Writing ideas: exercises for group leaders and others
These should not be seen as magic recipes for instant success. I do not want to suggest that good writing doesn't have to be worked at and revisited.
These 'exercises' are offered not as solutions, more as puzzles and provocations to those looking for a fresh starting point. They are borrowed from many teachers, even if translated and adapted for writing groups; we have tried to acknowledge our sources.
They are very loosely categorised. They encourage writers to experiment, on their own or in the safety of a trusted group, with different, short challenges and structures in order to develop writing confidence. The point of a writing group is to support each other in that. Learning to write - and learning to teach writing - will be partly a study of other writers' structures, and partly a question of self-determination in the exercise of freedom.
The following exercises are to provoke writing - some for 5 minutes, some for 20 minutes - and some may be successfully developed beyond that. By approaching writing from different directions, people can sometimes surprise themselves out of too rigid frames and methods. No one approach will work for everyone all the time, but it can still be useful to travel patiently - in short bursts - even the path less promising. The delight is often in hearing how differently people respond to the same stimulus. That can give you confidence in your own distinctively different voice.
Whether or not people stick to the 'rules' given is less important than that they should write - so people should feel free to take from the exercise as much or little as they want - rather than write nothing.
More confident writers will be able to write at length independently, but even they will appreciate new stimuli to explore things collaboratively from directions they may not have tried before. In these ways they can sometimes 'surprise' themselves with exploratory writing, and delight in hearing how others have approached the same task from very different directions in their own 'voices'.
Simon Wrigley
NWP outreach director
This page updated by Simon Wrigley 17.1.2017
These should not be seen as magic recipes for instant success. I do not want to suggest that good writing doesn't have to be worked at and revisited.
These 'exercises' are offered not as solutions, more as puzzles and provocations to those looking for a fresh starting point. They are borrowed from many teachers, even if translated and adapted for writing groups; we have tried to acknowledge our sources.
They are very loosely categorised. They encourage writers to experiment, on their own or in the safety of a trusted group, with different, short challenges and structures in order to develop writing confidence. The point of a writing group is to support each other in that. Learning to write - and learning to teach writing - will be partly a study of other writers' structures, and partly a question of self-determination in the exercise of freedom.
The following exercises are to provoke writing - some for 5 minutes, some for 20 minutes - and some may be successfully developed beyond that. By approaching writing from different directions, people can sometimes surprise themselves out of too rigid frames and methods. No one approach will work for everyone all the time, but it can still be useful to travel patiently - in short bursts - even the path less promising. The delight is often in hearing how differently people respond to the same stimulus. That can give you confidence in your own distinctively different voice.
Whether or not people stick to the 'rules' given is less important than that they should write - so people should feel free to take from the exercise as much or little as they want - rather than write nothing.
More confident writers will be able to write at length independently, but even they will appreciate new stimuli to explore things collaboratively from directions they may not have tried before. In these ways they can sometimes 'surprise' themselves with exploratory writing, and delight in hearing how others have approached the same task from very different directions in their own 'voices'.
Simon Wrigley
NWP outreach director
This page updated by Simon Wrigley 17.1.2017
Getting going
- Teachers of writing should write - so get a notebook and pen - and get started! Stuck for an idea? Try some of the suggestions on the site.
- Try to write regularly - even 5 minutes a day alongside the pupils. Force yourself to 'free-write' for 20 minutes a week when you're not too tired. Take any organic object (banana, leaf, flower) and use it as a starting point for your writing over a week. Write about it for 5 minutes a day - and look at what you have written over the week. You'll be surprised by what you discover (but you may have to dispose of the piece of cheese you chose!).
- Come to a Saturday morning NWP meeting - it's free! Take a look at the Courses and Conferences.
- Join an NWP writing group. If there isn't one in your area and a group of you want to start one up - just contact Simon through the comments on the blog, and arrange a launch time. A practised group leader will come to you.
- Share some of your writing with your pupils - don't be afraid to express uncertainty, explain changes you made and talk about what you wanted your writing to do.
- Give your pupils a 'free-writing' book or journal and regular time to write in it. Tell them this book will not be marked but you will look at it regularly and talk to them about their writing journey.
- Select two different pupils to follow over the year ahead. Get their permission and their parents'/carers' permission. Use the interview and observation tools on the site so that you can track their writing journey.
- Take your children on a scavenger hunt (see 'Quick writes')
- Set up 'response partnerships' - for your children and for yourself. (See 'Responding' and step 6 in 'Start a writing group') They should learn to be sensitive readers and responders to their own writing as well as to the writing of others.
- Collect a set of random small objects - shells, stones, bowls, belts, boxes, bottles, combs, fir cones, buttons, toys - and use them as stimuli for writing. You could explore how each could be a 'metaphor for writing': 'Writing is a shell - the skeleton of a living creature, ribbed and clamped against a hostile environment ...' (Examples on blog 18.2.2014)