Octember 2009 Writing Newsletter
Re-story, re-imagine Life
and Work
To remain vibrant throughout a lifetime we must always be inventing
ourselves, weaving new themes into our life narratives, remembering our past,
re-visioning our future, re-authorising the myth by which we live.(Sam Keen and
Ann Valley Fox)
Dear
writer, re-inventor, storyteller, reader, traveller, lover of words, images, silences…
There is a
saying “Never let what happened get in the way of a good story.” We are deeply fictional as human beings. We love stories because we are stories.
Years ago while facilitating a workshop
with teachers in
“One night I was sitting
in a bar when a man approached me. ‘You taught me 25 years ago.’ He was vaguely familiar. ‘You taught us Macbeth.’ ‘Yes I loved that
play.’ ‘I will never forget the moment when you put on a purple cloak, came down the
spiral staircase and gave one of Lady Macbeth’s speeches. I chose that moment because I never put on a purple cloak and there wasn’t
a spiral staircase in that school. Yet I must have taught in such a way that I
touched that person’s imagination. That is my breakthrough moment.’
American writer John
Irving says our writing is made up of what we have experienced and what we
could have or would like to have experienced. When the two are sewn together you can’t tell where the seam is.
Here
is part on an interview with writer, Dmetri Kakmi, author of the memoir
PB:
... you mentioned earlier that you had blended a couple of names and inserted a
fictional scene in order to create dramatic unity…. Did you feel that you were
compromising the truth or did you feel you were reinforcing it?
DK:
During the writing I found that the facts were getting in the way of telling
the truth. I wanted to explore an emotional truth. The only
way I was able to communicate that was to manipulate some of the facts.
By that I don’t mean that I lied – relatives and friends who read the book
certainly recognise the events and themselves – but, as you say, I collapsed
two people into one character. I rearranged the chronology of certain events to
suit the dramatic build-up and tension of the narrative. Part Three contains a
fictional scene, which is an encounter between two main characters, but the
information revealed in that scene is all factual. (feedblitz@mail.fleedblitz.com)
So
if we are fiction, we can choose what kind of story we wish to inhabit.
Dorian’s Oct / Nov/ Dec Storyshops/ Writeshops/Conversations
During Oct individual workshops are
like hair on my folically challenged head. I’m
involved in corporate story-telling work and a workshop with SLED (Sign
Language Education Development) to create sign language stories for schools…
and a fair bit of one-on-one mentoring. So talk to me about your
workshop/writing needs?
1.
The Joy
and Call of Stories Find the Story
teller inside
A practical 6 week Storyshop Series to evoke Creativity
and Imagination
Sat 26 Sept, 03, 10, 17, 24 and 31Oct 14:00 - 17:00 Kirsten Pearson joins as co-facilitator
R900.00 (or R150 per week) 19 folk on the course
You can still join if you come in on
3 Oct
This workshop
will show you how to ritualise and energise your life though engaging with
stories – those of your own and of others. Climb inside
stories and tell them from the inside. Listen to them, Shape them.
Taste them on your tongue. Reconnect to creativity, memory and
imagination. This workshop experience will energize you. You will get a clearer
understanding of how we construct our lives as fiction and how
this can release us into a more abundant life. You’ll emerge
with stories in your heart and on your lips.
Week 1: The Why of
Stories
Week 2: Archetypal
Stories
Week 3: Sourcing Stories
through observation
Week 4: Structure your
own Stories
Week 5: Practical:
telling Stories
Week 6: The Circle and
the Fire - A celebration of Story telling
Kirsten is a Dialogue facilitator, poet and the volunteer Project
Lead for the Movement for Sharing Life Stories. She promotes story
telling as a way to support change, create new realities and transform the
potential of our future.
Venue: Novalis Ubuntu Institute 39 Rosmead Av, Wynberg (dome twixt Wetton +
contact Kirsten on 021 461 3145 or email: kirstenpea@gmail.com
Stories are the creative conversion of life itself
into a more powerful, clearer, more meaningful experience. They are the
currency of human contact. — Robert
McKee
2.
Your Life, your Movie R220
Sat 5
Dec 15.00-18.30
Life
is a tragedy viewed close up and a comedy in the long shot (Charlie Chaplain)
Imagine
directing your life as a film.
How
would you work out the story board/ line? How would you start it - with what dramatic
sequence? What songs and theme music would you include? The
Grateful Dead? Mozart? Who would some of the other
characters/antagonists be? What symbols carry power for you? How would you
represent them? What angles, lighting? What close-ups? How would
you use the zoom? Where would you cut certain scenes? And the ending… and
rolling credits? This workshop will
respond to these questions.
Who should
attend? anyone who:
·
is in the film industry – directing
filming scripting
·
has a desire to write cinematically
·
loves the larger than lifeness of film and spends time at the movies
·
is writing autobiography, biography or
fiction
I
love the generation film/ that spans the forehead /of a family line.
the wheel spins hair/ on a ninety minute
reel, /forming fluff, now blond
then grey, now silver shade/ sewn on
a wintery head. (Cinematic Speed –Dorian)
Dorian
is the purest storyteller I have encountered. Archetypes cling to his coat
tails and hide in his book-bag hoping for a mention in his next work. Every
creative writer should work with Dorian. Like Pilates for creative
spirits, he re-awakens the story loving child within.
