PROMPT: Spoken Word/ Slam Poetry

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Last Saturday at VoiceCATCH, we looked at some spoken word poetry–the rhythms and cadences, and the passion of the performers. You can check out a few spoken word pieces here:

Lemon Andersen performs Reg E. Gaines’ “Please Don’t Take My Air Jordans” (Ted Talk)

Rachel Rostad, “To JK Rowling, from Cho Chang”

Hollie McNish, “Embarrassed”

Sarah Kay, “If I Should Have a Daughter” (Ted Talk)

The writers above have something to say, something they feel strongly about. What do you feel strongly about? Here are a couple of prompts to get you started (you can write prose or poetry).

1. What I really want to say is ________.

Start your piece with this sentence. Whenever you get stuck, write it again and change what you put in the blank. See where it takes you.

2. Good ________/Bad ________.

Start a piece of writing with “Good ________” or “Bad ________.”  As an example, see M. Bartley Seigel’s This Is What They Say, which begins "Good children don’t swim in dead lakes.  They don’t congregate like cigarette butts along the line of sand and water.” What could you say about good or bad friends? Grandmothers? Teachers? Politicians? Brothers?

PROMPT: Tritina

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Today’s VoiceCATCH taught the form of a user-friendly poem called a tritina.  Here’s how it goes:

1. Write a 10 syllable sentence about a place you know well.

2. Write another sentence that has 10 syllables. Try to connect this idea to the place you’re writing about.

3. Write a third sentence- again 10 syllables- searching for what you are trying to say about the place. Number the last word of each sentence. The last word of line 1 will be 1, last line of 2 will be 2, and the last word of line 3 will be 3.

4. Pass your notebook to your right. This person asks a question about the first stanza, then returns the book.

5. Begin the second stanza in the same form. Make the first line of the new stanza end with the same last word as line 2 of your first stanza, the second with line 3, the third with line 1.

5. Pass your notebook to your left. This person asks a question about the second stanza, then returns the book.

6. Begin the third stanza. Use the same end words again from the first stanza, only this time the order is 3-2-1.

Wrap up and share: How did a strict form make the writing more difficult or enjoyable? How did working with outside questions guide your writing in new places? How can this exercise help or hinder your process?

PROMPT: E-mail Stories

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Here’s a story starter based on an e-mail or letter exchange. If you don’t have a writing partner, you can skip step three.

1. Create a character. Give this character a name. Jot down some key attributes: age, career, where the character lives, his/her relationship status, something the character likes, something he/she dislikes, something unique about the character’s past, etc.

2. Create a second character as you did in #1. Write this character’s information on a separate sheet of paper.

3. Give the information about your second character to your writing partner. In return, your partner should give you his/her second character.

4. Write a piece that consists of e-mails (or, if you prefer, letters) between the two character: the character you created in step #1 and the character you received from your partner.

 

For a model on how this can work in a novel-length work, check out Where’d You Go Bernadette by Maria Semple.

PROMPT: Five Sentences and an Orange Balloon

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Yesterday at VoiceCATCH, we did a sentence-level exercise.  Here’s how it goes:

Write a sentence. Then:

1. Rewrite the sentence using half the words.

2. Rewrite the original sentence using double the words.

3. Rewrite the sentence with the same meaning, but using all different words.

4. Rewrite the sentence with the opposite meaning.

5. Add an orange balloon.

Wrap up: How did adding/reducing words change the meanings of the sentences? Did adding the orange balloon help you find and write something new? How could this exercise help in revision?