Saturday, August 17, 2002
Jack and Jill went on a course
St James Cavallier of course.
Jack wrote prose and rhyming verse
Jill did likewise none the worse.
It was learning through fun.
Any person fearing, "I can never write", would have been in for an unbelievable surprise. We were soon plunged into a hectic programme of exercises on visualising scenarios, on finding a way to let our imagination run wild, on the building of characters and creating imaginary worlds. We did practical exercises on how to write quickly, spontaneously jotting down reflections at random and responding to somebody else’s piece of writing.
Quite a list when one considers we are talking about the two morning sessions, open to men and women, only for a total of six hours.
Menna Elfyn (pictured left), Welsh Poet Laureate for children’s literature and motivator of the writing course, fired our imagination. She geared us with inspiring and challenging methods to encourage us to write. We were made to search in the depths of our body cells, as far back as our childhood days, for memories, experiences and dreams.
With her tactful questioning, explanation techniques and guidance, we discovered that most willing people are capable of writing, including each one of us on the course. Some of those attending had never written before. But then it started happening. It was like an awakening; an awareness that the least one can do is to have a try at writing.
Remarks like, "I don’t know how to go about it or where to start," were bandied around. And yet…! It was just like the brewing of mixed ingredients ready to erupt. There we were, doubting, fearing, feeling uneasiness and even almost ashamed of reading our attempted writings.
Menna watched our facial expressions and reactions when a piece of work was being read in Maltese.
We were allowed two to ten minutes to work on various stimulating exercises. We could write either in English or Maltese. Menna watched our facial expressions and reactions when a piece of work was being read in Maltese. She asked the reader and those around the correct questions to elicit their reactions. She must be a wizard I thought.
Any unfinished work or anything we were not happy with, we redid at home. Next day we reread our work and received assessments and encouragement from our peers and mostly of course, from our tutor, herself. It was a beautiful experience and for most of us a turning point.
"Writing is a craft," insisted Ms Elfyn, and therefore can be learned. For writing to reach the point of art, Elfyn highly recommends, patience, persistence, awareness and acceptance of criticism. She recommended a rigmarole of daily writing. Even if it is just writing a note of what we have read, heard or seen. It is a discipline. In fact she added that one should set a specific time, daily, when this has to be done. Practice, practice, practice!
We discussed how to build characters, how to live with them to bring them to reality. They can be that, which a writer does not dare to be. We realised that the best strategy for maximising writing potential is the unclogging and wheedling out of trapped imagination and knowledge, buried deeply inside each one of us.
Menna stressed that we should believe in our own affirmations. These have the power to change our points of view and also change our life situations. We need to see a better light in this unjust world, to give ourselves a hopeful future. We should have the courage of our own convictions by using our inner intelligence. All this is a challenge for wannabe writers. Inizjamed should be congratulated for organising this writing course.
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