Author, Lamar Giles On “Free Writing”

World renowned author, Lamar Giles, explained what he does to beat-the-block at a workshop for students from Elements courses Writers’ Block and Brilliant Books, on the 4 March 2019.

Lamar talked about his journey into being a reader and a writer. He shared his own methods of coping with writer’s block. Including a letter rush, where you write as many words as possible with one given letter, a sense exercise where you describe an image with all the five senses, and a memory battle, where you describe your favourite memory. Towards the end of the workshop, students did a “free write” writing about anything they wanted to from poems to short stories, allowing their creativity to flow.

Lamar has also set up We Need Diverse Books, an organization that aims to encourage publishers to produce more books about characters with a diverse range of backgrounds and ethnicities. Two of Lamar’s five published books Fake ID and Spin are currently being optioned (screenplay purchase agreements) by HBO and Fox.

Yasmine Lunt (9E) said, “Lamar’s methods for coping with writer’s block definitely helped the students who took part in this workshop; I think his background story inspired students to read and write with a more open mind in the future.”

All five of his novels are available to borrow from the Tai Wai library now.