(Tess Fairweather)
If the session
is well received, Fairweather Films will facilitate
an extended workshop in 2010 where we put this idea into practice: Telling our
own stories in our own films.
Venue:
Runway – unless otherwise advised
Contact:
Tess Fairweather
tess@tessfairweather.com
083 254 9589
Ongoing
activities
Development Work
In Nov/Dec I will
be soon working alongside Dr Laura Campbell of the HSRC and Robs (Bereavement
NGO) in Pmb facilitating a needs analysis through stories, creative
play and prompts for caregivers, nurses
mothers who care for children who are dying.
Corporate Work
Graham
Williams (co author Halo and Noose) and I are busy during Oct with
corporate workshops. We are also offering a special for the season: contact me
for details
|
|
Café Table Conversations and Campfire
Chats |
|
A unique year-end event for your staff |
|
Speaking Engagements
Be still when
you have nothing to say but when genuine passion moves you, say what you've got
to say, and say it hot."( D. H. Lawrence) I’m building up this aspect of my work.
Anywhere: Spring Stories at Home (repeat info)
This season I will be a story-ing for
groups of friends…an evening, wine, cheese, breads and tales for the telling.
Any rhyme or reason – birthdays, TV fatigue, the art of conversation, sommer. Gather a group for Summer This month sixtieth
birthdays.
Mentoring – one-on-one (repeat info)
“You make me sound like myself” (various clients.)
Walk with me in words. You put on one shoe, I wear the other. Memoirs,
mindfulness adventures, work in the word… genres tumbling out of folk on the
one-on-one path. Such a richness of story here.
5-
Email Courses: Writer’s/ Poet’s Voice Course – one-on–one
tuition (repeat info)
Some folks respond to structure, assignments… if so, ask and it shall be
negotiated. Here is one possibility: Do
you love reading and writing? This one-on-one apprenticeship aims to take you
further up the writing mountain and offer you a deeper engagement with your
craft. This course is structured in the nature of an ongoing conversation with
a few chosen writers or poets, (ancestral or alive) with me and with yourself.
I encourage you to keep a journal to record your observations and reflections.
CD/ Books
The
Halo and the Noose, the Power of story-telling and story listening in Business
Life R180
Want
to source a 100 plus stories? co-written with
Graham Williams (Graysonian Press). We run corporate
story workshops based on our book. Bruce Copley leading aaha
educator, sound journey man writes:
The stories are delightful. I love the skilful way in which you
explain and illustrate the relevance and connection of stories to every
sphere of our short earth walk. Congratulations for a fine and profound gift
that will I have no doubt, weave its magic. I regard
as one of the most delightful and totally captivating reads of my life.
(bruce@aahalearning.com)
For orders: from the authors or Graysonian
Press Inspirational
books that change the world www.graysonian.com +27 11 6462956 or 0836101113
new CD
out: More Stories: Stories from
Some fifty
plus stories to entertain, tease , stimulate
creativity, prompt discussion… … R100 plus postage (cover is more of an olive
green than as it appears below)
Friends at Work and
Play (see previous newsletters on my site)
Louise van Rhyn writes:
We are very excited about the amazing group of people who are
registered to attend this session… so book your place as soon as possible! an
opportunity to learn about the leadership task of community building whilst at
the same time becoming part of a community of people who are committed to make
a contribution to South Africa.
Please forward this information to your network
Ps. We have many requests for
sponsorship from grass-roots community leaders to attend the event so please
let us know if you or your organisation are able to help sponsor attendance of
community leaders
Aneta
Shaw: Creative relaxation in a small
group context
Enhance personal growth and honour your soul through creative techniques. Aneta is
a clinical psychologist and hypnotherapist, has
integrated years of experience and life in other countries with ancient ways of
being in this world.
Aneta
082 686 8118 or 021
8555415 aneta.shaw@vodamail.co.za
Sonja Wilker
Life is the
adventure. Sonja assists people to enjoy the ride, love life, and live it to
the full. “I bring to my coaching, joy, fun, practical experience, specialist NLP, and other mind-blowing tools.” Sonja is also
an artist.
http://www.coach-coaching-stars.com
Tel/fax: 021 783 5303 083 44 999 88
Elma Pollard
The
paper is spreading spreading …You might like to send
a contribution to the Green Arts page? .Elma elma@thegreentimes.co.za 084 868 2908 for orders, inspiration, contributions, conversations,
support.
Writer-sites and News (see site
news on my web. see new web address dorianhaarhoff.com The longer old one is
linked to it.
May you become
a character in your own story.
Dorian
PS Thank you to all those
who circulate this letter.
Dr Dorian Haarhoff
021 855 3937 / 082 873 6802/ fax 086 511 4751
http://www.dorianhaarhoff.com