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Try a Little Kindness @ Tuesday Tryouts

27 Nov

7:36 a.m. — Atlanta

listening to Chapel of Love by the Dixie Cups

Hi, all. The problem with not taking a computer on holiday is the surprising amount one can fall behind, in five days. To the group who wonders whether I again fell off the planet: later today, as soon as I get through the college essays I’m editing, I’ll be around to respond to comments. NaNoWriMers, almost done! Congratulations for still being in the game.

I am shifting today’s focus, as I signed up for Fiona Robyn’s blogsplash to celebrate the one year anniversary of the publication of her novel Small Kindnesses. We’ll have art next week.

I knew about the blogsplash some time ago and had signed up tentatively right up to the moment a few days ago when Fiona wrote to see if I wanted my blog on the list. I still didn’t know, because the topic seemed overwhelming: pick a [as in one] small kindness done to you and relate it. Choose one? Just one? Fiona wrote back and said she would put my blog on the list anyway, whether or no I joined in. And, there, ladies and gentlemen, is my small kindness.

I have known Fiona since the inception of the community Writing Our Way Home. Throughout the past two years, Fiona has shown other small kindnesses to me, like checking to make sure I have not fallen off the planet. An act of kindness is one that does not have to be done, but is anyway, with thought only for the recipient. My husband is a man whose core is kindness and I watch as he performs small kindnesses every day, both to me and to strangers.

Watching a kindness done is an easy thing for the mind to absorb. I know that when I see a small kindness done, I carry it with me for a while. When the kindness is done to me, I feel cherished and acknowledged.

I looked the word up, as I am always curious about word origins. I found a fascinating essay on the word kind. I enjoyed it so much, I am giving you the link, should you care to investigate.

Fiona’s small kindness for all of us, is to make available for free, for one day, her novel. Head on over to her post on Writing Our Way Home and check it out.

What’s that? Yes, I am including a writing prompt, a true prompt rather than an exercise. Would you like to guess the theme? Too obvious? Go on. List as many small kindnesses as you remember witnessing. That will get the brain focused on the topic. Then list as many small kindnesses as you can remember being done to you.

You can go in a number of directions. A list poem might work. Or, you might want to pull together like kindnesses. Or, you might want to focus on one. It depends on what you want the poem to do. If you want the poem to say something about kindness that goes beyond a list, you might have to tweak details. That’s okay.

I shall see you Friday for the week’s roundup; and next Tuesday for the image prompt.

Enjoy your day. Happy writing, everyone.

 
30 Comments

Posted by on 27/11/2012 in exercises, poetry, writing

 

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Tuesday Tryouts: Here’s a Metaphor, There’s a Metaphor

20 Nov

8:25 a.m. — Atlanta

listening to Sweet Baby James by James Taylor

Hello! I enjoyed the pieces that came out in response to last week’s narrative prompt, and even more, the fun you seemed to be having. Today we shall continue our reveling in metaphor. Remember what I said about metaphor:

A metaphor provides the identification of two unlike things. X=Y. The two things are not being compared, one to the other; the two things are each other. Metaphor comes from the Greek metafora: to transfer to. When using a metaphor, you are transferring the properties of one thing to another. “Juliet is the sun”. Not Juliet is like the sun, hot, bright, yellow… but Juliet IS the sun, the centre of Romeo’s universe, the giver of life and nurture.

Today’s exercises are a lot of fun. Do as many as you wish. Make your own versions up. When I do these, I find it easier to write prose first. Then I look for the line breaks and work the prose into a poem. You may either write and leave in prose, write and work into a poem, or write straight into poetry [you wild poemers, you]. Whichever you do, post for us to read.

One thing you will notice and wonder about is how an audience is supposed to know what your metaphor is about. Remember that in writing fiction, an author has context into which he places the metaphor. Readers don’t stop and wonder what the heck is going on. They know the relationship is a sunset, and why. For your pieces, add the short bit that describes the exercise, if you want.

1] Describe a body of water as seen by a teenager contemplating suicide. Do not mention death, suicide, or the teenager doing the seeing.

