Do You Write?

A lot of people who enjoy different types of literature are also writers.

If you're a writer, too - you've probably wondered a lot about how to make your writing better. Maybe you're not sure how to start a story or what to do with a story once you get to a certain stage.

Here's a little practice activity that might help you with your writing - and it's particularly good for 'starts' and 'beginnings' - just because it will jump start your creative thinking.

All you need to do this practice are:
* a magazine
* a way to time yourself (watch, clock)
* paper (a small or journal so you can save your work)
* pen or pencil

Now here's what you do:

What you're looking for is a person - so make sure you're using a magazine that has people in it - not just landscapes or something.

Just flip through the magazine for 15 seconds. ONLY 15!! The point here is not to be choosy. (If you select things very carefully, you will have selected a picture 'with something in mind' and half the point of the practice is wasted!).

Now on the page, after 15 seconds of flipping, if there is a picture on the page with a person in it - even a drawing of a person - then look at the person for 30 seconds - then put the picture away. This is the person you're going to 'sketch' details about with your words.

(If you stopped on a page without a person - flip pages again for 15 seconds until you find a person...if you found a page with many people on it - select the person closest to the middle of the page - this turns out really interesting results if the picture is small, believe it or not, and you can barely see the person in a 'crowd picture' or 'group picture').

Now that you've 'viewed' the picture for half a minute or so...

START WRITING!

Just for 5 minutes.

Who is the person? What are they thinking, what are they doing, what are they about to do - what did they just finish doing? What colour was their hair - was it natural or did they dye it to look that way? Does the person have children? If the person you found was a child - does he or she have brothers and sisters?

See what you come up with - but STOP WRITING after only 5 minutes.

Then take a look at what you came up with. And find the magazine picture of the person again and do a comparison.

Did you physically describe the person as the person really looked - did you forget some of the physical details and manage to make up some reasonable details of your own? Did you focus more on the person's activities, the person's thoughts, the scenarios that the person was set into?

Let me know how this pratice works out for you.

If you still have trouble generating ideas for writing, just post some comments on the blog and I will find you some other information.