Do you like Kipling?

“I don’t know – I’ve never kippled!” was my Dad’s answer.

In fact, he was a big fan of Rudyard Kipling, the author of Just So Stories, Kim, and The Jungle Book, and other works including poetry.

This week’s assignment is to use one of these quotes from Kipling to inspire a piece of writing:

You must learn to forgive a man when he’s in love. He’s always a nuisance.

I never made a mistake in my life; at least, never one that I couldn’t explain away afterwards.

We’re all islands shouting lies to each other across seas of misunderstanding.

A woman’s guess is much more accurate than a man’s certainty.

For the strength of the Pack is the Wolf, and the strength of the Wolf is the Pack.

Of all the liars in the world, sometimes the worst are our own fears.

I am the Cat who walks by himself, and all places are alike to me.

A man can never have too much red wine, too many books, or too much ammunition.

I am, by calling, a dealer in words; and words are, of course, the most powerful drug used by mankind.

No price is too high to pay for the privilege of owning yourself.

Our next meeting is CHRISTMAS-THEMED, on 20 Dec 2022.

By something ever-so-slightly less than a coincidence, our latest assignment is to write something set in (or connected with) a chemist’s shop or pharmacy. That way, although it seems highly likely I won’t quite reach the NaNo target of producing 50,000 words in one month, at least I’ll be able to say I’ve completed my Island Writers assignment!

Or so I thought!

Sadly, my NaNo novel’s plot hit a snag, so I have now declared myself a NaNoRebel – I’m trying to continue writing and aim for the same word count, but I’ve switched to another project: a memoir of my childhood.

Will I manage to include a chemist’s shop? I doubt it, but we’ll have to see.

So, what can be done with that topic? A chemist’s shop sells two main product lines: health and beauty.

Health

The pharmacy dispenses medicines from the doctors’ prescriptions, while off-the-shelf health products include vitamins and supplements, plasters and bandages, ointments and treatments for minor ailments, as well as products such as toothpaste.

The characters in your story might include ill people, particularly those who wish to avoid seeing their doctor, but are quite willing to spread their infections to others. Keeping people waiting while their prescriptions are dispensed might cause an interesting source of conflict between customers or staff. Alternatively, a customer may be pregnant, which could cause an emergency – or an embarrassing situation. The shop staff might be asked to help with advice or treatment for an injury to a passer-by, or a customer might decide to interfere and offer other customers inaccurate health advice.

Beauty

Beauty products include skin creams, cosmetics, hair dye, foot treatments, nail polish, hair remover and other self-grooming items.

These characters would be people who want to enhance their appearance, either because they’re ugly, or because they’re already beautiful. But does their self-perception reflect reality?

Do they understand how to use the product correctly, or listen to the sales assistant’s advice? Does the beauty product improve their looks, or spoil them? How does the change in their outer appearance affect their happiness, or alter the way they treat other people?

This might be an opportunity to write a memoir of your teenage years rather than a short story or poem. Or perhaps a piece of science fiction or fantasy, where the medication or beauty product causes an otherworldly change.

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Remember, as this month has five Tuesdays, we’re catching up for a friendly drink at Yelf’s Hotel in Ryde (with or without your partner, whichever you prefer) on Tuesday 29 November, 7pm onwards.

The next Island Writers meeting is Tuesday 6 December.

My love is like a red, red rose…

The latest Island Writers assignment topic is Flowers with a meaning.

Everyone knows that a single red rose means I love you. But why?

Back in Victorian times, there were things which couldn’t be said openly for reasons of delicacy, so a complicated language of flowers developed to express these emotions. It wasn’t just the flowers, but where the bow was tied and even how they were presented to the recipient which could impart each shade of meaning.

Some flower meanings pre-date the Victorian era. We might recall Ophelia in Shakespeare’s Hamlet, saying, “Here’s rosemary; that’s for remembrance.” And it’s not too difficult to figure out the intended meaning behind a posy of forget-me-nots. But which other flower meanings have survived to the present day? And which have changed?

