The Write Spot Blog by Marlene Cullen

Tag: just write

  • The Past – from different perspectives.

    The following is inspired by Your Mythic Journey by Sam Keen and Anne Valley-Fox.

    Chapter 4, “The Past” It’s Still Happening.

    “We love the present tense. Be here now. Yesterday is gone and best forgotten: our tradition is to have no tradition. We aren’t Europeans buried in ancient tombs and cathedrals and medieval ruins. We were born yesterday and we will be young forever. Over thirty is over the bridge. Age embarrasses us; remembrance is a function of senility. We exile the aged to Sun City leper colonies so they won’t impair our illusion of endless summer.

    But history is not so easily dismissed. Repressed memories, national or personal won’t stay down. To be alive is to have a past. Our only choice is whether we will repress or re-create the past. Childhood may be distant, but it is never quite lost; as full-grown men and women we carry tiny laughing and whimpering children around inside us. We either repress the past and continue to fight its wars with new personnel or we invite it into awareness so that we may see how it has shaped the present.

    The moment you begin to tell your stories you may find that memory is a trickster who picks and chooses scenes. What happened to you in the past has yet to be determined. Ninety-nine times you tell the story of the way you were whipped for stealing apples you didn’t steal. Then in the hundredth telling, you remember that you did steal them and the whole scene changes. Your memories of what happened to you in 1953 will be different in 1975, and again in the year 2000.”

    Lola.200 Prompt:  Think of an incident that one or more people might see very differently.

    Tell the story beginning with the words, “This is how I see what happened…”

    Prompt: Write the story from the other person’s perspective.

    No matter whether you use these prompts or not . . . Just Write!

  • Things that are meaningful to you . . . Prompt #136

    Write whatever comes up for you. No judging, no criticizing yourself!

    Merlin & StarHave fun with this prompt! Let yourself go. Be silly. Be creative. Be humorous. Be serious. Just write!

    Make a list of things that are meaningful to you, starting with the letter “A” . . . then go through the alphabet to the letter z. Write one sentence, or a few words, why this is meaningful to you. For example:

    A –   A deck of cards – playing gin rummy and hearts

    B – Balloon game in the old living room

    C – Crafts – glitter glue, making things with the kids

    continue to the end of the alphabet

    W – Wizard puppet

    X – X-rays that saved my life

    Y – “Y” always reminds of  watching the Micky Mouse Club. “Why? Because we like you!”

    Z – Zebra in orthodontist’s office

    ~ Now you have a list of things you can write about!  Anytime you want to write and need an idea, look at your list and Just Write!

  • Failure is necessary to find “wondrous and magical moments”

    “A rough draft is inherently an experiment, or, rather, a series of experiments. each novel, each piece of writing, is a new thing with different possibilities that demand to be explored. Many of these experiments will fail, but failure is necessary to find those wondrous and magical moments of success.” — “More Ideas Faster, Writing With Abandon” by Grant Faulkner, Jan/Feb 215 Poets & Writers magazine.

    Grant FaulknerGrant Faulkner is: Executive Director of National Novel Writing Month, co-founder of 100 Word Story, writer, tap dancer, alchemist, contortionist, numbskull, preacher. Click here to read more about Grant Faulkner.

    Note from Marlene: Click here for ideas of what to write about. Choose a writing prompt, set your timer for 12-15 minutes and Just Write!

  • Own up to it. Prompt #135

    regret1Write about a time you swallowed your pride and admitted to something you did that you regret. . . or a time you wish you had spoken up.

    You did it, now feel free to own up to it. . . . you don’t have to actually tell anyone what you did or didn’t do . . . just write about it here and now.

  • Special object to give. Prompt #134

    Angel.SilverWalk through your house, apartment, garage, barn . . . look at your knick-knacks, trinkets, souvenirs, keepsakes, treasures. . . pick one item to pass on to someone, perhaps a grandchild, or great-grandchild, or a beloved friend. Write about a special object you want to give to someone in the future.

    You can respond to this prompt as your fictional character would respond, or write as if you are going to give this item to someone.

     

     

     

  • Roseanne Cash—feeling alive when immersed in her work

    Roseanne Cash1

    ” . . . [my] profession, like anyone’s, requires constant innovation if it is to remain fresh. I feel alive when I’m immersed in my work—when I’m fully employed, as Leonard Cohen says, as a songwriter, ‘You have to keep cracking yourself open or you become a parody of yourself. ‘” —Roseanne Cash in an interview by Geoffrey Himes, “The Long Way Home, Smithsonian, November 2014

    Note from Marlene: How about you? What keeps you immersed in your work? If your writing has hit the doldrums, how about mixing it up? If you usually write memoir, try fiction. If you are a fiction writer, try poetry.   If you want ideas for freewrites, click here for writing prompts.