2] Describe a building as seen by a man whose son has just died in a war. Do not mention the son, war, death, or the old man doing the seeing.

3] Describe the night as seen by a young (wo)man whose first child has just been born. Do not mention birth, children, or the parent doing the seeing.

4] Describe a bridge as seen by a middle-aged adult who just can’t seem to do well in her job. Do not mention the job, or the adult doing the seeing.

5] Describe a forest, or some other natural scene, as seen by a woman whose detested husband has just died [yes, you can switch genders]. Do not mention the husband, the death, or the woman doing the seeing.

The tricky part is not sounding cliché, but that is also the addictive part of playing with these.

I have a draft of one that is on its way from the initial freewrite to a possible poem. The exercise works well if you set yourself a time. Choose one. Set the timer for twelve minutes and write. I find the time limit keeps me from overthinking and pulls out some things my rational brain might not offer. In response to the first:

Blue silk ripples beckon with white
fingers. Slender white fingers curve
and motion as water circles my ankles
surrounding me, pulling me in with her arms,
pulling me in. Ceaseless shudders and slaps
of wavelets, the murmurs ceaseless. The water
sucks greedily, waiting; she said she would
wait. Draining, straining, the white fingers
beckon; water pulls greedily and I see
long hair tangling; pond weed catches,
pulls, holds forever. Water reaches, pulls
me in enfolding, holding, ceaseless.

On that cheerful note, I shall leave you until next Tuesday when the Tryout will be a narrative exercise based on an image. Those who celebrate Thanksgiving, have a wonderful time. The rest of you can have a wonderful time, too :-) .

Happy writing, everyone.

 
26 Comments

Posted by on 20/11/2012 in exercises, poetry, writing

 

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Skydiving into Tuesday Tryouts

13 Nov

7:26 a.m. — Atlanta

listening to Little Darling by The Diamonds

Hi, everyone. We have another prose/fiction/narrative exercise [i.e. not poetry]. This is an interesting one that could result in some hair pulling, but can also result in a cool piece of writing. If you are having problems with NaNoWriMo, this will add about 1500 words. More importantly, it will allow you to play with perspective. Non-NaNo people, I suggest trying out the exercise, then looking to see where you see a poem. That leaves things broad for you which, I know, drives some of you nuts. Remember: there is no wrong way. The objective is to write. Ready to play?

This exercise suggests another way to look at something, a person, a setting, an event. In this exercise, your narrator(s) (imagine a camera eye)  must start high in the air and descend, getting closer and closer all the time to the same spot on the earth — and finally, passing through that spot and going under the ground (yes, a camera eye that has a heck of a swivel).

RULES ( how about that!):
Don’t change your target in mid-exercise.
Don’t move side-to-side; that is, focus on the same event on the ground but observe it from different altitudes.
You may, however, change narrator and/or point-of-view (first-person, second-person, third-person) from step to step. An anonymous third-person will often make sense.
It’s all right to read ahead (but it’s interesting to take each step as it comes). Try to write at least 250 words for each step.

REMEMBER: At different heights, degree of detail is different… the kinds of things one can see are different… the sounds one can hear are different… the angle of vision is different… things don’t always seem to be what they are …

If you are able, try this physically. Choose something that you are able to view from at least four levels and do so. For each, note the differences, the things you notice at one level, that you don’t see at another. No, no, don’t bang your head on the wall. This was an exercise my mentor and I gave high schoolers. Don’t over-think the steps. Relax. Write.

These steps may result in a continuous narrative… or a collection of different possibilities.  No transitions needed, at this point.

You might wish to target a character, a moment or event from an existing story. Or you can just wait for each step and see what happens, as you write. Whichever, decide what your focus is.

1.    Pretend you are like a bird or at the height of an airplane in flight, at least 600 feet or 200 meters in the air. Focus on your target (which is on the ground). Write everything you can see or hear. Try for at least 250 words.

2.    Pretend you are high in a tree or on a church steeple or on the roof of a nine-story apartment building or at a similar height. Remember: You may shift narrator and/or point of view from the previous step. You might even change the time of the narrative from that of the earlier step. Focus on your target. Write everything you can see or hear.

