In the Frame

What are your earliest memories?

I’m sitting in the bay window of my childhood bedroom following the path of raindrops as they make their way down the outside of the glass.

I’m fascinated with how the water catches and wells at the bottom of each V in the diamond shaped leaded panes.

There is no direct route.

Natures tears have to wait their turn to fall to earth.

Gran is washing me in the kitchen sink of a holiday park static caravan, on the Isle of Wight.

It’s my first day at Infant School.

I’m waiting outside the gates with Mummy.

I’m wearing a yellow dress, not school uniform.

Apparently, the last two didn’t happen quite like that.

I suspect memory, second hand story and photograph have been stirred into a generous helping of time to create a fiction-mess.

Are your memories always in colour?

I can see that yellow dress (and feel the scratchy polyester against my bare legs!).

The sink is stainless steel and the kitchen is white; maybe even colourless.

My bedroom walls are peachy-pink.

Floral patterned navy blue curtains are pinched back from the bay, their roses concertinaed in a fabric press.

Those images lead to other images in my mind, spilling out from each room or setting:

I can see the school playground… fragments of games, faces, noise.

Gran is singing to me, lulling me to sleep.

I’m walking out of my bedroom, into the hall.

Doors to the other rooms are open, waiting to be remembered and explored.

What can you remember?

Close your eyes and picture a place or time you know well. It might just start a story…

Alive and Kicking

What does a story look like? How do you know when you've written one?

5 words, 500 words, or 50,000 words?

Prose, or poetry?

First person, or third person?

I'm more interested in a story appearing, than its appearance (if you see what I mean...)

So I say, don't worry about what you think it should look like. Chances are what you end up with will be different to how you imagined it anyway. Stories have a habit of writing themselves, once the words find the page...

I joined in with a creative writing workshop this morning. We did a few random tasks to generate ideas, spent a few minutes writing, then sharing was optional. We all started with the same tools and prompts, but came up with completely different shaped stories. That's why words are magic - you can weave them together in your own unique way.

Here's the story I made with pen and paper from: 'Wind powered acrostic'

Turning

Undulating

Rushing

Briskly

Inspiring

New

Electricity

How do I know it's a story?

Well, it tells me something about what a turbine does, in just 7 words.

I could add description to each line and make it longer, but I think it sounds rather good as it is: an accidental poem!

Domino Dancing

At the beginning of a story I wrote, the main character was not keen on reading and even when his teacher encouraged him to escape into an adventure, he still insisted there was already too much going on in his own head to take in anyone else's world. No spoilers here, but our reluctant reader does become more interested in books as the pages turn and he realises there's more to a paper caper than just words!

A literary journey can get going when someone is given the right book. Simple as that! But what if it starts with meeting the right person to give it to you...

If you know a reluctant reader, or you are one yourself, it's probably just that they, or you, haven't yet discovered the story that will ignite curiosity. It may be a story that's already familiar; you just didn't get a spark the first time around. Or it may be the person who will offer you that book hasn't found you yet. Be they a librarian, teacher, bookseller, friend or family - they'll be waiting somewhere with something precious to share with you. When it happens, you might not even know; but in time you'll remember and want to pass that gift to someone else so they can experience the magic of reading too.

Ooh, I got all philosophical there! It's because I believe there really is a story, poem, comic, recipe book out there for everyone. It will find you when you least expect it, which is usually when you need it the most. Be bold and brave; read what's around you, write down what you notice and how it makes you feel. It might just be the spark you need to start your own story.