Lessons and exercises for creative writers from the use of writing 'discovery' letters in therapy.

 

Having used writing as a central therapeutic activity with clients for thirty years (Cognitive Analytic Therapy) and having taught therapeutic writing skills to many trainees and health professionals, and having spent the last seven years in a creative writing group in East London, I would like to share some techniques for using ten minutes of 'discovery letter writing' to parts of my characters (if fiction) or parts of myself (if therapy) to open up a correspondence between my characters.  We will explore how we put ourselves into, and/or keep ourselves out of, our characters' lives.   Is the gold common to both therapeutic and creative writing to be found in those moments of shimmering and hovering between reliable and unreliable narratives?