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INCLUDEPICTURE "http://www.crystalclearcreators.org/images/logo.gif" \* MERGEFORMATINET
HYPERLINK http://www.crystalclearcreators.org www.crystalclearcreators.org
in association with the
Department of English and Drama
Loughborough University
and
National Lottery (Awards for All scheme)
present two
CREATIVE WRITING DAY SCHOOLS
at Loughborough University
on the 5 March 2005 and 30 April 2005
as part of their project,
SPEAKING WORDS:
WRITING FOR READING ALOUD
DAYSCHOOL 1 : 30 April 2005
Writing is nothing if it does not involve the writer in a movement full of risks that will change him in one way or another.
(Maurice Blanchot, The Work of Fire).
30 April: TIMETABLE
10.00-10.30amRegistration and coffee
(Martin Hall foyer)10.30-12amBack to Basics: Getting Writing Right
(Room NN007)Maria Orthodoxou12.00-1.00pmLunch
(Towers Bar, East Park or anywhere you want to go!)
1.00-2.30pmWriting for Radio
(Room NN007)Tony Coult2.30-2.45pmCoffee3.00-4.15pmProse Writing
(Room NN007Mystie Hood4.15pm-Wine reception to celebrate Speaking Words project
DESCRIPTIONS OF WORKSHOPS AND LECTURES (30 April, Loughborough University)
Dear writer,
Welcome to this dayschool. The main point of today is enjoyment, so I do hope you enjoy the day and benefit from the classes, seminars and workshops. The dayschool is part of an ongoing project Crystal Clear Creators is running, called Speaking Words: Writing for Reading Aloud. This project is funded by the National Lottery (Awards for All), and is supported by Loughborough University, BBC Leicester, and Arts Council England, amongst others. The aim is to run a series of four dayschools in Leicestershire and Lincolnshire, and thereafter to produce an anthology of writing developed in and after the workshops. This anthology will then be published in book form, and will include an accompanying compact disc of recordings. The book will consist of a collection of stories, poetry and short scripts which are particularly suitable for reading aloud or performing in some form. I have included a description of the proposed anthology of work at the back of this booklet. Please read it, and please please please consider submitting some work for consideration for the book. Its your chance to get your work in print in a professionally-produced format! If you wish to submit work for consideration, send it to Jonathan Taylor at HYPERLINK mailto:J.P.Taylor1@lboro.ac.uk J.P.Taylor1@lboro.ac.uk (electronic copies only in the first instance).
Thanks, Jonathan Taylor, Crystal Clear Creators.
Short Descriptions of Individual Workshops, 30 April 2005
Back to Basics Getting Writing Right
This will be a session on dealing with the crucial aspects of prose that underpin writing. Far from being prescriptive, it is intended to be a lively slot that stimulates the creative process.
[Other two slots to be announced]
Fiction
Beginning fiction writers often believe plot is the first and foremost requirement of fiction. Thus, they often start a story knowing exactly how it will play out, exactly who will do what to whom and when [if not always why], and as such there is very little room left for surprise. In other words, beginning writers generally write only with rigid expectation, forcing the story to do what he or she has mapped out it should do: John finds a letter from his wifes lover, John decides to follow his wife one morning to see where she goes, John follows her to a cheap motel, John barges into the motel room and kills the wifes lover, who happens to be Johns own brother!, and then John gets back into his car and runs from the law. Generally speaking, writing from such a rigid plot produces a story which is only those plot points strung together with dialogue, never allowing for moments of surprise for the readersurprise in characterization, or narrative, or motivation [generally characters in stories such as this have no motivation; they are merely robots performing the tasks programmed by the writer]because writing from such rigid plot never allows for moments of surprise for the writer.
For an excellent example of this look to Flannery OConnors essay Writing Short Stories, in which she discusses her writing of Good Country People. OConnor says,
I doubt myself if many writers know what they are going to do when they start out [writing a story]. When I started writing [Good Country People], I didnt know there was going to be a Ph.D. with a wooden leg in itAs the story progressed, I brought in a Bible salesman, but I had no idea what I was going to do with him. I didnt know he was going to steal that wooden leg until ten or twelve lines before he did it, but when I found out that this was what was going to happen, I realized it was inevitable. This is a story that produces a shock for the reader, and I think one reason for this is that it produced a shock for the writer.
Here, then, is an exercise designed to encourage the beginning writer not to meticulously plot but merely to write, line by line, without knowing the intended destination. Hopefully the multitude of directions the students stories take, despite the fact every student is starting with the same first line, will illustrate the possibilities in trusting in this process that OConnor calls the habit of art.
Directions: Write a story using the following first line. The story may be any length and may use any point of view. But dont overthink where your story will go. Instead, see where the writing takes you. Your first line is:
Things had been going poorly for Russell ever since the time he was shot in the head.
