Day Eleven – First Time

Events in life often leave lasting memories and these can be a continual source of material for writers and poets. So today we are giving you the two words First Time – this could be the first time eating bacon or going to school or kissing – it is up to you!

Write on the vivid recall until there is none left pushing at you.

Warning: if you suffer from Post Traumatic Stress Disorder or have mental health issues you should not attempt this type of exercise without talking to your therapist first as it can induce flash backs.

Day Ten – Companionship

Companionship (or the lack of it) effects all our lives – be it from friends, family, animals or even plants or the landscape. Imagine the astronaut lost in space, forever drifting, and their take on that word.

So today we are simply giving you the word COMPANIONSHIP and asking you to write for five minutes anything and everything that comes into your head in association.

Day Nine – Inspiring Weather

Take an old tissue box or basket and if you want decorate it – this is your inspiration deposit box.

Write down all the types or weather and sky phenomena you can think of onto separate pieces of paper that you fold up and place in this box. This means everything from hot, cold, rain, snow, to clear skies, rainbows, sun-dogs and shooting stars.

Shake the box well and pull one of the pieces of paper out – now write an extended metaphor about some trying aspect of life, this will normally be family, love or death – though at the moment will probably involve money and the financial markets!

Day Eight – A Fairy Tale

The world of our childhood is often filled with fairy tale castles and princesses in peril; this world of fable and myth is a rich source to be mined for the poetic vision.

So construct a poem telling an old favourite such as sleeping beauty, or take it back to the darker and slightly twistier origins and see the monsters of the id and what creativity they wrought.

In case you can not think of any here is a list:

• Little Red Riding Hood
• Cinderella
• Sleeping Beauty
• The Magic Porridge Pot
• Blue Beard
• Snow White
• Thumbelina
• Rapunzel
• The Boy Who Cried Wolf

Pick one or work your way through the list, and construct your own list if your childhood favourites are not there!

Day Seven – Clothed

Clothing is important in modern society; it has become more than just added protection against the elements, it is an outer expression of our personalities and allegiances (think emo; think football).

So go to your wardrobe, however boring you think it is, and look at the sorts of clothing there – what do these tell you? How are they arranged – messy piles or colour co-ordinated? What type of clothing is it? Functional? Frivolous? or a mix?

Answer these questions, describe what you see, or use them as an extended metaphor and see what arises.

Day Six – The Printed Word

The written word has often been seen as magical though the ages; something that the printing press both harnessed and destroyed to mold into something even more mysterious. The printing press worked by having a series of letters and sometimes words that you could arrange into blocks to say just about anything – you then printed your run.

But then… then unlike the wood cuts that had been used previously to make ‘print runs’ you could rearrange the same letters to make a new piece of writing.

It is along these lines that today’s exercise works. Take an article from a news paper or magazine and stick it to a piece of cardboard (say from a cereal packet) or alternatively just laminate it! Then cut it up so that you end up with a pile of words.

Randomly arrange these and see what phrases occur. Often something you would just never think of with pop out and hit you on the head!

Another variant is to use just the headlines and titles – this gives you larger words to work with which is a lot less fiddly!

Day Five – Which Direction?

At this point you may find that you are over run with ideas and can’t quite complete any one poem – this is a good place to be. Write the ideas down, the concepts and imagery.

These, once down on a page, will give you a secure grounding to build poems upon.

But everyone works in a different way so you may be finding you are still staring at those blank pages with no direction to go in. In which case here is a stark image of a signpost: where is it pointing to, why is it so forlorn?

Look at the image and write what comes to mind.

Image kindly donated for use by WoPoWriMo by Ella Gale, please do not copy the picture if you wish to use it other than to do the writing exercise then talk to Ella!

Day Four – Mix Things Up

Yesterday we gave you senses to play with to describe them poetically; but today we are going to ask you to mix them up. Sometime the juxtaposition of the unexpected gives rise to strong and poignant imagery – in poetry this is surely a good thing!

So think of the five senses – Smell, taste, touch, vision, and hearing.

Then write down a sentence for each; so smell describes a smell and taste a taste, but then mix them up into new combinations. Within these new combinations there may be a poem or just an idea of a poem; either way you can get some very good effects like this poem.

Day Three – Biscuits

For a writer of any type the senses are very important, to describe the sensations, and through the senses draw the reader or audience in. But it is also important that you have all five and sometimes even the obscure and probably mythical sixth – sense in your piece.

So what we are setting as an exercise today is capturing the process of making biscuits.

Think about the feel of the dough as you mix it.

Think of the smell as they bake.

The way they look golden brown in rows on the tray.

The sound they make when you snap them in half to dunk in your tea.

Finally, the taste.

Mix this all up with memories and feelings the process of making biscuits invokes.

Well, go on then – start writing and if you have never made biscuits then go and make some – now go on! Once the poem’s finished… omnomnomnom….

Day Two – Little Seed

Inspiration is the seed that allows your creativity to grow into something truly amazing and so today we are simple going to give you the concept of the Seed in all of it forms to inspire you.

Alternatively look at these clay seeds made by children at the Cheltenham Science Festival with scientist/artist Lizzie Burns.