Writing Tools | Stjosephs

The Writer’s Notebook as a Tool for Generating Material

Carol Adinolfi

Think of the Writer’s Notebook as a place where you can collect all different types of writing.

Some examples:

• pieces of writing by writers who you admire and whose writing inspires you.

• dreams

• letters you will never send

• ideas

• hopes

• ticket stubs from movies, train-rides, etc.

• photographs

• sketches

• observations

• journal entries

The Writer’s Notebook is a kind of living reminder that your writing can take many forms. It is a kind of container where you can collect:

• fragments of writing of any size

• writing that may (or may not be) seeds, starting places, for larger pieces you can develop

The Writer’s Notebook Experiment #1: Moments/Memory Fragments

PART ONE:

o Put on some music that you love, preferably instrumental.

o Make a list of short memories, whatever comes to mind: joyous, difficult, recent (including yesterday!), or memories from a few years ago, or from many years ago.

o Short is the operative word: a moment, an afternoon, a breakfast, walking your dog, etc.

o Try not to think too hard, or on any one aspect of your life. Just see what comes to mind. Allow yourself to be surprised.

o Write without stopping, preferably longhand. Just short descriptions, a few words, for each memory.

PART TWO:

o Once you’ve collected some memories, anywhere from 5 or 6 or more, look over what you’ve got, and work on what we’ll call memory fragments.

o These fragments can be of any length: a few words, a sentence, a paragraph.

o The idea of this experiment is that down the line these may (or may not be) developed. o It’s best to aim here not to create a perfect piece of writing; you are simply collecting memories.

o The beauty of this exercise is that it allows you to linger on a single moment and bring it to life.

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THE S.J.R.J.I. WRITERS’ GROUP

Collaborative Call and Response Writing Experiment

Our aim in this experiment was to use a call and response as a way into generating some writing. This can be an energy-filled way to begin to look at revision and editing. By cutting the “call” sections of the call and response, we were able to think about non-essential and essential parts of the first draft, which was spoken. And to craft that spoken word into writing.

Draft I/Part I/Spoken