Writing can be a pleasurable experience, it can even be silly. Sometimes writers just need to let go of their inhibitions. The exercises presented in the book certainly help to do this and to get the juices flowing in our mind. These drills are tailored to fit the skill levels of middle-schoolers and adults, so anyone who wants to expand his/her creative horizons can take advantage of Thurston and DiPrince’s book. For myself, I liked that these exercises offer instruction and guidance. Sometimes it’s nice being told what to write. When I know that I have a certain task to fulfill, I attack it more readily and immediately begin developing avenues which will lead me to the final goal. These prompts provide some direction (like, write a paragraph about a girl named Dot without using the letters 'i' and 'j'-which to me seems impossible), but that’s it; the author controls the overall development of his/her writing. Some of these prompts are challenging and some appear to be quite ridiculous-but that’s the beauty of each one. In the future, I hope to have the time to use these whacky prompts to improve my own creative writing abilities.
Wednesday, November 4, 2009
Unjournaling
For any writers looking to step out of their comfort zones and really tap into their creative side, Unjournaling is the perfect tool to spark the imagination. The introduction of this text reiterates an important point about the matter of a writer’s attachment to his/her work. Too often we (writers) become possessive and obsessive about our creations; we don’t care to take anyone else’s critiques or suggestions for improving the final product into consideration. We fear criticism and the fact that the words we’ve stressed over in our struggle to convey our particular meanings may be discarded. Unjournaling says that writing doesn’t have to be formal or stuffy and it doesn’t always have to be a matter of personal integrity. Instead the book reminds and encourages us to let loose every once in a while in our writing and to truly enjoy the process of putting our ideas on paper.
Writing can be a pleasurable experience, it can even be silly. Sometimes writers just need to let go of their inhibitions. The exercises presented in the book certainly help to do this and to get the juices flowing in our mind. These drills are tailored to fit the skill levels of middle-schoolers and adults, so anyone who wants to expand his/her creative horizons can take advantage of Thurston and DiPrince’s book. For myself, I liked that these exercises offer instruction and guidance. Sometimes it’s nice being told what to write. When I know that I have a certain task to fulfill, I attack it more readily and immediately begin developing avenues which will lead me to the final goal. These prompts provide some direction (like, write a paragraph about a girl named Dot without using the letters 'i' and 'j'-which to me seems impossible), but that’s it; the author controls the overall development of his/her writing. Some of these prompts are challenging and some appear to be quite ridiculous-but that’s the beauty of each one. In the future, I hope to have the time to use these whacky prompts to improve my own creative writing abilities.
Writing can be a pleasurable experience, it can even be silly. Sometimes writers just need to let go of their inhibitions. The exercises presented in the book certainly help to do this and to get the juices flowing in our mind. These drills are tailored to fit the skill levels of middle-schoolers and adults, so anyone who wants to expand his/her creative horizons can take advantage of Thurston and DiPrince’s book. For myself, I liked that these exercises offer instruction and guidance. Sometimes it’s nice being told what to write. When I know that I have a certain task to fulfill, I attack it more readily and immediately begin developing avenues which will lead me to the final goal. These prompts provide some direction (like, write a paragraph about a girl named Dot without using the letters 'i' and 'j'-which to me seems impossible), but that’s it; the author controls the overall development of his/her writing. Some of these prompts are challenging and some appear to be quite ridiculous-but that’s the beauty of each one. In the future, I hope to have the time to use these whacky prompts to improve my own creative writing abilities.
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