Another one from the writing workshop with Deb Sturgess. The whole point of this workshop is finding methods to stoke your creativity and get the juices flowing again if you are stuck. So every week we do different bizarre things that end up surprising me with how well they loosen up the muse. I’m always amazed at what I come up with, especially when at the beginning of these exercises I’m always like, “OMG! COMPLETE BLANK! WHAT AM I GOING TO DO!!!?!?!”
Here’s a tip, for everyone. If you are ever stuck, on any project, just take a time out and do one of these random exercises. It really helps. Just put your pen to paper or fingers to keyboard and GO. Don’t think. Just write.
You’ll be surprised at what happens. 🙂
This exercise involves writing something, anything, for a specific amount of time of your choosing. I believe the shorter the better though for this one. We happened to do three minutes.
For three minutes, write about whatever comes to your mind.
At the end of three minutes, STOP. No cheating!
Then, take a concept or word or sentence from whatever you wrote, and write something else for three minutes, launching off from that concept/word/sentence.
At the end of the three minutes, STOP again.
Repeat as many times you want!
This is also a novel idea (heh heh, novel…) for writing scenes in your, eh, novel. Or short story. Rewrite a scene several times, in several different ways, and then choose your favorite. (I did this accidentally just recently, and while I found it irritating that I wasted hours and days of my time writing thousands of words that were eventually scrapped, it did eventually lead me to the way I actually wanted that scene – just took me awhile to figure it out! 😛 Maybe this exercise done with story scenes will help prevent that for you – and me – in the future!)
Deb also recommended we check out Peter Elbow’s “Writing Without Teachers”. I definitely plan on doing that, and so should you!
But, perhaps you want to see what I came up with during our Timed Spiral Writing Exercise??? Okay then!
I had 1:50 to write this first blurb, since I arrived slightly late to the workshop! First thing that came to mind was “DRAGON!” … probably because I had just been doing research on blunderbuses for a short story, which led to the fact that pistol blunderbuses were often called “dragons” which eventually led to the word “dragoons”, well anyway… the resulting (unedited) blurb was:
The dragon was iridescent, its scales shining blindingly in the setting sun as it emerged from behind the flat expanse of the waterfall. It stood still, peering at them with large golden eyes, its wings flaring. Zachary stared up at it, his jaw agape.
Three minutes to then write the second round, carrying over the notion of iridescence (unedited):
Iridescent. The glare of the sun off the water rippled in alternating colors of green, purple, blue, orange. It was mesmerizing, entrancing, and she couldn’t look away. Gingerly, she stepped forward, her bare feet moving over the shore line of black, smooth stones. They were cool against her skin, almost soft in their smoothness, like silk. The water lapped just inches from her toes, and far across the lake a mist rose from among the pines, the evaporation of a swiftly cooling day.
Another step forward.
So still. So quiet.
And another three minutes for round three, carrying over the idea of smoothness (unedited):
Smoothness.
Everything here was smooth, lacking texture. He’d never seen anything like it. Never been anywhere like it. He ran his hands along the walls, along the seamless intersection between wall and floor. The chairs, the table, the door, all smooth. He sat in the curved chair, running hands through his hair. Compared to the rest of it, the rest of the room – the rest of this world – his own hair felt foreign, rough, unpredictable, messy.
That’s all there is to it!
Mine all came out completely different, but you don’t have to do it that way. You can stay within a theme, or even rework the exact same paragraph. You can do whatever you want, as long as you stick with the essentials:
- TIME YOURSELF!!!!
- Carry over something from the previous writing to the next, and from that one to the next, and from that one to the next, onward x infinity (or just however long you wish to do this exercise)!
You and the girl who writes have some fun looking exercise, but how do you cram all that in a day
Well, that’s the beauty of these exercises, really. For instance, this spiral writing exercise, since each time frame was three minutes long, took exactly NINE MINUTES to complete. Surely you can find nine spare minutes?? 😉 The ImPrompTuesday posts A Girl Who Writes puts up every week take only ONE HOUR. If you are passionate about your writing, you’ll be surprised how easy it is to scrounge up an extra ten minutes to an hour to work on this stuff! I’ve had to be creative, and lower my standards on other things (mainly, how clean the house is, ha), but in the end – I feel it is totally worth it! 😀
I totally dig the idea of the exercise. and sure what is nine minutes or 15 for that matter I understand that. And the ImprompTuesdays take me 2 hours. First make tea a pot preferred. pore a tea cup full make sure you ate.. write down notes needed, start. two cups of tea later you done 😀 But I do have fun and that is worth it right. And see I do not want to lower any standards lol. Ooh well I will give it a try some day.
HAHA. Love the tea! Unfortunately mine is usually coffee. 😛 But I limit myself to one cup. I’m trying not to attach myself to any specific writing stimulus, as all the successful career authors say that’s practically creative suicide, since you have to be able to write at ANY TIME, given the insane deadlines most publishers put on authors for second, third, fourth, etc books. Yikes. But then again see in that case, these timed exercises are PERFECT! 🙂
Yes, having fun is really what it’s all about! So as long as you are having fun, it’s worth it! Well, I didn’t want to lower my standards, either, but something had to give. It took me till I was 30 to finally decide to sacrifice in areas that were not the most important to me and then give that left over time and effort to the things that WERE most important: my son, family, and WRITING. 🙂 Those three things come first, everything else second. Honestly, my house might be dustier and the floors dirtier, the small peripherals ignored for years, the yard un-landscaped, but the laundry and dishes still get done, the trash still goes out, good dinners are still cooked, and I am SO SO SO much happier now, because I’m actually pursuing my life-long dream! Whoohoo! 😉
Devilishly clever!
Heheh, thanks! I’m glad you liked it! If you ever do this exercise yourself, feel free to post the results, I’d love to read some other people’s results of this! 🙂
Ooh but the tea is not to stimulate. Just taking a 5 minute break ::p and read what I wrote. And I already have a pot of coffee a day. No i just write when I can, just the challenge is an hour for me and only me.Nothing to bother me strictly one hour.
And I am terrible when it comes to deadlines. that sure does restrict my creativity. Even at school I sucked at it. I just enjoy and needed the writing, reason why I started this blog.
Thank you for the exercises and fun tips.
Yeah… I actually probably write better with wine, PAHAH! But I do like my one cup of coffee every morning! And I prefer to write while sipping on the coffee (or wine), but I try not to make it a necessity. Sometimes though, it is. HA! Actually my favorite writing stimulate is just mood/scene appropriate music! I’m glad you like the exercises, and have fun!
Heavens, I’m hooked by that last one already. I love the contrast in the final sentence and now I really, really want to find out where he is, how he ended up there, why it’s all so smooth. Oh, and I think I’ve fallen slightly in love with the girl by the lake too – even though she’s barely mentioned. Good work!! I’m definitely going to give this exercise a try and see where I end up.
Oh hooray!!! Well you seem just the kind of reader I’d want reading my stories, haha! And YES, try out this exercise and see where it gets you… also post some of your paragraphs for the rest of us, won’t you? I love to see where other writers go with these kinds of exercises! I’m glad you enjoyed my little blurbs… I had an idea of where the one with the girl and the lake was going, but the three minutes cut short her story. Maybe I’ll go back to it someday. 😉 And the last one… I figured out where he was – sort of – but I know nothing else! And the contrasting idea came naturally out of what had come before, a very nice little flow of story that only happens to me if I write fast and furious without thinking!!!! Anyway, thanks for reading and commenting, and I look forward to reading more from YOU on your blog SOON!Right?? YES YES!!! 😀