Challenge yourself and
stretch your writing abilities – mix it up a bit.
What do you normally
write? Is it straight formula? Next time change a few of the “usual” elements.
Try using a different kind of hero, instead of the physically strong jock you might
always use, make him a disabled vet for instance. Do you typically use a
setting in New York City? Try placing your story in the deep south, Europe or
the Hawaiian islands. Introduce different ethnic and religious backgrounds or
socio-economic lifestyles. Force your mind to see more than the usual and often
repeated safe harbors. Go even further – what genres do you typically write or
read? Choose another. Do you write romance or mystery? Try a good sci-fi story
or a paranormal.
Full time freelance
writers often have to vary their writing jobs in order to make anything
reasonable. Look for assignments that will keep you actively researching topics
and learning an “expertise” that is truly new to you. One of the newspaper
syndication services I write for hands out assignments based on upcoming
supplements – one week I will be writing an article on choosing a prom gown and
the next I’m writing about emergency road side repairs or how to finance a new
home. Different topics keep a writer hopping. There are several on line
services where you can post interesting articles and earn a following.
The main thing is not
to allow yourself to stagnate and allow your creative writing muscles to become
atrophied. Keep reaching for something different, something beyond your usual. Get
out of your comfort zone and write something that is so very different from the
tried and tested norm. Just like exercising, if you can do this much (like run
for 3 miles), then next time try for a little bit more (run for 4 miles). You
can write for yourself, it doesn't have to all be for publication; you don’t
have to share your out-of-the box writing project with anyone else. The only competition
is to exceed your personal best.
If you are (hopefully)
doing well with your writing, it is easy to be complacent. After all, your
process is working for you, right? But when you become complacent you stop
reaching, exercising, and improving. Especially in our current economy, we
never know if the magazine we've written for so successfully, or the publisher
who has published our books, or even the local newspaper we've covered
assignments for will continue to thrive. Where do you go if your highly
successful writing outlet suddenly ceases to exist or need your work? If you
keep yourself fresh and versatile, just like the stretching exercises you do
before taking a run, you will be able to fit elsewhere and keep your writing
career healthy and alive.
Writing Exercise: Try any or all of the following – (1) Write
about a recent day in a poem, any style of poetry is okay but it must be poetry. (2) Write ad copy to go with selling your car
or another possession. (3) Choose any
television show you commonly watch and write [in no more than 1000 words] a
storyline for another episode. (4)
Imagine yourself in a different job, possibly an alternate choice if you had
different opportunities, and write your FICTIONAL resume based on experience in
that job. (5) Describe the last big
family dinner you attended in the form of a newspaper article.
Writing Prompt: You've taken a walk on your favorite beach
and as a souvenir you pick up a beautiful seashell to bring home. Now at home
you are seated in your den and staring at the seashell on display. Describe the
seashell and the setting where you placed it.
