Reading · Stop Writing Alone

Welcome back to week 16 of Word Bank Wednesday!

(in case you missed this the first week.)

As writers we know that finding the right words to use in any moment is the thing we lose sleep over. The word is often dangling at the tip of our tongue, or imagination, a step or two out of reach exactly at the time we need it. We have various exercises and practices we do in order to get better at reaching for those words: we write more, we rewrite, we read, we listen, we explore reference materials and research, the list goes on. Word Bank Wednesday is simply one more thing to add to that list. We are going to play with word capture on a weekly basis and start making our own Word Banks to use in all of our writing projects.

Each week I am going to ask you to spend TWO MINUTES creating your own word bank. Each week I am going to present you with a prompt, you are going to set a timer, and, using a paper and a pen (preferably, but no one is watching, so don’t let this rule be the thing that stops you!) you are going to jot down as many words as you can in response to that prompt. If you so desire, your work can be done there. The act of scrambling to gather the words for your word bank is exercise enough. You can keep these collections for projects and prompts of your own choosing, OR…

In addition to the word bank prompt, I will add a potential prompt for you to work on with your newly collected words. It will be completely up to you if you want to spend more time with your words, or if you want to save them for later (I have an A4 notebook with lined and blank pages that is my current word bank notebook).

Let’s get started!

TOOLS:

2 Minute Timer, Pen/pencil, notebook/paper

Step 1:

Set a timer for 2 minutes

Step 2:

Look to your left. In your notebook, write down the names of things you SEE.

One of those moments when I looked left anf thought, Oh… perhaps I should have tidied up a bit before doing this one. Alas, there is often inspiration in the mess (and, honestly, that goodness for that with me!). Here’s just a bit of what assaulted my senses when I decided to look left this morning:

The word bank I created is as follows:

at towels writer on
blue batteries Spiderman
door field guide red
the microphone hanger work
polaroid air black bronze
your enclosed A portraits
reading switch atlantic
QR code hook October
bucket hole words magazines

Now…

You’ve got some words, if you are crushed for time, you can close your book, move on and come back next week. But, if you are looking for more, here are some ideas for how you can continue to play.

Note: The following prompts may be used individually or together, depending on your needs, desires, and writing availability today.

Each week I do these word banks, take a picture and then I type the words out for you if you can’t read the picture. When I translate the picture into type I decide on the way I see the words flowing on the page (usually as close as I can get to going from left to right, from top to bottom). For this prompt I would like you to do the same with your words. If you wrote your words in neat columns and lines, then this is a simple task if they are scattered all around the page, you might want to grab a pencil and sketch a line from one word to the next that you can follow like a word path.

Your prompt:

Decide on your word bank’s flow (see above).
Write a story (or poem) that includes all the words in your word bank IN ORDER from first to last based on the flow you created.

Whether writing poetry or prose, well-placed, well-crafted figurative language can take your common words to the next level and leave your readers sighing in admiration of the new lenses you are gifting them to see our world through.

The prompt here is simple.

Use the words in your word bank to create

a metaphor
a simile
a line/sentence of hyperbole
personify the things in your word bank
a line/sentence using allusion

You may choose to apply one of these prompts to all of your words (for example, perhaps you are interested in only metaphor muscle building today), or trying all five. Maybe you can pick one bullet point each week. It’s up to you. No pressure! Which reminds me: go ahead and be silly, ridiculous, outrageous and push all of the boundaries with your figurative language. Allowing yourself to really stretch beyond what you normally allow in your day to day writing is part of what this practice is for.

Step 1: Fill in the blank.

Poets, you will use the words in a poem.
Prose writers, you will use the words in a story.

Step 2: The topic for your ______ is: DROUGHT

That is all. Now, GO WRITE!

This week “LEFT” has been a bit of a theme. One of our regular Stop Writing Alone participants, nibbins the cat , just got his drabble (100 word story), SOUTHPAW, published in this month’s 100 Word Project through Manawaker Studio (go read it here, it’s great, we got a sneak peek in last month’s Open Mic). The prompt was “LEFT.” I got the email this week! Then this week’s Word Bank Wednesday prompt (which I created months ago) is the one where I asked us all to “look LEFT” — strange synchronicity? Just a coincidence? Where do you fall when it comes to things like this? Let us know in the comments!

Word Bank Wednesday 16

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