Get List Fit! Tools to Shape-Up Flabby Prose

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#ThisBook videos, Andrea Reads America, Deep South Magazine Summer Reading List, Poetry Prompt FreeForAll, priscilla long, Sundog Lit Friday Rex, the list sentence, The Writer's Portable Mentor, Wordgathering

In Priscilla Long’s helpful text, The Writer’s Portable Mentor, she describes the list sentence as a compression technique employed by “superb, first-rate, virtuoso writers” to striking effect and recommends them as an opportunity to both play with sound and improve the quality of less than stellar passages.

 

After a hand full of examples from contemporary work, she then asks one to jump into a exercise invoking a setting or person with such a beast. Ok, but before we embark on our own writing, let’s conduct a random survey.

Here are sentences that I gleaned from a casual selection of texts on my own bookshelves:

From Eudora Welty’s autobiographical, One Writer’s Beginnings:

The Andrews Branch my mother came from represents the mix most usual in the Southeast –English, Scottish, Irish, with a dash of French Hugenont.

From Mary Miller’s short story collection, Big World:

He had a sister who traveled the world on a boat with her sea captain husband. She sent us things through the mail: statutes of Buddha, first edition books, turquoise bracelets.

From Edna O’Brien’s novel, Wild Decembers:

A few scattered houses, the old fort, lime-dank and jabbery and from the great whooshing belly of the lake between grassland and callow land, a road, sluicing the little fortresses of ash and elder, a crooked road to the mouth of the mountain.

And from Lorrie Moore’s new collection, Bark:Stories (which I highly recommend):

Ira’s new house, though it was in what his realtor referred to as ‘a lovely, pedestrian neighborhood,’ abutting the streets named after presidents, boasting, instead, streets named after fishing flies (Caddis, Hendrickson, God-Ribbed Hare’s Ear Road), was full of slow drains, leaky burners, stopped-up pipes, and excellent dust for scrawling curse words.

Please share your own “gleanings” in the comments of the post, and on then full-steam into the exercise.

Thinking about a recent trip I made to Biloxi, I wrote this about a section of the beachfront:

Even now, almost nine years after Katrina, I am still struck by the absence of things rather than their presence. Gone are the fast food outlets, the boats, the umbrellas, the glittering streetlights, and even the median. The sand has been replaced by the red dirt of construction, by re-bar dangling from limp concrete, and by parking lots half-swallowed by weeds that stink of bird shit and piss.

Hmm, might be on to an essay there.  Have to get on that. In the meantime, let’s ponder why in Long’s examples, so many passages are from poets-turned-essayist.

Well, for one, poets are well-practiced in precise word selection, and for another, they usually have heightened skills in close-observation.  Most writers will find that even a casual dabbling in poetry can produce extraordinary improvement in your prose writing. I recommend Margo Roby’s weekly Poetry Prompts FreeForall for a round-up of stimulating exercises.

You can also improve your prose by broadening your reading horizons. You might start with Deep South Magazine’s 2014 Summer Reading List or read your way through the states with Andrea Reads America. And if you crave more bite-size selections, try Sundog List’s Friday Rex roundups. There’s always something good to be found there.

Also, might be worth a visit to #ThisBook for a smattering of videos on books that have inspired other writers.  Happy browsing, scribblenauts!

 

 

 

 

 

 

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Cure WritersBlockitis Forever!!! Exercises for the Fiction Lab

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crayon exercises, cure writer's block, Fiction lab, writing exercises

That’s right! I said it. No more sitting around staring at a blank page.  If you really want to get up the juice to write again, you’ve got to work out that brain. And no, we’re not talking Mensa puzzles or Sudoku, all you smart asses. But nice try.

The cure-all for writer’s block actually requires a crayon and the fun exercises below:

So grab your favorite color and WRITE!

Snapshot–To do this one, you’ll need pics of people engaged in interesting things.  Look in old magazines, on the internet or snap some candid shots with your phone. Then for each scene, write a giant “I” on your sheet with the crayon and roll out the details as if you were involved.  You can switch to pen/pencil after the first sentence.  Do a couple of these and then try to combine.

Repeat in second or third person.

Objectify–similar to snapshot, only played with pictures of objects. For example, a shot of a muddy bootprint in a bathtub or an iron cooking pot full of bones.  Write the name of the object in crayon under its picture and then write at least two sentences about its past or future.

Bonus points for linking it to the people you wrote about in snapshot.

Remnants of plot–Take the major plot points of the last movie you saw and spin your own version with objects and people woven in from the snapshot and objectify exercises.  All names of people and objects should be rendered only in crayon.

Extra points for making two of the plot points polar opposites of the originals.

Love letters–Write a short love note (entirely in crayon) from a politician or priest to a famous literary character.

Extra points for saucy character choices.

Now try a TV character writing to a book character.

