SEPTEMBER 7th: SCALES? FOR WRITERS?

Musicians and singers know scales...very, very well. When they play or sing the scales, it's a way of warming up, of getting in touch with a process that is familiar, one they're likely fairly confident with.

Well, writers need scales too. Some call them story starters or sparkers, but really almost ANYTHING can become the start of something penned on the page. There are MANY books out there that contain these starters, and what I've found is that often, if you begin by writing what they give you first, it gets your pen moving (try to do these pen and paper, please). Once the pen is moving, it has a way of continuing, and before you know it, a page or more is filled with ideas.

For the INNER CIRCLE:

In your BOUND JOURNAL, try one of the following two starters or scales. Give yourself at least ten minutes to explore the idea.

The first comes from a book called The Pocket Muse, by Monica Wood:

 

I could have avoided all that trouble if only I'd remembered to...

 

 

The second comes from a book called The 4 A.M. Breakthrough, by Brian Kiteley:

 

 





 

ADDICTED TO LOVE. Write a short piece of fiction in which the central character is addicted to love--but not necessarily addicted to sex. This character seeks a new conquest with some regularity not because she wants the experience of new lust, but because she wants to feel the early stages of love again.