Out of lockdown and we were able to meet face to face again!

The September writing topics were:

• She had just two choices. She could forget all about it and move on, or …
• I have a friend who says she is the only person in town who …
• They walked down the drive and across the road

As usual we enjoyed a varied range of stories and pictures created using words.  Stories were a mixture of disturbing, slightly humorous and perhaps mystery.  And, is often the case, some of the stories could lead to a sequel.

Our topic for discussion for the class was “emotion” – how can we show emotion rather than telling our readers.  For example, “tears streaming down her face” could indicate sadness, or perhaps happiness or laughter, depending on the context, without actually telling the reader.  A challenge for our next class is to include some “showing” of emotion rather than “telling” in our writing.

The topics for our September class are:

• “But why did William murder his brother?”
• She stood in the teeming rain, oblivious of the water soaking through her thin nightie
• She opened the envelope uncertain of what to expect

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With a pathway out of lockdowns, we will hopefully meet up for our next class on 11 October.

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Joy Shirley

With the lockdown, we were not able to meet for our August class but shared our stories via email.  Then we each provided some comments on our fellow class members’ work.

The August writing topics were:

• Everyone stopped their activities and watched…
• When he’d hung up the phone…          
• Telephone calls were invariably answered by…​

As usual we enjoyed a varied range of stories and pictures created using words.

At our class in July, we spent some time talking about the sense of smell, and some of the class wove smells into their stories for the August class – well done.  This helps to create a picture of the scenes.  For example, one of the stories was set in a hospital, with including the smell of the disinfectant helping to create the feel of the environment.  Another was set in the bed sitter of an old man, describing the “acrid smell of smoke and burning tobacco … the heavy stale stench of alcohol accompanied by a lingering suggestion of body odour”.  With descriptions like this we can see and experience the room.  This is what it means to create pictures with words.

Once again, without any collaboration, two class members wrote about a similar topic – children experiencing the circus coming to town.

The topics for our September class are:

• She had just two choices. She could forget all about it and move on, or …
• I have a friend who says she is the only person in town who …
• They walked down the drive and across the road 

     
With restrictions once again reduced, we will hopefully meet up for our next class on 13 September.

Joy Shirley