Colorful Feelings - writercize #89

Ever heard a person say they were green with envy, or feeling lonely and blue, or so angry they were seeing red? Over the years, for whatever reason, we have married colors to emotions and they have become ordinary vernacular.

Today I will challenge you to discover a new colorful emotion with a very simple exercise I picked up from Nutschell over at thewritingnut.com at a writing workshop. Hopefully one or two phrases will stick with you and inspire a poem or dialogue in a story! I was a big fan of crimson jealousy when I first tried the exercise and have a feeling I'll be using it somewhere.

writing exercise: Make a list of five colors - the fancier the better (i.e. Burgundy in lieu of red). I will offer a slight twist and allow patterns such as polka-dotted as an acceptable alternative. Now make a list of five abstract ideas or emotions such as hope, prayer, frustration. Once you have both lists match each color with each abstraction. You will have a new list of 25 concepts to play with in your writing!

Read on for writercizer sample response. (writing this on an iPad so do not have full functionality to offer read more option as usual)



colors: lavender, paisley, teal, maroon, ivory

Backronym - writercize #88

Most writers and news followers are familiar with acronyms - words or widely recognized initials created from the first initial of each component of a name or phrase.  Some examples include FBI (Federal Bureau of Investigation), HOMES (a way to remember the great lakes - Huron, Ontario, Michigan, Erie, Superior), AIDS (acquired immune deficiency syndrome).  A few common words are actually acronyms as well: LASER (Light Amplification by Stimulated Emission of Radiation) and RADAR (RAdio Detection And Ranging) among them. 

You may not be as familiar with backronyms, a word which I mistakenly thought I created until I looked it up.  It's not in Webster, but it is already on wikipedia and urban dictionary and was added to dictionary.com in June 2005.  Too obvious to be a novel idea, I suppose.  A backronym is a concept you are likely familiar with, but haven't previously identified.  It's taking the letters of a word and working them into a memorable sentence to describe or explain the word, or make a pun.  Some examples include Delta Airlines (Don't Even Leave The Airport) or NESW (Never Eat Shredded Wheat - to remember the directions on a compass).  From wikipedia, I learned that backronyms are often used in Alcoholics Anonymous (AA - an acronym) as teaching tools.  For example, DENIAL is "don't even notice I am lying."

writing exercise:  Write a backronym (or two) for your first name.

Click "read more" for the writercizer sample response on Alana.  (It's a harder exercise than it sounds!)

Road Warriors - writercize #87

If you've been driving for any length of time, no doubt you've experienced at least one frightful drive.  

I am preparing for an eighteen hour road trip to visit family, and while I am knocking on wood for a safe, uneventful drive there and back, the thought of so many hours on the freeway has me reflecting about past drives.

There have been slightly humorous yet grotesque accidents I've witnessed, such as the one where a semi swerved out of control in the rain in Tacoma, thankfully escaping damage to the driver or any other cars on the road, but popped open the hatch and spilled out thousands of chickens on the road.  Humorous sounds like a terrible adjective to describe the sight - grotesque and horrific may be more accurate, along with saddening since it showed just how many chickens are packed into a dark, cramped space during interstate travel - but at the time a chuckle slipped out unintended and unannounced.  I think it was relief that the blood smeared on the road mixed with a visual of what looked to be the most massive pillow fight on record was just that - many dead chickens and several more escapees running for their little lives.  It could have been so much worse, so what can you do when the road closes for thousands of chickens across the road?  Stop the car, reflect on the sight of it all and let out a little laugh at the absurdity of the traffic jam.

There have been times on the road that I've felt my heart race or my body tense, times that I've felt I narrowly missed what fate may have meant for me.  One day a couple of weeks ago I drove to visit my husband at work.  On the way, the car directly in front of me rear-ended the car in front of them.  On the way home, again, the car directly in front of me (different car, different light, same road) rear-ended the car in front of them.  I figured something was telling me to stay off the road for the rest of the day and hurried home, quickly parking my car in the safety of my garage.