3.    Pretend you are looking out a first story-window  or sitting in the cab of a big truck or standing on a table or riding a horse. In some way, you are a little higher than most people’s heads.  Remember: You may wish to shift narrator and/or point of view. You may wish to shift the time of the narration. Focus on your target. Write everything you can see or hear.

4.    Pretend you are at eye-level with a grownup. (Okay, you are a grownup; I didn’t want to change my pattern.)  Or perhaps you are an invisible narrator. Remember: You can shift narrator and/or point of view. You can shift time. Focus on your target. Write everything you can see or hear.

5.    Pretend you are at the height of a child sitting on a rock or of a Labrador Retriever’s  eyes. Perhaps you are a child, or a Labrador Retriever (see what I mean about choosing to be a different narrator?]. Focus on your target. Write everything you can see or hear.

6.    Pretend you are underground, perhaps in a tunnel, a subway, a grave, a ditch. Remember: You may wish to shift narrator and/or point of view. You may shift time. Focus on your target. Write everything you can see or hear.

There is the possibility of adding smell to the equation, as that would change with proximity.

Non-NaNo poets, I think you can do the exercise and then look at what you have written as material within which to find a poem. You can also play with writing a narrative poem. Include all the steps. It can be about changes in perspective, about seeing things differently, maybe unexpectedly, with a shift in perspective. This can be figurative, or literal.

If you are struggling, but game, for heaven’s sake write me (margoroby@gmail.com) and say: This is what I have but I’m not sure about… or, I understand all, except this bit.

Above all, enjoy the experiment. It’s a valuable exercise for both prose and poetry. I shall see you Friday for the roundup; and next Tuesday for the next exciting installment of narrative exercises.

I’m off to organise my Christmas shopping! Happy writing, all.

 
26 Comments

Posted by on 13/11/2012 in exercises, poetry, writing

 

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Let’s Compare Apples and Oranges: Tuesday Tryouts

06 Nov

7:39 a.m. — Atlanta

listening to Ally Ally Oxen Free by the Kingston Trio… that takes some of you back, doesn’t it?

Hello, all. I hope our New Yorkers and New Jersey Shorers are hanging in. It was good to see you posting.

We are going to have a different focus for the next four, or five, weeks: narrative. So many of you participate in NaNoWriMo that I thought it might be interesting for you to have specific exercises to try as you go.

I do realise that this may result in a month of no poetry for us to read. Horrors! So, for those of you not participating, or those who want to keep the poetry going, you know you can find poetry anywhere. Take a part of any exercise I post and craft a poem. If the title of an exercise prompts a poem, go for it, because what do we say? So long as we are writing!

If you write a short fiction piece in response to any of the exercises, consider posting it, just as you do your poems. All writing welcome.

We will start easy, with metaphor. Writing narrative does not mean all literary techniques go out the window. Quite the opposite, and metaphor is one of your most valuable tools.

‘Comparison is as natural as breathing. You hear a train and it reminds you of the ocean. You caress bark and remember your grandfather’s knees. You look at tributaries and see your veins. One landscape melts into another. It’s as if each time you encounter something it is imprinted over all the impressions that came before it; each impression is transparent.
    The connection between two things can be obvious or subtle. Sometimes it’s physical. Other times the similarity is experiential or has to do with function. It is possible to find some similarity between [almost] any two things.‘ [Bonni Goldberg, Room to Write]

Comparison

Draw comparisons between two things. Choose at least one from your surroundings. The other can be an object, a person, or an abstract concept like jealousy, love, fate. How many ways can you compare them? Go for at least twenty-five. Stretch yourself. If you have difficulty, try another pair. One of the things might come out of what you have written for NaNoWriMo, so far, or have in mind to write.

Create a metaphor . . .
simile: indirect comparison? metaphor: direct comparison?
NO! A metaphor provides the identification of two unlike things.
x=y. The two things are not being compared, one to the other; the two things are each other.

