writing dialogue

by

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.

 

 

by

Sunday Shape Up: Try Angle?

June 8, 2014  Prompt #39

old tri

 

For this week’s Sunday Shape, we turn to the triangle. Here’s a chance to examine language closely (and playfully, perhaps) and link images with people, actions or memories with abstract ideas.

 

 

Instructions

  1. For five minutes, jot down associations, phrases, and images that come to mind when you hear the word “triangle.”
  2. Read what you’ve written and underline a phrase or sentence that stands out.
  3. Write that phrase on the top of a new sheet of paper.  Write for 15 minutes.

Further Writing

  • Choose one of these phrases as your springboard: Love Triangle. Bermuda Triangle. Research Triangle. Musical Triangle. Triangle Fire. Write for 15 minutes.
  • Write a triangle poem of four lines.
    • Line 1: one interjection or command
    • Line 2: two adjectives
    • Line 3: three nouns
    • Line 4: four verbs

Variations for Writing Groups

  1. On individual index cards, members write down a word or short phrase from each of these categories. a) A setting. b) A person or animal. c) An object. For example, “City park in the early morning,”  “Black dog,” and “Baby carriage with a broken wheel.”
  2. Keep the three sets of phrases in separate piles. (Or, mix them for another variation.)
  3. Members choose a card from each pile and writes the phrases, one each, on each side of the triangle.
  4. Write a piece in which the three phrases appear, connect, or interact.
by

Circle Round

June 1, 2014  Prompt #32

Photo

My tea dish with a tea strainer tea stain. (which washed right out.)

Let’s run around in circles for this week’s Sunday Shapes. Like last week’s square, writing about circles helps you consider language closely and link images with people, actions or memories and build upon abstract ideas.

One word of caution: Because the circle is such a ubiquitous shape in our world, be careful about falling into cliches. Keep your circular writing fresh and specific.

 

 

Instructions

  1. For five minutes, jot down associations, phrases, and images that come to mind when you hear the word “circle.”
  2. Read over what you’ve written and circle (!) a phrase or sentence that stands out for you.
  3. Write that phrase on the top of a new sheet of paper.  Write for 15 minutes.

Further Writing

  • Choose one of these phrases as your springboard: Full Circle. Inner Circle. Vicious Circle. Circle the Wagons. Write for 15 minutes.
  • Draw a circle with a crayon or with a stick in the sand or the dirt. Draw a circle with lipstick on a mirror. Circle a word you don’t know in the dictionary.  Write about it for 10-minutes.

Variations for Writing Groups

  1. On individual index cards, each member writes down two things that are circular (one per card). For example, “A Peach Pie.”  “An Astrology chart.” “A bicycle tire.”
  2. On a second set of cards, each member writes down two short descriptions of a person (one per card). For example, “a balding bouncer at a dimly-lit club.”   “A grey-haired woman with a deck of cards,” “An 8-year old wearing a wig.” (Note sure how the hair theme crept in, but there you have it…)
  3. Keep the two sets of phrases in separate piles.
  4. Each member chooses one card from each pile and uses the description of the person and the round object as their prompt. For instance, ” After just a moment of hesitation, the 8-year-old tosses off the wig and digs into the peach pie.” What happened just before this? What happens next?

And Finally…

How can we talk about circles without mentioning Joni?

“And the seasons they go round and round,
And the painted ponies go up and down,
We’re all captive on the carousel of time
We can’t return we can only look behind
From where we came
And go ’round and ’round and ’round
In the circle game.”

 

 

by

“Get in Shape” Sunday

May 25, 2014  Prompt #25

photoFor the next four Sundays, shapes will be our springboards. Today’s prompt helps you consider language more intricately and will perhaps move you to explore the origin of phrases. It encourages you to link images with people, actions or memories and build upon abstract ideas.

Ready to square off?

 

Instructions

  1. For five minutes, jot down associations, phrases, and images that come to mind when you hear the word “square.”
  2. Read over what you’ve written and circle a phrase or sentence that stands out for you.
  3. Write that phrase on the top of a new sheet of paper.  Write for 15 minutes.

Further Writing

  • Choose one of these phrases as your springboard: Square Meal. Square Dance. Fair and Square. Be There or Be Square. Times Square. Write for 15 minutes.
  • Find a piece of grid paper (or download one here or here.) Write on it in a non-traditional way, for instance, spiraling in or spiraling out, or writing in chunks on separate parts of the paper.

Variations for Writing Groups

  1. On individual index cards, each member writes down two phrases (one per card) with “square” in it. For example, Town Square. Square Deal. Hip to Be Square.
  2. On a second set of cards, each member writes down two short descriptions (one per card) of a person. For example, “thin man with a cigarette,” “young woman with a John Deere baseball cap,” “grandmother who just finished swimming 20 laps.”
  3. Keep the two sets of phrases in separate piles.
  4. Each member chooses one card from each pile and uses the description of the person and the “square expression” together as their prompt. For instance, the thin man takes a drag on his cigarette and says, “It’s hip to be square.”  What comes next?

What did you think of this writing prompt? Share your thoughts.