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Everyone from time finds inspiration hard to come by, hits that brick wall known as writer's block.
What we need to do in those bad times is to reach out and try to grasp a different straw;
to find a new way of thinking, or at least new things to think about. Whether you are in that dark place, or not
it's always worthwhile trying new approaches to writing, and to this end I have jotted down a few writing
ideas you might like to try. Alliteration Warm waves washed white caps while Walter walked warily with his wife. Contrary to popular belief, alliteration is not just the repetition of initial consonant sounds, as in the above example, but can include the repetition of other sounds (note the repetition of 'st' and 's' and 'l' sounds in the following lines). I met a traveller from an antique land, Who said two vast and trunkless legs of stone Stand in the desert. Near them on the sand, - from Ozymandias by Percy Bysshe Shelley Write a piece of silly prose or poetry that employs a heavy dose of alliteration. Write four paragraphs or stanzas. The first and third paragraphs should share the same form of alliteration (e.g., the letters g and l), as should the second and fourth paragraphs (e.g., s and t). The Whole Picture For this exercise to work, you should be using a photograph from a newspaper, you should not know the story behind the photograph beforehand. Examine the photo. What story does the photograph tell you? Think of the 5 W questions (who, what, where, when, why). Now what events do you think preceded the photograph (occurred before the photo was taken). What events do you think followed the photograph (happened after the photo was taken). Commandments This exercise is similar to the above, but choose a picture of a person unknown to you from a magazine or newspaper. Study the person, the face and posture, from this first write down their '10 commandment'; rules around which they base their life. Then from this write a poem in any form you wish about this person. Colour Me Red Come up with twenty-five synonyms/images for the color red. (e.g., apple, bullfighter's cape, fingernails, rose-coloured glasses, ketchup). Although this is kind of a cool exercise in itself, don't stop there. Try to use all, or most of, the words in a piece of writing, whether poetry or prose. Rewriting The Masters Type out one of your favourite poems in triple line spacing. In the spaces between the lines, write in new lines that are based or suggested by the original ones. After you've done this, scrap discard the original poem and work just with your own lines, trying to make a poem come from them. Think of what you have so far as just the first half, and add another half which is entirely your own. First Lines Try writing a poem using one of the first lines taken from poems by well-known writers as a starting point. Here are a few to choose from: They are so simple, they are in another world - D.H. Lawrence Rising early and walking in the garden - Robert Graves Come here, sweetie, out of the closet - Sylvia Plath Her clothes were almost off - Arthur Rimbaud Some men never think of it - Wendy Cope He loved her and she loved him - Ted Hughes Stop all the clocks, cut off the telephone - W.H. Auden Everyone suddenly burst out singing - Siegfried Sassoon Well, they said it would come to this - Charles Bukowski Mondays are meshed with Tuesdays - Pablo Neruda Which reminds me - Simon Armitage I woke up feeling wiped out - Raymond Carver I am Another! Adopt another persona, and give yourself an unusual profession. The write a poem in rhyming couplets about this new person you have became, following the instructions below. Lines 1&2 : you are in a room, looking out a window Lines 3&4 : you stop looking out the window but you're still in the room Lines 5&6 : something happens, either in the room or outside Lines 7&8 : you have a recollection Lines 9&10 : you leave the room Lines 11&12 : you wish for something Lines 13&14 : These lines are yours to do anything with, just bring the poem to a close. Two sides Think of a relationship you've had that ended and write 2 poems each taking a different perspective, the first version should be one of sadness for a lost love, the second written with either anger, joy or contempt for the relationship, him or her. Unless you have explicit written permission from the copyright holder, you are denied permission to publish or republish this file, or a modification of this file, or any extract from this file, by any means. |  |
