Creative Writing Exercises - Leicestershire County Council

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These exercises focus: on using imagination to produce creative, atmospheric and dramatic interpretations of an artwork. The ‘Alice in Wonderland’ variation focuses creative interpretation through the senses. (This exercise also challenges ideas about perspective, and a person’s place and size in the world.) The ‘Unexpected Guest’ variation focuses on generating a whole new creative work by juxtaposing or combining two artworks. In addition, these exercises can draw attention to the norms which we expect from certain voices, and the styles and vocabulary which we expect from them. Putting them in incongruous settings puts those styles into relief, and allows participants to play with ways of making them stand out. Paul Durcan’s The Earl of Bellamont is an amusing example - where the splendid Earl from the 18 th Century, dressed in flowing flamingo-pink robes and ostrich feather hat steps out from his frame in the National Gallery of Ireland to join the cafeteria’s queue. (This poem comes from Crazy About Women. See Section D – Literature Development in the East Midlands.) Hints and tips: If a painting doesn’t at first seem to make much reference to physical senses, such as touch or smell, it can be helpful to focus on the painting’s colours and textures to suggest sense experiences. For example, William Hogarth’s Self Portrait with Pug is painted in bronze tones – this suggests a certain warmth and softness which in turn invokes the actual feel of the painter’s velvet robes and the pug dog’s fur. Don’t always pick the main figure in a painting: the peripheral characters are the ones about whom you will have fewer preconceptions, and this may help the imagination. “And I follow, follow to cold lands of adventure beyond.” Who? These exercises are for everyone. They could be used as starting points for discursive group work with people who are not confident about writing. They could also be used as stimuli or warm-ups for issuebased group work. The first exercise could precede discursive group work around History, Geography, or cross-curricular activities. After a Long Silence, Deborah Thomas Section C Sue Kelly, Teacher 90 WORDS THINGS& workshops
Tactful Thank You You will need: , perhaps an What to do: • Write a tactful thank you for an unwanted gift which is a work of art. <strong>Exercises</strong> given by Mark Goodwin, Helen Johnson, Bead Roberts, Deborah Tyler-Bennett Section C Short <strong>Writing</strong> & Discussion For example, regarding The Mona Lisa: ‘We were so pleased with your gift, especially because brown and all its shades are just what we like in a painting. We were also delighted by the lady’s rather unusual gaze. We had also just planned to up our house insurance premium and this has truly given us a kick up the backside.’ Alternative: Art Critic • Compose a letter to the creator of an artwork, this may be complimentary or it may not. • You could also write in character, and have the person depicted in a portrait compose a letter to the portrait’s artist. Again this may be complimentary or not. Blurb For this exercise you will need: that include people, squares of paper with emotions and situations written on them, and a bag, box or envelope to put them in. What to do: • Choose a painting, then dip into the bag, box or envelope of emotions and situations. • Write a blurb about the painting based on the emotion or situation chosen. For example write a blurb for The Mona Lisa about betrayal, or about hilarity. 91 WORDS THINGS& workshops
Page 1 and 2: WORDS THINGS& Workshops That Work -
Page 3 and 4: Timing Some of the exercises given
Page 5 and 6: WORDS THINGS& Warm-up exercises Cre
Page 7 and 8: Exercise Creative Reading Title For
Page 9 and 10: Spoken Word-Chain Folk Dancers, Spa
Page 11 and 12: Outpour You will need: , watch or c
Page 13 and 14: Sound Links (using a painting or ob
Page 15 and 16: Picture This You will need: , 4 (ei
Page 17 and 18: Consequences You will need: What to
Page 19 and 20: Opposites You will need: What to do
Page 21 and 22: Squiggles of the Future You will ne
Page 23 and 24: 14 Line Poem You will need: , a ran
Page 25 and 26: Faceted Portraits You will need: (w
Page 27: Stepping In or Stepping Out of Art
Page 31 and 32: Labels You will need: and luggage l
Page 33 and 34: North, South, East, West You will n
Page 35 and 36: Taking Ownership You will need: (pe
Page 37 and 38: Alien Landing You will need: or gro
Page 39 and 40: Shop in the Box You will need: What
Page 41 and 42: Found Poem You will need: , various
Page 43 and 44: Let Me Tell You my Story You will n
Page 45 and 46: Their Face and Yours You will need:
Page 47 and 48: Monologue You will need: (with a pe
Page 49 and 50: Life’s Paper Trail You will need:
Page 51 and 52: Shared Picture Poem You will need:
Page 53 and 54: Small Detail You will need: What to
Page 55 and 56: Speaking Object For this exercise y
Page 57 and 58: Someone Else’s Shoes You will nee
Page 59 and 60: Paintings as Stanzas You will need:
Page 61 and 62: Reading the Details You will need:
Page 63 and 64: Lies You will need: or What to do:
Page 65 and 66: Poetry Engine Section C Longer Exer
Page 67 and 68: Schoenberg 12 tone poem (using a pi
Page 69 and 70: Box of Tricks You will need: a box
Page 71 and 72: Cut! You will need: some creative w
Page 73 and 74: WORDS THINGS& Practising reading ou
Page 75 and 76: Artworks and objects can be the foc
Page 77 and 78: WORDS THINGS& Education establishme

Creative Writing Exercises - Leicestershire County Council

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