Today I thought I’d point you to a photo prompt from the Elite Muses RP prompt journal. It’s haunting and beautiful, so enjoy. It mostly suits a modern setting, but you can always use your imagination or the wonders of free association to take it further. Who is the mysterious figure in the photo and why is he there? Where is he going?
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Quick! Spend ten minutes listing out every kind of danger you can imagine putting a character into. These could be physical dangers, dangers to a character’s way of life, emotional dangers–if it strikes you as a danger, it’s fair game. Just list as fast as you can with as little thought as possible. Usual free-write rules apply: don’t worry about spelling, grammar, punctuation, or capitalization. Don’t worry about whether the ideas are any good. Just get ‘em all out there and go back later to find the gems.
If need be, first spend a couple of minutes listing danger categories, and then list more specific ideas under those categories.
When you do a word jumble, you take two or three random words and free-write off of the combination. You have a couple of options: make sure to include all of the words in whatever you write, or free-associate off of the combination and see what emerges. Here are some combos to choose from this morning:
If you need an extra constraint, choose one or more of the following:
First, read the exercise. Second, read the text that follows–it’s quoted from a blog entry I wrote more than a year ago. Finally, grab paper and pen and get to work!
Pick a fictional character (one you’ve already created, one from someone else’s work, or one you create for the purpose). Next pick a mental illness you wish to explore through that character; don’t go with something garish and flashy (in other words, don’t immediately think “serial killer”). Use one of the sites or articles linked to below to research the illness. Take notes. Look for case histories if you can find them. Next, free-write for at least ten minutes on how that illness developed in the character’s life. Then free-write for ten minutes on how that illness affects the character’s everyday life today. Finally, free-write for ten minutes listing out any ideas this gives you for interesting character quirks, plot developments, themes, etc. Then go back through this material and cross out anything that sounds trite or obvious, or that clashes with what you’ve learned about that illness.
Did you come up with anything interesting?
Technorati Tags: characterization, characters, prompts, mental illness, write, writers, writing
This exercise is for you fiction-writers creating your own realities (or your own versions of our reality). If you aren’t a fiction-writer you can of course free-write random answers to these questions for the fun of it and see what you end up with!
Pick a setting from a piece of fiction you’re working on (or plan to work on) and answer the following questions about it. In most cases when I ask for “firsts” I’m asking for firsts within the collective memories of the world’s living people and written histories, but if you have an idea for an absolute first, then go for it! Try not to stop at a simple answer–go into details. Preferably pick a question and write for at least half a page about it.
If you were entering some sort of witness protection program (changing your name and identity, unable to contact anyone you previously knew or cared about) and could only take along one photograph with which to remember your former life, what would that photograph be? Describe it and explain why it’s so important to you. Or, tell the story of that image. Use any format–journal entry, short story, essay, etc.–but concentrate on one image.
Alternatively, do the same for any fictional character from a story you’re working on.
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Pick one of the following situations, preferably either something that immediately sparks an idea or something that seems outrageous or unusual for that character, and, with as little thought as possible, put your character in that situation and just start writing the scene:
In James Scott Bell’s Plot & Structure, he says that one of the best ways to avoid trite turns of plot is to cultivate the sort of imagination that “considers several possibilities before deciding which scene to write.” So today, pick up a piece of writing you’ve been working on, no matter what stage it’s in–planning, rough draft, editing, half-done, etc. Pick a plot point and spend at least 10 minutes brainstorming various alternate events or outcomes for that plot point. Go through each of them and evaluate them based on their originality, their ability to hold the reader’s interest, and their potential to lead to yet more interesting plot points.
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What keeps you writing when you don’t want to write? What keeps you writing when you feel you don’t have the time? What keeps you writing when you’re cranky, depressed, angry, tired?
Fill at least two sides of a standard sheet of paper free-writing on this topic. Let it flow, not worrying for now about whether your answers seem to make any sense. Every now and then come back to this one; you’ll more than likely find your answers are different every time.
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Today, fill at least one side of a sheet of paper by free-writing an answer to the following question: What is a plot? Get as weird, as random, or as crazy as you like. Then, after you’re done, take a look at these other folks’ interpretations of what a plot is:
Pope - Art Not Chance Dark T-Shirt
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