Category metaphor

Comparison allows us to distance ourselves from the subject and allows, therefore, more direct comment. Examine a group. It can be your peers, your family, characters from your novel idea… Then pick a category: vegetables, gardening tools, types of cereals, holidays, birds, any category that comes to mind. Develop character sketches for each member of the group based on elements within your chosen category. For instance, if you choose vegetables as a category, write about what type of vegetable your character looks like or acts like and why. You will be surprised how much you will learn about your characters.

Animal metaphor

What kind of animal are you? What qualities does that animal embody that you identify with temperamentally? Describe yourself as this creature. How does being this animal affect the way you write? You may also apply this to a character. Again, it aids in development.

Weather

Consider what kind of weather corresponds to one of your characters: snow, lightning, rain, fog, a summer storm, whirlwind…how far can you take the comparison: mood, thought pattern, appearance, what the character likes to do for fun… Have you noticed, in novels you read, how often the author describes the weather. Authors often use the weather as a parallel to what is happening to a character, or to the plot.

Give these a try. It might be messy and sprawly, but words you will have. Consider posting one of your comparisons, so we can see what everyone has come up with. Poet people not into narrative, you can take this exercise almost exactly the same but you won’t apply it to a character and you will produce a poem, yes?

Above all, have fun. I shall see you Friday for the prompt roundup. Thursdays are dark until January, unless you have a question you want me to explore. This goes for narrative as well, particularly in the area of structure. Next Tuesday, we might have a more out there exercise in metaphor, or we may start playing with structure… or point of view. There’s so much. In fact, if you would like me to see whether I have a narrative exercise that addresses a particular aspect of fiction, let me know.

Happy writing, everyone.

 

 

 
31 Comments

Posted by on 06/11/2012 in exercises, poetry, writing

 

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Ghosts of the Past on Tuesday Tryouts

30 Oct

8:07 a.m. — Atlanta

listening to the washing machine

Hello, everyone. May all of you in the storm’s path be safe, preferably with electricity. Those who live outside the storm area but know people in it, I hope you are able to get news of them.

Today’s prompt is an odd and somber group of photographs. I think them special and compelling. I shall give you one photo here and the link to many others, as well as an interesting article about the woman who found the original negatives and what she did with them.

Dutch historian Jo Teeuwisse discovered 300 negatives in a flea market and began to research the sites of the photos. [Yahoo News] When she found the modern sites, she overlay photographs of them with the old photographs, with haunting results.

photographic images belong to Jo Teeuwisse

There are others more haunting but this one keeps speaking to me. Read the article in Mail Online News and then, move over to Teeuwisse’s Flickr site where you will find all of her work.

Choose a photograph that speaks to you, as this one does to me. The poem does not have to be about war, or soldiers. You can develop themes from these images such as the transience of some things, and the permanence of others. The images may remind you of something, in which case, write about that. Or, you may wish to create a story of the moment.

The object always is a poem, so there is no right, or wrong [If you are overtaken by a bit of flash fiction, well then, for heaven's sake, post that!]. Write. Post. Come back and read others.

I shall see you Friday for the roundup and next Tuesday for a prompt slanted more towards our NaNoWriMo participants.

Happy writing, all.

 
51 Comments

Posted by on 30/10/2012 in exercises, poetry, writing

 

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Happy Holidaying : Tuesday Tryouts

29 Nov

7:29 a.m. — Atlanta

I know you are thinking: Margo, your brain is not awake yet. You have just finished your first cup of coffee. Why are you writing this so early? Well, I was distraught [okay, maybe a little strong, but you get the idea] when I discovered on our return from D.C. that the post I had updated and calendared to go out on Friday, didn’t, or it is floating in cyberspace somewhere…lost and lonely. My apologies for whatever happened. The fault is pretty sure to lie at my door. Perhaps in the pre-travel fugue, I didn’t push the final button.

PAD and NaNoWriMo folks, I salute you. One more day. You should feel good about yourselves whatever amount you accomplished. Anything you did is more than you had before. I picture many brains lying around in a stupor for a few days. I will, as promised, keep things simple.

Pick a holiday, any holiday.

I was so tempted to stop here, if only to imagine your reactions to a short post from me, but you know I have to give you something to play with. I have a couple of options.

