THE CREATIVE WRITING CIRCLE

If you fancy a spot of lunchtime creativity, then come along to ‘The Circle’ on Wednesdays at 1.15p.m.in The Conference Room (next to 316). ‘The Circle’ generally meets on a weekly basis. Pens at the ready, we try a variety of exercises – anything, to be honest, which kick-starts the Muse and unleashes our imaginations.

This year, we are a motley, merry crew. Regulars Jonathan Clingman (2V), Tiago Dias (2V), Douglas Taylor (3H), Samuel Koh-Trosser (3B), Jean Vila (3B) and Jack Pennifold (3H) enjoyed an assortment of writing exercises. We write to music (Phillip Glass’s ‘The Poet Acts’, for example); we experiment with dialogue (on one occasion a guided scene construction called ‘The Empty Room’, on another, good old character role-play); we knock out a few poems created from sensory memory recall; we imitate speech patterns for short monologues; we create quirky characters (one inspired by George Orwell’s opening to ‘Down and Out in Paris and London’, another developed from 10 imagined possessions found in a stranger’s flat); we emulate several writers’ styles and structures (unabashed plagiarism – otherwise known as inspiration!) and we also indulge in freer writing styles of abstract associative wordplay (the unconscious is certainly a curious place to explore)…and that’s not to mention trying our novice hands at the odd line of iambic pentameter.

Each lunchtime session involves a quick hello, task set-up and then 10-15 minutes of writing before readings and feedback. There’s no homework, no compulsion to attend every week (do let me know though!), no pressure to share what you’ve written and only the very gentlest of positive feedback from the group.

If this is your creative cup of tea, then do come and join us. Who knows, you might find your genre-niche and sow the seeds of a future masterpiece.

 JN