Writing Exercise:
Today's Writing Challenge is to help you unpack short pithy statements into long prose. Think of this as the Transformer of Writing Challenges.
Mostly great concepts come to the writer as a short idea; imagine if girl meets boy but boy is actually a vampire. It is then the writer's job to unpack that into a book outline, then into chapters, scenes, paragraphs and sentences.
It is a process of slowly unfolding the concept, bit by bit, until it is fully transformed into your kick ass book.
The more you practise this reverse origami process, the easier it will become, and the more you will be able to identify nature folds that would lengthen out into chapter breaks etc.
So, today, I want you to go to Facebook or Twitter, the two mother ships for super short story ideas, and find a status update that has a whole short story waiting inside of it. Then I want you to slowly unpick it into a basic outline, then try to unfold it a bit more into a more detailed outline.
If you have time and feel so inclined, why not take some times and actually write it up?
ROW 80:
Well, my goal was to write a blog post or article each day at work. So, in that I was successful.
However, of course, secretly I had meant to myself a blog post for each blog, and additional articles, in which I was not successful. But that is my fault for a) having hidden goals which I'm judging myself against. They weren't stated because obviously they were ridiculous, so why do I feel bad that I didn't reach them?
So, no more hidden goals.
I really am just going to be pleased if I can do a single blog post or article each day (preferably in my lunch break). If I get more, well that's just extra brownie points to me.
And, if you haven't done it already, why not check out my new YouTube channel? If you subscribe, you will get to see all the videos I'm making straight off that bat. I'm working on a bloopers reel at the moment, which should bring a smile to your face :D
Hah! I completely relate to that whole hidden-goals-I-fail-at-and-against-which-I-judge-myself thing. Is horrible. Why *can't* we be content with having achieved our reasonable stated goals? I mean, one blog post or article EACH DAY?!? That's insanely productive, woman! That's 5 x 52 = 260 posts or articles a year! Omfg! I think we think we're superhuman or something. Or we forget that time and space do not magically expand to accommodate our lofty aspirations.
ReplyDeleteWhich is all to say: you're kicking ass.
Question: what is the higher goal you have? Why a blog post or article each day? Do you hope that writing a lot will improve your writing? Are you trying to get credentials so you can pimp out your mad writing skills? Are you a Share-A-Lot Bear who gets satisfaction from sharing?
Thanks!
DeleteMy higher, unspoken goals? When I said write one blog post or article per day, what I secretly meant was in five days write four blog posts per blog, plus 3 articles. Not much of a difference, right? :D
Why do I want to post so much? Partly to build up my awesome credentials, definitely to practice my writing skills, not really because I'm a share-a-lot bear (that I know of, feel free world to correct me), but also because I have so many things to cover.
And I do use the blogs to help me develop content for my 5 Day writer's series. I write it out, find out people's reactions and questions, then develop it and and add to it for the books. The Five Day Writer's Retreat is probably about 50% blog content edited and extended and 50% brand new stuff.
Ah! Okay, so the blog writing is to attract traffic to your blogs & build your business audience! Me too. =*)
Delete