Creative Writing Workshop with Katie Rose

Katie invited us to explore creative writing as a way of connecting with our personal histories, family stories and ancestral lineages.

Drawing on the Red Thread theme, we explored how writing can help us see the lives of our mothers, grandmothers and ancestors through a different lens, developing greater empathy and compassion for the circumstances, choices and experiences that shaped them.

Katie shared a piece of her own creative writing, set in 1950s Bombay and told from the imagined perspective of Lali, an Indian wet nurse employed to care for her mother as a baby. By stepping into the perspective of a woman whose life was very different from her own grandmother's, Katie demonstrated how fiction can help us explore the untold stories that exist within our family histories.

The invitation was simple: enjoy the process of writing, without worrying about producing anything polished or publishable.

Our Creative Writing Exercise

Choose a place connected to your own life or ancestral lineage. It might be your childhood home, your grandmother's kitchen, a place your mother grew up, or somewhere you've only heard about through family stories.

You can write from your own perspective or imagine the experience of someone who lived there.

Work through these five prompts, building your story one detail at a time.

1. Begin with a window

Start with this sentence:

"The window was slightly open, and through it [character] could see..."

Describe what lies beyond the window. Where are we? What time of day is it? What is happening outside?

2. Move inside the room

Now bring your attention into the room itself. Who is there? What are they doing? What does the space look like?

Allow the scene to unfold through the character's eyes.

3. Show, don't tell

Rather than telling us how someone feels, show us through their actions, expressions or surroundings.

Instead of writing "She was exhausted," you might describe her sinking into a chair, still wearing her apron, too tired to take off her shoes.

4. Add sensory details

Bring the scene to life through the senses.

What can your character hear, smell, taste or feel? Is there a breeze coming through the window? Food cooking on the stove? The sound of children playing outside?

Small sensory details help transport the reader into another time and place.

5. Focus on an object

Choose one object in the room and give it some attention.

It might be a wooden spoon, an old photograph, a piece of furniture, a teacup or something passed down through generations.

Describe it carefully. What does it reveal about the person who owns it, the life they lead or the history of the place?

Stories Shared During Our Session

We heard two beautiful pieces of writing inspired by family histories.

One participant took us to the New Zealand coast in the 1950s, recalling her mother's childhood and adventures on a boat built by her inventive grandfather. The piece offered a wonderful opportunity to explore the sights, sounds and sensations of a childhood day on the water.

Another participant transported us into her grandmother's kitchen, where traditional food was prepared using masa. Through the details of cooking and the objects in a much-loved family home, we explored how ordinary domestic spaces can hold generations of memory, culture and family history.

Both pieces demonstrated how a seemingly simple memory can become the beginning of a rich and evocative story.

Creative Writing as Red Thread Work

One of the themes of our conversation was the possibility of using creative writing to develop greater understanding of the women who came before us.

When we imagine our mothers and grandmothers as young women, living within the particular circumstances of their own time and place, we begin to see them as whole human beings rather than simply through the roles they played in our lives.

We may never know exactly what they thought or felt, but imagining their experiences can open up new perspectives, compassion and understanding.

And importantly, you don't need to be an experienced writer to do this work. You don't even need to know all the facts. Creative writing gives us permission to explore possibilities, fill in gaps imaginatively and discover what emerges through the process.

Continue the Writing

If you joined us live, you might like to return to your piece and spend another 15–20 minutes developing it. If you're watching the replay, follow the five prompts above and see where they take you.

Remember, your first draft doesn't need to be perfect. You can always return to refine the language, add details or change the perspective.

We'd love to read what you've written! Please share your piece, or even just a short excerpt, in the comments below the recording.

Happy writing!

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