Creative Writing: the Quick Matrix: Selected exercises & ideas for teachers

By Susan Lee Kerr

Creative Writing: the Quick Matrix is for writers teaching creative writing to adults. Can be adapted by any teacher for many levels of creative writing, and by writers' circles and individual writers.

The 86 exercises and 18 mini-lectures selected from the original paperback are arranged in five sections in easy to use ebook format. Nurture and Running the Course include planning, pacing, supporting the group (and the tutor) plus guidelines for non-destructive workshopping. Stimulus features over 30 exercises and methods to light the creative spark plus five zero-preparation exercises for the tutor in need. Craft covers another 34 exercises for honing skills, including story-starters, character, p.o.v., dialogue, scene, plot, richer writing. Process offers tools to help break through procrastination and live the writing life.

PRAISE FOR the original paperback CREATIVE WRITING: THE MATRIX, Exercises & Ideas for Creative Writing Teachers.

‘This inspiring book is jam-packed with writing exercises and full of tips for teaching creative writing. It's making my class preparation/delivery a cinch… If you teach creative writing - or you're interested in learning more about the craft of writing as a writer yourself - this book comes highly recommended! -- Amazon review by Hellymart

‘Kerr's ideas are inventive, sparkling, and inspiring and she comes up with many useful solutions to commonly encountered problems... The activities suggested are designed to awaken and stimulate a creative writing spirit among students and are suitable for both beginners and more advanced writers... Kerr leads potential teachers through all stages of the teaching process...’ -- Zuzanna Bartoszewska in Writing in Education, the journal of National Association of Writers in Education

‘Very easy to use, this book is packed full of good ideas that work very well even for small groups… this book has been a great confidence booster; definitely one to keep in your box of tricks.’ -- Amazon review by Cassandra

‘a very helpful manual for those involved in creative writing and workshops... great thoroughness and sensitivity... I now feel I am not alone.’ -- Kate Nivison, Women Writers Network News

• Language: English
• Publisher: Paxton Publishing
• Release date: Sep 1, 2015
• ISBN: 9780955137013

Book preview

GREETINGS! A GUIDE TO USING THIS BOOK

MATRIX, according to the Concise Oxford Dictionary, means ‘womb; place in which thing is developed.’ Which feels to me exactly what a creative writing class is – a place to develop.

To tutors reading this book: I’ve written this for you with the assumption that you are a writer. Maybe you are published, even much published, maybe still working toward that glorified state. Some of my writerly explanations may seem simplistic – sorry about that, but it’s because I’ve learned students need these basics. Some, on the other hand, may seem scanty – because I assume that you know what I mean and you’ll use your knowledge, experience and creativity to fill in the gaps. Ditto teaching: if you’re an old hand, you’ll gut this book for what you need – we’re always looking for new material, aren’t we! I have started, however, with the notion that you are new to the role of creative writing tutor – welcome to the front of the classroom.

To writers reading this book: Aha, a how-to addict! You’ll be looking, as always, for insights and methods to help you write. A lot of the exercises here are adapted for teaching from books aimed at writers, so you may be able to interpret them backwards for work on your own – or use the source list to buy the originals. However, most exercises need leadership, many only succeed as staged or surprise writing, quite a few need pairs or groupwork, many need preparation – now you see what your tutor does for you! If you’re in a writers’ circle, members in turn can take on the ringmaster role to run exercises. I wish you good writing.

The Quick Matrix ebook v the original Matrix paperback, what’s the difference?

All the 86 exercises and 18 mini-lectures here in this ebook are there in the print version. But the paperback has additional exercises and mini-lectures of a longer, deeper nature, especially in creative processes and story craft.

Start at the beginning, and then skip around: This book is arranged in five sections which are not meant to be used in consecutive order when teaching. The first and last sections, Nurture and Running the Course, focus on overall planning and organising. The middle sections offer loads of exercises and mini-lectures. I’ve numbered these to make using the book easier – but this in no way indicates order for use in the class. Skip around, pick and choose; call on your own creativity for class planning.

Italics throughout the book indicates talks or instructions for you (tutor) to give to students; obviously not meant as a verbatim script, this graphic mode lets me shortcut explanations. Italics also indicates handouts, tasksheets, whiteboard, PowerPoint or similar direct communication with students.

In the Craft section my focus is prose fiction and narrative, applicable to short story, novel, possibly memoir and narrative non-fiction; the Stimulus and Process sections can be used for all forms of creative writing. In Sources I list for your further support many how-to books that have helped grow me and this book.

SECTION I: NURTURE -- A Safe Place in Which to Grow

This Nurture section provides a course planning and pacing overview, and then suggests specifics for the first class of a course. Stimulus, Craft, Process and Running the Course sections follow with heaps of material to piece together to suit your own style and class needs.

MAPPING THE COURSE

When you sit down to prepare a course, 12 weeks, 30 weeks, 6 weeks or even one day feels a daunting acreage to fill. You may want to theme each session or you may want to just coast but in my experience teaching is easier and students are happier when there’s structure to each class, and to the course as a whole. Indeed, in most teaching institutions these days such pre-planning is required. Even if it isn’t, do sketch out a plan for yourself, and even if only verbal, do give the class a notion of direction – it gives energy to the course.

