Experimenting with Voice

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Concentric

day one

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mural

circles 3

Because I recently facilitated the painting of a mural on the side of my garage, I have circles on my mind. For this mural, based on a Kandinsky painting, over 20 members of my cohousing community (plus a few neighbors) pitched in to paint a circle or two. Aged 3 to 60, the painters added their unique perspectives to the mural.

 

Today’s Prompt

Inspired by any of the circles depicted above, write about

  • Orbits. Real or symbolic.
  • Targets. Metaphorical and not metaphorical.
  • Things that Spin.
  • Enclosing and Being Enclosed.

Directions

  1. Write for 10 minutes without letting your pen off the paper. Write whatever comes to mind.
  2. When you finish, circle a favorite or a disturbing word or phrase and write it on the top of a new piece of paper.
  3. Write for 15 minutes more.

Stumped? Try including a conversation between two strangers, a man spinning on the ice, a woman spinning a top, or a child rolling down hill.

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The Face of Frustration

Thursday, September 18

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Art Work by David Adamo

Hey Everyone — I’m back from my summer hiatus with more prompts, recommendations and explorations of the craft of writing. Today’s prompt:

Write about frustration.

Suggestions and inspirations:

1. Writing in prose, write a series of dialogue-free actions that depicts growing frustration. Write for 15 minutes

2. Writing poetry, create pacing, word choice and sentence length that convey the energy of frustration. Write for 15 minutes.

3. Write a list poem on the theme of frustration. Write for 10 minutes.

4. Depict frustration that grows, ebbs, explodes, then…?

 

More about David Adamo’s work here.

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Tick Tock

Wednesday, July 28, 2014  •  Prompt #87

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The element of time often adds suspense and welcome tension to writing. For this prompt, write about two people who agree to meet under this clock at 3 p.m.

 

 

 

Suggestions and Considerations

  • Describe the day’s weather. How does that influence the story?
  • Do the two people already know each other?
  • Is one person new to the City? Is one a long-time resident?
  • Why have they chosen the clock as a meeting place?
  • Write for 15 minutes.

More Writing Options

  • Write a piece where one person is wealthy and one is broke.
  • Write about an illegal or illicit transaction.
  • Write a piece in which the second person never arrives.
  • Write a piece in which the second person brings a third person.
  • Write a piece in which the first person is holding a box.

 

 

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sur-real-ly

Monday, July 28, 2014  •  Prompt #85

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Today’s Prompt

Write a poem or short fiction piece in a surreal or magic realism style. This genre introduces supernatural or unbelievable events or abilities into in an otherwise everyday realistic environment. (However you define that!)

Option #1: Write a new piece.

Option #2: Take an existing piece and add a supernatural element to it.

 

Need more inspiration?  Try one of these options.

  1. A child comes home from school to discover his twin brother in his bedroom. When he left for school that day, he didn’t have a twin brother.
  2. An urban community garden produces vegetables no one planted and no one recognizes. What happens when an 80-year-old woman takes some home and makes vegetable soup?
  3. A janitor spills a new cleaning solution on her hands and discovers she can read people’s thoughts. Or heal people’s illnesses. Or …?
  4. A character wakes up to find he’s turned into a cockroach. (Oh wait, that’s been done.)

Looking for surreal realism inspiration?  Read work by these two authors: Aimee Bender and Frankie Elizabeth Rollins.

 

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Button Holed

Sunday, July 27, 2014  •  Prompt #84

black buttons

 

 

Today’s Prompt

Write about buttons.

 

 

 

 

Instructions

  1. Find two or three buttons.
  2. Hold them in your hand.
  3. Describe their weight, color, texture and material.
  4. What is your response seeing or touching these buttons?
  5. Write for 20 minutes.

Options and Springboards

  • Write about a button found on the sidewalk.
  • Write about an absent button, missing from a coat or sleeve.

Writing Group Options

  1. Each group member brings several buttons to writing group.
  2. Put them all in the middle of the table.
  3. Choose one to write about.
  4. Fashion a poem, story or creative non-fiction piece around it.

 

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Return of the Opening Line: Part II

Saturday, July 19, 2014  •  Prompt #76

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 Following yesterday’s Opening Lines post, here are two more prompts with which to experiment. Choose one of these lines for the exercise.

  • They say I’m not normal.
  • The one place I can be myself is…
  • The first person I told was…
  • Something you should know about my sister…
  • No one knows this, but…

 Further Writing

  • Invert your opening sentence to give it an opposite meaning.  For instance, change They say I’m not normal  to They say I am normal. Write for 15 minutes.
  • Change one word: The second person I told. No one believes this but…., etc.  Write for 15 minutes.

Group Writing Variations

  1. Discuss what makes a good opening line.
  2. Write a list of opening lines for each other.
  3. Write for 15 minutes.

 

 

 

 

 

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Return of the Opening Line: Part I

Friday, July 18, 2014  Prompt #75

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Two-Step Instructions

  1. Choose one of the opening lines below and write it on the top of a fresh page of paper.
  2. Write for 15 minutes.
  • They say I’m not normal.
  • The one place I can be myself is…
  • The first person I told was…
  • Something you should know about my sister…
  • No one knows this, but…

 

Tomorrow: Further Writing and Writing Group Variations

 

 

 

 

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Thursday Thoughts: Out Loud

For Thursday, July 17  Prompt 74

IMG_0607Do you read your work out loud as you write and edit?

If so, how does it change what you write?

If not, try it. See if it affects your word choice, sentence length or dialogue.