Headlines–Pluck a headline from a foreign newspaper (see http://www.world-newspapers.com) and tell your own story. Headline must be written in crayon.

More points for shorter picks.  For example, Flirting in Deutsch from the Munich Times earns you more than Box of 1930’s Letters Washes up in Canal from one of the Highland papers.

If you get going on something good, don’t stop, but don’t abandon the crayon altogether either.  Switching back and forth between writing mediums helps to keep both sides of your brain fired up.

Try a few everyday to keep the ideas churning, and you’ll never be stuck for a writing topic again.

 

Enjoy, all you scribblers!!!  I’ve got more good stuff coming your way soon….

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

Nose Games

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Aimee Nez, Antoni Pitxot, Diane Ackerman, Mark Lindstrom, Nose games, power of smell, sensory maps, smellwalking, The Perfume Collector, writing prompts, Year of Wonders

Smell is a powerful thing. It bypasses the reasoning parts of our brains and goes straight on to the emotional center.  Diane Ackerman, author of The Natural History of the Senses (a recommended read), calls smell a “tripwire” that causes “memories [to] explode all at once..[in] a complex vision [that] leaps out of the undergrowth”.  

It is, in fact, such an powerful stimulant that many Alzheimer’s support groups are now using it as a means to help suffers recall otherwise blocked emotions and memories. [Start here if you want more info on this subject: HelpforAlzheimersFamilies.com]

Advertisers are also wielding the olfactory whip and not always to our advantage. Branding expert, Mark Lindstrom has written a whole book on how sense manipulation can be used to push products. I had no idea that Singapore Airlines had actually patented the smell of their cabins.  Who knew that you could even do that? Not me!

Neither did I suspect the Department of Defense to be sinking dollar after dollar into projects that focus on turning smell into a weapon, or as they more innocuously call it as “a tool for crowd dispersal”.

Ok. Creepy, but true. Here’s the American Scientist article. And there are more out there. Go look! But beware that even reading about all that burnt hair and vomit is enough to induce nausea or worse. 

At least, aromatherapists know that smell has a good side.  I won’t subject you to all of the research going on in this field, but just know that smell can open many doorways–some that lead to copious health benefits and some that go down the path to seduction.  Uh huh! Read that right.

Linger on that thought for a moment, and then go pick up a copy of Diane Ackerman’s The Natural History of Love. Another fascinating read on the role of smell in attraction. And it’s not just all about pheromones. Sections on aphrodisiacs, etc.

Smell can even invoke whole cities in one’s mind. One whiff of boiled crawfish sends me home. Not that I’ve left New Orleans for long. Who needs to? Some tours groups are even organizing around this little fad called smellwalking. I hear that it’s fun.

While it hasn’t yet made it to my city, “nosy” researchers like Kate McLean have already mapped out such places as Glasgow and Paris. To the left is a map of Edinburgh (known affectionately as Auld Reekie) that was done in 2011.  More on McLean’s work in the Daily Mail. And do check out her blog.

I found Dali’s old buddy, Antoni Pitxot featured there. Apparently, the painting below was a rendering of the smell of a fishing village in Spain.

But do understand that it’s not just visual artists who can stand to bring smell into their work.  Unfortunately, it’s one of the more neglected senses in literature, and this is truly a shame.

When done well, you get novels like
The Perfume Collector or the Geraldine Brooks’ Year of Wonders. I will never forget how Brooks’ opening chapter invokes the aroma of apples and woodpiles and hay to bring one into the main character’s world. Transportive. Literally.

And in the poetry space, I find that Aimee Nez has a real gift for incorporating scents.  She will often speak of the pull of smell in interviews.  I will let you discover these tidbits and the rest of her work for your own, but what I will introduce you to is an exercise that she often employs with herself and her students. 

So, adapted from Aimee, your challenge this week:  to begin a journal of scents.  That’s right! For (at least) the next week, I want you to be led by your nose.

Then once you have collected a copious amount of those little emotion-invoking spigots, I want you to weave them into some linked poems or a good piece of prose. And as always, feel free to share them here on the blog or post other examples. 

Happy sniffing!!!

 

 

 

 

Get A Lick of This…

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Aimee Nez, Creole Creamery, Ice cream, Ice cream social, Kei Miller, lab, Laurel McConnell, Liz Rosenberg, Mary Rose O'Reilly, New Orleans, Picasso, poetry prompt, Raoul Dufy, The Prytania Theater, The Wave, writing prompt

Back when I was in school, the junior high vice-principal (not from the South nor good with 6th graders) decided that it would be a good idea to have a welcome-back ice cream social for the newbies.

Now this was in Louisiana, in the middle of August. Needless to say, an unairconditioned gym plus moody teenies were not such a good plan. We melted down faster than the slop they were passing off as ice cream. I am not sure what that goop was, but I am telling you that it almost turned me off ice cream for good. Seriously, seriously gross.

