Wednesday, May 21, 2008

Creative Writing Tips

"As If" Thinking, Pretending, and Creative Thinking

Dialog with an imaginary mentor: Imagine a person (living or dead), a person whose ideas you respect and admire. Try to select someone you sense would have good ideas about the problem you face. Now, with your notebook in front of you, imagine you are sitting across from this person in a quiet coffee shop, and can ask him or her anything you want. Write a question in your notebook. Then with a different color of ink write what you imagine your mentor would reply. Continue this process for 20 minutes or so until you have the information you need.

Sit right down and write yourself a letter: Make believe you are a sage or a wise woman, you have seen and know everything. You have been watching the real you grapple with the problem you face and the time has come to speak. As this wise person, write yourself a letter of encouragement and advice. Make it as least a page.

If you are just starting to write in a journal or have temporarily run out of steam, here are some ideas.
Look at a magazine and find a picture that appeals to you. Cut it out, paste it in your notebook and write about it.
Draw a word portrait of your interior landscape. Next draw a word portrait of your exterior landscape.
Invent a dream you wish you'd had. Write about it in detail, paying special attention to concrete sensory images.
Write a dream that a plant, a fish, a star, or a stone might have.
List all of the things that have happened to you only once in your entire life.
Write about an event in your life – first from your perspective and then from the perspective of someone else who was present.
Write about a person or an event that is a paradox or contradiction.
Turn a feeling – love, joy, beauty, anger or fatigue – into a character. Write a detailed description and dialog with this character.
Allow your pen to give voice to a part of your body besides your mind. Have this part write a letter to you. Write a response.
If you were to select music for a soundtrack of the day you've had, what songs would you play in the background? Why?
Invent a new myth for the beginning of the universe.
Write down everything that comes into your mind about money.
Pick the first date from the past and place that pop into your mind. Now write a journal entry as though you were reliving a former lifetime.
Write about a belief you've discarded.
Your life is a journey. From where? To where? Write a travel article about this trip.
Write an entry telling another person something that you are too afraid or reluctant to tell them.
http://www.kporterfield.com/journal/Journal_Prompts.html

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