth Stone Consider: emotionally loaded everyday items Techniques to try: extended imagery, repetition of a key line

‘Chasing the Wind’ by Arianna Dobell Read: ‘Ode to My Socks’ by Pablo Neruda, or any other ode Possible Discussion: what is awe-inspiring, deserves praise Techniques to try: Ode form, or more simply diamond formation (increase syllable count by 1 each line, up to 9 and then back to 1)

‘The Little Mermaid’ by Beth Ford, ‘Part of Your World’, ‘Juliet’ Courtney Chilvers Read: ‘Rapunzel’ by Liz Lochead, ‘Mrs Beast’ (or anything from ‘The World’s Wife’) by Carol Anne Duffy, ‘Little Red Riding Hood and the Wolf’ by Roald Dahl (from ‘Revolting Rhymes’) Possible Discussion: the joys and flaws of fairy tales, symbolism Techniques to try: repetition, resonant words & phrases from fairy tales

Poetry from Art:

‘Van Gogh’s Cornfield’ by Tash Royal Read: ‘Just Passing’ by Francis Barker, ‘The Artist, Arles, 1890’ by Colin Rowbotham This workshop was based on an activity in Michael & Peter Benton’s fabulous book ‘Double Vision’ which has exciting paintings and accompanying poems. Consider: What do you particularly notice about the image? What can you infer about the artist’s thoughts and feelings? Techniques to try: precise imagery, repetition.

‘Blossom’ by Betty Fox Read: ‘Under the Waterfall’, and ‘The Darkling Thrush’ by Thomas Hardy Consider: setting, pathetic fallacy Techniques to try: go out and write about the natural world around you, setting, pathetic fallacy

‘12.03’ by Gabi Stones Read: ‘Homeland Security’ by Geoffrey Brock, ‘Let Them Eat Chaos’ by Kate Tempest Consider: how line breaks shape meaning, withhold information & make us think Techniques to try: exciting line breaks, spoken rhythms, internal rhyme, repetition

‘Perspective’ by Courtney Chilvers Read: current news articles, ‘Mathematics’ by Hollie McNish Consider: the turn or twist in a poem, Techniques to try: repetitiom, undermining popular sayings and phrasings, famous quotations, experimenting with structure and layout

“Stanza Stones” by Megan Riggey Read: ‘Stanza Stones’ by Simon Armitage Possible discussion: personification, unexpected imagery, sound & rhythm to evoke nature Techniques to try: personification, alliteration

Writing and developing an effective story will present a number of challenges as the writer is always juggling with ideas of how to maintain the interest of the reader. The starting point for most stories might be to decide on your setting, choose some characters (often only two but rarely more than three or four) and decide on a voice to tell the story – and then get writing! Often a plot or direction will develop as you write. Key then is reading –aim to read other stories by professional writers to help you find your direction.

The following list highlights some of the ways in which the writers of a selection of the stories developed their ideas:

‘Mocha Afternoons’ by Maddi Hastings, ‘Desertium’ by Ryan Lenney, ‘The Armchair on the Bradford Road’ by Zoe Hammick and ‘Silent City’ by Kat Finch These stories in particular reflect the importance of finding a setting as a way a story. The idea for “Desertium” came from a classroom activity in which students were asked to decide on unusual places to set a story. “Mocha Afternoons” was initially inspired by the writer’s reading of a selection of extracts from Wuthering Heights by Charlotte Bronte and was then developed through her reading of a range of other texts as varied as The Ballad of the Sad Café by Carson McCullers. Quarantine by Jim Crace became a definite influence in the development of Ryan’s piece.

‘The Funeral’ by Jo Castle, ‘Mr Nobody’ by Jay Kent and ‘Forged in Fire’ by Amy Wallace

Specific poems and story extracts can often be a key inspiration. Seamus Heaney’s poem ‘Mid–Term Break,’ for example offered a key central idea for Jo Castle’s story. An initial inspiration for “Mr. Nobody” was a reading of the opening to Restoration by Rose Tremain. Awmy’s historical text was initially inspired by a reading of an extract from A Song of Stone by Iain Banks and later developed through a reading of old Icelandic sagas and the writing of George Martin, amongst others.

‘The Tunes of Life’ By Dom Brock and ‘A day in the life of an unburdened free-thinker of independent means’ by Archie Gault Listening to music can be an important way of finding ideas. Instrumental music in particular can often offer inspiration – listening in class to “Ira Furore” by Norwegian band Lumen Drones clearly suggested a whole character for Archie’s story. Dom’s love of particular music is integrated throughout his piece and it also suggested the story’s four-part structure. Nick Hornby’s 31 Songs is an excellent non-fiction text for anyone interested in reading about music.

‘Seal-Breaker’ by Beth Cope, ‘Cell 56’ by Willow Butler and ‘A Face and a Name’ by Charlotte Humphrey Genre fiction in particular can benefit from a key idea – to choose a confined setting and introduce two characters who are in obvious conflict with each other. Sparks will fly! Beth and Willow’s stories both take full advantage of this idea. As well as being informed by her reading of a number of dystopian texts such as Margaret Atwood’s ‘Oryx and Crake’, Charlotte’s futuristic piece benefits from the study of another key idea – the plot twist, inspired here by the ending of Roald Dahl’s story ‘Skin’.

There are many books which offer help about storywriting. Two texts which we would unreservedly recommend are ‘The Art of Writing Fiction’ by Andrew Cowan and ‘On Writing’ by Stephen King.

Kazuo Ishiguro’s 2017 Nobel lecture (published as My Twentieth Century Evening and Other Short Breakthroughs) is another thought-provoking and very short read about the nature of creativity and the writer’s own path to developing his work. In this text, Ishiguro writes of his epiphany as a writer – that the key focus of a story should mainly be on the relationships between characters. This is a quality of many of the stories highlighted above and also of “Tea” by Tash Royal and “Foxgloves” by Phoebe Sizer.

Final thanks and acknowledgements

We would like to offer our sincere thanks to:

Dean and Naomi at Poetry People and everybody at Woodbridge Young Poets for their support of our students’ poetry in their annual competitions; “Fake” and “Pictures of Nusch” were both written in response to ideas developed in a Poetry People workshop.

Colin and everyone else at the Suffolk Poetry Festival for giving our students the invaluable opportunity to read their writing in front of a wider audience of supportive poetry lovers. Several of the poems included here were read by the students at this exciting annual event.

Lindsey, Antonella and Amanda at UCS for their inspiring workshops and for helping to judge our new poetry competition for High School Students.

Writers Mark Brayley, Katie Ward and Jeni Smith for visiting the college to lead inspirational workshops.

Special thanks also to Jen Pierce and Anthony Dee for their support of Creative Writing at One.

“Newborn” by Cheyenne Dunnett was first published by HEBE magazine, Issue Five, 2018.

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