Creative-writing classes might suggest to the mind a room of chairs and desks equipped with paper and pens or screens and notebooks. In other words, a set environment for a sedentary activity. But this doesn’t have to be the case. In fact, replacing a classroom session with an excursion into the open air can offer all kinds of benefits to writers.
All creative-writing exercises are a call to invite the muse in, rather than passively waiting for her to call, and one approach is to go outdoors in search of visual inspiration. For example, each writer might decide – before setting out – on a particular colour they’ll look for while walking. The idea is then to note down every time they see that colour, be it blue, orange, purple – whatever appeals, every time they spot it in their surroundings.
This opens up that wonderful concept of serendipity and the pleasure that comes from making unexpected discoveries that spark creativity. It suits anyone – from beginners who want to explore language and words but have no definite goal to seasoned writers who want to try something new to enrich their material-gathering or find ideas for a new project.
One of the great advantages of this activity is that, although it’s set and directed, the outcome is unknown. This requires faith that – in the famous phrase of Mr Micawber in Charles Dickens’ 1850 novel David Copperfield – ‘something will turn up’. And the process is proof that it always does.
Follow the colour trail
This exercise can be done solo or with fellow writers. All you need is a notebook and pen.
Plan Your Walk
It could be a meticulously plotted route or a spontaneous wander through streets or countryside. Two contrasting examples from my sessions include a walk-through Huddersfield, West Yorkshire, and a cliff-top hike from Coogee to Bondi, near Sydney.
Pick a Colour
Choose a colour you expect to see frequently, like green on a country walk, or one that might be challenging to spot, like purple. Even familiar scenarios provide surprises. For instance, a coastal walk in Sydney looking for blue might reveal sea and sky, but also the blue-grey shades of gravestones in Waverley Cemetery.
Focus Your Attention
Once you’ve chosen a colour, pay attention to every instance it appears—be it in a stone wall, a shop’s bright awning, or a passer-by’s clothing. It’s about observation, missing nothing, and noting down anything that attracts your attention.
Format Your Worksheet
Draw a line down the centre of a page in your notebook. On the left, describe each appearance of your chosen colour. On the right, jot down any details or thoughts that arise.
Look for links and contrasts
In Huddersfield, for example, a student looking for orange noticed a woman wearing a bright-orange sari who happened to be standing alongside a coffee house’s orange-panelled facade and noted the contrast between traditional and contemporary. Another writer looking for gold found it in the etched lettering on the Victorian grave of a young man killed far from home in battle, before, only a moment later, observing a child playing with a gold-coloured plastic gun. Make a brief note of any observations like this.
Take a pause
Find somewhere to stop for a while and write or, if preferred, return to your usual space for creativity. There are contrasts and reflections, shadows and clashes in many aspects of life, so a theme might emerge from your notes on linked or contrasting sights. Make a list of what the oppositions offer up as potential for some creative writing – for example, permanence and transience, traditional and modern.
Draft a paragraph
Using each pairing, draft a paragraph describing the sights or items you’ve seen, highlighting any links or contrasts. For example, notes from the Coogee trail might develop into prose like: ‘The massive slabs on the Waverley graves stand like cliffs against the nearby rages of the sea. The names of relatives fragile, like life itself. The massive water like nature.’ This could, in turn, be developed into a couplet, for example: ‘Man-made stone and nature’s rock stand strong | Carved and shaped, but for how long?’