a stranger from the future
sat in my deckchair
by pat foster
ABOUT pat
Pat Foster is recently retired from a career in children’s play, community education and more recently helping people have their say in health and social care. Now taking on the role of carer to support her husband, this creative project has helped her to explore ideas and identify what she might like to do for herself in the future.
“This man had landed here in the silver pod and now he stood before me, looking dazed.
I just had to help him, so that’s how a stranger from the future came to be sitting
in a deck chair in my garden.
”
Naomi and Pat's writing exercises
We used ‘automatic writing’ exercises to get our creative juices flowing.
Try them for yourself!
Automatic writing (also known as free writing) is where you write without stopping for a set amount of time. This exercise is useful for generating ideas and letting your imagination run free.
It works like this:
Set a prompt. This can be a word or a quote or phrase. Pat’s prompts included I stepped in a puddle… and A stranger from the future sat in my deckchair...
Set an amount of time. 1 minute, 5 minutes etc.
Then...write! Don’t stop and don’t self edit! Don’t worry about spelling, punctuation or even making sense!
Top tip: If you get stuck when you’re writing, just rewrite the words of the prompt until a new thought comes to you.
At the end of the exercise, read back over what you wrote. You can circle words or phrases that surprise or excite you. Or, you might choose to develop what you wrote into a story or poem.