No Adjectives Allowed

Today we did a writing exercise which involved writing with no adjectives for awhile - it resulted in the beginning of the following story, which was then finished by Roisín after the group.... enjoy!

The watch lay on the desk ticking, just ticking..... It was as if the room was shrinking in on me as I stared at the watch. The light spiralled around it, not noticing me, as I marvelled at this world.

My world.

My thoughts remained peaceful and hazy as if I was dreaming.

I felt I as forgetting something, that I should be waking up now, it was too perfect. It had to be a dream.

As if Fate was answering me the walls began to shrink faster, hitting my sides and crushing my ribs. The light that had seemed so perfect was now a snake coiling itself around my neck.

But the watch was still ticking. Its simple existence not interrupted by the changes that had altered this world.

So, foolishly I clung to its sound the only remaining part of the peaceful world I had built. I blocked out everything else, ignoring the pain of my life slipping away.

I let it fill my mind and shield my senses and with a thud I hit the ground.

I smiled as I opened my eyes to the place where I had begum my ritual, I had broken free. My eyes were now open to a world that forbid me to enter.

Calling Young Film makers!!

NOISE Flicks is a youth film festival initiative of South Dublin County Council that began in March 2009. It is part of the NOISE South Dublin online project and networked NOISE Community of creative young people in South Dublin. www.noisesouthdublin.com

What is the purpose of the festival?
NOISE Flicks aims to showcase and celebrate the creative talent of young people in South Dublin County, ages 14 to 25. We consult with professional filmmakers and film, TV, and video lecturers to create a festival that may assist young people in learning more about and gaining access to the film industry. Awards are also given in two age categories: 14 to 18 and 19 to 25.

Who may participate?
The film competition is open to individual young filmmakers (14 - 25yrs), living or studying in South Dublin County, as well as groups (such as in school, PLC or Third Level colleges or youth services) in South Dublin County. Those submitting to the festival must have at least one member of their group either living or studying in South Dublin County. Films submitted must have been completed after September 2008.

Deadline for submissions: Monday, March 1st 2010 at noon
Selection will be based on originality and creativity; strength of script/story; and quality and contribution of editing, camera work and directing to the overall story. Decisions will be made by a panel of judges. Judges’ decisions are final.

Films will be short-listed for screening at RUA RED South Dublin County Arts Centre on Saturday, March 20th 2010.

Chicken Poems

Today we started talking about the poetic possibilities of chickens (what writing group hasn't grappled with this one?), what follows are just two of the poems that resulted from this theme. We used the Adrian Mitchell poem "Live it like your last day Dig what can be dug" as a structural scaffold or jumping off point. Hope you enjoy what follows:

Live life like a great chicken
Eat what can be eaten

In the farm of Nixon
the shed of chickens and turkeys
or turkey-chickens or chicken-turkeys
reflects the mad crazy world
of about 6 billion people

like people in the mad world
I told my Australian servant
who had noticed chickens before

I said that's my job
noticing stuff like that -
I'm a farmer

Unusual isn't it
People in this mad world,
he said wondering.

Now you're thinking right,
I said.

by Thomas

The Army of Angry Birds

The chickens from Australia
are not your typical chickens -
You see
They have an army of marching turkeys
and a pair of angry ducks.
They've taken over Queensland
But they won't stop there,
They'll capture the Northern Territory
and overrun your house.
There is no escape from
the army of angry birds.
by Róisín

The bag

It had a white background and a strange, detailed pattern on it, and it had been used to carry the Queen of England's crown. And it was this reason that this normal plastic bag was worth over a million euro. JOKE! Actually you could buy one in spar for 99c and the only important thing it had ever been used for was carrying a successful business man's shopping. The important thing was that it was used for SOMETHING.

Joan O Flynn

Joan was a nice and generous women and a lovely nan to Caitriona, a member of our group. Joan loved to join us on a Saturday. She gave her opinion and advice on the things we wrote. She also joined us on our annual trip in summer 2008 making the experience that bit better. The things she wrote showed us her sense of humour and her love for poetry. She will be greatly missed by our group.

