EXERCISE: Valentine's Day Prompts?

[mbarker]

Original Posting 2022/2/13

Okay, it's almost Feb. 14, right? So, let's see...

Over here, https://www.goodhousekeeping.com/life/relationships/g38542496/romantic-gifts/ we have a long list of romantic presents?

1. Our Bucket List: A Creative and Inspirational Journal
2. What I Love About You Fill-in-the-Love book
3. Monthly Date Night Subscription box
4. Preserved Roses
5. Conversations and Challenges for Date Night
6. Bamboo Bed Tray

Let's see.. bath stuff, dinner for two at Chesapeake Bay, massage candle, DIY chocolate truffles, a philodendron? It's an eclectic list, but...

Go ahead. Take your romantic couple, and have one of them give the other one something from the Good Housekeeping list of romantic gifts (Or some other romantic gift of your imagination -- a kitten? A puppy? A guppy???). Then tell us what happens... does true romance carry through?

WRITE! 

EXERCISE: What are your favorites?

[mbarker]

Original Posting 2022/2/14

Over at https://writingexcuses.com/2022/02/13/17-7-dissecting-influence/ they are dissecting influences. One of the things they mentioned reminded me of something I do from time to time, and I thought I'd toss it out as something you may want to try.

It's simple really. Take your favorite medium, books, short stories, movies, anime, or whatever, and make a list of your favorites. No particular number, but make sure you have several. Then, take a look, and see if there are common themes, subjects, treatments, or whatever that seem to pop up. Usually, you'll find several that share some elements. Go ahead, make a list of those common threads that attract you.

You may want to take them apart a bit. Why is that theme something that resonates with you? Why do you prefer the youngster growing up main character? Of whatever it is... think about what it means to you, and what the key parts of it are.

You may even want to go a bit farther, and think about how to use these themes, character types, plots, or whatever in your own stories and work. After all, if you really love them, you might as well use them to inspire your own work, right?

Heck, you could probably even go ahead and do some sketches, or mix and match tales, and so forth.

Write? 

EXERCISE: Holidays, anyone?

[mbarker]

Original Posting 2022/2/20

Let's see. What's coming up? Feb. 21 is President's Day, May 8 is Mother's Day, May 30 is Memorial Day. Then in June, we've got Juneteenth (what is that?), Father's Day... and the Fourth of July, Independence Day, is a biggie.

Or you can pick a holiday that you like. Christmas, Halloween, Thanksgiving... there's a lot of holidays out there, pick your favorite!

So, what the heck. Pick a holiday, and set a character, maybe a group, maybe a family, in that time, doing... well, whatever. And make us feel a little of the thrill, disappointment, tears, or whatever of that day!

Go for it! 

Write! 

TECH: Capturing Lightning In A Bottle?

[mbarker]

Original Posting 2022/2/25

Over here, https://writingexcuses.com/2022/02/20/17-8-the-alchemy-of-creativity/ they spent considerable time chewing over the question of how one goes from idea to expression, or perhaps how does one shift from one form to another. Interestingly enough, it seemed clear that some people on the podcast basically have a movie running in their head, and need to figure out how to convert that to prose, while others seem to have words running wild, and are more likely to start with drafting, and then work their way into revisions. Anyway, different approaches for different folks.

I have to admit, I'm a word person. Movies? Nah, not in my head. But I can sort of see how some people might start with that kind of visual playground, and need to convert it into words. And, of course, there are folks who are doing what one of the people mentioned, basically starting with a script, seeing what kind of movie that prompts in their head, and then annotating the script with various notes about the cameras, the settings, the scenes, all of that, and then taking that and converting it into a storyboard...

There was also a bit of amusement when one person pointed out that they are a dessert first writer. I.e., they write the parts that excite them first, then have to step back and put it all together. This might be opposed to the "in order" writer, who starts at the beginning and goes on until the end.

Whew! So we have outliners and pantsers or discovery writers, those who prefer to lay it all out in some kind of outline (or perhaps a mindmap or othe visual format?) and those who dive right into the writing, working out the structure as they get the words down... And we have movie in the head people and words and feelings folks? Plus we have dessert first writers and in order writers...

Fun and games! What kind of process do you find yourself using? Do you recognize these differences? Is there something else that shapes your writing, and makes it different from the way other people seem to tackle things?

Something to ponder this weekend, maybe? 

Write?