Night Shadows
Welcome to today's workout. Been looking forward to it? Always great to see you at the Author Gym.
Field Notes:
Once again, we are venturing outside. The reason for doing this is to develop a sense of how to describe our world, to look at the mundane, the ordinary and the exceptional to find triggers in our mind we can use to shove at the boundaries of reality, to blend the real with the imagined. In this, and some of the following exercises, you will gradually increase your flexibility in using this mix.
Go outside at night, and explore with all your senses, paying particular attention to the shadowy areas — where light is dim or cannot penetrate. Examine the movement in the dark areas (cast shadows which may move or may be still, or areas where no light gets in at all).
Consider those shadows and darker zones. Do they offer the safety of concealment or the opportunity to be hidden for darker purposes? Maybe they camouflage. Maybe an opportune moment for an illicit tryst. It is up to you and your imagination as to how you will use them. The shadows, movement and stillness are the veil over what your characters experience there.
WARM UP
10 minutes
Your story unfolds from when this scene's central character senses something close by.
Think about setting up the scene. Will it be happy, sad, violent, gentle, funny? You decide.
How many characters are here? Does the way they dress show us something about them?
Where is this set? What venture are you giving a reader to think about?
Use your Field Notes to help structure the scene. Add elements from your imagination.
Your mission, should you choose to accept it, is to create a scene where the interaction of light, shadow and character/s is quintessential to the telling.
WRITING
25 minutes
Target 250-300 words.
Is that becoming doable? Add a few minutes if you need it. Don’t be too critical of sentence correctness. We are building planning and writing muscles.
COOL DOWN
10 minutes
Now is the time to enjoy what you have written. Emphasis on “enjoy”.
Will a reader experience what you intended when you created this shadowy scene?
What do you think a reader imagine happens next?
Is there something you feel you must add to this brief part of your story?
It may take some time to get used to the exercises. Don’t worry. Just keep working on it. I bet you already feel more confident about your writing ability. Remember we want to “kick writers block to the gutter”.
Looking forward to catching up with you in the next workout.
See you soon.
Damon