Call for Submissions from Teen Writers/Artists

OUR VOICE, the resource for creative and talented teenagers from Giftedkids.ie, invites submissions from teen writers, artists and journalists.

Creative contributions of all kinds - fiction, poetry, artwork, comics, original music and film - are welcomed for the BOX OF VOICES journal, while submissions of journalistic pieces and non-fiction pieces of all sorts are welcomed on a rolling basis for the COMMENTARY section.

Please note that as this is a voluntary endeavour OUR VOICE regrets to inform contributors that it cannot offer payment.

Link

http://www.giftedkids.ie/voice

Email

voice@giftedkids.ie

Another story based on Black

The vampire and witch hated each other, yet they both needed to hunt at night.
A graveyard was always a good place to hunt and at midnight the food practically came to you. That did not mean that it was easy to hunt in a graveyard. It was quite the opposite actually. You still needed to fade in with your surroundings. Boots were always best for hunting, especially black ones, then you faded into the darkness better. Leather made it easy for you to swivel in between the obstacles.
The vampires loved black leather for the simple reason that it amplified their powers of allure against their prey.
On the other hand witches hated leather, because it diminished their magic.
The vampire and witch, though they hated each other, had a lot in common, their love of magic brinded them in a way almost unimaginable though they did not know it, they often thought the same thoughts and shared the power of visions. Yet each did not know that together they could turn the world and it's stereotypical shows and rockstars into ashes. They often wanted to destroy the world, yet the shame would be the destruction of everything associated with ACDC.

Open House - Red Rua

Tallaght Youth Arts Forum

PRESENT an

OPEN HOUSE at
RUA RED

A TOUR OF THE NEW SOUTH DUBLIN ARTS CENTRE
NOVEMBER 18TH 2009
Evening tours from 6:45 – 9:15

Tallaght Youth Arts Forum - For Youth by Youth
Booking essential For more info and to book your place please call Tori at 086 0479535 tallaghtyouthartsforum@gmail.com
Find us at Facebook: TYAF Free prize draw on the night!

Silence of the Lambs

Apologies that posts have been sporadic of late, our secretary has carelessly allowed her laptop to crash, so she's way behind with the posting. Anyway - he's The Silence of the Lambs - inspired by a fantastic drawing by one of our talented members.

The tape recording still playing the Goldberg variations by J S Bach with Glenn Gould at the piano filled the small cell with lustrous highs and fast notes which sounded like the choirs of heaven. Above the tape, brooding and ominous as ever, stood Dr Hannibal Lecter M. D. swaying his hands lazily in time to the quickening chords of the music. Behind him lay the recently deceased Lieutenant Boyle, his blood littering the floor in gouts of red and blacks.
As Lecter was orchestrating, an outside noise disturbed his peace, the feeble rasping of the still alive Sergeant Rembry.
At this interruption, Lecter abruptly stopped, opened his eyes and left the cell, pocket-knife in hand, to attend to the Sergeant.
"Ready when you are Sergeant Rembry" he mused, exiting through the open door.

REAL FALSE MEMORY - new noise project

Take photographs, sketch/draw, paint or even just find a picture of a place that means something to you—then create a story around that place---see if people can determine if it’s true or imagined….http://www.noisesouthdublin.com/projects/profiles/profile.php?id=299

The Colour Brainstorm

This week at group - one of our number came up with the fantastic idea of brainstorming around a particular colour and then each of us writing a piece inspired by what came out. We chose the colour black - and had great fun thinking of words we associate with it for a few minutes. Here is one of the resulting exercises, we'll post a couple more over the coming days....