After you choose your holiday, jot down everything you associate with that particular day. Write a poem about the holiday using none of those things. This is a good way of writing a fresh poem about any topic where everything associated with it becomes a cliché when written.

The second option if your brain threw its hands up in horror, is to use the holiday as a long line acrostic. The link I have given you will take you to an example, if you haven’t tried a long line acrostic before.

And that, my friends will do it. I shall see you Friday for the roundup and next Tuesday for something. Realising the whole month of December is fraught for most people, I shall continue looking for easy somethings for you to write about when escaping fraught-ness.

Do post links to your poems, whenever you write them. Or, if you are blogless, post the poem in comments. I receive great pleasure reading them, as I am sure you do reading each others.

Happy writing, all.

 
11 Comments

Posted by on 29/11/2011 in exercises, poetry, writing

 

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Poetry Prompt[s] in Case You Aren’t Doing PAD or NaNoWriMo — Friday Freeforall

18 Nov

7:55 a.m. — Atlanta

Hello everyone. I know. It’s before eight in the morning where I am. Good grief!

My mind was set going by a lovely email, written in the form of a poem, from one of the editors of the Origami Poems Project. They are getting ready to publish a second collection of mine, and I am feeling chuffed [to my American friends, that's a good thing]. If you don’t know them, visit. It’s a wonderful project.

Let us start with Donna’s Poetry Tow Truck where we are asked to try our hand at an abcedarian poem. This is fun play. And, even better, Donna gives options, so head over to the tow truck to read the options and for a link that will explain abcedarian poems.

Over at dVerse, I am ignoring the form post [which you can wander around and find for yourselves, if your brains are not wrapped up in PAD or NaNoWriMo], and going for a suggestion from them that we play with idioms. They offer a couple of options and a link to a whole lot of idioms, if you are just curious. Let me add an option and that is to let the idiom kick off the initial draft of your poem and then remove it.

Poetic Bloomings asks us to take on one of the most written about, and therefore hard to do well, emotions, and that is love. You might combine your idea with one of the forms they suggest this week, the nonet, or the etheree. Both forms work well with this emotion, as one closes down and the other unfolds.

The next site is The Sunday Whirl. The words for this week’s wordle are brought by Barbara, who pulled them from Henry Reed’s poem, ‘The Naming of Parts’ [you will find a link on Brenda's site. Even if you don't wordle, this is a poem worth reading.]. Visit to see Brenda’s wordle and to read up on how it works, if you wish to post responses. Otherwise, enjoy a weekly wordle and be sure to go over to see what others have done.

Carry On Tuesday gives us the first line of a poem by John Clare, written in 1821, called ‘Autumn’. To read the line and to read the poem, head on over. The line is one of those wonderful ones that can be metaphorical, or literal.

Sunday Scribblings’ prompt focuses on a phrase that can be part of a poem, or used to spark an idea. And One Single Impression gives us hourglass, which comes with the challenge of not sounding clichéd. Head over to read an example [or several, if you check out what contributors have written].

My guaranteed weekly smile. Whether you like to read them or want to try writing one, this site is the place to play with limericks. I smile as soon as I see the site as next on my list. Go to Mad Kane’s Humor Blog for her Limerick-off Mondays and a lot more besides. Go for the laugh. It’s healthy.

Over at The Gooseberry Garden the theme for this week is Childhood, Dreams, Books, and Role Models.  And looking towards next week, when the U.S. thanksgiving seems to have morphed into a general week to remember to be thankful, they will focus on This is what I’m thankful for in life! Again, the challenge is to not sound clichéd.

Visit Magpie Tales for our image prompt. Whoever chooses the paintings for Magpie Tales, always hits the nail for me. I am going to have to find how they find their prints. A Googling I shall go.

For you alliterationists out there,  ABC Wednesday is chock full of good stuff this week. Not only is there a magnificent piece of alliteRation, but links to a couple of pieces of music I haven’t listened to in a while. Go on over and enjoy.

The three words this week for Three Word Wednesday are impetus, solace, and vindication. As always, visit them for their definitions. They have a particularly good source and I often get ideas from the definitions rather than the given word.

