Monday, June 29 – Sunday July 5, 2009 Days #6 - #10
Fifteen minutes a day helps your writing progress in amazing ways. :-)
Find a dictionary or encyclopedia--it MUST be paper, not online. Open it at random and, without looking at the words on the page, put a finger down on the page. Then, pick any word within a one-inch radius of your finger. Use that word as your writing prompt to create a scene for your current writing project. (If you can't find a print encyclopedia or dictionary (sad), then open up any book, magazine, or newspaper and follow the same instructions.)
For example, I got the word "expectations." Now I will create a scene that uses expectations in some way.
Successfully complete this week's challenge and you earn the rank of Wordsmith.
3 comments:
So, I have been writing, but I have not been leaving comments to prove that I have done so. So, I am popping on in to say that I am writing. The random word I used to help prompt a scene that I wrote was "strangers", and here is a snippet from what transpired as a result of that word.
Brad watched the people walking by with a sullen look on his face. It was as if Agent Driver and Michaels were trying to destroy every shred of dignity that Brad James had left. Pretending to be a beggar was possibly the lowest he had ever gone. Brad had a hard time understanding why Michaels was proud of the ratty, cardboard sign he had given Agent James to use. It was like the other agents’ concept of a stakeout was warped by the desire to humiliate Brad.
The tin plate he was given had several coins in it and occasional passer-bys would drop a few more cents as they walked by. Agent Driver even had the gall to suggest that Brad could keep all of the money he made on his stake out. It seemed so demeaning. It should have been some consolation that he did not have to act like a street performer like Agent Michaels was, but Michaels looked like he was enjoying his post across the street a little too much.
Here's my freewrite. (I completed it today to make up for one of the days I missed this week :-) ) It was quite enjoyable. I find that, for me, the prompts are a great way to work on projects that I haven't done a lot of work on yet. I'm using my 15+ minutes a day of writing to finish a novel-in-progress. Anyway, that's how I'm using the challenge thus far.
____
WORD:
null adj 1: having no legal or binding force: INVALID, VOID 2: amounting to nothing 2: INSIGNIFICANT –nulity n
PROJECT:
EIGHTEEN LETTERS (YA or adult novel)
FIFTEEN MINUTE FREEWRITE:
Xeri sat on the edge of her bed and looked out the window. It was eleven in the morning, but she was still tired.
Through the blind slats, Xeri could see horizontal stripes of her mom, Mrs. Crestfallen, and Barb talking. Mrs. Crestfallen was leaning on the mailbox.
They were likely a buzz about the latest letter. It was only stolen last night, Xeri knew, but it was the biggest letter yet. And the most complicated, with the wires and the weight. _____ had nearly dropped it on Xeri, and then they’d barely scuttled away, with the ____, hiding behind a row of dumpsters when they saw the headlights.
The cops wouldn’t have seen the missing letter then. It was too high up. Too dark. (Maybe they noticed the power was out on the ______ building. But it didn’t seem that they had.)
News probably trickled through the city at sunup.
The news would never be as electric/thrilling as actually stealing a letter—that sort of thing still gave Xeri a rush—but she was glad to give her mom and all the other busybodies something to talk about. If you looked at it properly, Xeri was doing bored and lonely people everywhere a service . . . (not sure, really, what her attitude is towards the city, her mom, etc; not sure, really what she is trying to achieve, or if this way of thinking is just a way to make Xeri feel better about what she’s doing)
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Outtakes (aka, lines pushed to the bottom):
stolen last night from ___________. It was the biggest letter yet, and more
She was glad to give them something to do
Lisa, I love the way you comb over what you have written with questions. It's so thorough. Interesting how when we write sometimes things just come out a certain way, and you give yourself total freedom to change it. I love it.
I cannot wait to read your novel.
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