Exercise Your Writing

2010-09-03T07:07:00.000-04:00

How is it I've never seen this site before: http://bookshelfporn.com/archive ... write about someone's bookshelf, real or imagined...

2010-08-27T08:39:00.000-04:00

Check out these photos of people reading in public. A couple of days this week, read different books in public. See how many people talk to you. Write about those conversations.

2010-08-25T12:56:00.000-04:00

In the spring the much celebrated (and deservedly so) Gary Shteyngart will be coming to Boca to read at the MELUS conference hosted by FAU. His book trailer for his current bestselling novel, Super Sad True Love Story, is one of the best I've seen. You'll notice the cameo by James Franco...and if you've read any of Franco's stories or followed his recent artistry, you'll notice he likes to play with the idea of himself as a character. So watch Shteyngart's trailer and then write something with James Franco in it.

2010-06-04T07:53:00.000-04:00

So I'm a big fan of "So You Think You Can Dance" (the good dancing, not the sad bad dancers) and my favorite dancer this season is former Miami City Ballet soloist (locals should definitely seek out this troupe's performances) Alex Wong. Apparently during downtime for rehearsals and backstage during performances, he and his friends make videos of cheesy choreography that they come up with just for fun:

Dancers gone Haywire

On your downtime, write something playful, just for fun.

2010-05-22T11:34:00.000-04:00

My good friend Oliver de la Paz has a chapbook of poems in the latest Black Warrior Review and one of the things that "groups" the poems is the tone created by certain romantic words--susurrus, sepulchre, lupine, wisteria, trellis, sulfur, orchid, spindrift and my favorite ox-eye daisy. I haven't seen him do it but I suspect he collects words like that..

Keep a list of words. Or more than one list even.

2010-05-20T16:57:00.001-04:00

Happily, The Books have a new album coming out in July: http://pitchfork.com/forkcast/14244-beautiful-people/

Write something with reverb.

2010-04-30T06:49:00.001-04:00

A lot of writers of my acquaintance have a childhood love of dollhouses and dioramas (I still remember my diorama for an eighth grade book report on In Cold Blood ... yes, it was of the Clutters' house on the night they got murdered--and my report was a first person account of the murders by one of the killers which I delivered in some kind of drawl.) Anyway...I've mentioned Elsa Mora's blogs before--she now has a doll one--which very much led me to want to make doll versions of all my stories. Make some kind of visual representation of what you're writing.

2010-04-25T14:51:00.001-04:00

Here is Franz Kafka's story "The Sirens" in its entirety:
(translated by Clement Greenberg)

"These are the seductive voices of the night; the Sirens, too, sang that way. It would be doing them an injustice to think that they wanted to seduce; they knew they had claws and sterile wombs, and they lamented this aloud. They could not help it if their laments sounded so beautiful."

Notice how the first sentence defines something. The second sentence questions that defintion. The third sentence redefines it. Notice, too, how his use of "too" changes what the story appears to be about (what are the "these" if not the Sirens?).

Write your own three sentence story.

2010-04-25T13:31:00.001-04:00

Time to make your plan for summer. One thing you will read. One thing you will write. (let's just go with one at a time, okay?)

Josh Rouse - I Will live on Islands... - A Take Away Show from La Blogotheque on Vimeo.

2010-04-25T13:17:00.000-04:00

This week The New Yorker has an E.L. Doctorow story that is all dialogue and The Atlantic has a T.C. Boyle story that has (almost) no dialogue (the characters are on a vow of silence). Read both. Then take a story that you intended to write with the traditional mix of dialogue and not and write it first with all dialogue and then with no dialogue. Try to make both versions work. Now you have two stories instead of one. Who says that the style can't be the thing that makes them different stories? Nobody, that's who.

2010-04-17T11:01:00.001-04:00

Take a look at these samples from the book Cartographies of Time: A History of the Timeline. Then write your own timeline.

2010-04-17T10:57:00.000-04:00

Apparently in Japan there is a DVD of girls crying as they tell their stories. Its title is 11 Stories of Girls Crying in a Genuine Way. Write something, doesn't have to be the obvious, with that title.

2010-03-26T07:22:00.000-04:00

This seems to be everybody's favorite video nowadays and a Rube Goldberg machine (I love that's still a household word) isn't a bad metaphor for how many narratives operate ...one thing leads to another ... but what I notice watching the machine in action is how quickly one thing leads to another and just how many cause-effect sequences there are. So write something in which one thing leads to another super-fast and many times over.

Then try writing something in which one thing leads to many things most of which lead nowhere, as in The Maze .

2010-02-06T12:00:00.000-05:00

This is the view out my parents' dining room window this morning. The advantage of being snowed in is you can't go anywhere so suddenly you get all kinds of things done at home. Treat your writing like that. You're snowed in. You can't go anywhere. You might as well write.

2010-01-27T09:03:00.000-05:00

I found these fake captions of Dwell magazine photos really amusing. Write a story by captioning found pictures or write an essay by captioning your own photographs.

