This is the first day of me running a creative writing class for secondary students after school. At present there are two of us in the classroom. It was originally intended to be a Future Problem Solving class. I ran this last year for the first time and really enjoyed it. I started this year with 8 students and it has very quickly whittled itself down to one. Although not impossible, I’m afraid that running an extra curricular activity designed as participation in a four person team competition with one person is more difficult than I would like to take on at present. So here we are. Creative writing. Today’s task: Journeys.

We’ve chosen today to simply begin writing with a stimulus. In the upcoming weeks we will undertake skill builders and apply them to our work. So, today the stimulus comes in the form of travel brochures. Choose one that you like the look of, then flick through and find an interesting picture which sparks your interest. This is the stimulus for your journey writing. It can be any sort of writing: narrative (by far the easiest, I believe); essay; report; analytical. However, I find narrative easiest, so that’s what I’m going to do. 



The view was gorgeous. The approach to the castle was a breathtaking sight. Perhaps she would have been breathless regardless because of the steep incline of the winding ascent, but she had always like to put a positive spin on things, so she would be breathless from the view. Behind the castle, the mountains were gently fleeced with white mist that echoed the clouds of forced breath she did take. As she followed the broad, square shoulders and tugged the hand cart behind her, she knew that whatever occurred in the next few weeks was likely to be difficult, but already, her imagination was caught.

Julia needed refreshment and reinvigorating. She was bored at home and knew she needed to jumpstart her life. Writing had always been her passion, but she hadn’t written in a number of years. Well, nothing worth keeping, anyway. She’d been so caught up in her day to day dreary getting by that she’d let her passion slip away. So here she was, almost at the base of a Rhenish castle, ready to switch on senses long dormant. Fifteen days is all her current budget would allow and she was easy to make the most of them. Firstly, by exploring the dream setting she was slowly approaching. The slowness was her own fault. She had chosen to….

                     *************************************************************************

Time is up! Now to move on to the next exercise. I’ve found a 12 Day Plan of Simple Writing Exercises over at “The Writer’s Dig” and so we are going to start there. Thanks, Brian.

Write 10 potential book titles of books you’d like to write:

1. Close to Home – A love story. Isabel and Adam
2. ‘Scuse Me, Miss! – A teacher’s view of the class room
3. Toddlers, Teens and Tweens – A ‘How I did it’ parenting book
4. Capturing my Family – Family Anecdotes
5. God Stuff – devotional
6. {Insert Book Title Here}

I found this far more difficult than I thought it would be! Will have to complete it for homework. In the meantime, why not comment below with a favourite sentence written by you? Mine is in bold above. 

Get creative!

Eski 🐛