Ex. 11st person
Things had been going poorly for Russell ever since the time he was shot in the head. In the month following the shootingself-inflicted, deer hunting drunkhed lost his wife to the mailman, his dog to screeching tires, his car to repo, his job to a foreigner, and, not the least of these, a small portion of his brain to that bullet, which, believe me, having known him all his life, he really couldnt afford to lose. But it looked like things were finally about to turn around when he called me out of the blue and said it was official: Jerry Springer called him back. He was going to be on goddamn tv.
Ex. 21st person (plural)
Things had been going poorly for Russell ever since the time he was shot n the head. But what really marked the beginning of the end for him was his arrest, a month afterwards, for walking buck naked into IHOP. Soon as we heard hed been taken in, we got him a lawyer who went before the judge and argued Russell had no idea what he was doing, walking into IHOP balls out, because after all, Your Honor, here is a man who just a month before had been shot in the fucking head. But the judge was a strict Christian and thus disinclined toward mercy wherever genitalia was concerned, and he sentenced Russell to a month of community service at the town library, where he met Lurleene, which turned out to be the worst thing that could have happened for all of us.
Ex. 33rd person
Things had been going poorly for Russell ever since the time he was shot in the head. It was an accident, of course, a hunting buddys butterfingers. The bullet struck just above the eye, exited out the back of the head, and had still somehow managed to miss every vital thing inside. The doctors called it a fucking miracle. Russells wife began telling everyone it was because her husbands brain was the size of a walnut.
AFTER THE DAYSCHOOL
Please take away the work you have drafted in the seminars and workshops today and rework it. Then please do submit it to be considered for inclusion in our forthcoming book-anthology, Speaking Words: Writing for Reading Aloud. Please send any poetry, prose or short scripts to Jonathan Taylor at HYPERLINK mailto:J.P.Taylor1@lboro.ac.uk J.P.Taylor1@lboro.ac.uk (electronic copies only in the first instance). The book will be published and distributed in a professional format. For your information, I have included a description for the proposed book. If you want to know about the other dayschools we are running in Leicestershire and Lincolnshire, contact Robin Webber-Jones at HYPERLINK mailto:rwebberjones@yahoo.com rwebberjones@yahoo.com
ABOUT THE PRESENTERS AND ORGANISERS
Tony Coult is a writer and teacher of drama. As a playwright for young people he has written for Proteus Theatre Co., New Perspectives, Cockpit TiE, Theatre Centre, amongst others. He has written regularly for BBC Radio 4 drama, mainly on historical subjects. He is a regular drama workshop leader at Guys Hospital School and Adolescent Psychiatric Unit. He has taught at Loughborough University and Rose Bruford Drama College and has published books about the work of playwrights Edward Bond and Brian Friel, and co-edited with Baz Kershaw Engineers of the Imagination, the Welfare State Handbook. See HYPERLINK "http://tony3ts.members.beeb.net/" http://tony3ts.members.beeb.net/
Maria Orthodoxou is a poet from Loughborough who has been published invarious magazines, and has performed her work in Warwick, Coventry, Leamington, Loughborough, Leicester, Crewe and elsewhere. She studied poetry with Glyn Maxwell, David Morley, Carol Ann Duffy and others, at B.A. and M.A. level. She has recorded for Crystal Clear Creators, as an actor, director and a poet. She currently teaches English at a school in Leicester, and has taught creative writing in schools, colleges, weekend schools and dayschools.
Mystie Hood is an American writer who is currently doing a Ph.D in CreativeWriting. She is writing her first novel, after writing short stories for many years, including on an M.A. writing programme in the U.S. She has had work published in Britain and America.
Jonathan Taylor is convenor of the M.A. strand in Creative Writing at Loughborough University. He has had short stories published in various magazines including Staple, Raw Edge, Kimota, The Coffee House, Xenos, A Chides Alphabet and The Wandering Dog. His work has been performed live at various venues. He has also had radio plays recorded and broadcast; these include The Music Master which was commissioned by East Midlands Arts, and a comedy-soap called The Willows for High Peak Radio. He is the co-founder and co-director of Crystal Clear Creators. In 2003, he was awarded an Arts Council grant to research and write a novel-length memoir entitled Misrecognising Bogart, on which he is currently working.
ABOUT THE ORGANISATION
Crystal Clear Creators is a not-for-profit organisation which develops, records and showcases new and established talent for radio, including writers, voice-overs and producers. It has recorded radio drama, poetry and prose. It is developing links with radio stations across the region as well as with C.I.T.V. and the B.B.C. It has hosted various public events in Loughborough and Leicester. Its website is HYPERLINK http://www.crystalclearcreators.org www.crystalclearcreators.org. Crystal Clear Creators is funded by the Arts Council England and other bodies.
Membership of Crystal Clear Creators is 5 yearly (membership is NOT included in the cost of the dayschools). If you wish to become a member, please contact either Jonathan Taylor ( HYPERLINK mailto:J.P.Taylor1@lboro.ac.uk J.P.Taylor1@lboro.ac.uk) or Robin Webber-Jones ( HYPERLINK mailto:rwebberjones@yahoo.com rwebberjones@yahoo.com) Members receive regular newsletters and can appear on our website, simply by sending us contact details and a short biography (say, 4-5 lines). Crystal Clear Creators is always looking for new writers, performers and producers for members; it is also always looking to record and produce new work. As a member, you are entitled to have your work considered for recording and broadcasting via the website.
