I was glad to see the back of dialogue (see below), and we adjourned for lunch. A simple exercise followed upon our return. The brief was to capture “our last meal”. We were given the following cue – your last meal – to capture the immediacy and wealth of the senses. I opted for a [...]
This is a series of posts about a 2-day writing workshop that I attended in late March. I wanted to keep track of what I had scribbled on various pieces of paper and so decided to post the results of those exercises here.
After handling motivations (see below), we moved on to dialogue. I hate [...]
We moved from motivations to context and were given briefs on locations in the home. I chose the bed-room as it seemed the most personal and familiar of spaces.
the piece:
They had bought the bed only recently, while the mattress also was specially chosen. Neither survived their first year together. Once in equal measure sturdy and [...]
Motivations were next on the table. Characters need motivation to move, just as we are moved to write. There were options, but I chose this. I think I began to enjoy myself as I wrote this, again within a 10-15 minute time frame.
the piece:
The thunderous roar of those dread machines was enough to make Mary [...]
I cannot see the point, actually; what’s the difference between writing for this site, during private, leisurely moments, and the writing that takes place during socially constructed time frames? In other words, what is the benefit afforded by the writing workshop? The person behind the writing is one and the same, with the identical grim [...]
A little publicized event took place in Singapore last week when a small group of aspiring writers got together to organise a writing workshop led by Jane Camens.
As a workshop, there was little in the way of theory or analysis; the majority of the two days was spent on short 15-20 minute exercises that tested [...]
By tom | February 22, 2006
Autumnal birds chirping, deafening ears for good. Hah, I jest! Kin laments maternal neglect, otherwise pardonable, quirkily resolved. Superficial tomes underwrite varying worries: Xenolith’s yesterday’s zeitgeist!
addthis_url = ‘http%3A%2F%2Fwww.writing.adancingstar.com%2F2006%2Falphabet-city%2F’;
addthis_title = ‘alphabet+city’;
addthis_pub = ”;
By tom | February 16, 2006
It is curious how inertia weighs so heavily, how such a non-exerting phenomena, a mere nothingness, can extract precisely its opposite. Energia – motion and potential – gently seeps into and takes residence in our psyche during fallow periods. It is contrary, if I recall, to the lightness that Calvino and Kundera address.
Downtheinkwell [...]
By tom | February 9, 2006
innokias (adj) -
1. seemingly harmless, though only initially;
2. hipster trend, with catastrophic impact on cinema-going experience.
For example: The rise of cell-phone culture is an innokias sign of the impending decline of Western Civilisation.
addthis_url = ‘http%3A%2F%2Fwww.writing.adancingstar.com%2F2006%2Fwordology-iii%2F’;
addthis_title = ‘wordology’;
addthis_pub = ”;
By tom | January 29, 2006
Presidebt (n.) -
1. Country’s change of fortune following inauguration of new Head of State. Initially clouded by wave of nationalistic-reformist zeal, subsequently shown to be ruse as demonstrated by rampant nepotism; accompanied by opening of Swiss bank accounts. Prevalent in developing countries. 2. The debt owe to the President as a country is in its [...]
