The Creative Writing Class 2010-2011 began this week. The second year I'm offering this as an option and numbers have tripled to 15 or so. Word is spreading ...

Here's the first exercise:

• Old copy of Great Expectations from which you tear individual pages
• Distribute a page to each student
• Ask them to stick the page onto a sheet of white A4 paper
• They are then left to 'respond' to the page in any way: to circle words, lines, phrases; delete; chop up; work with images; try to derive a narrative within the narrative ... it's up to them.
• Looking at the result, they can then leave it at that or use this page as the starting point for further work (perhaps a poem composed from the isolated material)

Above is my page - I make no great claims for it. Given the craziness of the first week back (computer problems, info-overload, new faces & new names, meetings ... ) it's good to find the opportunity to make something 'tangible' and a little space in one day at least.