Enjoying the summer? Thinking about writing but finding it tough to get started?
Why not try some simple pen yoga with these ten ten minute exercises to improve your writing craft…
All you need is your mobile phone…
Before you start…from where you are now, take 5 snapshots that grab your attention. You will use these images for a number of pen exercises…
Now find a quiet comfortable place to sit…
- Look at each image in turn. What struck you enough to capture this image. Composition? Colour? Subject? Atmosphere? Write down briefly your initial thoughts on each image.
- Now look again at each image. Describe the image in detail in 100 words.
- Look at the language you have used to describe each image. How might you make this more descriptive for a blind person? Metaphors? Juxtapositions? Personification? Other 4 senses? Sensations? Adjectives and Adverbs? Rhythms and rhymes?
- For each image, consider how it might be used in the following ways:
- a TV drama
- a horror film or film noir
- a non fiction piece such as a holiday brochure or an advertisement
- an informative piece of narrative such as a review
- a speech on something of interest or about which you are passionate
- a short comedy sketch
- a poem
- Now look at the images as a collection…what ties them together?
How might they be used in a narrative? Draft 4 possible plot scenarios
- Plan a story based on the images starting with 1 image and using all of them and ending up with the first image.
- Now change the order. Plan it again.
- Describe in a few sentences what happens to the story and the genre in the new version. Is it an improvement?
- Review your ideas and tighten the plot and characters scenarios. Make notes on each image and how it will move the plot forward. Make pen sketches of the characters and events.
- Draft a version that appeals to you in 500 words, using the skills and ideas you have worked on above.
Post your story in the comments box below to be entered into a prize draw for some free, personalised writing tips…
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