Craft Chat Write Club South

[Aethalope]

Hi everyone!

A couple of us from Huddle South are planning a craft meeting this Wednesday, 4.30 pm Singapore time (8.30 am UK time and 7.30 pm Sydney time). That's a little after the usual Huddle South starts. There will be a small writing exercise and some sharing of what we produce. I reckon it'll take thirty minutes or so, but it's our first meet, so who knows what will happen.

If you've got time and inclination, you're welcome to join Write Club South. The more the merrier! I will put the zoom link in this thread and you can hop on in.

Laura
CC @wrightstuff and @RK Wallis

 

[RK Wallis]

Hi everyone!

A couple of us from Huddle South are planning a craft meeting this Wednesday, 4.30 pm Singapore time (8.30 am UK time and 7.30 pm Sydney time). That's a little after the usual Huddle South starts. There will be a small writing exercise and some sharing of what we produce. I reckon it'll take thirty minutes or so, but it's our first meet, so who knows what will happen.

If you've got time and inclination, you're welcome to join Write Club South. The more the merrier! I will put the zoom link in this thread and you can hop on in.

Laura
CC @wrightstuff and @RK Wallis

Thanks for organising this, Laura

 

[RK Wallis]

I wonder if we post the exercise then talk about our reactions to each other's results on the zoom?

 

[Aethalope]

Sure, sounds good.

How about I post the exercise "assignment" here and then we can do it in our own time, but we present our results in the zoom, either on screen or in the chat? Importantly, the idea is to just flex our muscles and encourage each other, not critique.

This exercise itself is pretty short, just a few sentences. It's from Lesley Howard on The Write Practice and it's to practice developing metaphors. It was introduced to me by a poet, so I was sceptical at first, but it's incredibly fun and has an optional time pressure element that really gets the juices flowing.

What you do is this:

1.) List 20 abstract ideas. Love, revenge, fear, salvation, sacrifice, etc. Set yourself five minutes (or whatever is reasonable for your circumstances).
2.) List 20 normal objects. Book, chair, fork, blanket, engine, etc. Again set a limited time.
3.) Randomly select (don't cheat, use a random number generator) one item from each list.
4.) Write three to five sentences wherein this object is the abstraction. Again, give yourself limited time. If it helps, your first sentence can be "X is Y" and then you go on to explain. It can be in dialogue or a block of prose. Here is the example that Lesley Howard gives: Her love for him is a daisy. An oxeye daisy planted above the beagle’s grave. Oxeye daisies are drought-resistant but not drought-proof, and their white heads droop. They need water, and so does she.

My first try was "Negligence" and "a VHF radio". It did not go well

Have a go, let's see what we come up with!