2009-11-14T09:39:00.000-05:00

My favorite shop (non-Internet variety), Anthropologie has started an artist's blog which is kind of interesting. One of the first entries is from Jane Campion, director of the recent Keats film Bright Star. It made me think about how filmmakers have location scouts and take all kind of photographs to record the location.

Go location scouting for a piece of writing. Take pictures. Then write.

2009-11-12T06:46:00.000-05:00

Write your own "How to Not to Write About [insert your own literary cliche here]" essay.

2009-11-10T19:44:00.001-05:00

Write a piece with a lot of percussion in it.

White Rabbits - Percussion Gun - A Take Away Show from La Blogotheque on Vimeo.

2009-09-26T07:50:00.001-04:00

In one of today's NYT book reviews there is a line about a Times Literary Supplement assignment one writer received: write an essay of less than 1200 words with no restrictions except it must spill a drop of blood. Try it. (metaphorical blood, please)

2009-09-26T07:47:00.000-04:00

I have the great pleasure of working with my friends and last night many of them demonstrated exceptional good-sportmanship in participating in our graduate student event, the Faculty Juvenilia reading. In celebration of the sincerity and intensity of what we believe in our youth...write something in the voice of a fourteen year old. Not smart, ironic, or smartass. Sincere.

2009-09-16T07:31:00.000-04:00

Dan Chaon has a new novel out and here is the playlist he listened to as he wrote it. Create a playlist for a piece you haven't written yet. Then go write the piece.

2009-09-11T08:33:00.001-04:00

I am a tidy person at heart, but I love pictures like this in which there are a gazillion things to look at. Write a piece of prose in which there are a gazillion things to look at.

2009-09-05T10:57:00.000-04:00

Artist Kate Bingaman-Burt makes drawings of everything she buys. Write a mini essay somehow illustrating everything you bought yesterday (whatever day yesterday is for you). And I do mean everything. No cheating.

2009-08-25T18:27:00.001-04:00

It is a quirk of my personal taste that I really love pictures of people with animal heads. Write about someone with an animal head.

2009-08-19T13:52:00.000-04:00

I'm a big fan of Elsa Mora's papercuts (and all three of her blogs, really). Check out this one in particular. And maybe this one too. And then take a one page piece of writing and cut it into something.

2009-08-06T08:07:00.001-04:00

Artisit Sophie Blackall has created a blog illustrating "Missed Connections" personals. Write a moment of connection--one that's temporary. Not necessarily something romantic or a "missed connection" just a temporary but for some reason significant connection between two people.

2009-08-05T11:04:00.000-04:00

I am a big fan of what Jen Bekman does at her gallery and with 20 x 200. And at her blog Personism, she does these fantastic pairings of art and poetry. My favorite so far is Please Come Late by Hugo Williams paired with a photograph by Gregory Krum. Write a "Please..." piece (poem, prose, monologue...) in which the speaker asks another person to do something which wouldn't at first glance seem a desirable thing.

2009-08-04T10:31:00.000-04:00

These paintings by David Mellon seem to me to be illustrations to a book that doesn't exist (I assume). My favorite is "Galoshes" (why isn't he wearing any pants?!).

Now try writing a series of captions to illustrations that don't exist for a book that doesn't exist.

2009-06-24T11:29:00.000-04:00

Look at these paintings of bookshelves by Victoria Reichelt. Imagine the person who would stack their books like that! Not me, anyway. Now describe a character's shelves (bookish or otherwise).

2009-04-20T06:15:00.000-04:00

Artist and glass blower Dale Chihuly says, "If I can get near the water, I know something will happen." Write something under the influence of water.

2009-04-11T09:27:00.000-04:00

Click over to Bill Traylor's Woman Pointing and Holding an Umbrella. Describe what she's pointing at.

Writing for Writers #20

2009-02-25T15:44:00.000-05:00

Look at Paho Mann's photos of junk drawers. Write a junk drawer. But give each thing a history.

Writing for Writers #19

2009-01-20T07:10:00.001-05:00

Look at Lettermade by Bradley Dicharry (hint: look for the faded Coca-Cola in the first photo) then write a scene or poem that includes a piece of found typography.

Writing for Writers #18

2008-12-23T10:24:00.001-05:00

Check out Richard Baker's book portraits at Poets and Writers. Then write a book portrait (interpret this as you wish) of your own.

Writing for Writers #17

2008-12-09T09:06:00.000-05:00

Take a look at Joseph Cornell's "Setting for a Fairy Tale."

Then write a stage set. Don't write the action, just create a setting that implies that action will eventually take place.

Writing for Writers #16

2008-11-28T06:22:00.000-05:00

Take a look at the Miniature Worlds exhibit. Especialy Tessa Farmer's fairies made of dead insects. Write something miniature. Or miniaturize something in writing.

Writing for Writers #15

2008-10-29T07:01:00.001-04:00

Take a look at the Human/Nature project.

Set a piece of writing somewhere noticeably changed by the effects of global warming.

Writing for Writers #14

2008-10-26T13:24:00.001-04:00

Look at Julia Fullterton-Batten's series, Teenage Stories. Write about a teenage girl who is a giant.