I talk about driving and near-accidents (and those accidents you have been in) today because I think that those moments are full of fear, excitement, confusion, relief, surprise, anxiety, tension, wonder, frustration, anger, divine intervention.  These are all emotions that you want to tap into as a writer, and one of the best ways to do that is to close your eyes and relive a high-emotion moment from your own experience, then transfer that feeling into an emotion your character might feel.

writing exercise:  Reflect on a car accident or a near miss that you experienced as a driver or passenger.  Tap into the emotions and thoughts; remember the physical response if you are able.

Click "read more" for writercizer sample response about witnessing an accident in the rear-view mirror.

How Do You Do It? (Creating Instructions) - writercize #86

My kids are turning four next week, so I've got kids' party games and craft activities on the brain.  I am a list-maker and idea-organizer, almost obsessively, so before the birthday playtime commences, I will certainly have an outline of a few crafts and games for them to play.  Which got me thinking about instructions, and how people write them.

I have no doubt several of you have opened up an instruction manual for a game only to be scratching your head in the end, wondering what it is you supposedly just learned.  All too often, instructions are too wordy, too contradictory, or lacking in pertinent information.  If you're from a family that likes to play by the rules, at the very least to not be taken by surprise by an opponents cheating attempts, this can spell trouble on the family game night front.

I won't begin to tell you how many arguments my sister and I have had over Mexican Train dominoes.  The frustration is compounded by the fact that each set of rules we looked up online differed significantly.  Yes, it is wise to keep official game rules nearby in my family.  My husband has memorized the Hoyle's rules of a couple of card games just to be safe in case of future disputes.

All that is to say that rules (or instructions) matter.  And games (or crafts) matter, especially at a gathering when people want to be entertained.  It takes some of the entertainment pressure off of the host if it's a good game.  So, please share!

writing exercise:  Recount or invent a game or craft activity suitable for children.

Click "read more" for writercizer sample response on homemade barrettes.

Next Word - writercize #85

It's Tuesday night, or early Wednesday morning if you're the technical sort, and that means I'm avoiding my "real" writing assignment like the plague.  I like to think of it as giving the story time to develop in my mind while I click here and there and not a serious case of procrastination.  At any rate, in the interest of forcing myself to finish writing tonight and slide into bed before 3 a.m., I present you with another easy peasy next word word play.

Next word is one of my favorite exercises to loosen the brain muscles.  It's simple word association - I give you a word, and you tell me your first gut reaction word in response.  Really I give you five words and you tell me your first reaction to each one individually.  Don't look for a hidden link among the grouping of words ... if there is one, it's unintentional.  Explanations optional, but always entertaining.

writing exercise:  Write the next word you associate with each of the following words:

• wall
• rock
• juggle
• blue
• fork

Click "read more" for writercizer sample response.  If you like this exercise, I post it about once a month.  Search my blog for previous entries.

For the Love of Bookstores - writercize #84

Borders Bookstore announced today that they are calling off the auction and liquidating all remaining stores and assets.  The beginning of this year, Borders closed over one third of their stores after filing for chapter 11 bankruptcy, in an effort to restructure and revitalize the company.  That attempt fell short as today they announced that the 399 stores that are left will be closed for good by the end of September.  Nearly 11,000 employees will lose their jobs, and authors, publishers and booksellers are scrambling to know where to go next in the on-paper writing world.  The company has not yet released a press release on their website, but a letter from the CEO to his employees was reported by newspapers nationwide.

Even e-book sales could be affected by the chain's demise.  According to MSNBC, many e-book readers go to the bookstore to browse for titles that they then download.

Although I wouldn't personally name Borders as my all-time favorite bookstore (that prize goes to reseller Powell's Books in downtown Portland, OR, which I blogged about in World of Words back in March), I do visit Borders at least once a month and generally make some purchase.

