Wordsmiths

  Prompt No.  67 – Describe a pair of your childhood shoes, what memories do they evoke?   This prompt has a similar root to the reflection task we did a couple of weeks ago, but instead of creating a character from a reflection of us now, we’re building ideas from the seed of the person we were in our childhood, which is more interesting, creatively, because a seed may develop into many different new ideas. Starter For the starter task we need to find these childhood shoes. If your parents are the sentimental type, then they may have kept your first little booties, some people even have them coated in copper as an ornament. You might need to dig through the baby photos. Or you can try to remember your first pair of shoes. Close your eyes for a few minutes and try to recall any early sensations you can remember in your feet - use the simple meditation I've included in the video. As soon as you open your eyes, write down everything you can remember about wearing ...

  Video Link HERE 42 – Alarm Clock – Describe the scene after your alarm goes off. This is probably my least favourite prompt because it’s a cliché. Having your character start their story by waking up is an easy way to introduce them, but it’s been done so many times before – and it takes a particularly interesting approach to refresh the cliché and produce a new alarm clock opener. Which is what we’re going to attempt this week. Starter Task– Finding the Hook The opening of a story is probably the most important part. When done right an author can hook their reader within the first page, some even get you in the first paragraph, or the first sentence. Take a look at these examples, “Marley was dead, to begin with.” A Christmas Carol , Charles Dickens This is a classic story, with an almost shocking opening line. It sparks all manner of questions – Who was Marley? Why is he dead? And why is that where we begin?  Dickens doesn’t start with a question, but he makes th...