The Story Garden - CoLab Exeter

Colab Exeter has started creating a Story Garden at Colab and we need your stories.

We are asking for 50-65 words, which will be written on wood around the garden. We know reducing a story (or it can be referred to as a micro-memoir) to such a size can be a challenge. We want to get as many stories as possible, placed all around the garden, hence each learner will be allocated a space. 

Story Themes

• Myths and Legends – can you create a short myth or legend, perhaps using something that happened in your life?

• Journeys – Journeys across space (from overseas to here or the other way round), journeys through time (an object/recipe/motto etc. that has been passed down through families), journeys you’ve taken in your mind.

• Women’s Stories – we want to make sure that women have a space to tell their stories.

• Hidden Stories – who doesn’t get to tell their story, to get their voice heard clearly?

• Symbols and Images – Your story could include symbols and images. You could even create a story with just symbols and images.

• Plants and Stories – Could you use plants to tell stories or include a plant in the garden, in order to amplify or illustrate your story?

Come and join our collective experiment. We want to discover if, in this polarised world, if there is a common thread of humanity running through, if not all, then at least most of the stories in the garden.

Sessions to get involved run weekly at Colab Exeter every Monday 2pm - 4pm, reserve a free space on an upcoming session here »

What is a Micro-Memoir?

“They bring together the extreme abbreviation of poetry; the narrative tension of fiction; and the truth-telling of non-fiction. At its most basic, a micro-memoir is written in sentences, drawn from personal experience” (Beth Ann Fennelly)

We are asking for micro-memoirs of between 50 – 65 words to become part of our Story Garden.

With micro-stories being so stripped down (no excess, unnecessary words) you can see the bones of the story.