Planning a course. For a beginners’ general creative writing course lasting weeks or months, you’ll generally work through a range of disciplines – short story, poetry, radio and/or stage play, lifewriting, perhaps articles or children’s stories. My main focus here is the intermediate or advanced prose course covering narrative skills. Whatever the content, break the stretch of weeks into mini-series (say dialogue or character) dotted with one-offs (see Stimulus). Wordplay (in Craft) linked to nothing at all is a good livener any time.

Ring the changes among the writing exercises you choose: stimulus from picture, word, object, situation, character… Use a variety of instructions: taskslip, worksheet, peer imperative, multi-staged, transcribing, listing, bubbling… Remember to vary methods of class participation: pairing devices, groupwork, paired discussion. And in every single meeting get students’ pen to paper or hands to keyboard – it’s a writing class! And a few students may never write anywhere but in the classroom, alas.)

Planning a very short course. You may find yourself doing a one-day or weekend course. This can focus on the elements of story writing using stimulus exercises, or you can plan a close-up on just one craft aspect, like character or dialogue. Good pacing is vital; see below.

Pace each session. A successful class comes from a variety of activities of differing paces, in chunks of 10, 15 or 20 minutes each. You need to balance quiet ‘down’ activities (individual writing exercises, reading out, occasional mini-lectures) with lively ‘up’ work (pairs or groups, whole-group report-backs, pooled discussion). A whole two hours, or a whole day, in just one of these modes leaves everyone dissatisfied. So plan each session, and be the time keeper, wrapping up and moving on to the next activity, keeping energy levels strong.

A secret of good teaching is… not teaching. Don’t TELL students, LET them learn, especially by leading them to participate (writing, talking, reading out). Some telling is inevitable, but try always to have an active writing stimulus to kick off a lecturey topic, eg dialogue.

Don’t cling to the front of the classroom. In pair or group activities stroll about listening in, lightly supervising to keep students to the task, answering questions, picking up points to make to the whole class when you regroup.

Another not-teaching essential: coffee break. Education studies have shown that peak attention lasts for 20 minutes, then begins to fade (hence the need for changes of pace, above). So good teaching practice REQUIRES a break at around one hour (or 90 minutes for a 3 hour session). The studies show that on return to the classroom attention is high again. There’s more to this than refreshment, too. If you have been an adult student, you’ll know the break reinforces the teaching. Students continue to talk about what they’ve just been doing in class; even in social chat they continue the bonding and support fellow-writers need. Try to keep break to 10 minutes… but it always takes longer. A further tip: after break is a good time for ‘class business’ announcements or perhaps a mini-lecture. Start of class is NOT good for this, due to late-arrivers; at the midway restart everybody is present and fully alert.

FORMING AND SUPPORTING THE GROUP

It is the first session. No matter how advanced the writer – or how new to writing – everyone likes to feel good about being creative. And no one likes feeling anxious or criticized. As tutor, your initial job is to create a friendly, supportive and competent atmosphere. Confidence is the key to successful growth in creative writing, and you build it right from the start.

Preparation: class plan. Sitting down with a blank form – start time, break time, end time -- helps focus my energies on the particular class, and reminds me what materials to bring. I schedule the activities and put the plan in a clear plastic looseleaf page with my class notes. I take it out of the binder for class so I can glance and prompt myself as to what’s supposed to happen next. It’s amazing how your wits can fly out the window once you’re talking and interacting with students.

Of course the activity time slots are notional; be ever ready to adapt to circumstances – fewer or too many students, queries, room changes, admin tangles, any of these can throw your timing. Keep calm and soldier on cheerfully – you and your writers are here to enjoy writing.

Preparation: browsing materials. People will arrive early, late and in between for the first class, so you can’t start on the dot. But the silence as they gather is awkward, so prepare a selection of eye-openers and support from the writing world:

- writing magazines (back-dated is fine)

- writing ‘bibles’ (Writer’s Handbook, Writers’ & Artists’ Yearbook)

- competition fliers

- fliers for author readings, writing events, residential courses

- if available, a binder containing previous students’ published work

- possibly samples of your own published work

Preparation: whiteboard & tutor kit Write Welcome and the name of the class on the board to focus students and let them know they’re in the right place. Therefore – your tutor kit: a pencil case or pouch containing dry-wipe board marker, paper towelling cloth (because there is never a board eraser when you need one), gummy picture-tack and sticky-tape (to put up signs when your classroom is suddenly moved). Also handy: some spare pens (yes, students sometimes come to a writing class without writing materials), a small pair of scissors, some paper clips.

Preparation: other materials. I assume you know the following, but just to be sure…

- handout – a sheet of information tutor prepares in advance and photocopies to give to all students; it’s good to use coloured paper for essentials you want them to keep throughout a course. Or just to liven things up!

- worksheet and questionnaire – a full page photocopied handout that the student writes on in class

- tasksheet or taskslip – a half sheet or strip of paper tutor has prepared in advance and cut up for distribution as part of an exercise.

Preparation: room arrangement has a huge impact. Feng shui or whatever, it affects the way the tutor leads and students bond, vital for forming the group