There was once a girl as bright as the colours that she wore with her dark brown hair. There was no helping the dark fact that at night, at the stroke of midnight, she would feel this unbearable pain as she would transform from her bright, calm, and collected nature - to this dark horror with the lust for blood that ran through her family. It was the moment where, hard as she tried, she could not escape or hide from the horrid curse brought upon her, the fact that she was a vampire.
Upon the stroke of midnight, though her mind and memory would be the same, her personality and looks would completely change, her hair glistening in the silvery light of the moon, eyes turned to a shake of pure black. Wearing a knee length black leather coat, long black boots, a black t-shirt, and a short black skirt, her attractiveness increasing a thousand times over, she thought her life would be normal as a dark vampire, but no luck could change what was lurking in her destiny and the person she would eventually meet.

Funky

The last in this series of one line each - we're meeting again this saturday, so may have more to share with you after that!

My best friend sat on my bed chattering about homework, there’s one problem, she was dead.

I was shocked when she first came to me, it happened 3 days after the funeral.

“What the hell, I mean, what the life are you doing here?”

“Oh, you know, just hanging out, boring down at the cemetery, so it is” she brushed some muck off her shoulder.

I looked at her, confused.

I was glad she was there, especially lately.

She stepped out of the room, expecting me to follow.

I did, but only because I felt so angry. I had to yell at her, ask her why she wasn’t in heaven, was she in purgatory?

“I thought I’d have a holiday!”

“So, you decided to come and talk about homework? What kind of holiday is that?”

“A funky one”

“Funky !?”

Dance group and Dance film project:

For boys and girls ages 13 +

Wednesdays from 5 – 7pm

Come join the fun at

Griffeen Youth Centre

Griffeen Glen, Lucan

Colours

Another from our one line each exercise....

Colours, colours, all around me. They feel estranged to me.

They felt familiar like I belonged.

They danced around, almost unaware of my presence.

“They’re alive” was all I could say, “The colours are alive”

“Yes, that’s what they all say Mrs Cuckoo,” said the psychiatrist.

Then I could see the colour blue sneaking up behind him, he’ll be sorry, I thought.

“What is it?” he asked, annoyed.

“They’re going to get you!”

Then blue grabbed him from behind.

“Blue, sit!” he said, and so it did.

“Sorry, this is my dog, blue”

The psychiatrist said “Joe, there’s no dog in this room”

Get your Art on the LUAS!

The 3rd RPA-Luas Art Competition is now open for entries. We’re looking for the best art form using the theme of Luas Docklands (Busáras – The Point). The competition is open to anyone aged 16 years or over and any art form is acceptable. Make sure you read the Rules of Entry in the competition information booklet before submitting your work.

The closing date for entries is Friday 30th October 2009. This competition is run in conjunction with Dublin Culture Night on 25th September 2009 organised by Temple Bar Cultural Trust.

http://www.noisesouthdublin.com/2009/10/30/get-your-art-on-the-luas/

Dentist

The girl’s face hurt from smiling but she just couldn’t stop,

because she was suffering from the after effects of laughing gas.

Her brother wondered when it would wear off and she’d feel the full effects of her visit to the dentist.

The sharp objects on the table made her feel scared, she shouted “Ah, Gawd save me”

She wanted to take them.

She wanted to run away, she wanted to leave this place,

but she couldn’t, because she was strapped to the chair with dental floss.

“Let me out! Let me out! I’ll drink a full bottle of diet coke every day if you don’t let me out!”

“Aha” said the dentist, “I knew it! You’ll have to stay with me now!”

“You pervert, your socks don’t match”

Like his personalities.

She was thinking that her life made no sense at all.

Just then she woke up.

Bubblegum Club Book Bash – Monster Book Fun!

Saturday 3^rd October 2009 (During the Children’s Book Festival)

At the Kingston Hotel, Dun Laoghaire

12pm to 3.30pm

The first ever Irish literary lunch for children and teens. An author or book guru at every table! Come along and meet:

Derek Landy, Mr Skulduggery Pleasant himself! Winner of this year’s Irish Book Awards.

