Mslexia

From the Mslexia Workshops Collection

December's Workshop: Write on the Wild Side

DEVISED BY LINDA ANDERSON

EXERCISE EXCERPTED FROM ISSUE 25:
FLYING

>> Growing wings. Try a bit of magical realism. Imagine an 'ordinary' character, male or female, who begins to grow wings. It starts with an itch in the shoulder blades, and then something sinewy and feathery begins to sprout. How does your character respond? How do others react? What does the transformation mean, if anything?

>> Seatmates. Invent your own fictional scenario in which two characters fetch up side by side on a plane and begin to talk. They don't have to be swapping confessions. One of them might be boasting or lying. You might want to make your story comic. But try to move your plot towards an outcome in which one of the characters is unexpectedly changed by the encounter.

>> Weighed down. Invent a character who is flying to an exciting destination where s/he hopes to act or feel differently. List five or six items associated with his or her old life which s/he cannot bear to leave behind. What happens to these items in the new setting? How does your character let go of them?

>> Goodbye. Invent a character who feels oppressed by something big – a religion, a job, a parent – and show the oppression in vivid particular details. Imagine what might trigger your character's decision to escape.