Johnathan Colourfield's Writing Exercises - 4. Session Four: 4th July 2011

Exercise One: Write a 26-word story where every word begins with a different letter of the alphabet.

Zeddy yelled periodically down the staircase about Barry’s curfew. Even Fern kept it rigidly. Lengthily, he nattered without getting much understanding. Quinn’s Vision just obliterated Xander.

Exercise Two: Write a short story that includes each of the following: A black hat, A torn blanket, An angry librarian, A green sports car, A lonely girl, A happy young man, A silver watch, A crisp slice of toast.

I put the bread in the toaster and went over to the counter and looked up at the television screen.

‘Good morning. And now the news. Today a silver watch worth £1.5m was stolen from a jewellers. The thief was identified as female and was known for wearing a big black hat covering her hair. Thank you and now for sports.’

I switched the television off. I hated sports. I saw the toast pop out of the toaster and I grabbed the toast. I bit a big bite out of the toast. Mmm. It was quite crisper than usual. Just how I liked it.

Now on the topic of the thief. I knew that big black hat very well. My mother. She loved to wear that hat. Especially when she was going to go and steal something. Oh yes, she was a very good thief. She would always wear it if she was going to go stealing at night. Very skilled. She always liked to steal big shiny things.

She was so lonely though. She had been a lonely confused lost little girl since dad died about 6 months ago.

They were so happy together, my mother a librarian (and she still is by day) and day just simply very happy. Dad worked for a big multinational company and he had a green sports car as a company car.

Mum would come in every day after work and moan.

‘People never pay their fines on time. And they expect me to let them off. I should give them all a good hidin’’.

She worked hard. She worked so hard.

But oh well, I had to get to school. I stood but I felt the table blanket rip because I had my foot on the end of it.

My mum was going to get so angry. She could kill me. Or one of her customers, preferably the latter…

Exercise Three: Describe a goat without using the word goat, or any goat like body parts... and without mentioning CJ by name.

This animal is quite an misunderstood creature. With such a great anger growing within itself it feels compelled to eat your grandma’s washing whilst on the farm or nastily kick you when you are trying to get the milk for breakfast. Oh, we didn’t like cow’s milk. Too watery for my liking. This particular animal’s milk was perfectly luscious for my taste.

Exercise Four: Write about any fruit or vegetable in which you describe how it looks, feels, tastes, smells, sounds (if at all, when shaken) and essence. Evoke the fruit or vegetable, but do not name it!

Externally, it’s skin appears to be rounded with small holes. It is grown on a tree and tastes very harsh if you are not used to the taste. However, if you like the citrus taste then you are in for a great surprise. There are so many different kinds of them. But when you tear the skin off and you chew into it, that is a totally different experience. Oh when you chew, you get a rush of flavour going into your mouth as each of the little capsules burst and fill you with juice. And then after you release the juice, you can chew on the strong texture of the internal fruit… And such a blissful fruit to consume.