NAWE CONFERENCE YORK, 2012

Delight, Entice, Inspire

Writing exercises that deliver and engage

Theoretical basis to this presentation

• These exercises are taken from my book, co-authored with Dr Robyn Cox, ‘Teaching Creative Writing in the Primary School’ (McGrawHill/OU 2012)

• They have been proven to provide a foundation of transferable writing skills

• Preliminary research has indicated that th exercises modeled in this book have the potential to engage all students from the most disaffected to the highly motivated and drive up standards across the curriculum

• For more information see online publication at ttp://www.ukla.org/conferences/proceedings/the_47th_ukla_international_conference/vUKLA 47th International Conference University of Chester 15th -17th July 2011:Teaching Creative Writing in the Primary School: An exploratory study

Writing Exercises 1 & 2: Atmosphere & date: SETTING THE SCENE, PREPARATION & AFTERMATH, OMISSION, CHARACTERISATION

1. ATMOSPHEREDescribe a character entering a room. The first time the character enters the room, it is going to be a

HORROR story or script.The second time the character enters the room, it is going to be A

HEROIC ACTION/ADVENTURE story or scriptThe third time the character enters the room, it is going to be A

ROMANTIC COMEDY story or script

2. DATEA character is in a room getting ready for a dateThey come back from the date.From your description we will know who the date was with, how they

felt about it, how it went.

Writing Exercise 3: You have three choices: all focus on the development of a strong dramatic scene between two main characters

All three reinforce elements of storytelling covered the importance of character, the use of ‘planting and pay-off’ together with story structure.

It introduces the following concepts:

• The drama of a story can be developed around one pivotal moment.• Dialogue has multiple functions within a story: it can be used to• help us understand characters, as well as inform us about what is• going on.• A story can be told through three major actions or dramatic moments.• Each pivotal moment should build from a previous one.• The frustration of the hero’s desires is a fundamental component• of all good storytelling.

Writing Exercise 4: Unexpected arrival

Your main character is expecting someone. A third, totally unexpected person arrives. This person is annoying, gets in the way, and has come at the wrong time: use

whatever you can think of to make the main character really stressed.Your main character must get now rid of the unexpected person before the other

(expected) person arrives.Dialogue is allowed.

PREPARATION PART ONE – IN PAIRS – CHARACTER WORKTalk about the most annoying person you know.

• What makes this person so very annoying?• Have you ever tried to avoid this person?• Is the annoying person persistent?

Try to work out some situation that you would not want your annoyingperson to show up for; this might include something like the following: Your awful aunt, who plays the piano and sings horriblywhenever she can, has invited herself to your birthday party andis going to ruin it. You are desperate to get rid of her, and she isdetermined to stay.

Preparation for Exercise 4 cont’d: Show don’t Tell – this applies to every format covered but especially screenplays and scripts

It is very easy to depend too heavily upon dialogue to deliver narrative, and this is why characterization, description and action have been concentrated on in the Atmosphere and Date exercises.

The beginning writer often believes that dialogue is the most obvious and simple way to deliver the plot.

Favourite stories may be remembered in terms of wonderful, pithy lines of dialogue – what is not remembered is the backdrop developed by the author, against which those lines were spoken, and without which dialogue is meaningless.

An example of Crimes Committed by Expository Dialogue: The Three Little Pigs told in anecdotal speech

The pig in the brick house says, ‘What is the matter you silly brother pigs? Where are your houses? Destroyed? You stupid pigs, you should have been clever like me and not made your house from straw or sticks. I cannot believe I am so very much cleverer than you two stupid ninnies. Hurry up brothers, and come to my house. It is built from brick and in a minute the big bad wolf will be huffing and

puffing outside but nothing will happen. I have built a big fire and when he comes down the chimney he will get burned.’

More reasons to avoid Expository Dialogue: Dialogue shorn of supporting background information and plot issometimes used in daytime soap operas and badly written stories, to enable difficult plot lines to be delivered quickly.

‘But Cheryl! Do you mean to say that the twins you are carrying are

not mine? Was that man you have been seeing, Fred, the footballer, the real father of the twins? Oh, how could you do this to me? I am so gutted?! This must have been going on since the big staff party at Christmas – when you said you felt ill – and I remember, Fred offered to drive you home – oh no, don’t tell me that was when . . .when you first fell in love with Fred?’

In pairs: Can you think of ways to SHOW not TELL the information in the extract?

Writing Exercise 5: The Confession A or B

A) Excluded or expelledA student must tell his/her parent that they have been expelled/excluded from

school/college, or that they have been caught stealing. They go to see their parent, at home or work (or some other place) but wherever it is, the parent is involved with a distraction or activity that makes it impossible for them to understand what the son/daughter is telling them.

