Writing Themes

On the launch evening we discussed the possible writing themes that might arise when thinking about the area in and around Bridgnorth.

The main themes we identified were:

Personal experiences of the area
Old ways and new ways
Viewpoints and biographies of local people
Movement and transport ( ice sheets, Romans, Normans, urban overspill… commuters, the Welsh influence, river transport, Severn Valley Railway )
Working communities ( modern rural life, isolated settlements, loss of post offices, rural industry )
Farming (developments in agriculture, wealthy landowners, property, competition, well-being )
Origins ( growth of settlements, landed gentry, rich and poor, place names, local dialects, myths and stories, religion, artists and writers who have lived / worked here, families )
Connections
Heritage and tourism ( holidays, camping, walking, fishing, forests, quarries, steam railways, iron, coal, pottery, tar, museums, castles, churches, abbeys, halls, landscape, limekilns )
Leisure
Landscape ( nature, formation of the environment, conservation, geology … rock formations, fossils, the seasons … hunting, poaching, fishing … rivers, floods, the hills..The Wrekin, Brown Clee, etc … caves, bridges, birds, wild animals, views, weather)
History, nostalgia, ( research )
Local myths
Distinctiveness

However, probably the most useful themes to individual writers may be the ones they haven’t thought of yet