Welcome back everyone!  I hope you enjoyed last week’s exercises.  Today we’ll be talking about sight and how colors, shapes and everyday objects help spark a story.  Let’s dive in, shall we?

Let’s start with the basics…

• Is your character male or female?
• How old is your character?
• Where does your character live?
• What is your character’s occupation?
• Who’s in your character’s family?
• Does your character have a pet?
• What’s your character’s favorite color?

• What’s your character’s greatest fear?
• Does your character have a secret?
• Who is your character’s nemesis?
• What does your character want most in the world?  Why?

Finally, give your character a name.

Now that we have a character, let’s put him/her in a situation.  Pick a number between 1 and 5.  Don’t click on the number just yet.

The situation is as follows: your character is stuck in a place.  He/she isn’t helplessly stuck (i.e. the character can leave if he/she so chooses) but something is keeping the character there.  What that something might be is completely up to you.

Remember that number you selected?  Click it now.  This is your place.

1
2
3
4
5

Write the scene that unfolds.  Use cues and details in the picture to bring the situation to life.  And don’t forget to have fun!

This week, I read Love That Dog by Sharon Creech as the first of the verse novels for the Verse Novel Challenge.

In this story, the protagonist Jack resists his teacher’s assignment to write poems in a weekly journal.  As he responds to his teachers comments and the poems he reads in class, we learn more about Jack, his dog Sky and his story.  What I especially liked about this book was how we only hear Jack’s voice and his side of the dialogue with his teacher, but from his responses, we can infer what the teacher is saying.  In taking this approach (rather than giving us also the teacher’s voice) Creech puts the reader in Jack’s shoes and allows us to become fully absorbed in the story.

I’m not usually one to gush, but this book was so good I read it in one sitting.  OK, I’ll admit, it’s also a really short book, so it’s not as though “one sitting” was really a stretch.  (It was more like the dead time between two meetings.)  Still, even if I had had some appointment to run off to, it would have been hard to tear myself away.

I wish I had read this book sooner and included it in my literature thesis because it’s a perfect example of the form of a book following function.  In particular, the experience of reading the book makes us feel as though we are Jack, reading the poems in class (which Creech wisely includes in the back of the book for the reader’s reference) and talking to the teacher through poems.

And you can’t beat that first poem:

September 13

I don’t want to
because boys
don’t write poetry.

Girls do.

For those of you who aren’t familiar with it, Verbal Pyrotechnics is a literary magazine edited by yours truly and three of my fabulous writer/editor colleagues.  VP is dedicated to publishing teen literature of the short form (stories, poetry, essays, etc.). There aren’t many short form outlets for writers who focus on teen literature and we’ve decided to fix that.  Now we need your help because we need to spread the word.

Verbal Pyrotechnics will be accepting submissions starting next week (July 1)!  Check out our submissions page for more information.  And don’t forget to tell other writers about it and get ready to submit.

Hello all and welcome to Writing Through the Senses!

We’ll be talking about sound today and how it can inspire a story.  Let’s start off with a short listening exercise. 

Listening Exercise:   Below you’ll find a series of links to music.  Listen to the first 1-2 minutes of each piece (but don’t watch the accompanying videos; let the music speak for itself.)  While you listen to each piece, note the imagery that comes to mind.  What mood does the music establish?  Which specific sounds inspire each given image?  If you like, post your thoughts in the comments (but don’t read other people’s posts until you’ve had a chance to listen to the music for yourself).

Copland
Ponchielli
Saint-Saens 1
Saint-Saens 2
Holst 1
Mussorgsky

Writing Exercise:  Now that we’ve warmed up our ears, choose one of the three pieces below and listen to it all the way through (approx. 8-10 min)  As you listen, make notes again about the mood of the piece and think about what sort of story might go with this music.  If this music were a soundtrack to a story, what would the story be?

Once you’ve listened all the way through, take 10-15minutes and write a scene or story inspired by the music.  If you need to listen to the piece again, feel free to do so but don’t feel like you have to parallel the music exactly.  The music is only here to inspire the story and give you a starting point.

Beethoven
Holst 2
Dukas

Take-Home Message:  While some writers find it challenging to write and listen to music at the same time, music can be a great writing tool.

Suggestions for Future Listening:  These pieces of music all tell a story or convey a specific mood.  If you don’t have them in your listening library, I highly recommend.

• Beethoven – 6th (pastoral) Symphony
• Saint-Saens – Carnival of the Animals
• Holst – The Planets
• Vivaldi – 4 Seasons