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Writing prompts Clustering — I’m into “clustering” these days (see good books / review on Writing the Natural Way). This is Gabriele Rico’s method of starting with one word or one phrase - circling it - and then spinning off whatever comes to mind, words, phrases, whatever. But each time you do, encircle the word and connect it to the word before it with a line or an arrow. And try to spin as many words off in one direction as you can. Then, if a new train of thought or a new image comes to mind, return to the main word/ circle and draw a line out from there and begin the process again, creating another series of words or phrases encircled. Why not start with the word “turn.” Rico says this is always a good one to start with. Try clustering for 5 minutes. Then write for 10 more on whatever you have an urge to write more about. It can be something you written down as a part of the cluster or something else entirely that was triggered by what you were clusstering! Go! Previous prompts: Lists can help! Number from one to ten on your page. List all the kitchens you remember. Now let one of them beckon you to tell a story. What happened there? (Include sight, sound, taste, touch.) Try this one adapted from an Annie Dillard quote (see writing encouragements). What would you begin writing if you knew you would die soon? List five ideas, thoughts. Let one beckon you. Write for 20 minutes. Tomorrow - another from that list. Or write the first piece again - finish it, polish it, share it. Adapted from Pat Schneider’s Writing with Others and Alone p. 302-303 If you are writing alone, choose an object that has some meaning for you. Hold it in your hands (or, if it is too big, sit where you can see it) and begin your writing with a detail of that object. Flannery O’Connor, who is perhaps America’s greatest short story writer, took drawing lessons to help her see more clearly the detail she wanted in her writing. Describe your object in detail until something else occurs to you, then follow your thoughts, let them take you like stepping stones across a river. Don’t worry about where you are going…just follow your thoughts, what you see, what you remember. If you are writing with a large group you could offer a collection of objects and have them choose one object that speaks to them. Spread a plain cloth and one by one set out various objects that represent various kinds of experience: a spool of thread with a needle stuck in it; an old, scarred wooden spoon, a man’s shaving razor;, a jump rope, a whiskey bottle, a used baseball, a small crystal ball, a marble, a dog whistle, a hand mirror, an artificial rose anything at all. Pat suggests trying to accumulate 30-40 objects that might appeal to the age group with which you are working. (Stores that sell used items are a great source, but also just simple objects you could collect from around the house.) Once they have chosen an object — have them describe it, as indicated above, encouraging them to follow their thoughts as they occur in relation to the object. However, if the object prompts a memory, a story, encourage them to plunge in immediately and write about that. A second prompt from Pat’s book Writing Alone and with Others Travel back in your own life to some time before this time and find yourself on a city street. What is the quality of light? Is anyone near you, or are you alone? Stay there as long as you want. If something begins to happen, let it happen. When you are ready, very quietly pick up your pen and paper, and write whatever comes to you to write. From Ted Kooser’s Poetry Home Repair Manual (p 93) “The poet Linda Greg asks her students to take a close look at just six things each day. What seems like a simple discipline turns out to be quite difficult because, by habit, most of us go through our lives without paying much attention to anything. Surely it’s happened to you: at the end of a day, you drive several miles home and when you get there you can’t remember a thing you saw along the way. Making an effort to pay attention to what’ going on around them works for Linda Gregg’s students and it will work for you. Memory and imagination are excellent tools when it comes to creating a setting, for example, but it’s observed details that really make a poem vivid.” His words are valid for prose too! <back to list |