We Write Poems asks us to write an epistolary poem, a poem-letter to be specific. Here is your chance to use the second person correctly, in a poem. Head over to read the rest.

Over at Poets United we are given This week start a poem with I. I love the photographs that accompany the prompt. I know, I always love them, but seriously, they are cool, or fun, or beautiful, something that evokes a response from me, every week, so even if you have no time to write, go see the photos.

Weekend Haiku & Limericks includes truffula trees in their possible topics. How can you not go check it out? What I like about this particular blog is that they focus us in an unusual way. Head over to see what I mean.

And, finally, stop by and add your voice to Elizabeth Crawford’s discussion site Writers Speak  where she asks writers of all genres to stop by and talk about the life of a writer. She will post new topics every week around Friday. This week gives us a chance to talk about the topics we avoid, or find difficult when writing about them. I think most of us have subjects we have never, or won’t, or don’t want to touch. Here is a chance to talk with others about it. If you haven’t gone over, go, before Elizabeth changes the topic! Even then, there is no reason you can’t contribute to a past discussion.

That should keep you busy and writing. If you think anyone else would enjoy these, click on the buttons below. If you have questions ask. If you write in response to any of these, both the people whose blogs you visit, and I, would love to read your responses. So, post! And, remember: if you have a topic you want me to discuss, tell me. I’ll take on just about anything and if it’s beyond me, I’ll find sources.

I shall see you Tuesday for another prompt that will be easy on your brains, I hope; and Friday for the roundup. Friday will be this post again, as I will be celebrating Thanksgiving with our daughter and my brother and his wife. Nope, not taking the computer.

Happy writing, everyone.

 
3 Comments

Posted by on 18/11/2011 in exercises, poetry, writing

 

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Monday Mantras: On Hold Until the New Year

13 Dec

9:25 am, Monday, 13 December, 2010 – Atlanta

I do believe in coincidences: I believe when they happen I should check them out, or pay attention. Last week my son asked if I was going to blog over Christmas. He knew I was traveling to my mom’s and things would be busy preparing for a big family Christmas. I blithely answered: Oh yes, and he was briefly silent. Then I came across an article in Suzannah Freeman’s blog Write it Sideways. The article she wrote is “How to Avoid Blogging Burnout During the Holidays“. I read with interest. I blog and there are about to be holidays.

One of the things she talks about is the audience. Never mind the time I will have to find to write one blog. How about the time you need to read however many blogs you follow. I know that on a normal schedule, the blogs I read faithfully are the ones that arrive in my inbox. They make it easy for me. The ones I read the next most faithfully are the ones who have weekly prompts. And, the ones I would like to get to but it’s hit and miss so far, are all the rest. How many blogs do you follow? Are you going to be able to check them, or do anything other than skim them, until after New Year’s?

Suzannah suggests scaling back, and keeping the posts short. So, starting next Monday, I shall. You may see a few word lists, Wordles and images for a couple of weeks. I will take Christmas Eve and Christmas Day off and that takes us into a weekend. Today, rather than give you mantras to ponder at a time of year when you are juggling several things and your brain may be frantically shouting at you all the things you need to get done, I will give you a general suggestion for focus in the next few weeks and a shoutout.

First the Shoutout: Fiona Robyn, writer of the blog A Handful of Stones, wants to try an idea similar to NaNoWriMo, but with short pieces. She says “a river of stones is an international project to encourage people to engage with the world through writing a short observational piece every day during January”. Whether you write prose or poetry, this works. You can spend a month writing short pieces that you can later turn into poems, short or longer, as the muse takes you.

 

And, for the next few weeks, this craziness of Christmas, whether you celebrate it or not, happens every year. Look for the small nuggets, the scenes, the images that happen only now and jot them into your journal. You can only collect these ideas, scenes, and images once a year, so look closely. Look at things you have not looked at closely before because your mind assigns it to the craziness of the season. Maybe there is something you missed that would make a great poem. I might just post this paragraph for the next couple of weeks :)

Tomorrow: an exercise in colour.

 

 
2 Comments

Posted by on 13/12/2010 in poetry, writing

 

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