Just Write It

What's your story during this difficult time? Image courtesy of Pixaby

Just Write it!

That's all you need to do. You're a writer with a story to tell, or words bursting to emerge and characters that are chattering in your mind clamouring to be let out. Or you might not have thought of yourself as a writer before but with a bit of time on your hands in this coronavirus pandemic lockdown situation we're in, you might want to give writing stories - or poems - a go. And if you do, I'm more than happy to share them on this blog!

So, if we have a bit more time on our hands for writing, let's just do it. Don't worry about whether you have a writing degree or an English GCSE. You don't need these - if you can speak, you can tell a story. It doesn't matter what you've every learned at school - there are online tools and perhaps friends who will help you with correcting your script. And if you get stuck with the writing down of it, then voice record it and see if a  helpful friend will type it up for you. Just get the story out there.

But where to start?

Here are some of the ways that I use to get a story going:

1. Who? The characters are really important. Who is the story about? What are they like? Where do they come from? What makes them individuals? What do they look like / sound like / smell like? What problems are they facing that your story is going to try to resolve? What adventures are they going to have? What are their strengths and what are their flaws? Understand your character and you've already gone a long way into getting your story going.
2. What? What is going to happen? Where does the story start? How are the different events sequenced so that they take you to the end? And what will happen in the end? It's quite useful to set out a list of events and then number them in the order they will take place. Or write each one out on a post-it note and stick to the wall and move them around until you are happy with the order of events. Whatever works for you.
3. Where? The locations for the events that take place in your story are really important. Places have a way of affecting people and influencing their actions. One of the joys of writing is that your stories can take you anywhere you like. Perhaps you want to write a story set in Gibraltar in the present, or about the Australian outback in the nineteenth century, or on the moon. But visualise the settings, and find ways to describe them so that the reader gets the sense that they are real - even if they're not.
4. When? Is your story set in the past or present or future? Is it going to happen over the course of a year, a lifetime or an hour? It's up to you - another joy of writing is the freedom you have to unleash your imagination. When your story takes place might affect how your character acts, or speaks or dresses.
5. Why? This is linked to your theme. What is your story really about? Is it about love, or joy, or grief, or death, or war or anger, or jealousy, or fear? Is it about bullying, or racism, or addiction, or depression, or disability, or courage, or hope, or struggle, or success....there are so  many themes. What is at the heart of your story?

And by the time you've spent a half hour or so jotting down your thoughts on the Who, What, Where, When and Why of your story, you're eager to get writing.

This is where we often brake to a screeching halt and find ourselves with no words that we feel are adequate for starting a story. So, what do we do about that?

The dreaded blank page of writer's block! Image courtesy of Pixabay

Just write. It doesn't matter that it doesn't sound great at first, once you get those first couple of sentences out of the way, the rest of the story will come. And once it's written, it can be revised and rewritten and you can write better starting sentences. You will work away at that story, changing this and improving that, until it's ready to read.

And when you think it is ready to read, read it out loud. To yourself, or the dog or your plants. If the words you have written sit comfortably in your  mouth, then they will be happily listened to or read by your audience. 

Read him your story to test it out! Image courtesy of Pixabay

And then you've got your story.

Simply Stories

At which point, I'd love to read it! I am going to post a story each day for a week in a series called "Simply Stories" which I hope my readers will enjoy and that I hope will trigger them into writing their own. And I will publish stories sent in to me by you as guest writers on this blog.

Please send in your stories - I'm looking forward to reading them.

Write your way through lockdown

Writing your way through lockdown

One of the many, many positives about writing is that it keeps your mind busy and it diverts your focus for a while from the worries and stresses of the current crisis. At least you can let your mind travel to other times and places and it helps you to create, so you have the added satisfaction of having produced something, despite the conditions.

Short Stories, Tall Tales

I recently collaborated with the teams at Gibraltar Cultural Services, other artists and local teachers to present a set of  creative writing workshops to teenage students as part of the Gibraltar Youth Arts Jamboree. 