Marita Conlon McKenna, much loved and multi award winning author of Under the Hawthorne Tree

Sarah Webb, author of the hugely popular Amy Green series and bestselling author for mums and big sisters too!

Don Conroy, writer, artist and much loved Uncle Don from Den TV

Joe O’Brien, author of the Alfie Green series and other brilliant books

Judi Curtin, creator of the mega cool Alice and Megan books (TBC)

Celine Kiernan, author of the Moorhawk fantasy/adventure trilogy

Claire Hennessy, teen writing sensation who started her career at age 13!

Alison Walsh, uber experienced editor Ivan O’Brien, publisher, O’Brien Press

Plus more amazing writers - David Maybury, Maeve Friel, Jane Mitchell, Roisin Meaney, and Sarah Rees Brennan. And David O’Callaghan, book guru from Eason.

A fantastic, once in a lifetime chance to talk to these amazingly talented authors.

Plus Derek Landy will entertain you with tales from the depths of his wickedly creative mind. And our crack team of book trade professionals will answer all your questions on how a book is created and how you too can get published.

It gets even more exciting – every young reader will go home with a goody bag, and there will also be an Author Auction - win a writer to visit your school, or signed books by Darren Shan and other cool writers, plus a bookshop on site.

Please note tickets are limited and early demand has been unprecedented, so please book now to avoid disappointment. Children e20, adults e25 (child and adult tickets both include lunch – and child tickets include free goody bags)

All children under 12 must be accompanied by an adult

Booking: email - bubblegumclubbookbash@gmail.com

Tel: 01 2360456 or 086 2628888 or check out www.bubblegumclub.ie for details

Children’s Book Festival info: www.childrensbooksireland.ie

It

They were all sitting in a room squashed together.

They were all waiting for it to come into the room.

But what was it? They weren’t exactly sure yet.

A dog walked in and out. “Was that it?” someone asked.

There was an old man asleep on the bench, he woke up and said “Did I miss it?”

“Nope, not at all, go back to counting those sheep of yours Joe”

Everyone was anxious waiting for it, Jenny had a glimpse of it, she thought.

“I wonder if it will come at all” whispered Jenny.

“Yes, it will. In fact, it’s already here” said the giant flying mouse.

“Hi, I’m the GFM, but you can call me Bob!”

“Bob” said Jenny timidly “Are you it?”

“Of course, the wonderful Bob, not the builder”

“Haha,” everyone laughed anxiously.

Glass

“It’s nothing but glass” said Joe

Shattered pieces in front of me. I didn’t trust Joe.

I felt like they would harm me, they somehow reminded me of Joe.

Why was I following Joe? He scared me and proved time and time again that he was untrustworthy.

And so am I, otherwise I would have told him I was stalking him, but that would have ruined the fun.

I have one complaint as a stalker. I walk pretty fast. HURRY UP JOE!

Joe was lagging behind, about 30 feet, this would never do, I had to stop and wait for him.

Then as usual what do I do next, I collapse. The same clutz.

I get back up in time to see him running towards me in a hurry.

I turn around and run away.

He pursued me and I panicked and ran into the candy shop.

Then everything stopped.

“I’ll have some sherbet and some bullseyes please!” I was in a rush.

Swimming

The water was totally calm and nothing was really happening.
Susie hadn't been swimming for such a long time.
She saw the water flowing in all directions in ripples.
She was attracted to it like she needed to be there, in it.
She stepped into it, wanting to swim in it,
but knew that once you went in there was no coming back,
for there was a shark in the water. Some of the smaller, vegetarian sharks tried to fight him off, but to no avail.
He was heading straight for Susie's toe.
"A Shark, run run! I mean swim swim, you fool!"
But should she?
She turned about and tried to swim back.
But failed and was devoured.

Another from our one line each series - we will be posting more of these over the next few days.

Poetry Aloud Competition

Applications have opened for the Poetry Aloud Poetry Speaking Competition. Organised by Poetry Ireland and the National Library of Ireland, the competition is open to all post-primary students across the island of Ireland and is in its fifth year.

