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Carol Carman’s Writing Club Prompt: E is for Expecting
Who or what were you expecting? Where? Why? Why is it important? Does it matter if it gets there on time? What happens after it turns up? Oh, the anticipation! How does your character feel about it? It could be an object, or a result of an exam or a test or the result of…
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Poem: On Being Offered A Lift
Thank you for the offer but I’d rather catch the bus. I know it’s less convenient but please don’t make a fuss. You want to know the reason why? Sit down, I’ll tell you true: I’d rather walk to where I’m going than get in a car with you… Because…
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Carol Carman’s Writing Club Prompt: D is for Drive
Various forms of transport: car, bus, train, tram, trolleybus, steamroller, tractor, ambulance, military vehicle… Is your character doing the driving, or are they being driven? Where to? What for? Who’s with them? What are they feeling? Excited / anxious/ scared /bored / filled with dread? Do they have to be somewhere at a certain time?…
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Poem: Venetian Glass Clowns
They stand, Rank upon rank upon rank, A comical honour guard Awaiting my grandmother’s inspection. Off-limits to us as children Lest our exuberance Damaged their fragility: We knew who claimed first place In our grandmother’s affections. They were not fun…
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Carol Carman’s Writing Club Prompt: C is for Collections
Lots to think about here. You can have collections as in people collecting things, like stamps, or china ornaments, or a certain type of glassware, or little plastic heads of famous footballers (Joe Mercer’s England Squad 1971, anybody?). So from that you can widen it out to What does this character collect? What kind of…
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Poem: Stay for Breakfast
They met, quite by chance, over breakfast – A buffet: fruit, pastries and such. Their hands landed on the same apple; Both started at each other’s touch. ‘I’m sorry,’ they said, and retreated. ‘After you.’ ‘No, go on – after you.’ So they both reached again, and they giggled; He knew then what he had…
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Carol Carman’s Writing Club Prompt: B is for Breakfast
There’s a breakfast table. Now, there are so many options for you here: Who’s at the table? Is it you – and by you, I mean your character. Doesn’t have to be you personally – you can be anybody you want in creative writing. So, who’s at the table – if anybody? If there’s a…
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Short Fiction: A Hundred Paces
I try to keep my hand still, the apple resting on my palm, so I try not to think of how I loathe him, because the loathing and the anger make my hand shake. Oh, everybody in the village thinks the sun shines out of him…
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Carol Carman’s Writing Club Prompt: A is for Apple
Imagine an apple, or pick an apple up out of the fruit bowl. In your mind or in reality, have a really good look at it. Feel its skin. Smell it. Cut it open or bite into it. Is it firm and you worry that it’ll bring your teeth out, or is it a bit…
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Carol Carman’s Writing Club
In January 2024 Louise Hulland and I started up a writing club on BBC Local Radio in the East – and it’s also available to listen to anywhere in the country online! Please join us every other Monday afternoon (give or take a bank holiday or annual leave) and I’ll set a prompt for you…