I am guilty of browsing for ideas at Borders like those e-readers; I generally browse and then buy from a reseller.  I don't own an e-reader and I'm not quite ready to make that jump.  That said, I would say it's nearly impossible for me to walk out of Borders without at least buying a coffee, a magazine, a couple of paperbacks for my kids and maybe a bargain book or two for myself.  In other words, I'm not dropping the dollars on a brand-new hardcover or $16.00 paperback, which I'll save the cash and buy secondhand, but I am certainly paying something for my hours of lingering.

I get a lot more ideas of what I'd like to read from employee recommendations and pulling book after book off the shelf and opening to read a page or two smack dab in the middle to see if it's my style than I do from my amazon "suggested reads" or Oprah's book club.  I like to take the time to discover a hidden gem, a new talent, an unknown author, and feel privileged to read their words.  

I get a lot more relaxation by walking through the front doors of the book store and breathing in the new books mixed with coffee and muted conversation than I do turning on my computer screen, with its harsh light and electronic buzz.

I know that Barnes and Noble will still exist, at least for now.  I know that there are other local, independent bookstores that I can (and will) visit, but I will miss my hours meandering through Borders.  

I am also a little afraid that books will follow the way of produce, hand-picked and displayed until we are only exposed to the same limited spectrum of choices from season to season, store to store.  I don't want my books to rely on social media, online advertising and Costco and book club selections to make it.  It concerns me as a writer, as a reader, as a lover of ideas, and as a lover of literature.  Diversity is good.  Strength in numbers.  

I am not anti-online sales, nor am I anti-e-readers.  If I ever try to walk down the path to publishing, I hope to make it an experience that e-readers and old-fashioned readers alike can enjoy.  I love clicking "buy" and seeing a book arrive at my doorstep days later, with the lovely anticipation as I wait for it to arrive.  Rather, I am pro-brick and mortar having the space to survive, and indeed to thrive, in the middle of this digital age.  And as long as people need work more than computers do, I want to give their smiling faces an opportunity to get a retail job and make my day happier as I walk through that door.

So, how does this relate to writercize you ask?  Here you go:

writing exercise:  It's PR and marketing time!  Write a catchphrase that sums up why you think we should save the bookstores.

Click "read more" for writercizer sample response.

What's That Smell? - writercize #83

A writer's job is to communicate all five senses using only words.  Sound like a challenge?  It should.

Really, books don't smell.  At least rarely as the space they describe, unless it's an old book written about old books in an old library and the reader is reading it the old-fashioned way without some fancy e-reader.  They don't play a soundtrack or give you the voices of the dialogue or taste like the gumbo or coffee or spaghetti they might describe.  They don't splash pictures in front of you, unless it's of the children's or comic book variety.  You can't close your eyes and touch the world that the writer sees in the mind's eye, feel the main character's hands and nose, run into their front door, swing in the trees.  And speaking of the mind's eye, as if describing the five senses of sight, sound, taste, touch and smell weren't challenging enough, the sixth sense of intuition generally gets thrown into a good book as well. 

It's exhausting just to think about, let alone throw a story and some characters at.  So, today I'm tossing the characters, ignoring the story, letting five of those six senses fall by the wayside (well, somewhat) and focusing on smell.

Go ahead, breathe deep.  Smell your surroundings.  

And when you are deep in a story, this exercise will help you and your character breathe in the scent as well.  Knowing when to use the nasal sense to describe the putrid smell of day-old garbage, the musty scent of a humid basement in the thundering months of summer or the sweet lingering perfume of a girl on a shirt after a boy's first kiss will take you far in describing your scene.

Now, snap out of your own surrounding and breathe in the prompt below.

writing exercise:  It is morning; you turn the corner and catch a whiff of the bakery down the street.  Do you enter?  What does it bake?  What does it smell like?  Describe the setting.  (Again, this is not about the story or the character; this is a study on smell.)

Click "read more" for writercizer sample response.  Truth be told, I'm not a big bakery girl, but I hope I can fake it enough to make you believe I am.  ;)