Creative Writing Lab Three
By Ariele M. Huff
In order to use the mind artistically and originally it is sometimes necessary to do the opposite of logical thinking. Logical thinking is a process of following accepted and justifiable steps to reach a goal or conclusion. The logical way to get to the other side of a door is to walk towards it, grasp the knob, turn the knob, pull or push the door open, and step across the threshold. In lateral or inventive thinking you may have to go against logic at some point. A creative way to get to the other side of a door is to jump over it or walk around it. Although it is not logical or easily justified to say there may be no wall surrounding the door, these solutions are imaginative ways to approach the named goal, and would make a much more interesting story than would the logical approach! Inventive or lateral thinking requires a writer to be independent of old patterns, to assume the rights and responsibilities of re-creating objects, situations, characters, or settings.
Homework: A good exercise to help you learn what it feels like to use your inventive mind is to re-create a table, a cow, OR an apple. Choose only one. Pretend you have the ultimate say in this new creation except that each item must continue to serve the same purpose it currently does: to have things set upon it, to produce milk, to be eaten.
A reader’s lefthand freedom exercise from the second session of Creative Writing Lab:
Once upon a time, there was a princess who lived in a castle. Her privilege was great, her treasures many, but still she was lonely.
She wandered the castle halls looking for somebody who’d like her for who she was instead of the crown she wore. The princess found herself in the dungeon where she heard sad moaning and wailing coming from all but one chamber.
Through the bars in its heavy door, she saw a dirty young prisoner singing happily. She thought him addled until he spoke.
“Fair princess, what brings you here? Aren’t you afraid I might steal the jewels from your innocent brow?”
His impertinence caught her imagination, and for a moment, she held hope that here was the one she sought. Then the reality of his position fueled her words.
“How dare you speak to me thusly?” Even though the princess had regained her royal posture, her heart fluttered madly as she awaited his answer.
“My lady,” he mockingly began. “Come morning, your father’s men will take my life, yet they’ll never have my freedom. But you—you’re forever imprisoned by the blood coursing through your veins.”
Jeri Haubiel: Thank you for the challenge; I truly enjoyed it.
Ariele Huff is doing a new Write about Your Life group at Shoreline/Lake Forest Park Senior Center. It meets on Tuesdays from 10/4 to 12/6 at 10am to noon. Hope to meet you there! Contact me at ariele@comcast.net or call the center 206-365-1536.
SHARING STORIES is a weekly column for and about the 50 plus crowd living in the Puget Sound region. Send your stories and photos to ariele@comcast.net. Tell local or personal stories; discuss concerns around aging and other issues; share solutions, good luck, and reasons to celebrate; poems are fine too. Pieces may be edited or excerpted. We reserve the right to select among pieces. Photos are always a plus and a one-sentence bio is requested (where you live, maybe age or career, retired status, etc.).
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