Writing for Writers #15

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

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

Writing for Writers #13

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

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

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

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

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

Use a physical copy of a book as an image.