Sometimes inspiration doesn't visit me when I need it. That pressure of "oh you have to write an 8-page story due in, hmm, two days" sometimes sparks some ideas, but more often it just creates an incoherent whirlwind in my head, ideas flashing by like the occasional cow or maybe pick-up truck in a tornado -- saw enough to know what the object it, but it is gone before you can get any specifics. So, when I visited Big Window and saw all the writing exercise ideas, it was a huge relief. Hopefully, I will never have to suffer through another Writer's Block again! (yeah, right HAHA!) Below are just a few of my favorites:
http://theothermother.typepad.com/bigwindow/2008/08/im-a-blur.html -- Try this while riding on a train, subway, bus, or car. At a high speed, the familiar suddenly becomes the unfamiliar. Try writing while riding. Capture the blur. Warning: it is illegal to try this writing exercise while driving in the state of California.
I suffer from motion sickness, so I'm usually staring out the window in a moving car, train, etc. I thought this was a cool idea because trying to write about the little blurred peek of the new "surroundings", which is totally abstract, could create some great writing. Colors, the feeling I am experiencing about my destination and where I just left, the people traveling with me -- all into the mental melting pot dripping onto the page.
http://theothermother.typepad.com/bigwindow/2007/07/altering-alters.html -- Altering Alters All -- Dan has posted some great new work on his Altered Books blog.
I like that the poem is a piece of art when it is completed. There is no stress to this writing because the words are right there in front of you. Depending on what the tone of the poem you chose to highlight is, you can emphasize the effect with the use of color. I’m actually going to try this!
http://theothermother.typepad.com/bigwindow/2006/03/open_19.html -- Write a poem consisting solely of overheard conversation. (Source: Charles Bernstein, 66 Writing Experiments)
I love to people-watch. I also amuse myself with some of the conversations I overhear. I never thought to put it together into a poem, but I can see how this would be interesting. Especially when it's really crowded and people are moving fast all around you, like in a mall around Christmas time.
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1 comment:
I agree with the feeling of riding in some fast-moving vehicle, trying to catch a glimpse of what's whipping by the windows. I always think of Rain, Steam, and Fog by Joseph Turner. He painted it during the industrial revolution of the Victorian period in Britian. It's the other perspective, but I like it all the same.
I particularly and especially like the third prompt you posted - I think that a lot of people, regardless of whether they'll admit it - are voyuers to some extent. Who doesn't love learning the things about a person that they'd probably filter out of their introductions? The prompt, though, is a double-whammy... What the author thinks is great enough to put into a poem probably says a lot about him/her, too. I love it.
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