Chance to see your creative writing in print
The Examiner wants to bring you something different to read during the lockdown crisis, and tap into the wealth of writing talent in Huddersfield. We’re inviting readers to try their hand at creative writing, and we’ll publish the best in the paper. Short stories, prose or opinion pieces – we’ll consider them all. But it must be a maximum of 1,000 words and strictly by email only to martin.shaw@ examiner.co.uk
WRITING is a great way to escape isolation and here, TIM TAYLOR, a Meltham-based novelist, poet and chairperson of Holmfirth Writers’ Group, has some words of encouragement.
Now that so many activities are closed off to us due to the coronavirus lockdown, many people – especially those who are no longer at work – must be wondering what on earth to do with themselves for the next few weeks.
There is only so much TV you can watch, only so much housework you can do, only so many books you can read.
One thing you can do, however, is write. Did you ever harbour ideas of writing poetry, a novel, a memoir, which were pushed aside years ago by the demands of work and family? If ever there was a time to dust off those dreams and make them real, this is it! You have no excuse now not to give it a go.
Even if you’ve never thought of doing creative writing before, why not give it a try? It can be a great way of keeping your mind active, staving off boredom and finding meaning and a sense of satisfaction, even in our current constrained circumstances.
But where to start, if you don’t already have a half-written, half-forgotten novel or a notebook of unfinished poems stashed away in a bedroom drawer? Well, if you have access to the internet, do a Google search on “writing
prompts” and you will find numerous sites offering a wide variety of exercises and starting points to get your creative juices flowing. Here are just a few of them:
https://www.writersdigest.com/prompts
https://thinkwritten. com/365-creative-writingprompts/
https://www.theteacherscorner.net/daily-writingprompts/
Even if you don’t have access to the internet, there are things you can do to help get your writing started. For example, one thing I sometimes do is leaf through a book and write down eight or nine of the more interesting words I find. You can try and write something that uses them all, or see if some unusual combination of them sparks an idea. It may be that just one of the words you pick suggests a theme you could write about. Another technique is to take a sentence from a book and make it the starting point for a story (or poem) of your own.
Writing is one activity that you can do – and do well – entirely on your own. But like most activities, it can be more fun if you do it with other people, and the feedback and encouragement you give each other can really help you to make progress. You might think this is out of the question in current circumstances.
Certainly, it’s not possible to write together in the same place any more, except with members of your own household. But actually, some of the writers’ groups I’m in are still very active, just in a different way: circulating a writing prompt by e-mail, then sharing what they’ve written with the others.
One has gone further, and holds face-to face virtual meetings using Zoom (you could also use Skype or FaceTime). So if you have friends who are also interested in writing (and an internet connection), why not talk to them about ways in which you can share your work and help each other along?
Or you could approach one of the many writers’ groups which already exist throughout Kirklees (again, a Google search can help you identify ones in your area).
So why not try your hand at creative writing? Not only could it be an interesting and satisfying way of spending your time in lockdown and sustaining your mental wellbeing, it could also be the start of an interest that will carry on long after the current crisis has passed – for some, perhaps, even a future career!