The aim of the workshops was to give youngsters some ideas, guidance and tips to get off the ground and to keep going strong with writing short stories, and I used a slide presentation on PowerPoint to structure the workshops.

So, for all those who might want to write their way through staying at home, self-isolation, and in particular if we end up in lockdown during this difficult period, I am providing the PowerPoint below. Perhaps if you are thinking of spending a bit of time each day recording your thoughts and feelings during this time, and want to do so creatively, this will give you an impetus, or some ideas:

Short Stories, Tall Tales by Jackie Anderson

One of the hardest things is starting, said one of the students during one of the workshops. And I agree. Sometimes ideas are flooding through your mind - usually when you're too busy to stop and write them down. And then, when you have booted up the computer, or sharpened your pencil and opened up your crisp, new notebook, your mind goes blank, devoid of words let alone inspiration.

And yet we are living through a time of turmoil. So my advice to anyone wanting to use writing as a creative way of getting through the coming weeks, or as a distraction from the difficulties and the feelings of powerlessness and sadness, is to use those emotions. Make your feelings the starting point for thinking.

Using Feelings for Inspiration

Take anger, for example. Many people are expressing anger - at being forced to stay indoors, at the disruption to their lives, at the virus for the death and suffering, at governments for what are thought to be inadequate reactions, at those who hoarded the loo roll and free range eggs, at life, the universe, fate, God and everything.

Anger is a destructive emotion, we are often told, it is negative and can harm your mental health if you hold on to it. But for a writer, anger is another emotion, a powerful one, that can inspire, influence and inform your writing. Harness its energy, convert it through your words into something constructive and dismiss its destructive power. Writing releases the anger. By the time you've finished a session of writing with anger as a theme, you'll feel infinitely less angry. Maybe it's the physical act of writing it down that disperses that urge to break things. Maybe it's the fact that wondering whether to use a comma or a semi-colon simply diffuses the feeling.

Tips

So for some ideas on using anger - or any other feeling that seems to be dominating your life at the moment - to inspire your writing, try these:

• If you are going to write a journal of your experiences of the Coronovirus pandemic, add an emotional element to your writing. Write about the things that make you feel angry; write why; describe the feeling, how it makes you react physically; describe in detail those things that really have got your goat.
• Write a newspaper report on something you observe while looking at of the window - describe the situation, an event you notice, something you've spotted on TV, or even something completely imaginary. Writing in they style of a reporter is another way of exercising your writing  muscle, of working in perhaps a different style that stretches your technical abilities in writing.
• Create a character who is angry, who shares some of those feelings with you. If you haven't got as far as a story plot yet, don't worry, just get some words down on paper by describing the character in detail: the physical appearance, their likes and dislikes, their back story and why they are angry and the way the anger makes their bodies and their minds react.
• Write a list of comparatives, similes and metaphors for anger. Go to that Thesaurus gathering dust on your shelf or go online. You can then refer back to that list when you are writing another piece of work.
• Write about the situation that is making you angry. Write as if you were talking to a friend about it. Let the words pour out onto the paper. This will help you work with words, to find your own 'voice' - which basically means that you are developing your own unique way of expressing yourself.
• If you have a story in mind already, don't forget anger as an emotion even your hero is allowed to feel. Anger is a healthy, normal response to situations. Feeling anger is okay. It's how you show it that is either appropriate or not. So in your story, think about how your characters express their anger and why, and write down passages that you can then use to enrich your story.

And by the time you've had a go at one or two of those ideas, you'll feel a whole lot better, you'll have entries in your journal or blog or notebook and you won't feel so angry!

Remember, in writing, nothing is ever wasted. In future, these snippets or journal entries or draft stories and poems that you write may become the basis for an award-winning film script or novel or social history of your time. So let's get writing!

Share

Share some of your writing online  - if you'd like to share some of the work you are producing during this period of social distancing and isolation, then please contact me and I will publish your work as a guest contributor to this blog!

If you would like any direct discussion, tips or support with your writing project during this time, comment below or email me: jackiegirl@hotmail.co.uk.