Write Here; Write Now!

“Fill your

paper with

breathings of

your heart.” William

Wordsworth

Task 1 Task: Pick an image (or find one yourself) and develop a living, breathing, multi-faceted

character. Write in the third person – you are an omniscient narrator who knows

everything about this character and this is an opening paragraph in the first chapter of

your novel. You have a word limit: min – 100 words; max – 250 words. Consider the following details when writing about that character but don’t include every one:

name age job ethnicity appearance residence

favourite colour friends favourite foods favourite place to holiday

phobias faults pets religion hobbies single or married

children temperament something hated secrets strong memories

any illnesses nervous gestures sleep patterns thoughts dreams

Task 2 Task: Pick a misunderstood, maligned and disgruntled villain and give him a chance to

tell his tale. Imagine he is defending himself in a court of law. What is his side of the

story? What were we unaware of? Remember to write in the first person. You have a

minimum word count of 150 words; maximum – 250 words.

Task 3 Task: Pick a shoe, any shoe. In pairs or groups, discuss what you think this person might

be like. Now write a descriptive paragraph about this person. (150-250 words)

Task 4 Task: Working with a partner or in a group, look at the images of different places and

using your senses build a word-bank which could be used to describe one of these

settings. Write a paragraph using your word-bank. (100-150 words).

Task 5 Task: Take characters from the past or historic figures, and transport them into the future.

Imagine how that character would cope if they woke up in the C21st. Imagine if Sleeping Beauty

or Snow White woke up in 2010? Who gets to kiss her awake? Or imagine what would happen if

William Shakespeare was to come back to life – how would he adjust to the changes that have

occurred to the English language? Consider MSN; text language; different dialects used in London;

cockney rhyming slang etc. How would he feel about the fact that his work was still popular?

What if William Wallace returned to Scotland in the C21st? How would he feel about Scotland’s

political situation? Think about how each of the characters would adjust to a world of computers,

the internet, mobile phones, television, air travel and school life?

Write the transcript of your interview as it would appear in a magazine or newspaper. Remember

to include questions and answers. You can only ask 10 questions so think carefully!

Task 6 Task: Use the four charts to help you create a story based around a random character, place,

situation and object. Write down any two figure number (e.g. 67); using chart one, find the square

which relates to your number. Write down the word/phrase. Using the same number, look at the

other three charts and find the appropriate sections. Write about a character ensuring you include

all 4 ingredients. Min word limit of 350 words – 500 words max.

Chart One - Character:

1 2 3 4 5 6 7 8 9

1 tiger headmaster with a secret

a man who lives forever

a small monkey

a child who is always grumbling

a giant snake

a girl with X-ray eyes

an enormous werewolf a blind beggar

2 an

abandoned baby

an injured bird the last of the pirates

children from the future

a living statue

a screaming

ghost a flying worm a living

shadow the oldest

woman in the world

3 a cheerful

puppet monster in the swimming pool giant spiders a secret

agent a mad

professor a swarm of

bees a wounded

shark the

abominable snowman

an Egyptian mummy

4 an artist who painted the

future

the best fisherman in

the world

a knight in shining armour

an octopus a security guard

a police inspector

a truly remarkable grandfather

the driver of a train

the owner of a huge ship

5 a team of mountain climbers

the richest man in the

world a dwarf a cat

burglar an amazing

animal trainer

a school bully

a mysterious newcomer a slave a computer

nerd

6 a gold

prospector a very lonely

child a powerful black witch

a great inventor

a man on the run a war hero a boy who

liked to dream a lighthouse

keeper a creepy reporter

7 a surgeon

with an iron hand

a robot a castaway a very small man a miser an airline

hijacker a top security

prisoner a drunk a newspaper reporter

8 a talking cat a shapeless

creature of the dark

an enthusiastic salesman

a mind traveller

the prince of the gypsies

two terrified

lions a tribe of Eskimos

Thundermen from Mars a circus clown

9 burglars a giant baby a one-armed teacher

a mounted policeman

the strongest man in the

world a slime monster

a master of disguise

a top class stuntman

the man who held the world

to ransom