27 September 2021
Posted by Matt L.T. Smtih
City Planning - MAST Collective Blog #1
What was once Mayflower Creative Writers is back, with a shiny new name and a shiny new building, our writers now coalescing as the MAST Collective. For this session, we have a new way of operating taking place in the physical confines of MAST, the Mayflower Studios our shiny new home, whilst simultaneously occupying the virtual space we have over the last year and a half, keeping our Zoom room open. This gives us both a physical and a digital space for our writers to come together in. Working in a hybrid fashion for the moment truly means a lot to me, as someone who is immunosuppressed continuing to have spaces that can be accessed both physically and virtually is extremely important and I’m so grateful to Mayflower and Antosh for providing us with that space. With that in mind, the places that we inhabit is very much a key theme for this term, our little nooks, where we reside, where our writing lives, whether that’s our homes or out in the world. This term we are building a town.
We start by looking at ‘Assumptions’ by Richard Hugo from This Triggering Town. Hugo wrote ‘Assumptions’ with the notion that every writer has their own interior “town” from where our writing springs. Hugo talks about the town and its “assumptions,” how he is placed there and connects with the world, be it as the towns only stranger or someone who has lived there all their life and should have left long ago. How do our assumptions lay the foundation for a world? Does the hermit who lives in a shack on the outskirts reside in the town that is “closely knit” or the town “where at best relationships are marginal?” What assumptions lead to his existence? Is he apart from the town or is his isolation what the town truly represents? Through sketching out these assumptions Hugo provides a metaphorical manual for us to explore how our writing can exist in a place. What assumptions underpin our writing? How do those assumptions form a world?
We are tasked with writing in these terms, thinking about our writing as a town, questioning who lives there? Where do your ideas come from? What kind of buildings do they inhabit? What’s the architecture like?
We next look at Ella Frears sublime ‘Hole Manifesto’ a manifesto for holes which dares to ask the important question: Is the centre of a Party Ring consumed along with the Party Ring? From this we are tasked with writing a manifesto for an object of our own.
Over the course of this term everyone will be adding to a padlet, a resource that we’ll be using to share our ideas about our towns, and where our writing lives. Looking forward to seeing what everyone has to offer!
Archive
Junior & Young Writers Week 3: Return From The Magical World
Junior & Young Writers Week 2: African Mythology
Problems, Problems, Problems...
Cautionary Tales & Christmassy Opening Lines
You've Gotta Have Pace, Pace, Pace
Junior & Young Writers Week 1: Alien Encounters
Junior & Young Writers: Week 5 - Play on Words Pt. 2
Junior & Young Writers: Week 11 - end of term showcase [build a bard workshop]
Junior & Young Writers: Week 10 - Greek Theatre - chorus stories
Junior & Young Writers: Week 9 - Greek Origin Stories - Spring
Rubber Ducks & Writing Festivals
Junior & Young Writers: Week 7 - Greek Hero Stories [the 12 labours of Hercules]
Junior & Young Writers: Week 12 [Wild Words] - Stuff & Things
Junior & Young Writers: Week 11 [Wild Words] - World Building 2
Junior & Young Writers: Week 10 [Wild Words] - World Building
Junior & Young Writers: Week 9 [Wild Words] - Mystery & Choose Your Own Adventure
Junior & Young Writers: Week 8 [Wild Words] - Spooky Sequels & Potion Poems
Junior & Young Writers – Week 10 (Writers’ Inspiration) – Final Showcase
Junior & Young Writers – Week 9 (Writers’ Inspiration) – Editing & Performance Tips
Junior & Young Writers – Week 8 (Writers’ Inspiration) – Cuteness
Time goes on by Tavinder Kaur New
Junior & Young Writers – Week 7 (Writers’ Inspiration) – Natural Solutions
Junior & Young Writers – Week 6 (Writers’ Inspiration) – The Language of Fruit and Veg
Junior & Young Writers – Week 5 (Writers’ Inspiration) – Adventures In Space
Tinklebobs and Bedraggled Angles
Junior & Young Writers – Week 4 (Writers’ Inspiration) – Our Environment
Fortune Tellers & Future Letters
Junior & Young Writers – Week 3 (Writers’ Inspiration) – Home
Young Writers - Week 10 (The Art of Writing) – Final Week Showcase
Junior Writers - Week 10 (The Art of Writing) – Final Week Showcase
Young Writers – Week 9 (The Art of Writing) – Choose Your Own Adventure
Junior Writers – Week 9 (The Art of Writing) – Choose Your Own Adventure
Young Writers – Week 8 (The Art of Writing) – Sequel Stories
Junior Writers – Week 8 (The Art of Writing) – Sequel Stories
Young Writers – Week 7 (The Art of Writing) – Picture Prompts
Junior Writers – Week 7 (The Art of Writing) – Picture Prompts
Young Writers - Week 6 (The Art of Writing) - Script-writing & Dialogue
Junior Writers - Week 6 (The Art of Writing) - Script-writing & Dialogue
Junior Writers – Week 5 (The Art of Writing) – Poetry
Young Writers - Week 5 (The Art of Writing) - Poetry Potions
Edward The Martyr - A Competition!
Mood Boards and Postcards from Space
Young Writers - Week 3 (The Art of Writing) - PLOT
Junior Writers - Week 3 (The Art of Writing) - PLOT
Moomin Stories and Hollywood Pitches
Young Writers - Week 2 (The Art of Writing) - Genre & Setting
Junior Writers - Week 2 (The Art of Writing) - Genre & Setting
Prompts, Dialogues, and Cliché
Story Structure Part One: Exposition and Beyond...
Young Writers - Week 1 (The Art of Writing) - Character
Young Writers - week 4 - Nature Writing [animals & wildlife]
Junior Writers - week 4 - Nature Writing [animals & wildlife]
Young Writers - week 3 - Nature Writing [trees/plants/flowers]
Junior Writers - week 3 - Nature Writing [trees/plants/flowers]
Young Writers - week 2 - 'fractured fairy tales'
Junior Writers - week 2 - 'fractured fairy tales'