Writing for Writers #13

2008-10-26T13:09:00.000-04:00

Look at Paloma Munoz and Walter Martin's unusual snowglobes:

http://www.martin-munoz.com/recent/index07.html

(my personal favorite: http://www.martin-munoz.com/recent/night/48.html)

Write a snowglobe of your own.
(don't forget the snow)

Writing for Writers #12

2008-09-29T07:22:00.000-04:00

My interest in Leonora Carrington has led me to her good friend Remedios Varo, another ex-patriate (Spanish) surrealist painter who lived in Mexico, and who made an appearance (fictionalized) in Carrington's novel, The Hearing Trumpet. Varo liked to play the what ifs. Here are two of my favorites (from Remedios Varo: Unexpected Journeys by Janet A. Kaplan):

1. What if the world was created by schoolgirls embroidering a sampler?
2. What if the furniture in a rented home retained the images of its previous inhabitants?

Varo would explore the possible answers in paintings. Try one with words. Or make up your own what if and write that.

Writing for Writers #11

2008-09-06T13:18:00.000-04:00

Political Internet artist Kenneth Tin-kin Hung spoke at FAU yesterday as part of the current exhibit, Political Circus, at the Ritter Gallery. Among other things, he creates web art by manipulating images he finds on the web:

http://www.tinkin.com/

Write something (poetry, prose, whatever) using "images" (I mean, language images) you find on the Internet.

Writing for Writers #10

2008-08-07T15:29:00.001-04:00

I just read The Diving Bell and the Butterfly by Jean-Dominique Bauby, a memoir that he blinked out one letter at a time to a speech therapist who transcribed his words. First Bauby would memorize each paragraph, then dictate it. And presumably as a result, the memoir reads as if it doesn't have a spare word in it. So try this:

Write a paragraph in your head, really crafting it, and memorizing it, before writing it down.

And then try this:

Write a paragraph in your head and memorize it, but instead of writing it down yourself, dictate it to a trusted scribe.

It seems to me both acts, writing and editing in your head, and inviting an audience into the process, might lead to some interesting alterations in your usual ways (unless those are your usual ways, naturally).

Writing for Writers #9

2008-07-25T07:58:00.000-04:00

http://www.jessicatoddharper.com/3.html

Use a physical copy of a book as an image.

Writing for Writers #8

2008-07-15T06:32:00.000-04:00

My favorite aspect of the His Dark Materials trilogy by Philip Pullman was how every character had an animal familiar who represented some part of their personality. And one of my favorite artists Leonora Carrington said we all have an inner bestiary. So here's a nonfiction exercise: describe your inner bestiary.

Writing for Writers #7

2008-07-04T19:05:00.000-04:00

What I like about this painting by Amy Bennett:

http://www.richardhellergallery.com/dynamic/artwork_detail.asp?ArtworkID=840

is how the viewer is spying on the woman who is spying on her neighbors who are being photographed ...

so write about a spy/voyeur who doesn't know she is being watched.

Writing for Writers #6

2008-06-24T11:34:00.000-04:00

Here's an Iron & Wine lyric from "White Tooth Man": "The postman cried while reading the mail".

Write the scene.

Writing for Writers #5

2008-06-12T17:05:00.000-04:00

Most writers seemingly use a lot of white space in their collages...space breaks, paragraph breaks... pauses.

Check out some work by Jess Collins and then write a crowded collage.

Writing For Writers #4

2008-05-21T12:01:00.000-04:00

I'm a fan of children's illustrations like Where's Waldo and Richard Scarry where there are a gazillion things happening on the page. I'm also a fan of paintings that have a big landscape and some little itty bitty thing happening in the corner:

Landscape with the Fall of Icarus

incidentally also a William Carlos Williams poem.

Or: Virginia Lee Burton's illustrations for The Little House.

So write a scene that shows a big landscape with something small in the corner. Interpret that how you see fit.

Feel free to post any results in the comments if you like.

Writing for Writers #3

2008-04-20T06:29:00.000-04:00

One of my favorite contemporary artists is Amy Cutler:

http://www.tonkonow.com/cutler.html

http://www.artnet.com/artist/4699/amy-cutler.html

and one of the things I like about her work is how it uses bright colors to tell dark stories.

So write a dark story (scene, poem, essay) in bright colors.

Writing for Writers #2

2008-04-09T14:34:00.000-04:00

Read Brigit Pegeen Kelly's poem "Three Cows and the Moon" in Song. It's not online, you'll have to hold the book in your grubby hands.

Then write a piece of prose, however long, but longer than you first thought, about a moment in the falling dark.

Writing for Writers #1

2008-04-04T05:04:00.000-04:00

1. View one of Gregory Crewdson's staged, incredibly lit photographs:

Victoria & Albert Museum

Luhring Augustine

ArtNet

Guggenheim

White Cube

One of my favorites is Woman in Pool (Twilight).

2. Write a thousand word story or a poem that includes only elements seen in the photo and using the point of view established by the camera. For example, if the camera is outside a window from a middle distance use either a first person narrator who is outside the window or use a third person narrator with a middling psychic distance. (psychic distance is essentially how close or how far the reader feels from the action). Try to find a way to capture what he does with lights in language.