Wednesday WordPlay: Mix and Match

image: freedigitalimages.net/stuart miles

Today's poetry challenge works in any genre you choose: short story, poem, or personal reflection.

When I'm stuck not knowing what to write, I find words inspiring. I'm going to give you a handful of words. Choose one of the words to be the title of your poem or story.

(If you like non-fiction, choose a word that reminds you a of something that really happened to you, and write a journal entry about that experience).

Then, try to find a way to include all the rest of the words as you write the piece.

Here are the words:


            MARCH                SUBTLE             BLACK

                         UNDERNEATH         BRUSH

   PRIVACY               SUNSET                           COWER

          BRUSH                  CULTURE           ANNOY     

MARIGOLD               APOLOGIZE           KEY


Don't know what a word means? Look it up in the dictionary! (Merriam-Webster is one of my favorites online.)

Wednesday WordPlay: Emotions

Today's challenge: Write based on emotions.

Thinking about how your character experiences different emotions is very useful for fiction writers. Pick an emotion from the list below (or another of your choosing!) and write from your character's perspective as if s/he feels that way.

If you prefer, you could use this as a journaling prompt, and write a brief reflection about a time you personally experienced this emotion.

You could also choose to create a poem that conveys this emotion.

Here are some emotions to work with:


Image: freedigitalphotos.net/digitalart

ANGUISH

JOY

HEARTBREAK

SHOCK

FRUSTRATION

PLEASURE

CURIOSITY

DISBELIEF



If you're up for an extra special challenge, now try writing a scene (or poem) in which the main character (or the speaker, in a poem) transitions from:

BOREDOM to CONFUSION

HAPPINESS to DISTRESS

ANGER to CALM

Wednesday WordPlay: A Numbers Game

Today's writing exercise is a poetry challenge:

First, grab a pen and a sheet of paper.

Next, write your phone number, including the area code, vertically along the left side of the page. Each number should be at the beginning of its own line.

Now write a ten-line poem. The number of words you write in each line should be the same as the number that appears at the beginning of that line.

For example, my area code in New York City is (212). The top of my page would look like this:

2

1

2

My first line of my poem would have two words. The second line would have one word. The third line would have two again, and so on through the rest of my phone number. Got it?

Give it a try!