Our blogs

Regular news and insight from our many poets, writers, educators and facilitators

30 September 2025

Posted by Harley Truslove

Scripts To Hook You & Historical Fiction!

Ali brought in, in her own words, “something sophisticated”… which turned out to be a wind-up fishing toy game! After battling the magnets on their tiny hooks, our writers played in pairs to catch as many fish as they could. Each had a number on the bottom which our writers had to note down.


When everyone had done with their catch of the day, they had to pick random words from corresponding numbered lists. There were some real oddball ones in there, which made the next challenge all the more tricky… use them in a play script! The words had to be used within the first few lines and hook the audience, as it were…




Here are some word lists and what our writers came up with for them:


Trifle, Tractor, Castle, Zebra - a grisly murder scene set up onstage for scene one.


Wallowing, X-ray, Pimple, Cake, Muddy - a character was attacked by a rock-hard cake to the face, and did not want to go for another pimple x-ray.


Roaring, Helter-Skelter, Wispy - a ringmaster welcoming us to the circus!


Casket; Reactive; Gnu; Candelabra - a truly chaotic funeral scene.




We then discussed upcoming competitions that our writers could get involved with. This time around, it was the Young Walter Scott Prize for historical writing. Ali challenged our writers to write a travelling scene, either using their journey to the MAST for the evening as inspiration or to make one up entirely, but change the time period for it. Her advice was to try and tie it to a specific historical moment as people tend to remember events rather than dates. For example, if they were writing in the 1980s they could discuss the marriage of Princess Diana and Charles, or a Victorian scene could discuss Victoria’s coronation.


Some of our writers erred on the side of morbidity. We had a woman being hanged for witchcraft in front of her husband and daughter, as well as an ice-age hunter spearing a rabbit on her sled. We also had an Austen-esque rendezvous as a main character slipped through their window to meet with a beau, and just a straight-up cave painting.


Our writer of the week was Bea, with her great piece about characters in the 1950s going on a date, with plenty of Elvis and period appropriate slang thrown in!

Archive

Back to blog

What's on

Find out more

Our projects

Find out more

Our films

Watch now

Headlight Press

Find out more

Latest news

26 September 2025

Newsletter September 2025

News and Opportunities for Solent Writers and WritingBreakthrough Assistant ProducerAmelia Simpson joins ArtfulScribeArtswork is a charity encouraging young...

Read more

Our blogs

Regular news and insight from our many poets, writers, educators and facilitators

Find out more

Resources


Why not get in touch?