Creative Writing Ideas

FROM THE MSLEXIA WORKSHOPS COLLECTION
Exercises for the 2010 Women's Short Story Competition
DEVISED BY LAURA FISH


BRING YOUR CHARACTERS TO LIFE


1. TAKE INSPIRATION


From Flannery O’Conner’s statement in her essay ‘Writing Short Stories,’ from Mystery and Manners (ed. Sally and Robert Fitzgerald, Noonday Press): ‘Fiction operates through the senses, and I think one reason that people find it so difficult to write stories is that they forget how much time and patience is required to convince through the senses.’
Conjure up and capture the essence of a character by crystalising their moods and feelings through the senses. Think of your five senses: Sight, Sound, Smell, Taste, Touch. What does the character look like? How do they feel to the touch? What sounds, smells and tastes do you associate with them?
Now bring the character to life by describing them through the senses. Write at least one full sentence that captures your character via each sense. Try to make the vocabulary as varied as possible and the descriptions vivid, evocative and atmospheric. Avoid writing in clichés.


2. CREATING CONVINCING CHARACTERS


Start by drawing around your own hand. Now imagine it is the outline of a hand of a character in your story. What is the hand used for? Describe each finger in detail. If they are wearing rings, why are the rings there? Describe any distinguishing marks. What is the texture of their skin? What does the hand come in contact with during the week? At the weekends?
Repeat the exercise by removing one of your shoes, drawing around your foot and imaging it is the outline of the same character’s foot. Remember to describe the shoes, where they are bought, how many pairs of shoes the character owns and the various surfaces with which the foot comes in contact. Consider how connected the character is with the ground on which they walk: would they prefer to live somewhere else? Why?


3. WRITING IN SCENES


Include at least four characteristic elements from the three exercises you
have just completed in a new piece of writing in which something happens
to the hand and/or foot. Use ‘showing not telling’ to convey an aspect of
the character’s personality.


4. TIPS TO REMEMBER


Characters usually have one primary function: to act and to react – to do
and to be done to. In constructing characters, writers often start with who the characters are. Often, a more effective means is to start with what they do, i.e., their dramatic function. In other words, what role do they perform within the structure of the story?


LAURA FISH was born in London of Caribbean parents. She has lived in
Southern Africa and Australia, and has held posts as a Creative Writing
tutor at various universities including University of East Anglia, where
she completed a PhD in Creative and Critical Writing. She holds the RCUK
Academic Fellowship in Creative Writing at Newcastle University. She
has two published novels, Flight of Black Swans (Duckworth, 1995) and Strange Music (Vintage, 2009). She is currently working on a novel set in Swaziland.