Journal Ideas
Just because I love to write so much, I thought that I might as well have a webpage that encouraged writing. - Mary Shaw
If you want STORY ideas click here!
WHY WRITE?
You wouldn't be reading this if you weren't interested in writing. Maybe you're interested because of a story you read - you felt you'd like to write something like that. Maybe you're just curious. Or maybe you've got something you want to say and you're not sure how to say it. Whatever your reason, you're reading this because you're interested in writing.
HOW THE PROS DO IT
Professional writers, like Ernest Hemingway, don't dash off their masterpieces. They take their time. They build carefully. And even for them, good ideas are hard to come by. Professional writers are the real misers of this world. They waste nothing. Like magpies, they are crazy collectors. They hoard scraps of conversation, wisecracks, bits of odd information, pieces of description, curious combinations of words - everything.
YOU NEVER KNOW
Professional writers keep journals. It's their ace in the hole, their Swiss bank account. They know the terror of facing a blank sheet of paper empty-handed or empty-headed. That's why they keep journals. A journal is something to fall back on when the going gets rough. A writer without a journal has no place to store promising ideas, no private place in which to think with a pencil.
SO WHAT'S A JOURNAL?
When someone says "journal", maybe you think of a leather-bound volume with blue-lined pages. Some writers use such things. But others write on paper bags with ball-point pens. For many writers, their journal consists of desk drawers stuffed with scraps of paper. A journal is whatever you say it is - so long as you can easily get to what's in it.
SETTING UP YOUR JOURNAL
Decide what you'd like your journal to look like. Will it be a loose-leaf notebook, a file box, an accordion file, a large brown envelope? Or a design of your own? Go to a discount store or an office supply store and buy the materials you'll need.
Give your journal a title. The title will be the first really creative thing you'll do for your journal, so make your title witty, unusual, thought provoking.
You may wish to decorate the cover of your journal. You could sketch on the cover, paste on an advertisement or a photo, or write your favourite quotes on it.
WHAT GOES INTO MY JOURNAL?
What interests you? Write about that. About your crazy friend's latest practical joke. Or the night at camp when you heard weird noises outside the tent. Or your first date. Or your 72 year old grandmother with her young ideas. Write these things down. If they mean something to you, chances are they'll mean something to someone else and will make good material for a story or poem. For example, James Baldwin used his memories of his preacher father for a long essay in Notes of a Native Son.
What else can go into your journal? Jack Kerouac used a journal to record progress on his novel On the Road, a 1957 classic of the "beat generation". Professionals use journals for all sorts of things. They jot down observations, imaginings, dreams, sketches, doodles, cartoons, ads, photos, newspaper clippings and much, much more.
OBSERVATIONS
Writers look everywhere. And they collect what they see - in descriptions in their journals. Then, later, they write about telephone poles, plums, skyscrapers, people's feet, computers, sky divers, neon signs, an old woman waiting for a bus - anything and everything they've observed. What interesting, unusual, even startling things can you describe in your journal? Perhaps you're intrigued by an electric pencil sharpener that gobbles pencils, a small girl walking a Great Dane, the 747 you saw at the airport, one flower growing in a front yard full of weeds. Describe these things in your journal. Chances are, you'll use some of these descriptions later in your poems or stories.
IMAGININGS
Imagination is the stuff that poems, plays, and stories are made of. When she was a girl, Gwendolyn Brooks, the Pulitzer prive-winning poet, filled many notebooks with poems about the patterns she saw in the clouds. In the same way, you can use your imagination on the world around you. Imagine patterns in the clouds or in the stars. Or you may notice a woman sitting on the bus who's carrying a toolbox. Can you imagine where she's going? The job she has? What she's thinking? Try writing a mini-biography about her. Hoard it for later.
DREAMS
Many writers include their dreams in their journals. The American poet Diane Wakoski used her journal to record a series of dreams that were like episodes in a story. Record a dream you had last night or an exciting dream you can't forget. Perhaps your dream will give you an idea. Or perhaps - like some writers - you'll use an actual dream in a poem or story.
SKETCHES, DOODLES, CARTOONS
Make your journal fun to look at. Try sketching your friends, the front of your classroom, or an interesting object like a movie projector. Doodle. Or create a cartoon - about yourself, your family, or your school. The novelist Flannery O'Connor, for example, used to make cartoons and sketches in her notebook.
ADS, PHOTOS, NEWSPAPER CLIPPINGS
Collect these - the interesting ones, the ones that strike you as unusual and different - and paste them in your journal. These, too, may give you ideas. Write about and collect whatever interests you. With so many things in your journal, you won't have to face a blank sheet of paper alone.
ONE VERY IMPORTANT QUESTION
You may ask, "Why collect all this? Why store dreams and descriptions, puns and phrases, memories and imaginings, first attempts?" The answer is that if you don't store these things, you'll lose them. They won't be there when you need them.
A SECOND VERY IMPORTANT QUESTION
How much is enough? The answer is that you'll need more than you can use. Look through any writer's journal and you'll see many items that never made it - never became stories or poems or plays. When he first heard and jotted down the story about the fisherman, Hemingway couldn't be sure he'd be able to use it. And that's the problem. You can never be sure what you'll need. So you'd better have more than enough.
WHEN TO WRITE
Some writers can't get their ideas flowing until the evening. They may write far into the night. For example, George S. Kaufman, a famous Broadway playwright, couldn't sleep at night, so he used writing to fill the sleepless hours until dawn. Others may start writing at four in the morning. They wouldn't dream of washing dishes or going to the office until they've finished writing. Still others may prefer to begin writing at high noon.
FINALLY, SOME TRICKS
Writers use little tricks to get themselves in the mood for writing, to get their ideas flowing. Anne Sexton, an American poet, wrote
I think of myself as writing for one person, that one perfect reader who understands and loves.
She found that she wrote better if she imagined the perfect audience. Perhaps this will work for you. Imagine your perfect audience - a friend, a teacher, someone sympathetic, patient, friendly, interested.
Other writers, like the French novelist Francoise Sagan, enjoy listening to music while they write. Try listening to different kinds of music - rock, folk, classical - while you write. Does this work for you?
Sometimes writers are inspired by art. Gertrude Stein, for example, said that her book Three Lives was inspired by a painting by Cesanne. Check out an art book from the library and study the pictures. Or visit an art museum. Do the paintings give you ideas for writing?
If you want STORY ideas click here!
An excellent book to check out if you're interested in writing seriously or just for fun:
Title: Creative Writing: Forms and Techniques
Authors: Lavonne Mueller and Jerry D. Reynolds
Publisher: National Textbook Company
ISBN #: 0-8442-5365-0
Price: Canadian-$19.95 American-$14.95
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