19 October 2021
Environments
The final session before half term began with a prompt to ‘describe your week as a natural habitat’ (to name a few, we have resided in a forest of spores, busy farmland, and a still pond being disturbed by falling boulders).
Antosh presented us with several videogame environments (including from Metroid, Ori, and Dead Cells) along with the idea that, in games, we are made to understand our character – very often, a silent protagonist – through our environment.
The first task was inventing our own environment, be it a whole landscape or only a room, asking ourselves ‘What is this place?’ and ‘What is seen and heard in it?’. Only once that space was created did we populate it with a character, asking ‘Who would move in here?’ and ‘What did they bring with them?’ then, diving deeper into character construction, ‘What are their hopes and dreams?’ and ‘Why are they here?’.
These motivations informed the next step: creating a second character – be it an object or creature – who was the opposite of our first. The resulting conflict of interest inspired a scene involving an interaction between the two characters.
Finally, everybody filled in a flashcard with a writing-rule such as ‘Write in the gothic genre’, ‘Write a monologue about your character’s deepest secret’, and ‘Write about your character as if they were dead’, which were freely taken on by the group to further explore their invented environment and characters.
After the session, the group was invited to see ‘Who Cares’ in MAST Studio 1.
Crow’s Nest will return after half term.
Archive
Storytelling and Escalation or Rising Action
Junior Writers Club Acrostic Poem
Notes on Intention for MAST Collective - Year 3 - Facilitation Focus
Earthquakes & Dominoes - MAST Collective Blog #4
SUPER MARIO AND POP CULTURE POEMS
Receptionists & Inky Voids - MAST Collective Blog #3
Saying No and saying YES on National Poetry Day!
There's a Dragon in the Wardrobe...
House Warming Party (The Mortifying Ordeal of Being Known) - MAST Collective Blog #2
Intern Blog 5 - The Publishing Process
POEMS TO SOLVE THE CLIMATE CRISIS
On The Streets With Theresa Lola
Intern Blog 4 - The Internship Journey
NEW DIRECTIONS, STARTING SMALL - THE ORWELL YOUTH PRIZE
LIGHTHOUSES, HOPE AND METAPHORS
on workshop and transformations: frogs, lions, and the duck that becomes a larder...
Poetry Ambassadors - Interview with April Egan
Intern Blog 1 - Finding a Voice
World Poetry Day: Fluffypunk and the Invisible Women
On Being a Writer: A Conversation by Beth Phillips & Sam Morton
Poetry Ambassadors - Interview with Kaycee Hill
UNHEARD VOICES: INTERNATIONAL WOMEN'S DAY, AND STORIES OF CONFLICT
