This post comes from Glynis, her post about using word triggers. I thought it was a great idea.
Sometimes sitting in the vineyards lets me down, my mind cannot grasp the concept that I want it to generate words and get them into a formatted paragraph. In order to shake off this block, I have a method that works 100% for me.
I write a word, for example, as I am sitting in the hills I might write the word:
Tree
I then write anything that I connect with that word:
Bird
I then put the two together with an adjoining word, it never matters that it does not make sense.
Tree and Bird
I continue adding anything that pops into my head:
Tree and Bird, fly up sky, cloud with rain, sun and weather, winter ends summer, seasons come and go.
I will continue this list until a word triggers my writing again or a rhythm builds.
On her post Glynis came up with a whole rhyme for this. Have a look.
Word Grrls is my mad science experiment, my adventures with fame and world domination (politely). This is where I inspire people to create: invent mutations, cause change, bring colour into your world. Web writer since 1998. Find me on StumbleUpon , and Tumblr.
I used to do a similar exercise when I was at University – in our creative writing classes we’d warm up by writing continuously for five or ten minutes – didn’t matter if it was garbage, it was more about loosening up mind and hand.
Most of the time it was the same as above – linking together words that had some relation to each other. Sometimes it was just words, but at other times it started to become something – like Glynis says, finding a rhythm.
I keep a daily 1000+ word offbeat fiction short story blog at http://jamesbent.com/blog
Hi, I love this exercise and can see myself trying it. While I don’t consider myself a writer, I do like to write. Sometimes I will hear a phrase and it will jump start a writing spree for me. Thanks for sharing, Keri
http://www.samwich365.com
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