Johnathan Colourfield's Writing Exercises - 7. Session Seven - 25th July 2011

Exercise One: Place yourself or a character/s in a high-speed chase. What are the circumstances that led to it? What are the consequences?

It really wasn’t my fault. I dived into the car, afraid of what had happened back then.

Someone shot into my back window and I ducked. Do you know how hard it is to drive when you can’t see much of the road ahead of you.

Well, I had seen my mother off to her keep fit class and noticed the bald men in the black van behind me. I thought nothing of it and waited in the car.

The first of them got out of his van and came over and spoke to me.

‘Hello. Are you Jackson?’

I looked over my sunglasses. ‘Who wants to know?’

‘The Godfather wants to know.’

‘Why?’

‘Your mother owes him some money and we need to take her.’

‘I’ll fetch her for you.’ I moved inside but watched him return to the van. I moved into her class and dragged my mother out and threw her in the car and drove.

And here I am now.

I was just in a panic. I eventually got away from the men in the van. But now I’m always looking. Always paranoid.

Because I know one day they are going to try to come again for my mother and I have a feeling when they strike, it will be entirely unexpected. And that’s when I would lose my mother forever because of the debts she built up…

My poor mother.

Exercise Two: What Goes Without Saying?

There are several things in my mind that go without saying. One, is the almost instant reaction of homosexual related to campness. The mind always jumps to the thought that if someone is extravagant they are instantly either gay or bisexual however I know several people that ‘camp’ and are straight. Weird world we live in isn’t it?

The other thing that goes without saying is your actual sex. A lot of people who look like men are men and vice versa. However, there is the issue of being pre-op transsexual. Man these topics can get deep can’t they?

Exercise Three: She (think of a name) hugged the tree as she looked down at the ground far below. How did she get in the tree? Why is she there? What happens next?

Sarah was afraid. She hugged the tree as she looked down at the ground far below. She had climbed the tree as a dare between her and her brother Eustace. Of course, Eustace just wanted to get Sarah into a whole heap of trouble.

She started to climb the tree and tripped on a branch or two but managed to hold her grip on the rounded parts of the tree. She looked down at her knee, which had just healed from the grazes she received yesterday from the evil tree across the yard.

She continued climbing until she reached the top of the tree and then looked at how far she was from the ground and she started to panic and scream.

Eustace ran to get an adult but Sarah had fallen to a lower branch and broken her left arm.

Eustace got in trouble for even having the idea of such a dangerous dare.

They took her to the accident and emergency department within the hour and they sorted it out.

She now knew never to climb trees, no matter how much someone dares her.