Writing Prescription Thirteen

"The artistic impulse seems not to wish to produce finished work. It certainly deserts us halfway, after the idea is born; and if we go on, art is labour." Clarence Shepard Day

Writing Tips for the beginner -

1. Start small - this may sound simple, but it’s something often ignored. If you’re just getting into writing or you haven’t written in a long time, throwing yourself into the deep end of a big project can be overwhelming. It can be scary to take on too much too early. Start with something simple, a short poem, a description of a setting, etc. and push yourself to complete it.

2. Sometimes the best ideas are the small ideas - write about that feeling you get when your fingers start to thaw after being numb for so long? Write about the stranger with the cute gap in his teeth; write about your mother’s hair in the summer sunlight. Write a poem using lyrics you’ve had stuck in your head for days; let it expand like a spidersweb. Allow the words to write themselves. Not every poem/piece of prose needs to cover big, heavy topics - there’s something eloquent about the light and quiet details.

3. Read it out loud - Writing, especially poetry, is all about flow and rhythm (unless you’re intentionally going against that) - hearing your words out loud helps identify if they are causing the effect you desire. Hand it to someone else to read aloud. A break in a line often makes a reader pause - keep this in mind when deciding when to break. The conversations your characters engage in - do they sound realistic or believable? Do your sentences hold too much detail? Can you picture your setting? Are you showing instead of telling?

4. Rewrite it - often form does not fit the content. Maybe what you’re writing about isn’t best told in a free verse poem, perhaps it needs to run free in prose; or needs to be constrained by rhyme or line structure.

5. Draw it - this may sound like unusual advice, but it works wonderfully if you’re stuck on a setting or character. Draw it on paper, to the very last detail. And see what you’re missing, what you need to still fill in and flesh-out. Even better - ask someone else to draw the scene/person as you read the words out loud to them.

Word of the day – EBULLIENCE: stimulation/ ebullient: lively

Character flaw # FICKLE: erratic, changeable, unstable especially with regard to affections or attachments, capricious.