VICKI BOTHWELL tells of her experience, writing her novel - THESE LAST STRANDS:
'...when I started writing this down, I never expected it to be anything other than a morning page, which I would send to Brian and not think about again. But this character stayed with me too, and the next day I wrote from her point of view again. And then the next and the next, until she was constantly in my head and I couldn't get any other stories out. Her name is Shadow. I knew pretty much straight away that she was not the same character as the girl with the bearded man. She felt much stronger, more determined, harder somehow. I loved her resilience and I wanted to see where she would take me.
Her story went on, her world expanded. I didn't plan her dystopian surroundings, or what happened in her life to make things the way they were – it just came out in her words. I had pushed the other character aside a little, just because I was so captivated by Shadow.
And then, to my surprise, the Girl joined her story. And they could look at each other, make assessments of each other that they couldn't make themselves.
It was really Brian pushing me to keep writing that made me go on with this. I have started many a story in my time, and let it fall by the wayside because life got too hectic or I lost motivation. I'm really proud of this one - that I managed to achieve a story, even if no one ever reads it.
I loved writing it. It was a treat to let my imagination take me on a ride, no pressure. Book three is still very much in the making. I'm meeting new characters all the time – some I like, some I don't, some I love who I really shouldn't, because of the way they are.'
SUSAN LAY talks of hers, while writing RIGHT HAND TO HEART SIDE (provisional title) :
'I found the process very strange. A Queen came to me when we were doing an image stream at the very beginning of working with Brian on a completely unrelated project. She was the second image I saw and was fully formed - a really interesting character - I couldn't understand where she came from! Afterwards I thought that it was just part of the image stream, something that'd just 'popped up' and didn't think much more about her. Later when we started writing morning pages The Master was the first character that came to the fore. He was the tyrannical leader of a dusty city. He started to feature in quite a few morning pages.
Then stories about The Girl came to me. They felt as though they had the same feeling as the ones with The Master, but they weren't connected in any way and I couldn't see how they would as their worlds seemed very different. I kept writing...
Then, The Queen came back in morning pages of her own. This time she was joined by a little boy stealing from her banquet table before running back to the slums where he lived just outside the city.
The stories of The Girl started to include a woman that she was fascinated by. These stories bought her into the city that I recognised as the same one that The Master, and The Queen ruled over.
I, again, had no idea how or if these stories would be part of the same one, I just continued writing, or letting them tell their story while I obediently wrote – The Queen was persistent and for a while things were all about her. Then I realised that The Boy is The Master. I hadn't planned it that way, hadn't even seen it as a possibility. Sure enough, the dots started joining up by themselves. And I discovered that all the characters are very much part of the same story.'
AMY EWBANK on her short story - TREAT ME LIKE A LADY - and what developed from that:
'This piece was written as a morning page using Brian Astbury's technique. It sparked me to explore the idea of giving voice to other brands and logos, and the imagined stories of the characters behind that brand. Following writing this piece, I have now written a full one-hour play telling these stories.'
'...when I started writing this down, I never expected it to be anything other than a morning page, which I would send to Brian and not think about again. But this character stayed with me too, and the next day I wrote from her point of view again. And then the next and the next, until she was constantly in my head and I couldn't get any other stories out. Her name is Shadow. I knew pretty much straight away that she was not the same character as the girl with the bearded man. She felt much stronger, more determined, harder somehow. I loved her resilience and I wanted to see where she would take me.
Her story went on, her world expanded. I didn't plan her dystopian surroundings, or what happened in her life to make things the way they were – it just came out in her words. I had pushed the other character aside a little, just because I was so captivated by Shadow.
And then, to my surprise, the Girl joined her story. And they could look at each other, make assessments of each other that they couldn't make themselves.
It was really Brian pushing me to keep writing that made me go on with this. I have started many a story in my time, and let it fall by the wayside because life got too hectic or I lost motivation. I'm really proud of this one - that I managed to achieve a story, even if no one ever reads it.
I loved writing it. It was a treat to let my imagination take me on a ride, no pressure. Book three is still very much in the making. I'm meeting new characters all the time – some I like, some I don't, some I love who I really shouldn't, because of the way they are.'
SUSAN LAY talks of hers, while writing RIGHT HAND TO HEART SIDE (provisional title) :
'I found the process very strange. A Queen came to me when we were doing an image stream at the very beginning of working with Brian on a completely unrelated project. She was the second image I saw and was fully formed - a really interesting character - I couldn't understand where she came from! Afterwards I thought that it was just part of the image stream, something that'd just 'popped up' and didn't think much more about her. Later when we started writing morning pages The Master was the first character that came to the fore. He was the tyrannical leader of a dusty city. He started to feature in quite a few morning pages.
Then stories about The Girl came to me. They felt as though they had the same feeling as the ones with The Master, but they weren't connected in any way and I couldn't see how they would as their worlds seemed very different. I kept writing...
Then, The Queen came back in morning pages of her own. This time she was joined by a little boy stealing from her banquet table before running back to the slums where he lived just outside the city.
The stories of The Girl started to include a woman that she was fascinated by. These stories bought her into the city that I recognised as the same one that The Master, and The Queen ruled over.
I, again, had no idea how or if these stories would be part of the same one, I just continued writing, or letting them tell their story while I obediently wrote – The Queen was persistent and for a while things were all about her. Then I realised that The Boy is The Master. I hadn't planned it that way, hadn't even seen it as a possibility. Sure enough, the dots started joining up by themselves. And I discovered that all the characters are very much part of the same story.'
AMY EWBANK on her short story - TREAT ME LIKE A LADY - and what developed from that:
'This piece was written as a morning page using Brian Astbury's technique. It sparked me to explore the idea of giving voice to other brands and logos, and the imagined stories of the characters behind that brand. Following writing this piece, I have now written a full one-hour play telling these stories.'