I recently did a writing exercise recommended by Natalie Goldberg in Writing Down the Bones. I sat in Starbucks with an open newspaper and started combining random ideas and images to form the most absurd vignettes possible. Here are a few of my favorites.
*****
A carpenter built a home out of cinnamon sticks and apples. Just after completion, the house was set ablaze by an arsonist. The neighborhood smells much better now. The carpenter has contracts to build other houses across the city. His next will will be of peaches and vanilla beans. Then he’ll do one of strawberry and chocolate chips. He has changed the name of his company to “House Candles.”
*****
A large man bounced out of Starbucks like a rubber ball. He rolled into the street and was hit by a car. He was flattened and lengthened into a speed bump that is three inches too tall. His mom keeps telling him he should stop letting people run over him. But he feels guilty for being in their way.
*****
A woman let the hair on her legs grow so long she was able to braid it and tie the braids from each leg together. She walks funny now, but no one notices because she also wears an eye patch and a viking hat. If you stare too long she’ll threaten to strangle you with her hairy leg braids.
*****
I’m not sure what is to be gained from such an exercise other than multiple referrals to therapists, but it was fun. Give it a try. If you come up with something you want to share, post it in the comments.
Telling Stories, Asking Questions, Learning Lessons
That’s so crazy, it’s funny! I may have to try that. I have a good start. The huge front page color photo w/caption the other day here in The Picayune Item read that local firefighters responded to a “flaming flower bed” at one of our two local McDonald’s – the north one. Seems someone carelessly threw out a cigarette.
I don’t know, maybe it’s just me. But the visual image of the firefighters and flaming flower bed made me laugh. What was most funny was that you couldn’t see a flame or even residue from a fire anywhere in the photo.
Cheers! Dee
That sounds like a great starting image Dee. Get to writing!
Love it! And I think it’s quite a valuable exercise. A key capability behind creative thought is making connections between streams of thought that appear to have no relation. Exercises like this force you to think that way, and the idea is that over time this becomes more and more fluid. It becomes easier to make these random connections; and some of them deliver real surprises and value. There’s a theorist named Edward deBono who calls this “lateral thinking” but I’ve seen it described a lot of other ways too.
Here you go: http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Lateral_thinking
Hey David–thanks for that link. Great stuff.
I’m not sure we (Church of Christ) people need any more practise at random connection of thoughts. We’ve had lots of practise and now i spend more time trying to not connect random stuff just to make something sound like i’ve already decided it needs to be. Just sayin!
We’re not the only ones who do it Viggo. However your comment reminds me of a guy I knew years ago who could start at any verse in the bible and within three moves end up at why we shouldn’t sing with instruments.
It’s the sort of thing you do for Mother’s Day… you purchase flowers. Unfortunately, Kristoff was unaware that his credit score was so low he could only afford flowers through a subprime flower shop. Like so many Americans, he is now left with only two things: flowers that he can’t afford and a mother who hates him.
Nicely done sir!