The Word of the Day scripting seminar on Wednesday was amazing! I’m beta testing some of the techniques, and the class performed an exercise to come up with a story idea using a personal memory and then use the memory as a storyline for something already in process, a new project, or an insight into an existing character.
We all clustered the same word: family. Then, after several more clusters, we were all aglow. For creativity, each of us had one or more memories, and we can use them to create an idea for a story or something that can be used in a current project.
For example, one student had an idea based on a happy childhood memory that she could immediately use to build her series bible.
Another student created an animated cartoon about a family of dysfunctional but loving vegetables.
The word family evoked my parents’ deaths in my Word of the Day cluster. I was with each of them when they died. The cluster made me wonder who would be with me when I go, and suddenly, I had an exciting structure for a new book I’m working on. It’s about an old woman looking back on her life. I hadn’t thought of putting her on her deathbed, but it’s definitely an idea with possibilities! Yipee!
From there, each member of the class was able to write a brief description for each story, like a description of a story that you could watch on Netflix or Hulu!
All of this work took less than an hour and left us feeling energized, connected, and peaceful.
Please join me at the next Word of the Day scripting webinar on August 10, at 7:00 pm EST.
I want to share what my friend Rivka Rivera has been up to, and I also wanted to invite you to a wonderful play, Mom on Skype on August 13 and 14th at:
The Space at Irondale
85 South Oxford Street
Brooklyn, NY 11217
Rivka is promoting Irondale and the Ukraine to Brooklyn project. Irondale is hosting nine Ukrainian children who are performing in the play. While in New York, the kids will be immersed in art, music, sightseeing, and…freedom for the next month!
All proceeds from ticket sales on August 13 and 14 will be donated to Ukrainian defense and humanitarian organizations.
Please support them and go see it! And if you would like to donate to this project, you can do so here.
Here’s to your successful writing,
Professor Marilyn Horowitz
