Creative Writing Exercises - Leicestershire County Council

Faceted Portraits
You will need: (with a person in it)
What to do:
• Look at a portrait and imagine 3 different aspects
to the person’s character.
• Write a monologue or a poem using all 3 aspects
of that 1 character.
For example, The Mona Lisa is a mild
well-to-do lady, however she is also cruel
to animals, and she can very skilfully illuminate
religious texts (her possessing this
skill suggests all sorts of character traits).
Bhima the tyrant on the other hand,
may be cruel to his subjects but loves his war horses.
Being the Painter
You will need:
What to do:
• Look at a painting, imagine you are the artist that painted the picture.
You could write about how you felt about the painting.
Did you like the person or scene you were painting?
You could write about the materials and techniques you used,
or your love of the smell of oils.
You could write about your daily life intruding on your painting;
for example, the phone could keep ringing, or just at the moment
you’ve decided to capture the evening light a thunder storm begins.
Exercises given by Catherine Byron and Mark Goodwin
Bhima the tyrant, C.3.9
Section C
Short Writing
& Discussion
87
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