Writing Companion

I love this prompt, which involves writing a story within the constraint of following alphabetical order. That is, the first word of each sentence follows alphabetical order. This prompt can lead your imagination into new places.

WARM-UP: First try this warm-up to start thinking alphabetically.

Write no more than 3 sentences, following an alphabetical order.

You can go for strict word-by-word alphabetical order: Ann brought Cate a delightful elephant, funnily gigantic. And so on…

Or you can be flexible, working in other words as well: Alex bought a cosy but deadly egg flipper–ghastly. He was involved in juvenile crime but kept a look so mild when his neighbour opined about prison being too qualmish for the rascals who stole his television, right under his nose one vacuous night. What excited Alex was being not only a youthful offender but a most zealous one.

Now you’re ready to try something more ambitious, a 26-sentence alphabetical story or poem.

How to structure the alphabetical story/poem

• The first sentence or main clause must start with a word that begins with ‘A‘, the second with a word that begins with ‘B‘ and so on. You can try to create a coherent story or comment within the alphabetical constraints, or you can simply freewrite a stream of alphabetised consciousness.

  You can use this exercise as a warm-up in a writing group, by creating a story out loud as a group, with each member in turn contributing the next sentence. The story can be totally spontaneous or the group can agree on a conflict and the characters before starting.

• Don’t make things too hard on yourself. Use a word starting with ‘ex’ instead trying to find one starting with ‘x’.
  You can use articles before the alphabetical word, of course. E.g., ‘A new toy?’, she asked, dubiously prodding the contraption. ‘An organisational triumph,’ he said with a mad grin.

• Go for variety in the length and style or construction of your sentences. Use description, exposition, and dialogue. Don’t take the lazy route and start each sentence with an adverb or adjective: Angrily, Sue stared at him. Bitterly, he stared back. Cruelly, she ate the last doughnut in front of him. Devastated, he turned away. You can use sentence fragments as needed.
  E.g., Unblinking, I thought some more. We, the world and myself were alike. Very much so, as it turned out.

• Want more flexibliity? Place your alphabetical words, still in sequence, but anywhere in a sentence or main clause. E.g.:Anyone can be a star. At least that’s what I thought before the battle started in our little group for the main role. How catty everyone became. Even Deborah, my best friend, started criticising my acting ability. Everyone was jumpy and I knew fur would fly on audition night.

Enjoy!

Good writing prompts are always available to you in books of short stories. Read the short story titles and look for one that provides a twist of interest. Can you find one that evokes something in your mind? That makes you want to write in response?

You don’t need to know the story behind the title. In fact, it’s better not to. Why burden yourself with two mental processes: thinking up your own response while also ignoring how a famous writer handled the idea? Imagine using as your prompt the title, A Christmas Carol, then spending energy keeping your mind away from Ebeneezer Scrooge, Tiny Tim, etc.

Below are 15 story titles from Australian writers. I hope some appeal to you, perhaps helping you conjure up an image or an incident that you want to write about.

Explore even more possibilities by playing with or ‘twisting’ the titles, seeking spin-offs. Perhaps Serious Swimmers does nothing for you, but you find that your imagination is grabbed when you revise it to Serious Non-Swimmers, Serious Tennis Players, Seriously Swimming, or even Serial Swimmer. Think of contrasts, opposites, something that’s out of the ordinary, that pushes you beyond the first image or idea you come up with when you read the title. Examples: Dry Swimmers, Desert Swimmers, Polar Swimmers, Moon Swimmers.

Take a playful approach. Writing prompts don’t often have hard and fast rules. They aren’t inherently creative. Instead, they provide ways for you to start playing with ideas, words and images. To start unlocking that great creative storehouse that is your mind. If a prompt doesn’t interest you, modify it into something that does.

• You can use each title as a prompt for starting to write. You may want to freewrite or complete a clustering or mapping exercise. In both instances, you are aiming to record the associations your mind makes as it plays with the title.
• You may want to explore the titles by creating a first draft for a more formal piece of writing, such as a poem, short story, or personal account.

As always, if you want to share what you’ve written, save it on your blog, then leave a comment here with your link so readers can get to your work.

Sources: Dark Roots, Cate Kennedy, 2006 and Journeys: Modern Australian short stories. Ed. Barry Oakley, 2007.

1. Cold Snap (Cate Kennedy)
2. What Do I ‘Do’ With Cancer? (Steve J. Spears)
3. Dark Roots (Cate Kennedy)
4. Serious Swimmer (Michael Faber)
5. Elsewhere (David Malouf)
6. Driving the Inland Road (Julie Gittus)
7. The Romance of Steam (Ian Callinan)
8. The Last Visit (Paddy O’Reilly)
9. The Testosterone Club (Cate Kennedy)
10. The Worst Thing (Philip Canon)
11. Stone (Liam Davison)
12. Rite of Spring (Margo Lanagan)
13. A Perfect Circle (Peter Symons)
14. Travelling (Joan London)
15. The Correct Name of Things (Cate Kennedy)

Some ideas:

1. Dark Roots Hair? Genealogy? Childhood? Teeth?  A growth? Something in nature? Secrets?
2. Driving the Inland Road A real road? A psychological one?
3. The Romance of Steam Steam train? Steam room? Steam in a restaurant? Camping at a hot springs? A luxurious bath? The old steam radiators? Steamy tropics? A steamy night with someone?
4. Stone A noun? A verb (stoning someone, being stoned)?
5. The Correct Name of Things What things? Who says/thinks there’s a ‘correct’ name?

The topic set for this year’s Stella Kupferberg Memorial Short Story Prize was the phrase, ‘Are we there yet?’

This prompt appealed to me as soon as I read it because it is so rich with possibilities. You may immediately think of a whingy child in the backseat during a long car trip. But what else comes up when you play with the words ‘we’, ‘there’ and ‘yet’?

Let the question lead you to reflect on different kinds of inner and outer journeys and destinations, as well as those who make them.

You can freewrite, starting with the question itself and see what your mind brings up.

You can address the question directly in a story, poem or piece of non-fiction, such as memoir.

You can use the idea as a theme for a story, without including the question itself.

You can write about something that happens in transit. Example: something about a road/plane/train trip. Or bicycling, bushwalking, etc. What you write may relate to a major trip, such a cruise around the world. Or a small trip, such as taking out the garbage. The ‘transit’ may be in the past, present or future.

You can use the question as a ‘diving board into other literary territory’. Perhaps an image or issue popped into your head as soon as you read the question. If not, try brainstorming. These questions may help:

• What is the destination, the ‘there’?
  Is it a physical location? If so, it is a desired one? Or a place no one wants to go?
  Is it an emotional state? A different kind of consciousness? A new understanding–and if so, about what?
  Is it a stage in life?
  A ritual?
  A game? Once you know the ‘there’, you can create a situation for it.
  Is it a physical state? A significant stage in our lives? (Thanks to JustPaisley for these two ideas.)

• Who is asking the question? And why?
  A child? An old person? Or?

• Who are the ‘we’?
  What is the relationship between the one asking and the one being asked?

• What is the mood?
  Light-hearted? Scary? Humorous? Romantic? Or?

• What are the consequences?