Exercise
for Week Two: Developing the ‘Writer’s Eye’ for the world – Sketchbooks
You’re probably already
beginning
to see the world with a writer’s eye. You see situations, even
brief
moments in a day when you recognize in reality what would stimulate or
translate into an optimum fictional scene. What you see doesn’t
have to
be the premise or set-up for an entire story, but it might be. Or,
it can
simply provide a short but telling scene in a longer piece.
In this exercise (which
can become
if it isn’t already, a journal writing technique for you) we’re asking
you to
do the following:
1.
During the next
several days, jot down a few notes that will help you recall at least
three
scenes that you witness or encounter. Just sketch them out
briefly (example:
two elderly women, possibly sisters or
even twins, driving a vintage mustang convertible, yellow, top down,
early
afternoon, Culver Blvd, dressed as if for an afternoon tea),.
Don’t
stop at three. Sketch as many as you see. You’ll probably
discover
that the more you do this, the more scenes you see with your writer’s
eye. Sketch them all, and bring in a few of them to share with
the class.
2.
Now, take one
of the sketches you have done, and begin to expand it into an actual
scene. Step into one of the characters in the sketch, and narrate
the
scene in the person of that character. Remember that this is an
exercise, so
the scene doesn’t have to be polished and finished, and you don’t have
to be
certain of the final shape of the story that is beginning to
emerge. Also
note that the scene that you derive from the sketch does not even need
to
contain the sketch. For example the sisters in the Mustang can in
fact be
on their way to the reading of their dear departed cousin’s will, where
they will
both be smitten by a devious and very untrustworthy clerk in their
lawyer’s
office. The Mustang might not even appear, other than
tangentially, in
the scene. Or, the sketch might take you back to the day the
sisters
bought the Mustang. Another thing that might emerge from your
sketch is a
more detailed outline or treatment for a longer piece. You might
decide
to premise an entire story on the fact that owning the Mustang
throughout their
life actually bound the sisters together and symbolizes their
spinsterhood.
Whatever it is that the sketches begin to whisper to the fiction-writer
in you,
write one or two of them out. Bring in your best 500 to 750
words.