Writing from The Heart: Depth Writing Exercises 1

Writing from The Heart

"Writing from The Heart" is a workshop on creative writing, creative drawing, and creative drama. There are three available versions of this workshop: one for beginners on the secondary, tertiary, and graduate levels, and another for practitioners. A third version of this workshop is designed as an outreach program to disadvantaged and underserved audiences such as the disabled, the poor and the marginalized, victims of human trafficking, battered women and abused children, drug rehabilitation center residents, child combatants, children in conflict with the law, prisoners, and gang leaders. This third version incorporates creativity and problem awareness, conflict resolution, crisis intervention, trauma therapy, and peacemaking.

Sunday, October 11, 2015

Depth Writing Exercises 1 - 3

Write the entire alphabet on a sheet of paper in upper case and in lower case using your normal, cursive style.

1. Which letters do you enjoy forming most? What do you visually associate with those letters?

2. Which letters do you enjoy forming least? What do you visually associate with those letters?

3. Reflect on the letters you like least. Are any of these in YOUR NAME? If so, how do they affect your self-esteem?

3. Take the letters you enjoy forming least and make an effort to improve them. Be subtle, be drastic. Be whimsical, exaggerate. Continue doing so until you form the letter shapes that please you most.

Then write words, phrases, and sentences using those letters.

4. For a complete change in your life, write the entire alphabet differently. You don't have to consult calligraphy books to do so, just use your associative memory and your imagination.

Use your new penmanship for a few days. Write down your reflections in a journal. How does the change affect you? Do you feel like a different person?

You can always switch back to your old penmanship whenever you want to.

To apply #4 to actual, creative writing, use a different style of penmanship for every character in your novel or play. You will find that it affects each character's vocabulary, tone, and speech pattern. That is because penmanship is a direct extension of the mind. Unbeknownst to you, it literally spells out all of your failures and successes.