1. This e vening Health & Safety Introductions Learning Plans What do writers do? Ground Rules Writing Exercises Creative Writing January 2012 ©Michael Scott 2012

2. H&S Ground Rules Break ©Michael Scott 2012

3. Find someone who is the same star sign as you Find someone with the same colour eyes as you Find someone who has a cat Find someone who has lived abroad Find someone who is left handed Find someone who is an only child Find someone who speaks another language Find someone who Likes to go camping Find someone who likes to paint Find someone who has been to Swindon Museum & Art Gallery Find someone who is in the wrong class Finding Out ©Michael Scott 2012

4. Your name - Michael Scott Your writing experience – Poet/Writer What you hope to get from this course – Brilliant stories Your favourite book – Riddley Walker – Russell Hoban Your favourite film – Wall-E Introductions ©Michael Scott 2012

5. This is an unusual paragraph. I'm curious how quickly you can find out what is so unusual about it. It looks so plain you would think nothing was wrong with it. In fact, nothing is wrong with it! It is unusual though. Study it, and think about it, but you still may not find anything odd. But if you work at it a bit, you might find out! Try to do so without any coaching! You probably won't, at first, find anything particularly odd or unusual or in any way dissimilar to any ordinary composition. That is not at all surprising, for it is no strain to accomplish in so short a paragraph a stunt similar to that which an author did throughout all of his book, without spoiling a good writing job, and it was no small book at that. By studying this paragraph assiduously, you will shortly, I trust, know what is its distinguishing oddity. Upon locating that "mark of distinction," you will probably doubt my story of this author and his book of similar unusuality throughout. It is commonly known among book-conscious folk and proof of it is still around. If you must know, this sort of writing is known as a lipogram, but don't look up that word in any dictionary until you find out what this is all about. What do writers do? ©Michael Scott 2012

6. Writing Weaponry ©Michael Scott 2012

7. Free Writing Give yourself a time limit. Write for one or ten or twenty minutes, and then stop. Keep your hand moving until the time is up. Do not pause to stare into space or to read what you've written. Write quickly but not in a hurry. Pay no attention to grammar, spelling, punctuation, neatness, or style. Nobody else needs to read what you produce here. ©Michael Scott 2012

8. The correctness and quality of what you write do not matter; the act of writing does. If you get off the topic or run out of ideas, keep writing anyway. If necessary, write nonsense or whatever comes into your head, or simply scribble: anything to keep the hand moving. When the time is up, look over what you've written, and mark passages that contain ideas or phrases that might be worth keeping or elaborating on in a subsequent free-writing session. ©Michael Scott 2012

9. Extra resources and a place to practice your writing www.swindonwriters.wordpress.com Exercise Show me where you live 20 minutes Read back (not compulsory) ©Michael Scott 2012