B) Pregnant Girl A young woman must tell her mother that she is pregnant. She goes to see her mother, at home or work (or some other place) but wherever it is, the mother is involved with a distraction or activity that makes it impossible for her to understand what the daughter is telling her.

Step 1: Pair workDecide what kind of trouble the character is in. Talk about times when you

have been in trouble with parents, or done something that you know parents will be really annoyed about.

How have you delayed getting to the point and confessing?How did it go when you did confess?You can choose a different the kind of trouble that your character could be in.

It just needs to be big, big trouble.

The Confession cont’d

In pairs work out some solutions:

The girl/boy cannot just come straight out with the confession. They are too frightened.

Work out why the main character feels embarrassed about this confession. They are not going to get straight to the point. They might even tell a story about someone they know who is in trouble – anything to delay the evil moment when they must tell the truth.

If they have ever got into big trouble themselves their story could be about someone in a similar situation – and in this way the pupil can test out how the parent is going to react when they finally do confess.

What kinds of tactics have you ever used, or imagined using, to break bad news to your parents?

Did fears about how your parents would react, come true?How did you feel? How can you make the situation as bad as it could possibly be for this boy/girl?For example, if the child is confessing to being caught stealing, maybe the

mother is a policewoman – giving a talk at a school, about the evils of stealing?

Could religious, cultural or social beliefs make this scene more stressful?

Writing Exercise 6: Twist and Turns: Revolt, Revenge, Escape

Choose one of the three options below. The whole exercise can take from two to ten pages in length, depending upon how far you want to take the material.

Your students can start the work in class and take it home for completion ready for class next week.

OPTION 1 - REVOLT

Scene 1: Describe a character in their normal routine. Tell us how they willingly put everyone else’s needs ahead of theirs. During this time, something happens to make their situation much, much worse. Choose from a or b below.

a. A new character arrives on the scene –This might be their friend, a bully who makes even more demands upon your character. Or perhaps your character finally makes a new friend, who gives them the idea that it is

about time that the bully got taught a lesson?b. Some fact comes to light, that really upsets your character, and pushes them over the

edge - The bully might have started showing off about your character on a social networking

site. Or your character might find out that the bully is going to get them thrown out of schoolScene 2: Your character tries to cope, but the new development makes it very difficult. Note that

they really want to make life go on as before, but this desire is thwarted by the new circumstance.

Finally, at the end of this scene, an event occurs which forces them to realise that they just cannot take it any more.

Scene 3: Your character finally revolts. What happens?

Is it successful or does the revolt fail? /How does the revolt affect everybody?/Are there any unexpected twists?

NOTE: This story is broken into two or more sections or scenes, and the total story may be several pages long. But try to be as economical as possible.

OPTION 2 - Revenge

Scene 1: Introduce us to a person who is always the brunt of practical jokes. Near the end of the scene, something happens that pushes him/her over the edge.

At that moment, he/she decides to spring a practical joke of his/her own to get even.

Scene 2: He/she makes preparations for the joke.

Does he/she need to find helpers, secure a location, and gather props?

The scene ends when he/she is all set to spring the joke.

Scene 3: Our main character springs the joke.

What happens as a result?

Can you come up with a twist – e.g., the joke has some unexpected or undesired effect?

NOTE: This story is broken into two or more sections or scenes, and the total story may be several pages long. But try to be as economical as possible.

OPTION 3 - ESCAPE

Scene 1: Introduce us to a main character who, in the normal course of life, suddenly finds himself/herself in some sort of trap or prison.

This can be:

A real, physical imprisonment (jail, a mine, a castle, a dungeon)

A social situation (trapped at a very boring party, in a boring lesson, in a slow religious service),

Possibly even some kind of mental prison, for example, someone with a phobia about spiders is stuck because there is a spider between them and the door.

Scene 2: The main character prepares an escape, plans it, and perhaps makes a preliminary attempt.

They run into obstacles or setbacks, which make the situation worse.

They must now adjust their plan accordingly.

At the end of this part of the story, things have deteriorated and it seems they will never be able to escape. They decide to make one last try.

Scene 3: They make their final, desperate attempt.

What happens as a result? Did they escape? Was it a total success? A mixed success? A failure?

Can you come up with a twist?

NOTE: This story is broken into two or more sections or scenes, and the total story may be several pages long. But try to be as economical as possible

Conclusion

• We have had a fast run through these exercises and experiencing this will help you to work out if they could be employed in your own teaching

• These exercises form part of a sequence designed to provide a foundation in a range of techniques that will ensure your students’ work reaches its potential

• The complete sequence of exercises is included in my book, co-authored with Dr Robyn Cox, ‘Teaching Creative Writing in the Primary School’ (McGrawHill/OU 2012) see http://www.mcgraw-hill.co.uk/html/0335242790.html