>>> Item number 26971 from WRITERS LOG9403B --- (106 records) ---- <<< Date: Sun, 13 Mar 1994 18:35:04 JST Reply-To: WRITERS Sender: WRITERS From: Mike Barker Subject: EXERCISE: Weather Report: Brainstorms All Day! (7) Exercise 7. Look Here, then there - and please don't look behind the curtain Today, we're looking at another way to shake up the patterns of thought you may have established. Very simply, the analysis of something in terms of patterns of thought often is strongly influenced by the first part noticed and which parts are noticed. I.e., you rarely see the "whole elephant" - you get a part, then another, then another. That first one - and the attention or focusing you do on later parts - tends to select the pattern of thought that is used. Unfortunately, the entry point and area of attention tend to be picked by chance and whimsy. There are at least three "counter-tactics" you can use to fight the tendencies to pigeonhole and selectively view that we all share. First, as mentioned in an earlier exercise, deliberately start at the "other end" and work backwards. Second, look for elements left out or ignored. Try to see the background instead of the foreground, or the shadows instead of the highlights. Third, list the features you notice. Then start with each one and look at the whole - you might be surprised to find out that there's an elephant behind the snake! Today's Practice: Here are four of the "subjects" we've used in previous exercises. Pick one and then try the first two practice items that follow... a. Description - a flower, a barn, a scene of some kind b. Character - one of yours or one from a book - pick one c. Conflict/Problems - the beginning of the plot d. Solutions - the end of the plot 1. Identify and list all the entry points you can think of for tackling the subject - i.e., you are about to write or think about your subject. Make a list of all the different places you could start. Think about how starting there would affect the writing - and the reader. 2. Try tackling the subject via a quota of starting points - this is actually sitting down and writing a set of pieces, all dealing with the same subject, but starting from different places. The ski slope, for example, "looks" very different from the foot of the hill, the top of the slope, and flying off the cliff on the edge of the slope... 3. List information left out of a story - this is a useful study, although you can carry it to extremes. Take a story and list the information left out - what was excluded? You might want to extend this a bit by trying to see what effect adding that information back into the story would have on it, and on the reader. 4. Describe a picture. This takes (at least) two people. Write (or give orally) a description of a picture. Then let the other person ask questions and see how much information you left out - any question that could be answered by looking at the picture but can't be answered by description. It can be very good training - you want to let the other person "see" the picture accurately through your words. What do you need to include, and what do you tend to miss? 5. Take several similar pictures - write a description that clearly identifies one of them. Write a description that clearly identifies these pictures but cannot be clearly linked to any specific one. This is a way of studying what identifies a specific picture to you, and also what they have in common to you. You can play this game by yourself or with a friend - let them see if they pick the right picture (or set of pictures) based on the descriptions. 6. Take a detective story - identify factors or starting point that hide the criminal from reader. Mysteries often use the readers' thinking patterns to "hide" the criminal in plain sight. Part of that is the first introduction of the criminal (the archtypal "the butler took the coat..." simply hides the bad guy under the "spear carrier" type that we all know in writing). There are also "visibility" factors and similar tricks used. And whether you ever want to write a mystery or not - some of the most common ways of keeping a reader interested and turning pages are developed and refined in that field. Why not learn them, and use them for your new yorker pieces? 7. Make a list of clues identifying a criminal. Now, can you arrange them in an order that will make it difficult for the reader to identify? This is a fun exercise. Take a criminal, and make up a list of clues. Can you select one that tips the reader into a "safe" pattern of thought? Can you arrange the order (and the setting, etc.) to keep the reader from putting together the pattern, even when all the clues have been laid out? Patterns of thought - put them in a blender, play jackstraws with them, and make them work for you! ---------------------------------------