Starting Off the Year with Exercise--A Writing One

New Years is a time for new goals and new projects.  This year I will be participating in Start the Year Off Write: 21 days of 21 writing exercises.  The challenge is for children's writers of all sorts: picture book, middle grade, and young adult.  And, get this: there is even a prize for completing each day's exercise: the chance to win a critique by an editor, an agent, or a copy editor.  Definitely worth trying.

What I hope to gain: an incite into my novels that I didn't have before.  Sometimes it just takes looking at something a little different to get that a-ha moment.

So I hope you'll join me--it's only 21 days out of your life but might give you that new-year jump start you need.

The Name Game--Writers' Edition

From top down: Droopy Drawers, Mozzarella, Muddy Waters


I wonder what percentage of parents wait to name a baby until after they first see him or her versus deciding on a baby name before going into labor). I've heard many parents say that once they saw their baby for the first time, they could tell "she was a Sophie" or "he was a Sammy." Names make a huge difference! Think of a name you find ridiculous-sounding; now image if that had been your name your whole life. Do you think you would have lived a different life?

Characters are no different. Your readers can make some assumptions about a character from his or her name alone. If you have a serious story, chances are, you don't want to name your main character something like, say Pickle Snodgrassen, unless you're trying to lighten the mood. I wrote a whole novel based on a name I saw on a gravestone from the late 1800s.

Naming pets in novels or anthropomorphized animals in picture books can be a blast! You can either do the alliteration thing (Gary the guinea pig) or come up with something silly (Droopy Drawers). I prefer the latter. The woman that owns the rescue I got both of my guinea pigs from comes up with great ones for all the guinea pigs that come to her. Sometimes she'll name them after celebrities (Angelina and Brad), others she'll name desserts (Brownie), cheeses, or sophosticated human names (Sven). She's even adopted out two guinea pigs by the names of Wrigley and Comiskey. Check out these adoptables for their names (or to adopt!):

http://search.petfinder.com/shelterSearch/shelterSearch.cgi?animal=&breed=&age=&size=&specialNeeds=&declawedPets=&children=&status=&id=&internal=&contact=&name=&shelterid=IL98&sort=&preview=1

Now it's time to exercise. Below are descriptions of characters. Next to them, I brainstormed possible names I came up with (some make no sense, but just worked for me). Try to come up with your own names.

A lazy black cat: Flipflop, Ted, Meow

A brown and white curious puppy: Chubs, Itchy, Noodles

A white rat: Mozzarella, Gladys, Vanilla Bean

A grumpy five year old boy: Fred Finklestein

The Plane as the Plot

Did you realize how many different microcosms there are at the airport? Think back to your last trip and all the different situations you face at the airport. Waiting in line behind a family that is cranky, balancing a bagel on your lap as you try to butter it and your flight is called, the bathrooms.
Now imagine all the stories (or nonfiction articles) you could write based on those situations:
a child's first plane ride
how to eat healthy at the airport

Add to that any "What if..." scenarios you can and you have enough ideas for a year:
What if a dog was flying alone--as a passenger
What if you got on the wrong flight and ended up on the moon

Here's your exercise: Make a list of as many different possible stories you can think of that could happen at an airport or on an airplane. Or, if you're not in the mood for plots, make a list of as many different settings at an airport or character ideas as you can.

Pet Peeves

If you asked me my top ten pet peeves (at the moment), they would probably be:

• the smell and sound of gum (as well as looking at chewed gum, which makes me gag)
• when people don't use turn signals
• when I can't find my cell phone in my purse before it goes to VM
• that my computer gives me an error message whenever I go to shut down
• that every TV show now incorporates a scene where one of the characters is brushing his or her teeth (I hate seeing toothpaste foam and watching people spit)
• getting a bazillion plastic grocery bags when I grocery shop (see my Green Tuesday entry)
• Daylight Savings Time (I'm not a morning person and, for six months, I know I'm getting up an hour earlier than I did from Oct.-March)
• opening an avocado and finding it's either not ripe or spoiled
• snow in March (and April, and May, for that matter)
• noticing my clothes are wrinkled after I've ironed
• that there are no good TV shows on on Sundays

I'm guessing you can learn a lot about me from my list. Looking back at it, I noticed I made two references to TV. Hmmm, am I an avid watcher? I think so. I also revealed my need for technology, that I'm not a morning person, and that I must be over 16, since I drive. (The only thing it doesn't include that it should have is my love of candy. Let me add a number eleven pet peeve: how unrealistic the serving size is on movie candy boxes--has anyone ever really gotten the box to last more than two servings?!)

What's on your list? Does it give a snapshot into your personality? (Send as your comment if you like)

Now it's time for an exercise: think of a character in a book you're writing. What would their top ten (or five) pet peeves be? Are there certain foods they have quirks about? What things about other people bother your character? Don't forget to think about peeves that relate to your character's age: A sixth grader will have different pet peeves than someone that is in high school. For instance, I said that people not using turn signals bothers me--that wouldn't bother a sixth grader, but their mom singing a Britney Spears song along with the car radio probably would.

Curing Writer's Block

Everybody gets it. It causes people to vacuum their houses or try to find the numerical value of pi. It has caused me to eat two packs of TicTacs in one sitting. But it is curable. The dreaded WRITER'S BLOCK. On Thursdays, I will dish out my medicine--a writing exercise for you to try. Maybe it will get your creative juices going. One writer once compared writing to playing a sport. There aren't too many athletes who don't stretch out or do drills before the game. Writing's no different. Your mind needs to warm up before the brilliance can begin.

Today isn't Thursday, it's Sunday, but I'm very excited about the workshop I just got back from. The speaker was the one and only Newbery-award winning Richard Peck. It was an amazing workshop that made me come back totally refreshed. It also gave me the power to think I MAY be able to cut some scenes from my latest novel.

So, this workshop was down south, way south--yes Champaign, IL. As I hid my computer in the hotel room, I wondered, what kind of conclusions does the maid service make about each of the hotel guests? They must see some weird stuff in the rooms. What do people bring with them on trips? My weirdest item, hmmm...maybe my candy bag: complete with 2 bags of Cadbury's Mini Eggs, a Reese's Peanut Butter Cup, and Sweettarts. Otherwise, I think I was a pretty normal guest.

So here's your first writing prompt: Pretend you're a hotel maid. Describe the room of a clown (male or female). Does he hang up his clothes? What is her wardrobe like? What does his suitcase look like? Does she have only one pair of clown shoes and actually wear flipflops on her off days? Post your answers if you like.