White roses symbolise new beginnings and purity, a reason for their continued popularity in wedding bouquets. My personal favourites, yellow roses, meant jealousy or infidelity in the Victorian era, but fortunately their modern meaning is friendship. Sunflowers, with their connotations of positivity and strength, have been chosen as a symbol for those coping with cancer.

Heraldic flower meanings include the white and red roses for the houses of York and Lancaster in the wars of the Roses. Other flowers have been chosen as their country’s symbol, notably the daffodil for Wales and the thistle for Scotland. Holly has Christian meaning, with its spiky leaves representing Christ’s crown of thorns, and its red berries symbolising his blood.

For creative writing, the meanings of flowers can be given a directly-stated symbolism, but can also add subtle emphasis of a theme, as the roses on the judge’s bench are used in Dorothy Sayers’ Strong Poison, which is not only a murder mystery but a love story: red roses (true love) “they looked like splashes of blood,” when Harriet is put on trial for murder and Wimsey falls in love with her, and gold chrysanthemums (neglected love) “they looked like burning banners,” to represent her triumph when she is found not guilty, but also her rejection of Wimsey’s proposal of marriage.

In a piece of historical fiction, if less well-known flower meanings are included, it might be necessary to explain their significance to a modern-day audience:

“The gentleman left these flowers for you, miss.” A basket of white clover, meaning, ‘think of me.’ Isabella’s heart leapt. “I shall do little else until you return, my dearest,” she murmured. Then, to her horror, she noticed a single poppy nestling in the middle of the clover. Horatio was telling her he was not free! “Why, you impertinent…” As he had already departed for London, she couldn’t even send him a single yellow carnation to express her disdain. In a fury, Isabella snatched up the basket and hurled it out of the open window to land on the flagstones below.

In this modern era, we’re free to speak our minds (although that particular doorway of opportunity appears to be edging closed already), but we’re still using symbols to communicate. Emojis began as the use of regular typography to represent smiley faces and other simple emotions and has proliferated into a vast range of symbols requiring an Emojipedia to explain them all. So, if flowers don’t do it for you, perhaps another aspect of the topic could motivate a non-fiction opinion piece.

Or, as it’s November, the present-day symbolism of poppies might inspire you to create an appropriate piece of writing.

But if that idea sounds a bit ropey, there are plenty of other options. Rather than having their movements restricted, your character could be supported by a rope during a perilous mountain rescue, or use a rope as part of their job, such as a cowboy’s lasso, a skipping rope for a gym trainer or a tightrope at the circus.

You might consider a story or poem about something made with rope, such as a rope bridge over a jungle chasm, a rope ladder, a cat’s scratching-post, or the swings and equipment in a children’s play area – one of these might be ideal to spark a memoir you’ve been waiting to write.

Or there are places where rope is used to raise and lower heavy items, such as backstage at a theatre or on a sailing vessel. It could form a rope barrier to protect people from falling into a dangerous area or keep them away to avoid damage to precious items in a museum or stately home.

So, don’t worry – this assignment’s knot difficult at all. Money for old rope, you might say.

As it’s Boxing Day, I thought you’d all like a gift… an extra creative writing assignment! Yippee! And while we’re still feeling festive, I decided Cinderella was the ideal topic.

As far as writers are concerned, the Cinderella story is a wonderful starting point for short stories, romance novels, and even fantasy fiction like Harry Potter.

If you’re not in a particularly creative mood, give us a simple re-telling of the well-known fairy tale, or try it as a poem or play script: it’ll be interesting to compare different versions. You could even combine it with Steve’s writing challenge, and try to tell it in exactly 100 words (not including the title).

If you want to mix it up a bit, you might make the characters all woodland animals, change the ending so the handsome Prince falls in love with one of the ugly sisters, or have a gender-swap, with poor Chris who can’t go to the ball with his ugly step-brothers.