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PROPOSAL FOR ANTHOLOGY
SPEAKING WORDS:
WRITING FOR READING ALOUD
He do the police in different voices.
(Charles Dickens, Our Mutual Friend)
This book will be an anthology of short pieces specifically designed for reading aloud. The book will consist of poetry, prose and short scripts suitable for performing, recording or just reading out loud to someone else. Contributors for the anthology will include a diverse range of talent, from many new, up-and-coming authors to more established writers. The contributions will represent the end products of a series of dayschools funded by the National Lottery, taking place at Loughborough University, BBC Radio Leicester and in Lincolnshire during 2005. These dayschools are run by radio production organisation, Crystal Clear Creators, and are led by some of the well-known writers included in the anthology. The final anthology will be carefully edited to maintain the highest quality and to make certain that all the pieces are suitable for reading aloud. The editor is the well-known poet, Deborah Tyler-Bennett, who will ensure quality and consistency throughout. The book will include the work of about thirty writers and be approximately 100-120 pages in length. The book will be accompanied by a C.D. consisting of recordings by some of the writers performing their own work.
Contents
Preface by the editor, Deborah Tyler-Bennett
Chapter 1 : Words for Whispering
Chapter 2 : Words for Speaking
Chapter 3 : Words for Shouting
Chapter 4 : Words for Singing
Chapter 5 : Words for Performing
Short conclusion by Jonathan Taylor, co-director of Crystal Clear Creators
Market and Readership
This anthology has a readily understandable and marketable theme which is fairly unique there are no similar anthologies in print at present. Performance poetry is currently very popular, and the book should appeal to this wide audience. It should also appeal to a generally neglected readership those readers who still enjoy reading aloud to their partners or family. All the pieces will be short enough to be read at one sitting. In more specific terms, the book will also obviously sell to friends and family of the contributors, as well as to the audiences attracted by the more established writers involved.
Short description of chapters
The Preface will address issues of reading aloud and talk about the distinguishing characteristics of writing which is written specifically with performance in mind. It will be approximately 5 pages in length.
Chapter 1 : Words for Whispering will consist of some of the more quiet, restrained and delicate poems and other pieces from the collection. The chapter will be approximately 20 pages in length.
Chapter 2 : Words for Speaking will consist of the more conversational poems, monologues and, particularly, short stories. The chapter will be approximately 20 pages in length.
Chapter 3 : Words for Shouting will consist of the more heated, passionate or angry poems and short scripts. The chapter will be approximately 20 pages in length.
Chapter 4 : Words for Singing will consist of the poems which most resemble song lyrics (though only in form, since the music itself is only to be imagined by readers). The chapter will be approximately 20 pages in length.
Chapter 5 : Words for Performing will consist of poems and short scripts which particularly invite some kind of public performance on the part of readers. The chapter will be approximately 20 pages in length.
The Conclusion will be short and simple and be approximately 1 page in length.
Contact details and general information
If you would like to submit work to be considered for inclusion in this anthology, please email Jonathan Taylor at HYPERLINK mailto:J.P.Taylor1@lboro.ac.uk J.P.Taylor1@lboro.ac.uk
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HYPERLINK "http://www.crystalclearcreators.org" www.crystalclearcreators.org
announces
SOLILOQUIZED :
A CREATIVE WRITING COMPETITION
Crystal Clear Creators is inviting entries for a new writing competition. Entrants are asked to produce a short monologue of no more than 900 words in length. The monologue can be in any genre (poetry, prose or script), but should be suitable for performing aloud and recording. The winning entry will receive a prize of 50 in book tokens, courtesy of Blackwells Bookshops, and will be recorded and broadcast on the Crystal Clear Creators website. Runners-up will also receive prizes and have the opportunity to have their work recorded and broadcast. Deadline for entries is Friday 6 May 2005.
The competition is open to anyone above the age of 16. You can send in as many entries as you like. Each entry costs 3 for paid-up members of Crystal Clear Creators, 4 for others (cheques made payable to Crystal Clear Creators). All entries accompanied by a S.A.E. or an email address will receive some feedback. Please send entries to:
Crystal Clear Creators Creative Writing Compeitition,
C/o Dr. Jonathan Taylor,
Department of English and Drama,
Loughborough University,
Loughborough LE11 3TU, U.K.
Or you can send entries by email to HYPERLINK mailto:J.P.Taylor1@lboro.ac.uk J.P.Taylor1@lboro.ac.uk Your entry (or entries) should include a cover sheet, with your name and address on. Your name should not appear on the entry itself, so the competition can be judged anonymously. A complete list of rules and guidelines is available by email from HYPERLINK mailto:J.P.Tayor1@lboro.ac.uk J.P.Tayor1@lboro.ac.uk Were looking forward to receiving your entry!
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