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Blog, writing prompt

What is Writing For? – Writing Prompt

This month’s fiction-writing exercise is a bit of a departure from my usual prompts. Following my last post discussing, amongst other things, how writers need to write, and so outsourcing the process to AI denies that need, I wanted to suggest an exercise that would fulfill it!

Pages of handwritten fiction to represent the writer Gail Owen's suggestion that writing is not a chore or task but a specific process that allows the writer to explore, dream and think.

What Annoys You?

This month’s exercise is to free-write about something that annoys you but you don’t know why.

Free-Writing is the Best

Don’t plan; don’t consider your reader – on this occasion, just write, about all the things your chosen subject does to bug you to distraction. Your topic might be a noise, a song, a person or your neighbour’s mangy dog. It could be something everyone finds annoying or you may be alone in perceiving how truly irksome the object of your annoyance is. Just write. You might discover why this apparently innocuous thing bothers you so much. You could change your mind about it, or become even more irate. Just write. You will probably produce some great descriptions and you will almost definitely have fun.

Enjoy! I will post another writing prompt on the 1st of next month.

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Blog, creative writing

What even IS a story? And Can AI Truly Write One?

Writers are thinking about Artificial Intelligence a lot – understandably. The lovely (I’m a bit of a fangirl) Ben Rhodes, (I highly recommend Pod Save the World and Ben Rhodes Substack, both of which are free,) discusses AI in his recent post, ‘Why Write‘. He answers this question through describing the deep thinking that goes into composing an essay – the kinds of thought processes that increase understanding, to a level of awareness he could therefore not reach if AI were to write the essay for him.

Former UK Poet Laureate Sir Andrew Motion standing at a microphone, reading his poetry at a small and intimate event. He is tall and stands gracefully poised, holding his book of poems in his hands.

Understanding

This need to understand is not exclusive to nonfiction writers. Former UK Poet Laureate Sir Andrew Motion, (again, I’m a fangirl – for his boundlessly generous energy that I experienced at Royal Holloway, for his commitment to equality, for his poetry…,) has said, ‘My wish to write a poem is inseparable from my wish to explain something to myself.’

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Blog, writing prompt

What is a Story? – Writing Exercise

I love the question, ‘What is a story?’ It’s both technical and philosophical, and seems especially pertinent to the current epoch because it raises the subsequent inquiry: can AI truly write one?

A notebook, tablet and coffee on a wooden table, Gail Owen's favourite writing tools.

Fiction or Storytelling?

Can a large language model make something up? Most certainly, (often when it’s been asked to accrue facts!) but I will argue over the next few posts that a work of fiction does not necessarily a story make.

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Blog, writing prompt

Writing Prompt – Floating Opposites

Because my students have such a wide variety of tastes, I’ve started developing either/or prompts for them. Some like gore and action. Others like world-building. Then, others of my students delight in closely observed personal interactions.

Open notebook on classic, rustic, wooden table waiting for your story ideas inspired by a writing prompt from Gail Owen writer.

Writing that Pulls in Two Directions – By Design!

Following on from my last blog post, on the subject of ‘Floating Opposites’, (see Can Creative Writing Be Taught? Part 2,) whichever of the exercises below that you choose is a chance to put that theory into practice.

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Blog, creative writing

Can Creative Writing be Taught? (Part 2)

When I tell people I teach creative writing, they frequently reply, ‘Isn’t writing just inspiration?’

Well, I don’t disagree with the inspiration part.

A child in a striped pyjama top under a striped duvet, reading their book with a torch. This is something that I, Gail Owen, did a lot as a child. I loved stories and reading so much that after my mum had told me it was time to go to sleep, I would pull my duvet up over my head and keep reading my book with a torch.


That Page-Turning Effect

I was one of those kids who can’t put a book down. My mum would tell me to go to sleep and I’d wait for her to leave so I could pull my duvet over my head and keep reading with a torch. As if she couldn’t see the big glowing hump on my bed. A little less romantic when I think about kids reading tablets and phones under the covers, but I hope some of them are reading stories instead of social media posts.

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Blog, writing prompt

Writing Prompt – Dialogue

One of the most common worries my students have is dialogue, and it’s true that writing authentic dialogue is hard. It almost requires a different skill-set from crafting a story, because great dialogue begins with listening, in many ways a passive activity.

Three friends in conversation, their dialogue making them laugh together.

When we’re in conversation, we’re in the moment, responding emotionally and intellectually. We’re not psychopaths, not mentally recording people’s gestures and sayings as we chat. By contrast, when watching TV or streaming a series, we only listen. We don’t talk back. Kids, with their sponge-like brains, especially absorb how people talk on-screen.

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Blog, creative writing

Can Creative Writing be Taught?

Well, teaching ‘creative writing techniques’ and learning ‘creative writing techniques’ are both tough propositions, for many reasons, but today I’m going to focus on one: invisibility. When writing is most effective, technique is invisible.

Classic, large, black, tall typewriter: imagine Faulkner tapping away, writing his novel, working on his masterpiece.


Invisible Force

Feeling gripped, carried away by a story, following the tribulations of characters we love, or love to hate… is like being compelled by an invisible force. To learn how to harness that force, we must deconstruct it. But how does one deconstruct something invisible?

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