Exercise #13: "Scene From Your Own Life; POV Switch"
Today's exercise is courtesy of Charlie Anders, a fiction writer who lives in San Fransisco.
Think of a scene from your own life and write a brief description of it from the point of view of someone else who was there. Try to explore how you, or a fictional version of you, might have appeared to this person at the time, but also how this person might have seen the entire situation. Include at least 3 small details that this other person could have noticed.
Today's exercise is courtesy of Charlie Anders, a fiction writer who lives in San Fransisco.
Think of a scene from your own life and write a brief description of it from the point of view of someone else who was there. Try to explore how you, or a fictional version of you, might have appeared to this person at the time, but also how this person might have seen the entire situation. Include at least 3 small details that this other person could have noticed.
Um... I am having EXTREME writer's block. I look at this exercise, and my mind goes blank. I have nothing that I can think of off the top of my head that would be effective for this... I mean, normally, I can just pull something out of my butt, but today... cricket cricket... nothing.
I think that, since I'm having such a hard time with this one, I'll do a rain check with it and complete it at a later date. I hate to do that, but ... at this point, I'm thinking it's necessary. I sat here in front of my computer for nearly 10 minutes desperately searching the abyss of my brain for something, even if it's lame. I'm supposed to complete these, right? That's the purpose of the blog... In the end, though, I did tell myself that I would write at least once a day, no matter what it was that I wrote.
Anyways, I do have something I want to talk to you guys about (well... you guys being m
y nonexistent followers. hah). It's called OneWord.com, and it's pretty cool. Following very similarly to the Post Secret phenomenon, it's a very simple idea. You go onto this website and push the "Go" button at which point you will immediately be directed to a page with a single word on it and a word entry space. The idea is to start writing and don't stop for 60 seconds. It doesn't matter what it is or how long it is. It's a great exercises to get those creative juices flowing quickly and utilizing your writing skills to convey an emotion or a story or etc etc etc. It's like an improv exercise for writers! I'm all for it. I very highly recommend visiting it every day. I can already tell, after visiting it for about a month, that my quick inspiration has improved. Granted, some of the stuff I write is total crap, but then again... I'm a writer. A lot of the stuff I'm going to write is going to be complete and utter crap. Yay.I'm just hoping that SOMEthing I write will be worthwhile. My problem right now is that I just can't seem to get a foot off the ground. I'm currently working on a sci-fi-ish (Did anyone notice that SciFi has changed to SyFy in order to appeal to a broader audience?? BOGUS!) story that I actually really like, but I just can't get a start. I'm in the "gathering information" stage which is all fine and good, but I can't even write a single scene or plot twist. The annoying thing is that I have a plot. I have characters. I know what I want my world to be like (futuristic type thing), but I can't actually write it.
If anyone has any tips for that, please let me know. Because I'm personally going crazy.
Peace and see you tomorrow!
~Stef
Comments