Luckily, I discovered Ben&Jerry’s when I went off to college. My only excuse for not having found it sooner was that my mother did all the grocery shopping back then. Let me just say a little thank you to all of the ladies at Hollins for keeping the Rat stocked with my favorite mix. I forget the name of it now, but it had some yummy shortbread chunks and was a total God-send. Sorry, but the cafeteria sucked! And you Virginians really need to learn about spice. 

I was so very happy to move back to New Orleans where red beans & rice are kept on tap. And do not even get me started on crawfish. National treasure.

Almost as good as the ice cream. Almost! Creole Creamery on Prytania (that’s in the Garden District) really whips up a mean Creole Creme Cheese and a kickin’ Sweet Potato Praline. Some people swear by their Red Velvet Cake, but for now I like me some Blueberry Pie in a waffle cone thank you very much.

A good cone after a movie at the Prytania is the perfect date. That’s right, snuggle up. Eat that ice cream in pairs. You’ll need some good lovin’ after watching The Shining (it’s playing all week).

And if you happen to have come by in the daytime, you really should try to take some photos of the wild parrots that own the trees in Uptown.

This photo ran in the local paper.  Hard to get a better shot of the birdies! Pretty, but loud.

Reminds me of one of my favorite paintings by Raoul Dufy. He liked the bright colors of tropical birds, and so do I.

I am also reminded of Picasso’s Woman Reading. Something about the combination of colors and shapes.

I also think ice cream when I see photos of the Wave formation in Arizona. Chocolate swirl anyone?

What you do associate with ice cream?

A color? A smell? How about weddings?

These pics are from photographer Laurel McConnell on the happy couple’s anniversary. Very cute! And reminiscent of the opening photo.

Ice cream is perhaps an unofficial language of love??

Find a way to tell that story. Or work it out as a poem.

Or go another way. Whatever speaks to you, write!

And if you can find a copy, read In Praise of Ice Cream Vending Machines at a Greyhound Bus Station by the talented Aimee Nezhukumatathil. Then soak up Confession by Mary Rose O’Reilly.

Here’s part of Life Without Ice Cream by Liz Rosenberg. You can find the rest in The Lily Poems.

Or try something a bit more political like this set from Kei Miller.

Post if you find something else that you like. I love it when you share.

The Things That Their Carts Carried

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flash fiction, Grocery store, poems, Ptolmey Erlington, sculpture, shopping cart, Tim O'Brien, Walmart, writing prompt

Twitter inspires again! Someone was musing about how much they enjoyed watching people grocery shop yesterday, and I thought wouldn’t it be fun to dive into what might be in their carts.

So, a la Tim O’Brien, but much less dark, I’d like you to explore what clues might lie in these shoppers’ purchases. What does all that cereal, toothpaste, etc. tell you about circumstances, attitudes, or tastes?

Feel free to make up whatever you want about these people. Don’t be bogged down by reality. Reality is often inconvenient and usually boring.  You might want to go camp out at Walmart for inspiration, but try not be creepy about it. Nothing worse than creep-os at Walmart.

Just work up a suite of flash fiction pieces, or poems if the mood strikes, and see where it takes you.  If you don’t get anything salvageable out of it, a

t least you had fun and got to look at the world in a new way.

And speaking of looking at the world in a new way, check out these breathtaking sculptures made by Ptolemy Elrington out of…you guessed it..old shopping carts. Gorgeous!  I would love, love, love to have one of these for my own.  Perhaps when I become rich and famous. 🙂

Happy writing!

 

 

 

 

Brand New Bag of Tricks, Baby!

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art, art journaling, illustrate, mapping, Mixed media, notebooks, right-brain, Visual Arts, writing tricks

Sharpies, Gellies, and Gesso. Oh my!

If you want to rev up your writing, then whip out those art pens and kick that right-brain into gear. Notebooks you’ve done before, but journals like this you’ve never seen.

I’m talking art journals, mixed media, as in go download the Dick Blick catalog and sign up for Etsy.

But wait, you say that you can’t even draw. Who needs to when you’ve got scissors and stickers and stencils.  Can you say collage? Or try some of these free-form animals.

And of course, you want to see samples, so head on over: here, here or here. Cool, huh?

And if you’re still stumped, try a starter kit from illustrator Rebecca Horwood. All of her kits are unique, and they come with the notebook, as well as various “paper ephemera” to play with. Love these!

You should also go raid your local dollar store. Fill a basket with cards, coloring books, stickers, magazines, anything that catches your eye.

Just don’t get so wound up in artland that you forget about incorporating the writing part. You will need Listography and Personal Geographies. These books will help you to mine personal experiences through mapping techniques. The right-brain and left-brain coordinated is what we are aiming for here, after all.

I see nuggets of poems, ideas for novels. I see the floodgates of creativity bursting wide open.  And please feel free to post copies of your masterpieces in the comments.

Look forward to seeing them.

Cheers!