Or why not try a modern-day version, where Cinderella goes out clubbing, but her ride home leaves at twelve, or even a futuristic science fiction version, where the magic is replaced by science, and her outfit is set to dissolve on the dot of midnight?

Whichever you decide upon, remember the next Island Writers meeting is on Tuesday 4th Dec at 7pm-9pm – and unless the rules change, we’ll be back at Ryde Library (£2.50 a session)

Those of you who have been paying attention may have noticed that my daily NaNoWriMo updates have gone from a sprint to a jog to an uphill plod, and finally come to a breathless standstill. I’m pleased with the 6,000 words I managed to write, but I wasn’t sure where the book was going after that.

I’m not too disheartened. Writing a 50,000-word novel in a month is not easy, so instead, I’ve spent the rest of the month adding bits to existing projects and eating way too much chocolate! But it’s made me determined to prepare more effectively next time – perhaps I’ll try Camp NaNo next April.

In the meantime, we have an extra Tuesday in November, which means tomorrow (Tue 30 Nov) we will be Yelfing – social drinks and chat in Yelf’s Hotel, Ryde, 7pm onwards.

This also means we get an extra week to complete the latest Island Writers assignment: Breathless.

This could be about a person struggling to breathe due to unfitness or some form of strenuous exercise – both of which applied to me as I thought up the subject while rushing home for our last meeting!

‘Breathless’ might also be construed to mean ‘not breathing,’ either referring to a dead person or animal, or a creature which does not breathe – a statue, a toy or even an alien.

Alternatively, it might refer to a shocked gasp, or the ‘breathless hush’ as people hold their breath, expecting something amazing to happen, or waiting for the outcome of an important or potentially dangerous action.

Next meeting: Tue 7 Dec at our house in Ryde – use Contact page for more info.

Will I have finished my assignment by then? Don’t hold your breath!

The latest Island Writers assignment topic, Maps, may seem limiting at first. OK, we could write a story about someone who discovers an ancient pirate map, and goes off voyaging to seek the treasure. Although it’s fair to say that this scenario might not have the same freshness today as when Robert Louis Stephenson wrote Treasure Island in the 1880s, there may be a few twists left if we use our imaginations.

We’re not restricted to a particular period in history, for a start. Our story could be set in the Stone Age with a map drawn in the sand, or during Medieval times, the Victorian era, World War II, the 1970s, the present day, or even the future, with space explorers going beyond the mapped area of a planet into uncharted territory.

And the map doesn’t need to lead to treasure. The map might be to give directions for some other reason, be used for town planning, or be part of an orienteering exercise for soldiers or girl guides. Maybe it’s a team-building activity for an unwilling group of office colleagues, or a TV game show.

Examining an area more closely on a street-map, or comparing a historical map with a more recent one, might reveal a secret building or local feature such as a cave or old water-tower. Or the information shown might reveal a hitherto-unsuspected problem which could lead to a story for your characters.

Our map could be something different from the pirates’ treasure-chart or a standard Ordnance Survey map. It might show tunnels, or ley-lines, or rock strata, or the journeys of religious believers. Or perhaps it just shows places with funny names such as Fatt Bottom or Bald Knob.

If all else fails, for inspiration, try Googling, “Interesting Map Facts.” If you found geography lessons boring at school , you might not think there are any interesting facts about maps – but there certainly are!

NEXT ISLAND WRITERS MEETING:

Tuesday 19 October 2021 – for more details, use the Contact page.

WHAM!

Lockdown was quite a shock to the system. Almost overnight, it took us away from our jobs, distanced us from our families and friends, and cancelled most of our hobbies.

It wasn’t easy, but human nature is resilient. So, after a while, we got used to these tiresome social restrictions and created different patterns of living for ourselves. Some of us even preferred our new, relaxed lifestyles, chilling at home in our PJs instead of struggling through the rush hour, and spending more time with the kids, with a cast-iron excuse not to visit our annoying in-laws. As for our creative writing… well, much as we loved it, we had to put that on the back burner until we got the other stuff sorted out.

