I keep Writing Down the Bones within ready reach. Natalie Goldberg’s book includes a number of useful tools when I need a nudge.
The Action of a Sentence is an exercise I use to make writing fun again. Here are the rules:
The Action of a Sentence is an exercise I use to make writing fun again. Here are the rules:
1. Fold a sheet of paper in half the long way
2. On the left side of the page list any ten nouns
3. Turn the paper over to the right column
4. Think of any occupation (teacher, plumber, mechanic, scientist)
5. List fifteen verbs that relate to that occupation
6. Open the page - you will see nouns listed on the left and verbs listed on the right
Now the fun begins. Try making sentences using one noun and one verb (it’s OK to change the tense) from each column.
Here’s what I came up with this time:
Nouns
pillow
shoe
lamp
brochure
battery
pump
rug
leaf
blanket
basket
Occupation - Carpenter
hammer
drill
saw
cut
construct
stain
install
assemble
build
chisel
plane
pour
finish
mold
erect
Sentences:
Pillows planed the bed sheets until they were flat.
Brochures drilled holes into the desk.
An old shoe chiseled a place for itself on the rack.
A maple leaf hammered at the window.
The idea is not to “make sense” in conventional terms, but to open up creative channels and stimulate new ideas.