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Take a look at these street corner signs. Whoa! Where is this place?
Warsaw, Poland, to be exact. I took this photo in 2011, and I love it because the photo shows how place names differ in different countries.
This corner is a real place, but when we invent stories, we get to make up place names. Why not have fun doing so?
Write about your very own, made-up street intersection. What will you name the two streets?
The names can be silly, simple, serious, or impossible to pronounce. They can have special meaning for you or your characters, or be completely random.
When you're done naming your streets, put two characters underneath the signs. Now let them have a conversation. Why are they meeting at this intersection? What is their conflict?
By the way, one of the signs above means "Krakow Suburb." The other sign commemorates a famous general.
What will your signs say?
Revision is my favorite part about writing. But I know many writers don't agree with me. How about you?
This weekend I went to a workshop on revision led by author Ann Hood. She said, "If you're a writer, you're a reviser."
She added that we writers spend 90% of our time revising. That's a lot of time!
So how do we learn to love revision?
I think of revision as re-vision, or "re-seeing" my story. What works? What doesn't? How can I make my characters deeper, funnier, more alive on the page?
How can I tighten my plot and make my dialogue snap like a sail in the breeze? And while we're at it, how can I add a simile or metaphor to spice up the story's language?
Try this exercise. Take the first page of your story, or write a first page. Then read it out loud. Better yet, have someone read it to you.
Listen. Really listen.
Then mark places where a character seems dull, the plot has a hole, the dialogue drags, and the language makes you yawn. Type or write in your changes.
Reread. See the difference?
Get snappy! Try some revision today!
Do you get tired of writing on plain old white paper? Or on your computer screen with that insistent cursor telling you to hurry up?
Author and writing coach Christi Krug has a solution. She calls it "Oddball Hard Copy."
She suggests, "Forget the logical white page. Write on colored paper cut into odd shapes. Cover a shoebox with wrapping paper and write on the top, bottom and sides."
To that I would add: Write with crayons!
This week, let yourself be creative. Find some colored paper, the back of cereal boxes, recycled magazines, yesterday's newspaper, or old greeting cards. (Make sure no one wants to keep them.) Find your crayons or an assortment of felt-tip pens.
Then…write. Don't worry about whether your writing is "pretty" or mistake-free. How is your writing different? Do you feel freer?
Later, if you want, copy what you wrote onto white paper or the screen. But have fun first writing "Oddball Hard Copy."
I saw this sign the other day in Seattle. I loved that the Department of Transportation wrote a poem about a bridge being painted.
What if we had poetry surrounding us every day?
The school cafeteria:
Grab your tray
Fill it up today!
The crosswalk:
Wait, then walk.
Look, then gawk
Speak, then talk.
Time to cross!
The grocery store:
Apples and oranges and pears, oh my.
On sale today: cherry pie.
Pick a cart. You're at the mart.
Ready? Set? Start!
Pick a place or thing you see every day. Write a poem that tells about it in a fun way. And remember to "cross nicely" at the bridge!
