A Teacher’S Guide to Writing

Copyright © 2016 by Gary Langford.

Library of Congress Control Number:   2016913263

ISBN:      Hardcover       978-1-5245-1624-6

                Softcover        978-1-5245-1623-9

                eBook             978-1-5245-1622-2

All rights reserved. No part of this book may be reproduced or transmitted in any form or by any means, electronic or mechanical, including photocopying, recording, or by any information storage and retrieval system, without permission in writing from the copyright owner.

Any people depicted in stock imagery provided by Thinkstock are models, and such images are being used for illustrative purposes only.

Certain stock imagery © Thinkstock.

Illustrator: Gary Langford

Rev. date: 08/18/2016

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Contents

Acknowledgements

Foreword

Creative Writing: Carpe Diem, Quam Minimum, Credula Postero

Introduction The Writer’s Shoe

Exercises In Writing Workshop

Exercises In Popular Writing

Exercises In Group Writing

Exercises In Writing Poetry

Exercises In Writing Fiction

Exercises In Writing For Performance

Exercises In Getting Published (Or Living With Rejection)

Extra Exercises

Ender

Notes

……………………………………………………………………………

Dreams are X-rated

If the people you live with

Won’t let you into them

Social tact is making people feel at home,

Especially when you wish they were

……………………………………………………………………………

DEDICATION

To teacher writers everywhere

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I was a storyteller as a child, whether on the school front or public front or I didn’t know the difference! My teacher writer workshops since those days have been for all age groups, ethnic backgrounds and communicative abilities. Most were at a Sydney uni; others have been in the rooms of writers of all tapestries.

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ACKNOWLEDGEMENTS

To all students and writers I have tried my exercises in word fitness with; from the time I was a small banana to when I became a large banana. Like much in writing you can define the meaning of banana as you wish.

My first textbook was A Writer’s Dictionary (editions are now out of print), an in-house book at a Sydney university to reflect my coordinating of a Creative Writing Major I founded from BA to doctorate levels, more at the BA than the MA level since the latter was on writing a Major Project, such as a novel, a collection of poetry or stories, or a full-length stage play. All those I admitted to that degree, had to have enough ability to write these works.

Many of the exercises here have also been used in schools in Australia and New Zealand, as well as community writing groups. I use my link between writing and drama, along with the quotes, whether these are in my books, plays, or teaching. The quotes are representative of the sentiment that goes with them. I use some of my notes that were in the subjects I taught and ran in a BA degree til I decided to return to predominantly being a writer.

There are around two hundred creative writing exercises for a gathering of word fitness here, along with reflective notes, on each of the major areas of writing. I’m sure you’ll be able to find those that help you the most.

Strong ones are in bold, then exercise italics.

Kindness to you all,

Gary Langford

FOREWORD

Art helps provide a wall

Against the vice of poverty

Of the heart and mind.

May you gather yours in,

To fly in imaginative feeling.

CREATIVE WRITING: CARPE DIEM, QUAM MINIMUM, CREDULA POSTERO

(Seize the day, put no trust in the morrow)

-Horace, Ode 1, xi

A Teacher’s Guide to Writing goes with my other major textbook A Teacher’s Guide to Drama, reflecting my background in both areas as a teacher writer. Comfort is a key to how we travel, both within and outside ourselves. What relaxes us? What allows us to try expanding knowledge and ourselves without feeling we are subject to public ruin, or personal exposure?

Writing.

The more you write, the more you will understand the creative pastiche. Skill is revealing what you wish to and disguising what you wish to.

Understanding = comfort.

An important element is the enthusiasm and knowledge of the writing process that helps develop ALL, whether in the teaching, or in the learning to write. Like most crafts a background in the art can only help a teacher to be more credible to those who wish to learn how to write.

A fine teacher knows how and what to teach. The why will then more naturally flow and not sound like justification to those who may question this.

A fine teacher has a love of writing.

When I ran the hugely popular creative writing area of study at a Sydney university I hired teacher writers that amalgamated the two. Passion has to be there to help others, not score off them in the world of the vain.

Once I was asked to go to a boy’s high school that was studying my poetry. I stood in front of the group and could see they were not thrilled with the idea of POE TRY, so I was likely to talk into a vacuum. How did I know before I spoke? Body language, as the boys looked as if the end of the world was nigh and they were already hoping the bell would go to rescue them from the sea of disregard. They were teenagers, and the brain matter doesn’t fall into place until our twenties, so I taught the boys how to write poetry, where they hummed along, as I showed them the various forms, including visual poetry that was in one of my other books than the one they were studying, The Pest Exterminator’s Shakespeare. That is still the only one I wrote purely for performance, whether by others or myself.

Potential

At 5 they said he was dumb.

At 10 they said he was insolent.

At 15 they said rebellious.

At 20 they said he was destructive.

At 25 they said in a courtroom

You have fulfilled your promise.

Writing can help realise potential of a different kind. While there are many textbooks on writing there are not many textbooks on what writers, certainly beginner writers, should DO to improve and understand their work more through exercises for both enjoyment and clarity of expression.

Exercising in writing helps lessen the tendency in studying literature to look at novels, plays, or poetry without knowing anything about what it takes to write these works. ‘It’s rubbish, man’ can mean a person hasn’t read the work anyway, content to read critical texts for the opinion of others, and not the works to give their own opinion.

Exercises help motivate.

Exercises help expressive fitness.

Exercises help personal growth.

Exercises help understanding.

A positive philosophy and a practical knowledge of writing build a more effective teaching and self-confidence.

Why is this important?

I have been to many education staffrooms, both as a teacher and as a visiting writer, where I am a guest like the example I mentioned, often ending up as a lecturer to my fellow teachers - not only students - on what to DO, and what NOT to do in developing the writing craft without excessive graft.

Much is how we perceive what is around us.

It is worth noting that the majority of the outstanding teachers have a form of drama in their work, whatever that may be interpreted as, where it has a positive effect on all those around them, plus they like what they do, as opposed to those who wait for the bell to ring as much as the students do!

It is true that the best English teachers I have known all have a sense of writing and drama in their methods of presentation.

A broad approach to the craft of teaching the craft of writing allows the release of energy rather than the joie de vivre of an attitude of mind, and the controlling of the mental processes where you have to want to act regardless of the situation around you.

In art there is always a way out.

Keep in mind that the excitement and fear that can come from writing what is close to you helps remedy other ills in a person’s life, even if the process may bring a hidden event to fruition, as the longer you leave it, the harder it is to deal with it when it does come out. And come out it will. In other words writing in its variant styles can be a different form of medicine, which produces a change in the chemistry of thought, and can throw off minor ailments that regularly occur in all our lives.

The notes with each of the exercise groups, such as Writing Workshop, or Group Writing or Writing for Performance or Getting Published may also help, whether to the teacher or the student.

In the room of opinion - like anywhere else - if you are asked what you think, say so, touched with a bit of diplomacy, since many young writers (writing knowledge, not age) are not confident, including the ones full of brash and ‘who cares?’ Your opinion will either be valued or not.

I regard those who insist they are objective in interpretation as comedians. I have always been subjective, so students can accept, or reject my opinion on their work, along with my suggestions on how to develop it further, whether in communication, drama or writing.

As an English teacher I read ALL work that was/is handed in to me to edit or assess, correcting mistakes without deducting marks to try to teach a love of language, along with practical suggestions.

A key to the door of knowledge is that you work in the area you are teaching, otherwise credibility lessens a lot.

What do student writers write? What