Creative Writing Exercises

1. Vernacular Forms
   
   Review "Baltazar Beats His Tutor at Scrabble" by Belle Waring and "Hunting for Cherubs" by Jeffrey McDaniel (see also "Ha" by Kim Addonizio in Tell Me for an example of the joke as formal structure). Find a "form" from everyday life, such as a word problem, joke, index, personal ad, recipe, advertisement, letter, diary entry, or prayer. Use language and language structures particular to the form, but feel free to adapt the form, stretching it to accommodate your poem. Consider using a question (whether or not you include the question, literally or by implication) as a place to begin—or end—your poem. As in any poem, be conscious of sound and economy.



2. (What) You Don't Say and How
   
   Review "Lucky You" by Amy Gerstler. Think of something you would like to write about, but which seems too charged, too heavy, too emotionally loaded (e.g. love, death, parenthood, birth, a funeral, sex, anger . . . ). Perhaps you have tried to write about this subject or experience before but have found your attempts maudlin, sentimental, or cliché.
   
   This time, don't reveal so much literally or rely on abstract language. Engage the reader's imagination, but don't write a "blank check," inviting the reader to project his or her own subjective interpretation completely. For example, rather than using the word "love" (which invites the reader to project what "love" means to him or her), convey what "love" means, specifically, in the context of your poem —using images, concrete language, similies, and metaphors. Guide your readers, so they'll be able to infer with confidence, not guess. Consider using humor (including humor's more sinister forms such as irony and sarcasm)—or word play—to approach the subject with levity and for the surprising insights it may afford.



3. Minting Fresh Meaning
   
   Review "Local Hope" by Jack Heflin, "Boxcar" by Terrance Hayes, "Country Wisdoms" by Maggie Anderson, "Language Lesson 1976" by Heather McHugh, and "False Leads" by Yusef Komunyakaa. Find a vernacular phrase (e.g. slang, cliché, euphemism, colloquialism) or idiomatic expression. Use some of the techniques you observe from the above poems (such as double entendre, rhythm, musicality, enjambment, incantation) to draw the reader to reconsider the kind of language that would normally escape attention because it is so familiar. Make the reader do a double take in order to discover the phrase's deeper meaning—or its meaning in a particular context.

1. Play with opposites. Take something you have written, or have been trying to write, and play with its antithesis. If you are writing about two people falling in love, dramatize how their relationship might fall apart. If you're writing about loneliness, try a situation where the writer can't seem to get a moment alone. Or, try rearranging a piece backward, and see what you find—the way an artist will sometimes turn a painting upside-down to see what could be added or removed.



2. Romp through a dictionary. Pick a random word—an obscure word, a new word, maybe even a word you already know but haven't thought about in some time—and use it in a sentence. Use that sentence to open a paragraph, and that paragraph to a page. Your work may seem to have little sense to it at first, but such spontaneous writing can easily guide you to confronting themes and issues that you may not realize are important to you.



3. Copy the masters. In his essay "The Music of Prose," William Gass writes: "The producers of prose do not play scales or improve their skills by repeating passages of De Quincey or Sir Thomas Browne, although that might be a good idea." Joan Didion typed out Hemingway's stories to see how they worked; Somerset Maugham copied out a page of Jonathan Swift each day; Eudora Welty transcribed pages from the King James Bible. Pull out a book you admire and copy out a scene that strikes you as powerful. Try writing a scene of description or your own in the same manner. Try writing it in the styles of several different authors. Write it in the style of a writer you despise.



4. Listen to music. Find a piece of music that evokes the mood of a scene you wish to write, or are trying to write. Is it rock? Folk? Jazz? Rap? See what it inspires in you. If you tend to write short, declarative sentences, see how Bach's Cello Suites affect your prose. If you write long, discursive pieces, listen to punk rock for fifteen minutes, then try to write.
   
   If you would like to learn about improvising, listen closely to the jazz masters; decide how that music succeeds. If you want to understand rhythm, tone, theme, circularity—or learn to play with variations on a theme—listen to a work of complex classical music (Beethoven's or Mozart's symphonies; Rachmaninoff's Piano Concerto No. 3).