Begin with a list
Begin by making two columns on your blank page. In the first column, write a list of general places – such as school, corner shop, swimming pool, beach, cinema. Then in the second column, write down some sensory details (smell, sound, taste, sight, touch) associated with those places, such as bruised oranges, clanging bells, tomato ketchup, ticking clocks, gravel.
Join the two columns with arrows. And make statements with the connections you make, for example: A school is bruised oranges or A beach is tomato ketchup. They don’t have to make sense, the sillier the better. Watch out for surprising ones that could be the start of something. Freewrite from this if you’d like to.
Take a peek
Here are some sentence starters. Write down into your notebook then write whatever comes to mind to finish the sentence, keep going for as long (or as little) as you want to (you could set a timer for 10 minutes or however long you’ve got):
When I first went there, I…
If you take a peek at the map, you’ll see…
Off the edge of the map is…
When I reached the edge I saw…
You told me…
I couldn’t…
It was as if…
Remember the time when…
Who knew one day I would find…
Mapping
Maps are brilliant for so many things, for example, working out the setting in a story you want to write, helping you remember a place you’re trying to visualise, or helping you work out where exactly something happened and getting to know and owning a place. You can make notes on the map with things that happened, things you notice or sensory details.
Pick a place. This can be your favourite place, or the most interesting place you know or a place you really want to write about that lives in your imagination (can be fictional).
Then write a list of features of the place. For example, the rundown building on the corner, or the bus stop where you used to hang around as kids, or the café where someone works.
Then draw the map. Here are some examples to give you an idea:
Helen Cann: https://helencann.co.uk/
Add notes and labels as if you’re sharing with someone else (for example, go here if you want the best ice cream or this is where I…) even though it’s just for you.
Pick a sense – for example smell or sound and add notes just on that sense to the map.
When you’ve practised, try representing your lockdown story of gender-based violence in this way and if you’d like to add it to our research, click on the button below or email lockdowngbvstories@brighton.ac.uk. Add Your Story