Dark Waters
Welcome to today's specially prepared Author Gym workout. Happy to see you here again. Please enjoy your time. You may get wet. This is one of our favourites. Maybe it will be one of yours
Field Notes:
If you can, access an area with water and small boats. Carefully observe the shapes and sounds of the water as it flows around slow-moving boats. unpowered boats like a dingy or canoe. Throw a stone in the water and see the effects. Walk in it, even better. If you can, do this observation late in the day, almost dark, for that is the setting of this next venture. What sounds do you hear — made by the water or something in the water? Sense the air. What else can you hear, see, smell, taste even as the light fades to dark? Most important is to learn about the movement of water around objects.
In this venture, two people push a small boat into a lake, using the cover of darkness and heavy undergrowth growing along the bank. Only one person gets out of the boat on the far side. Tension is high.
WARM UP
10 minutes
Think of the stunning first line that will commit all your readers to consuming whatever else you conjure up.
This is going to be a powerful piece so get in touch with your emotions before the writing begins — get the Field Notes working for you. What makes you feel electric, tentative, shocked? Write a few phrases that come to mind. Find a powerful sentence that will produce tension. All this doesn’t have to be connected just yet. Now is the time to get ideas flowing.
Your mission, should you choose to accept it, is to bring a reader’s imagination to life by toying with their sensibilities. Push readers from confident and bold to reserved and cautious.
WRITING
30 minutes
Target 350 words.
Rather than timing the session, push yourself to produce 350 words in a single uninterrupted sitting. You can rest and revitalize your energy at the end.
COOL DOWN
10 minutes
A quick break and then time to read your most recent lines.
Will your reader feel the night?
Will they sense tension increasing as time passes?
How did you reduce numbers from two to one? What did you feel when you read the incident?
Which were two sentences that stood out for you?
Are you feeling that your writing muscles can produce higher quality or a greater quantity with ease?
Do you feel more confident of your skills and stronger in your writing passion?
Best of luck with your writing projects. Remember there are a lot of people just waiting to read your work.
See you soon.
Damon