Now, we’re crawling back towards normality… but wait. Isn’t there something we’ve overlooked? Has our writing been simmering on the back burner for so long, that it’s almost boiled away? It’s become something we used to do, instead of something we do?

It’s time for action: time to do something positive to get our creative urge back.

For writers of memoirs or family history, an afternoon spent looking through old photographs or a visit to a place that has links with the past could be a spur to get writing again. For playwrights (failing a theatre trip), watching a film we haven’t seen before could start us off again, or watching an old favourite, but with a critical eye for its construction.

For short story writers and poets, being an active member of a writers’ group gives accountability, a reason to actually do some writing instead of just feeling guilty that we haven’t. Island Writers meets at our house in Ryde twice a month to do short writing exercises, share our work and keep ourselves on track, and we set a new (optional) topic every two weeks. The current topic is Badges, and the next meeting is Tuesday 5th October, 7pm-9pm.

NaNoWriMo (National Novel Writing Month) is coming up in November – so for those of us who prefer to write novels, Nano Prep can help us get revved up and ready to write. It’s already started, but it’s not too late to catch up, or we can use it as guidance, but follow the steps at our own pace – the important thing is to get going.

Instead of tinkering around with an existing bit of writing, adding a word here and deleting a phrase there, let’s get started on a fresh piece. Any subject, any genre, any length. Try one of these:

• A journal entry – what you’ve done so far today.
• A story which starts, “The dragon was restless.”
• A list of reasons why your neighbour is a pain.
• A poem about cheese.
• A description of one item in the room you’re in.
• A memoir of something naughty you did as a child.
• A piece of dialogue between a posh person and someone who works for them.

Whatever we decide, it’s vital to remember that all new writing is good. If we’re not happy with it, we can edit it later, but first, let’s get some new writing down on paper.

Today.

The poem? Oh, go on, then:

The song of canaries
Never varies
But when they're moulting
They're pretty revolting.

     ~  Ogden Nash

The first question to consider is, do we mean ‘cage birds’ or ‘caged birds,’ and is there a difference? I’d suggest that there is.

Cage birds are those birds which are commonly kept in cages and have been bred for many generations as pets: canaries, zebra finches, budgerigars, parrots, etc.

Caged birds could include other birds which are often free-ranging in an open-topped enclosure or live in the wild, but in this instance are being kept caged, perhaps in a farm or zoo: chickens, ducks, owls, hawks, vultures, etc.

Not that it makes a feather of difference to this assignment. If you’ve got an idea for your creative writing, let your imagination take flight and use it; don’t let an arbitrary distinction hang like an albatross around your neck!

So, why a caged bird, particularly?

The power relationship between a caged bird and its owner can be fascinating. What kind of person must the owner be, to confine a living creature that they claim to love? Do they believe themselves justified – or kind – in keeping a bird in captivity because it would die if it was released into the wild? Does the bird see its owner as a friend, or just a provider? There’s certainly evidence to suggest parrots feel an emotional bond with their keepers.

While any pet or wild animal would probably choose to roam as it wishes, rather than being enclosed, the bird’s ability to fly makes its imprisonment seem a greater contrast, and therefore a greater deprivation. Can we truly understand how a bird feels, when it is denied the right to fly freely? Does it actually yearn for freedom as an abstract concept, or is it content with having its needs met? Does a bird that’s been bred as a pet perceive being let out into a room for exercise as merely a larger cage, or does it believe this experience is all the freedom life has to offer?

How can we use the idea of a caged bird for a piece of writing?

Of course, there’s a short story about a person who owns a caged bird, or the relationships among a group of caged birds, or perhaps a funny poem about a bird who keeps a human pet in a cage. You may be inspired to write a memoir of a pet you once knew, or a childhood visit to a zoo or farm. Alternatively, you might create an opinion piece, arguing for or against keeping cage birds or caged poultry.

