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Garrie Fletcher

~ writing and all that

Garrie Fletcher

Category Archives: workshops

Tweeted Objects

20 Thursday Feb 2014

Posted by fletcherski in creativity, Short Stories, Think Tank, workshops, writing

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Birmingham Museums, MCC, Think Tank, tweeted fiction, uk, writing, young writers

A huge thanks to all the staff and kids who were at the Tweeted Objects workshop on Tuesday. I was made to feel really welcome and was allowed to wander through the stored items in the warehouse, which has to be seen to be believed. Extra thanks to Lynsey for organising it all and for introducing me to Story Cubes. Here are some pics of the day.

Kipper ties!

Kipper ties!

Happy scribbler.

Happy scribbler.

The cabbage hat.

The cabbage hat.

Inside the vaults.

Inside the vaults.

The kids produced some great tweeted fiction and managed to tell some marvellous stories in 140 characters or less. Tales of cabbage hats, of cats trapped in boxes and the bejewelled wonder of a jealous prince…

Check out the exhibition in May to see their work and to tweet your own. I’ll post full details nearer the time.

Tweeters of the Lost Ark

11 Tuesday Feb 2014

Posted by fletcherski in creativity, Event, teaching, workshops, writing

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13-16yr olds, 140 charcters, Birmingham, Birmingham Museum, Birmingham Museum & Art Gallery, Dollman Street Collection, kipper ties, make every word count, tweeted objects, tweeted stories, young writers

On Tuesday, the 18th of February, 2014, I shall be working with young writers at  Birmingham Museum’s Dollman Street Collection.

This is a warehouse full of items that the museum is unable to exhibit permanently; picture the huge warehouse at the end of Indiana Jones’ Raiders of the Lost Ark, now bring the scale down a tad and instead of sealed crates imagine engine parts, huge, ornate clock brackets, antique computers and old prototype cars that never saw production.

Giddy up

Giddy up

Dollman street triangleYou get a very rough idea from these pictures of the type of thing you can elect to discover there.

This workshop is open to children aged 13-16 and will allow the children to explore this great space and then to handle objects from the collection.

I’ve been sent some pictures of the objects and they’re rather marvellous: kipper ties, weird hats, strange cats and other stuff I can’t identify. I’ll be putting the kids through a series of warm up exercises and focused tasks that lead up to them writing about the objects in no more than 140 characters (that includes spaces, punctuation etc.) just like a tweet, hence the title.

I’m really looking forward to this. I think it’s a great idea and will help them to think about editing and getting to the heart of writing: make every word count.

Here’s a rough outline for the session:

12.00 Arrive at MCC
12.15-12.30- Tour of the stores
12.30- 1.00- Lunch
1.00- 1.30- Introduction to the objects by a curator
1.30- 3.30- Facilitated session to create the interpretive material 4.00- Collection by parents

Here’s the brief:

Outline

  • This project will utilise the interpretation device of creating ‘Twitter Labels’. This means producing a piece of creative writing about an object using a max- imum of 140 characters, i.e. the method of delivery on the microblogging, so- cial media site ‘Twitter’. This challenging method of interpretation is inspired by modern tends in twitter story writing where authors are using a single tweet or series of tweets to tell a story. We would like the participants to create a story or piece of creative writing using an object as inspiration, in the format of a tweet. We are not looking for historical information about the object, i.e. its date, name etc. that information will also be displayed alongside.

Participants will be working with objects from the ‘Patterns and Textures’ sec- tion of the exhibition including examples of textile, glass, carved wood and more.

dollman_street_racks2-300x225I’m not sure who you contact if you have a young one who’d be interested in this project but you could try Dollman Street, just click on this link for details Dollman Street.

Cheers

Teach yourself fitter.

28 Thursday Nov 2013

Posted by fletcherski in teaching, workshops, writing

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6 creative workshops, aspiring writers, Birmingham, Custard Factory, Digbeth, Helen Cross, Teachers, uk, workshops, writing, Writing West Midlands

Calling all teachers, yes you. Crawl out from beneath that mound of marking, take ten and read this post, you deserve it.

Those lovely people over at Writing West Midlands have recruited the novelist, Helen Cross, to deliver a course aimed at helping teachers to become writers. Helen is a novelist and all round creative whirlwind and just the kind of person you need to help you become a more accomplished writer for yourself and in school.

Check out the blurb below for more info:

20131128-185014.jpg

In these six creative workshops novelist Helen Cross shares tips and techniques for improving teachers’ own creative writing and energising the subject in the classroom. Through a series of practical activities and discussions Helen’s workshops, which cover poetry, drama and prose, examine the core aspects of creative writing.

The course will be useful for teachers wishing to develop their own writing, and those looking for exciting ideas to share with Key Stage 1,2 and 3.

Key topics include:

creating believable characters with detailed identities and dramatic possibilities
techniques to sharpen and improve prose and poetic style
autobiographical writing and the importance of lived experience
engaging dialogue for stories and scripts
thinking empathetically about other people, real and imagined.
structuring, editing and shaping towards a final draft
Helen Cross is the author of three novels, including My Summer of Love, which became a BAFTA award-winning movie, and most recently Spilt Milk, Black Coffee, which she has recently adapted for the screen. She is an experienced tutor of creative writing in schools and universities both in the UK and abroad. She has worked with all the leading creative writing in education organisations including Write On! The British Council and The Arvon Foundation. She lectures in writing at Leeds Metropolitan University, and Birmingham City University where she is a Fellow of the Institute of Creative and Critical Writing.

http://www.helencross.net / http://www.writingwestmidlands.org

To Book follow this link.

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