Making Maps to Inspire Stories
The “evolution” of Writing Maps was a gradual process. It all came about quite organically. I’ve been teaching creative writing for about twenty years and have always been interested in the writing that happens away from the writing desk, away from home, in art galleries, parks, cafés, and public buildings. I’m a big fan of writing guides – those creative writing books with exercises and prompts. Natalie Goldberg’s Writing Down the Bones and Ursula Le Guin’s Steering the Craft are two of my favourites. I'd been thinking about putting together a creative writing guide, to make a book out of everything I’ve discovered about writing, but I wanted to do it in a different way, not so much in book form.
When I started running my "outdoor" writing workshops, I became more and more fascinated with maps, not just street maps to guide you round the city, but artistic maps, creative maps, maps that are intimate and personal, maps that depict a private experience of the city, of life in general! Basically, I joined the ideas together: teaching writing, writing in public places and an intimate response to the world by mapping it. Then I worked with some amazing illustrators and designers and together we created these Writing Maps.