  • What does your character want? What gets in the way? Prompt #133

    We’ve been working on character development on The Write Spot Blog. Your character could be fictional, based on a real person or someone in your memoir.

    Kurt Vonnegut says to “make your character want something.” There are several ways to go about this.

    Have your character do something unexpected . . . something that surprises everyone and weave in a problem.

    You can put your conservative character in an improv situation where he/she has to rap or act in a scene.

    Your male character might find himself on stage, learning how to hula or belly dance.

    Your female character might find herself in a lumberjack contest.

    Have your wild character volunteer to help with bingo in an assisted facility.

    Have your character do something unusual.

    Remember these are freewrites, where you write freely for 12 to 15 minutes. This doesn’t mean you have to use these character vignettes in your novel, essay or memoir. Have fun playing around with characters.

    Have fun making your character uncomfortable, make him or her squirm.  Worms on a fishing pole come to mind.

    Now, here’s how to really get into the heart of your character:

    Moose.1What does your character want? What gets in the way?

    For prompts on character development, take a look at:

    Character development, discovering characters, prompt #132

    Flesh out your character, prompt #131

    Other character’s point of view, prompt #109

    Grow your characters, prompt #48

    You can also type “character” in the search box on the Write Spot Blog for posts about character.

    Photo by Breana Marie

  • Character development – discovering characters. Prompt #132

    For this two-part prompt, we’re going to develop a character, either fictional or based on reality (especially if you are writing memoir).

    How do writers develop characters?   How do you get to know your character beyond their looks, their desires and where they went to school?

    Step One: Give your character a hobby or an interesting job. The more unusual, the better. Bee-keeping? Needlepoint for a man. Bucking horses, art aficionado, chemist, skywriter, laundromat manager, tornado chaser.  You can look up unusual jobs that pay well by clicking here, such as: Cruise ship entertainer, ice cream taster, human statue, hot dog vender, dog groomer, personal shopper, funeral director.

    Sketch how your character might spend an hour of their work day, or hobby time: gathering honey, purchase yarn and patterns, ranch and corrals, visits to art galleries and museums, mixing potions in the basement.  You might paint a picture what an hour of their job looks like:  what do they see, who do they interact with, what do they think while working.

    Spend some time with this before going to the next step.

    Step Two: Interview your character as a journalist would. Stymied? Look at interviews in magazines, newspaper articles or look online and see what others have done.

    You can interview your character from Prompt #131, or create a new character.

    We’ll continue with character development with the next prompt.

          skywriter.1                             Laundromat.1                     clouds.tornado.1

    Skywriting photo by Breana Marie

  • Flesh out your characters. Prompt #131

    You can use this prompt for fleshing out your fictional characters or for characters in your memoir.

    In works of fiction, we think of characters. When writing memoir, we think real people. But, when you write about real people, they become characters in a story.

    With this prompt, you can create character profiles for the real people in your life and for your fictional characters.

    Prompt: Make a three-column list. Label the first column “What I know,” the second, “How I know it” and the third, “How I show it.”

    First column – create a list with one or two-word descriptions about the character. Second column – write down how you know the particular characteristics.

    For example, if the person is known to be cheap, in column 2, you could write, “brings own teabags to restaurants.” Or, “carefully saves paper bags for lunch, been using the same bag for six months.”

    Third column, How I Show It: Jot down short notes about how you might convey the characteristics to a reader. In the case of the cheap friend who brings his teabag to restaurants, you might write, “Scene: character pulls out several teabags from jacket pocket, just before entering restaurant.”

    Your turn: Bring your characters by showing vivid details about their everyday habits.

    This prompt was inspired from The Writer magazine, June 2005, “Frank Talk About Writing Your Memoir,” by Sol Stein

    Sidewalk artist                      Street kids                 Laundry machines and legs

  • Revealing Conversation . . . Prompt #130

    People talkingPretend we’re at a party, sitting together talking quietly. Then you see someone you know and you want to tell me about that person. They can’t hear us. What will you tell me about that person?

    Or: Imagine any two people having a conversation about a third person.

    With this prompt, you can practice writing dialogue, revealing more about the conversants than the object of their discussion.

    Remember what Ted A. Moreno said in yesterday’s quote, “Making a pronouncement, judgment or criticism about someone else reveals little about them, but reveals much about you.”

    We’ll expand upon these characters with the next prompt on The Write Spot Blog.