Monday night I got together at a coffeehouse with some fellow writers, which sounds like such a cliché. We each read an excerpt of our writing, and they really liked mine, which was this novel treatment by Keith the Plant (actually the Prologue to a murder mystery I am working on), although two of them said they never read prologues. Then we did a twenty-minute writing exercise using one of three themes:
A man and a woman are having an argument about his ex. Don’t mention the man, the woman, the argument, or the ex.
Write a scene on a lake with some trees and stuff (only they used the other S word).
Imagine that your favorite historical figure has an imp behind their right ear prodding them forward to greatness. Write from the point of view of this creature.
I have not been feeling very creative lately, so this exercise was just what I needed. I wrote a short story weaving together all three story lines, with two people arguing by the side of a lake and the imp telling Vivaldi that it’s such a beautiful summer day, he should write a concerto about it… and then ones for the other three seasons, while he’s at it. The others said it was very creative, but they all wrote about the first one and came up with some amazingly poetic descriptions. That is why it is good to get together with other writers: they help you see what you could be capable of if you stretched yourself.
Famous Hat
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2 comments:
that actually sounds like a fun thing to do. Let me know next time this group occurs! I am intrigued, Vivaldi, lakes, trees, what next
The couple made up at the end of my story because I am an optimist. Nobody else had them make up.
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