The entry form is here

Man Eating Toilet

Today we did an exercise which involved each person giving the person on their left a subject to write about. One of us got the subject of a Man Eating Toilet. Since there's more than one way to approach any thing - the lucky recipient of this task came up with the following take on it... Hope you enjoy.

"It just won't fit Rob, leave it and walk away" shouted the judge.
Rob stared at the toilet in determination. He took in a breath.
"Ok. If I start with the lid and eat the rest..."
30 seconds left.
In a last gasp attempt, Rob lifted the toilet and threw it in the air.
Time seemed to stand still.
The toilet came down.
The crowd gasped.
The clock was on 5 seconds. Rob opened his mouth and swallowed.
The toilet was gone.
People were clapping "He DID it!!"
The judge walked over to Rob and shook his hand.
"Ladies and Gentlemen, the new Guinness world record for the fastest time to eat a toilet!"

The John Betjeman Young People's Poetry Competition 2009

The John Betjeman Young People's Poetry Prize is now in its third year. The competition was inaugurated in 2006 to celebrate the centenary of one of the nation's best-loved poets. The competition is open to 11-14 year olds living anywhere in the British Isles and the Republic of Ireland. Entrants are limited to one poem each about their local surroundings or any aspect thereof, whether it be a house, a street, a garden, a park, a city or a wider landscape. The spirit behind the competition is to encourage young people to understand and appreciate the importance of place.The inaugural prize was presented by the Poet Laureate Andrew Motion to 12-year-old Jamal Msebele in front of a packed congregation at the church of St Mary Redcliffe, Bristol. Since then Jamal Msebele has been a guest on Radio 4 and has become quite a star. Following its success, John Murray (Publishers) have offered an annual prize of £1000 (£500 to the winner and £500 to the English department of their school). The winning poems for the 2007 competition were announced at a special poetry event at the Cheltenham Festival of Literature, where a sell-out crowd heard the poems read by leading actors including Edward Fox, Phyllida Law and Daniel Stephens.If you would like to enter this year's competition, please download the entry form. For all enquiries, please contact the prize's administrator Justin Gowers (email: justinagowers@yahoo.co.uk)

One Sentence Each

This is from one of the exercises we did today - where everyone writes a line of a story - then passes it on to the next person to write the next bit.

The man grabbed his cigar with chubby, sausage-like fingers.
"Hmmm," he pondered, then his eyes opened wide and he threw it at the terrified servant "I told you SILK CUT!"
The cigarette flew through the air, missing the maid's very flammable hair by inches. It landed with a thud in front of the closed door, causing smoke to crawl through the small crack, altering the fire alarm. The alarm sounded, everyone ran from the building.
"Ok, no more smoking or else"
"But I like smoking, it's not my fault you got the brand wrong"
"Sorry boss, but your excessive smoking coupled with large anger issues is just too much of a health hazard lately, goodbye. I quit"
"You can't quit, YOU'RE FIRED!"
"Oh yeah?"
"Yeah"
"Good then"
"Yeah Good!"
"You guys have the worst comebacks in the history of comebacks," said some random interfering teenager.
"Yeah well, so's your face"

Honey FUNGUS lands!!!

We are the artists formerly known as Lucan Teen writer's group. We formed in February 2008 when the adults group were too mean to let us join them, so we said "We'll start our own group so" and we've been meeting in Lucan library every second week ever since.
We've only just renamed ourselves while out on our second annual summer day out - and the new name is:

"the
HONEY FUNGUS
group"


Our aims are to support and encourage each other in our creative writing efforts. We play word games, do random writing exercises, read and discuss articles on writing, as well as reading our work to each other. We sometimes let the adults of Lucan Writer's group come along, so we can impress them with our brilliance, and teach them a thing or two about writing.
We write stories/ articles/ poems and some of us are currently working on our first novel. We welcome new members on an ongoing basis.