The NewBridge Writers Group - Session 3 - Creative Exercises

The focus of week 3 was to look at the structure of a story and introduce a few writing concepts / guidelines / tools such as Bochner and Rigg's 'What Stories Should Have', Freytag's Pyramid Plot Diagram and Natalie Goldberg's 'Earn the Right.

1. Write a Letter to Your Happy Place (15 minutes)

A positive exercise that is good for warming up.

Think of a place that you love to be and tell it what makes it so special for you. How does it make you feel? Describe it. It does not have to be ideal, but does need to have some personal significance to you.

2. What makes up a story? (15 minutes)



1. CHARACTERS 

"The author should introduce the characters in the story with enough information that the reader can visualize each person. This is achieved by providing detailed descriptions of a character’s physical attributes and personality traits. The main character determines the way the plot will develop and is usually who will solve the problem the story centers upon. However, the other characters are also very important because they supply additional details, explanations, or actions. All characters should stay true to the author’s descriptions throughout the story so that the reader can understand and believe the action that is taking place—and perhaps even predict which character may do what next."

http://www.katiekazoo.com/pdf/KK_FiveEssentialElements.pdf


2. A SCENE, PLACE, CONTEXT WHERE THE STORY TAKES PLACE

This could be a physical space or a mental space, it could be an event that has happened. It is the situation that the characters are in; the location of the action. Landscape, scenery, buildings, seasons or weather all help provide a sense of the setting.


3. AN EPIPHANY OR CRISIS THAT PROVIDES DRAMATIC TENSION

The conflict is central to the plot; it is what the characters are attempting to resolve. "The main character is usually on one side of the central conflict. On the other side, the main character may struggle against another important character, against the forces of nature, against society, or even against something inside himself or herself (feelings, emotions, illness)."

http://users.aber.ac.uk/jpm/ellsa/ellsa_elements.html


4. A TEMPORAL ORDER OF EVENTS

Temporal words generally refer to time-related transitions. They can be single words e.g. 'tomorrow', prepositions e.g. 'for', or phrases e.g. 'before long'. Temporal words help the story to flow.

"Sometimes narratives are linear, beginning at the start and concluding at the end of the narrative, sometimes they are cyclical, when they begin and end at the same point. Other times films jump between past present and future which can create suspense whilst the audience waits for all the ends to be tied and the events to be pieced together."

http://www.mediafactory.org.au/siobhan-bird/2015/03/16/temporal-order-duration-and-frequency/


5. A POINT/MORAL TO THE STORY WHICH GIVES MEANING TO THE EXPERIENCES DEPICTED

Why does the author want the audience to read this story? What will the reader get from it? What will they learn? Is there a lesson to be learned from the story? How has the character changed? What has the character learned?

Think of a story you want to tell

Write the 1-5 list

Use these prompts to identify these elements in your story



3 Narrative arc (15 minutes)

- Get a big bit of paper and draw the dramatic unity pyramid (also known as Freytag’s Pyramid Plot Diagram



- Introduction

- Rising movement/action

- Climax

- Falling action

- Catastrophe

- Compare with the 3-act structure



- beginning

- middle

- end


- Map your story idea against these points


4) Earn the Right (15 minutes)

Read Natalie Goldberg's 'Earn the Right' 
"You have to earn the right to make an abstract statement. You earn this right by using concrete bricks of detail. After much original detail, you can take a little leap, step away and make a statement. But you can't make a statement until you have given us a picture of it."


Read ‘Pod’ by Alex Lockwood and recognise the ‘Coruscated leviathans, suspended infinity’ only works because of the concrete names, nouns and verbs that go before.

Spend 8 minutes writing and then UNDERLINE all the nouns and verbs.


5) Dead and Dying (15 minutes)

- Write everything you know about dying. (5 minutes)
  Who died? When did they die? How? Why?

- Write what you will miss when you die. Be specific. What are things that only you know about that will die with you? (5 minutes)

- Write about the catastrophe/ending of your story (5 minutes)