If you’re writing fiction or poetry, your caged birds may be symbolic of their owner’s physical loss of freedom, such as in The Birdman of Alcatraz, or the ‘cage’ may be an emotional or physical restriction caused by a controlling person or a repressive regime: Maya Angelou’s poem, I Know Why The Caged Bird Sings refers to the emotions created by slavery.

And for a short story, you might have an ‘unreliable narrator,’ where the person telling the story turns out to be a cage bird, or a character who is described as a bird is actually a human prisoner.

Of course, your cage can also give your readers a surprise. Maybe the bird (or ‘bird’ character) feels perfectly happy and protected in their cage, and dreads having to leave. Or maybe they long for freedom, but end up wishing they were back in their cage.

Whatever you decide to write, don’t get into a flap, but if you want to improve your place in the pecking order and become a fully-fledged writer, bring your assignment to the next Island Writers meeting at 7pm on Tuesday 21st September. Unless you’re too chicken!

Ever had that dream where you show up somewhere in clothes that are totally wrong… or perhaps wearing none at all? Remember the scene in Bridget Jones’ Diary where the protagonist attends a party wearing a Bunny Girl costume… only, it isn’t a fancy dress party?

Being unsuitably dressed for an occasion is a fear shared by many. Why is it such a big deal?

Wearing inappropriate clothing marks us as an outsider – the person who didn’t understand the social rules.

Even the choice of a single accessory can be fraught with pitfalls for the socially unwary. Wearing an unsuitably loud tie, or even just one with stripes instead of spots, choosing a handbag in the wrong colour, or carefully matching all our accessories together too well perfectly – any of these mistakes can signal clearly that we don’t belong.

And it’s not just when trying to impress snooty people at posh formal gatherings that we need to worry. Lower down the social scale, buying the wrong brand of trainers, or wearing clothes that look too immaculately new, or picking a t-shirt with the wrong kind of slogan or band name can have exactly the same effect.

As a topic for creative writing, this visible display of being an outsider can be an excellent way to show (rather than tell) readers what a character is like. Do they swagger rebelliously into the ritzy restaurant, knowing their outfit will shock the boring people who try to fit others’ expectations? Or are they consumed with embarrassment as they slink in, hoping to go unnoticed?

If you prefer writing memoirs, perhaps you recall a wedding where someone turned up in a white dress, upsetting the bride? Or a day when you got in trouble for wearing yellow socks to school? What happened next?

The wrong clothes can be dangerous.

Many jobs have dress codes for good reason. Frilly skirts, trailing shoelaces or baggy clothing can get caught in factory machinery, or create hygiene hazards when working with food. Specialist footwear and headgear are needed on building sites to provide protection against horrific accidents.

Outside working hours, dangers can also come from inappropriate clothes for some leisure pursuits, particularly sports and physical activities such as rock-climbing and caving. Lack of protection against sudden changes in the weather can be a classic – and even fatal – rookie mistake.

These hazards could make a funny poem, or become plot points for a story, and often reveal character, too. What kind of a person knows a piece of clothing could be dangerous to wear, but risks it anyway for the sake of their appearance?

Personally, I solved these sartorial dilemmas by deciding several years ago that I will not attend any event or gathering where wearing jeans would not be appropriate. Not that I insist on wearing jeans, but if it’s too posh for jeans, I’m not going. (Actually, yes, I do insist on wearing jeans! Our wedding was the only exception).

Our next gathering is a social get together for drinkies at Yelf’s Hotel in Union Street, Ryde, on Tuesday 31 August, 7pm onwards. New writers are welcome to drop in for a spot of liquid encouragement!

To share your Unsuitably Dressed assignment or any other new writing, the next Island Writers meeting is at our house on Tuesday 7 September, 7pm-9pm. If you haven’t been before, contact Emily via the Island Writers Facebook group.