18 November 2023

Posted by Claire Hillier

Young Writers - week 3 - Nature Writing [trees/plants/flowers]

Welcome,

We started with our group check in, describing our week so far as a plant/tree/flower - what would it be, and why?

Claire - Ivy, climbing everywhere
Poppy C - Lavender, calm
Louisa - Sunflower, dramatic
Poppy - Willow, tired & lazy
Berry - Oak, a hard week

Followed by a round up of what we are reading this week, and what we like about these works;

Jane Eyre [novel by Charlotte Bronte]
Gone Wild TV show
The Lost Whale [novel by by Hannah Gold]
Murder Most Unladylike books

Then we played a game of FOREST FAMILY PORTRAIT. The class split into 2 groups, one became a ‘Family’ of Trees, the other became a ‘Family’ of Birds. Everyone had to pick their character’s role in the family - and write from that character’s perspective.

The group were given the opening sentence: Right after the BIG announcement…

Their challenge was to decide, together, what the announcement was, and then continue the story from their chosen ‘family member’s’ point of view.

We then shared our work with the group. Having different characters observe the same event in different ways helped us think about good dialogue and point of view in narrative storytelling.

Then we played a game of FIZZ BUZZ. Counting around the room, up from 1, in turn, on multiples of 5 say FIZZ, on multiples of 7 say BUZZ. We got pretty good at it!

Next we talked about Nature Writing, our experience of it, how we feel about it, and looked at our first example: Poetry Book The Lost Words, by Robert Macfarlane & Jackie Morris

“Shortlisted in 2017 as one of Britain’s favourite books of all time on the natural world. These ‘lost’ words were due to be removed from a children's dictionary, because they were not being used. What are the 20 lost words? The list of these included acorn, adder, bluebell, dandelion, fern, heron, kingfisher, newt, otter, and willow.”

BRAMBLE

Bramble is on the march again,

Rolling and arching along the hedges,

Into parks on the city edges.

All streets are suddenly thick with briar:

Cars snarled fast, business over.

Moths have come in their millions,

Drawn to the thorns. The air flutters.

Bramble has reached each house now,

Looped it in wire. People lock doors,

Close shutters.

Little shoots steal through keyholes,

To leave - in quiet halls,

Empty stairwells - bowls of bright

Blackberries where the light falls.

CONKER

Cabinet-maker, could you craft me a conker?

Oil it’s wood, burnish its veneer, set it glowing

from within?

Never. Not a chance. No hope at all.

King, then, could you command me a conker?

Compel its green spikes to grow, its white plush

To thicken? Impossible. Impractical. Inconceivable.

Engineer, surely you could design me a conker?

Refine its form, mill its curves and edges?

Manufacture me that magic casket?

Unfeasible. Unworkable. Unimaginable.

Realize this (said the Cabinet-maker, the King and,

The Engineer together) conker cannot be made,

However you ask it, whatever word or tool you use,

Regardless of decree. Only one thing can conjure

Conker - and that thing is tree.

We then did another writing exercise WORD DEFINITIONS. The group were given 5 words, and tasked with writing up a personal definition of them. Using some of the writing techniques we have been discussing: imagery, alliteration, assonance, simile, metaphor.

Owl
River
Beauty
Trees
Humans

We then shared our definitions. There was some lovely figurative writing, and striking imagery.

We then looked at a story [Run Wild by Gill Lewis] that helped us think about different forms of Nature Writing, including fiction and novels, and how we can bring wildlife, wild and urban environments and environmental issues to life with our writing.

“Gill Lewis’ Run Wild is the story of Izzy and her friends, and what happens when they stumble across an urban wilderness and an injured wolf that desperately needs their Help.

Izzy and Asha really want a space they can call their own where they can practice skateboarding and escape from bullies and the issues they’re facing at home. When they stumble across a derelict gasworks it looks like they’ve found the perfect spot. But the site is home to more than they bargained for and Izzy, her younger brother Connor, and Asha are soon confronted with a wilderness they never expected and a lonely, injured Wolf.”

Our final example was from another book [Wildwood: A Journey Through Trees by Roger Deakin]. A much-loved classic of nature writing from an environmentalist. This is non-fiction journal writing, structured like a diary, including memories and things the author learns about the Element of Wood and different cultures' connection to it. We talked about this as another way to approach Nature Writing.

“I’m lying in the Shepherds hut on a wooden bed under a boarded roof like a pine tent, between walls panelled with pine, tongued and grooved horizontally. Each time a nail has pierced the deep amber wood it has bled a black rusty stain that has crept along the grain and blurred, as though the wood or the wagon itself were traveling at speed. A woodpecker shrieks across the field. A wasp worries the window pane, then zigzags above the bed and eventually blunders into the outer air. The door frames a wall of green: the hawthorn, maple, blackthorn hedge, the dipping wands of an ash, nettles, graceful flowers of grasses. All stir in the hot breeze.

The author goes into detail about his younger years spent studying and observing in the New Forest. Specifically a campsite at Beaulieu Road. He describes the native local plants and wildlife in amazing detail.

“Roger Deakin’s unmatched exploration of our relationship with trees is autobiography, history, travelers tale and inclusive work of natural history. It will take you into the heart of the woods, where we go ‘to grow, learn and change”.

This led on to today’s writing exercise: Choose Your Own Adventure, thinking about todays examples, pick one:

Write an Acrostic Nature Poem
Write a Fictional Short Story about Nature
Write a nonfiction Journal entry about the last time you visited a wild place

We wrapped up with a quick round of ONE WORD STORY. This one got pretty surreal.

Once there was a puddle and his boots got wet, so he went to the market to buy a new pair, but he couldn't find any boots, so he looked around the market and then he found a banana and created a pair of wellingtons. He wanted to paint them whilst eating the banana, because he was very hungry. He sat on a wooden basket until a cat came and ate his boots, and then he fell off a tall building. A little girl called Chair Table looked at the puddle and fell into it. The End.

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Young Writers - week 3 - Nature Writing [trees/plants/flowers]