Saturday, July 7, 2007
Writing Prompts
One of the most valuable tools I have found are a few pages on the web of writing prompts. When the well runs dry, these are places you can go to find some inspiration. One of my favorite, for all kinds of writing is Creative Writing Prompts. Find a few pages and keep them handy for those times when the inspiration fairy refuses to light on your shoulder.
Thursday, July 5, 2007
Focus on the Senses: All of Them
We are blessed with five senses: Sight, Taste, Sound, Touch, and Smell (STSTS). Well, at least most of us are; I am smell impaired because of allergies. If we are writing, we need to make use of all these senses (I have to work hard on that last one). I am continually amazed with Elizabeth Bishop's poetry. If you take a look at her "At the Fishouses" you will find she makes use of all five senses in that single poem.
I got the following idea from Tell It Slant by Brenda Miller and Suanne Paola. Use all five of your senses to tell about your favorite dinner. I am working on my favorite dinner. It is an Armenian feast and I am working hard on describing a meal that not many people would be familiar with: keyma, basturma, sou bourge, sarma, dolma, kufta, pilaf, shishkebob, peda, lamajoon, and paklava. My task is to describe a 4-hour meal in terms that everyone -- anyone -- can understand. How do these foods look? My task is to describe exotic tastes in terms that someone from Kansas can understand. Foods do have sounds and how they feel to your fingers (some foods are meant to be eaten with fingers) and in your mouth are important. Finally, with food there is always the smell. I can walk into a Middle Eastern restaurant and the smells immediately take me back to childhood.
So, the task is to describe a meal using all the senses. Take your time and go back to what you write several times. This exercise will help you transfer use of all senses to other situations, like Bishop's Fishouses.
I got the following idea from Tell It Slant by Brenda Miller and Suanne Paola. Use all five of your senses to tell about your favorite dinner. I am working on my favorite dinner. It is an Armenian feast and I am working hard on describing a meal that not many people would be familiar with: keyma, basturma, sou bourge, sarma, dolma, kufta, pilaf, shishkebob, peda, lamajoon, and paklava. My task is to describe a 4-hour meal in terms that everyone -- anyone -- can understand. How do these foods look? My task is to describe exotic tastes in terms that someone from Kansas can understand. Foods do have sounds and how they feel to your fingers (some foods are meant to be eaten with fingers) and in your mouth are important. Finally, with food there is always the smell. I can walk into a Middle Eastern restaurant and the smells immediately take me back to childhood.
So, the task is to describe a meal using all the senses. Take your time and go back to what you write several times. This exercise will help you transfer use of all senses to other situations, like Bishop's Fishouses.
Wednesday, July 4, 2007
HOLIDAYS
Today is the 4th of July. Traditionally families will gather for picnics and watch fireworks. A family gathering is a great source of inspiration. There are other events where families gather: Christmas Chanukah, Thanksgiving, birthdays, anniversaries, etc.
Focus on the members of the family and not on the occasion. Thornton Wilder wrote The Long Christmas Dinner that does just that. The play takes place at the Bayard family's Christmas dinner table over the course of ninety years. The play's action follows the family through four generations in accelerated action.
Take a look at the members of your own family. How do they react at family gatherings? Are there genuine characters in your family? like the aunt who collects cats? What family tensions always come to the surface during these get-togethers? In my friend's family, sibling rivalry always rears its ugly head no matter what the event.
It doesn't matter whether you write poetry, fiction, or creative non-fiction, this exercise will give you some material to use. Try it.
Focus on the members of the family and not on the occasion. Thornton Wilder wrote The Long Christmas Dinner that does just that. The play takes place at the Bayard family's Christmas dinner table over the course of ninety years. The play's action follows the family through four generations in accelerated action.
Take a look at the members of your own family. How do they react at family gatherings? Are there genuine characters in your family? like the aunt who collects cats? What family tensions always come to the surface during these get-togethers? In my friend's family, sibling rivalry always rears its ugly head no matter what the event.
It doesn't matter whether you write poetry, fiction, or creative non-fiction, this exercise will give you some material to use. Try it.
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