Diary of a creative writing class 2

Free-write 10 minutes. Prompt ‘Skin’.

By the hair of my chinny chin chin I will not let you come in. For I intend to stay alive. In my very own skin. I will not to be skinned for your pleasure.  I will hunker down into my skin. This skin of mine.

Take this skin. And. Change this skin. Cast it off and become another.  Be born again. Show one’s true colours next time round. Become Lamia of the shimmering skin, oiled and shining and lascivious.  Ancient. As old as the hills.

Skin so smooth it makes one weep. Fragrant, soft baby skin. Unlined. Unwritten. To be talced and cared for and kissed. Cherished skin that envelops strong, growing limbs. But without stamp or address. Downy potential. I shall put myself back into this simple skin. Hot or cold. Rough or smooth. Kind or unkind. And find the memory of those first caresses that have left their trace deep down in my cells. Their imprint on my skin. That explains so much that comes later.

Read and discuss techniques used to build characters from two short extracts taken from literature. We used the tramp Fearless, from Blood by Janice Galloway (1991) and Marlene from Dora: A headcase by Lydia Yuknavitch (2012).

Think about motivation and contradictions.

Writing activity – build a character using character sheets. We used the following

which are adapted from Cathy Borders, Book Midwife

NB We = Lily Robert Foley and myself

Featured image taken from ‘Two-headed chicken’ by Ukrainian artist Maria Primachenko.

Day 44.