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 Writing from Creative Kick-Start workshop participants 2016

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Click here to read Not Long Now by Paul Turvey ​
Written from a picture prompt. in the 'Where do ideas come from' workshop
The exercise was based on looking at the image and asking questions. The best question to ask are:
I WONDER ….     WHAT, WHY, WHERE, WHEN, WHO, HOW, or IF….
​
'They'd known about the storm for a couple of days, since Monday in fact. It hadn't been a severe storm to start with and the upgrade had happened on Wednesday. The evacuation order was given on Wednesday afternoon with an emphasis on an orderly departure from the coast. It was anything but orderly.'  Read more

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Click here to read Dorothy by Gerald Hornsby
Written in response to 'Creating Characters' workshop
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'The sun disappeared behind a cloud for a moment, and Dorothy pulled her cardigan tighter around her body. Not for the first time, she regretted coming here. She had endured the long train journey, the noisy commuters, and the shouted mobile phone conversations. Had it really been worth it?'  Read more

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Click here to read Charles and Dorothy by Jill Ritchie
Written in response to 'Creating Characters'​ workshop
​
'The doorbell rang at last. She opened the door with some trepidation.
He stood there in the morning sunlight, older and perhaps a little less self-assured than she remembered.'

Picture
Click here to read Promises by Cathy Offord
​
Written in response to 'Creating Characters'​ workshop
​He stands, back to the wind, smoking the last cigarette of the day.  There can be no more because there is no more tobacco.  The horses are restless and he must move soon.  The land is really still too muddy for ploughing, but this is what he has been ordered to do and he must therefore carry on with the stoical indifference to results that he has cultivated over the years. 

Picture
Click here to read It all began with the Dodo by Blossom Hoyles
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Written in response to 'Creating Characters'​ workshop
​'You scum!’.  Tory Scum!!’  What you’re doing is sick.!’
‘Come on now, move away.  These people are trying to get through the gate,’ shouted one of the uniformed security personnel as Charles, leading a small party, tried to move forward towards the entrance to the exhibition and convention room at Blenheim Palace which they’d hired for their taxidermy conference.

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Click here to read.... Expectations by Vin Hamer
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Written in response to 'Creating Characters'​ workshop
​Charles sat hunched over his computer, lit only by the glare from the screen. He pushed his bifocals down his nose to scrutinise the words. His fingers fumbled awkwardly over the pad as he scrolled the screen. He used to have a mouse which he found much easier; he hated the speed at which technology changed. Among the faces rolling down the page he spotted one that caught his eye. Intelligent, attractive, the right age. Dorothy. Possible.

Picture
Click here to read ...  Unfortunately by Paul Turvey
Sequel to Not Long Now and based on a picture prompt.
​The première went well, her film was well received and she was congratulated by many of the invited audience. Unfortunately that meant the press took an interest but, as she was using an alias, she wasn't overly worried, and, it was all fiction, wasn't it?

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Click here to read ... James Boyd Cole - Jimboy - by  Margherita Petrie
A character study based on images of faces....
The Tannoy system crackled into life as a cultured female voice announced the arrival of flight 709 from Trinidad. The dreary arrivals area of Heathrow Airport became alive as the vibrant colours, spicy scents and musical voices of Trinidad were swept in by the cold March winds and pelting rain...

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Click here to read Micro Fiction based on image prompts.
Writing stories with as few words as possible develops self editing techniques and a sense of 'story'.​
Here are examples from Jill Ritchie and Blossom Hoyles​