About the writing workshop

As promised, I thought I would give you a few details about the writing workshop I went to recently. I don't want to give too much away, but I absolutely loved it. it was great to meet other wannabe writers aspiring to be published. We were a small group of eight, mostly of women, but there was another man as well and everybody was very nice. We did a couple of exercises, a good deal on writing stuff on the spot, as well as a bit of poetry. I liked the poetry part less, as I have never been very good at it. They were all very encouraging about me doing crime fiction

Here is a bit about some of the exercises:

-The first was using one of two pictures to write a scene. One was a crowded dodgy London street, the other a Mediterranean looking town by the sea. I felt inspired by both, so managed to fit in two scenes, one set in Italy, where a private eye was pondering about Italian beer, the other set in a dingy strip club where two mosbters met to discuss a drug deal.

-We were given each a list of objects and had to create a character who owned and used them. Mine were a purse, lipstick, mirror, knife and condoms. I came up with a female pickpocket. A prostitute would have been too obvious. And I thought even pickpockets are entitled to a sex life.

-We were given a list of characters, a recluse, a homeless person, a failed actor, a politician and so on, and were meant to describe their habitat. I chose the politician (mainly because it's easy to put one in a crime fiction setting) and described his office. We had to choose five objects that was important to the character. Among them, I listed "a book he hasn't read." That was apparently brilliant, as it told so much about him.

So there you have it. For the next workshop I have been asked by the hostess to write a novel synopsis using the stuff above, characters and settings (or not, I was pretty much given free reign). Not sure where to go with it or how to go with it. I do like my pickpocket and want her developed (a name for her would be nice). The politician, I might put him on ice until I find something interesting for him to do. But I will definitely write more.