Category: Writing Exercise

Other Cool Blogs: Magical Words 3/3/2011

Erin Penn

82946022 © creativecommonsstockphotos | Dreamstime.com
Product vs. Project
Two major processing methods exist to produce stuff, and the concepts hold equally as well for physical/manufacturing (industrial) as for ethereal/information (technology). 
Product provides mass production the ability to have individuals (or machines) to specialize; the object being produced is moved through the line. At the beginning of the line is all the dissembled items and at the end of the line is the finished delivery product. Production Line never ends, several items are always in process at varying stages. Fixing and streamlining a production line tends to be easy because the same thing is being done all the time; you can see where the holdups and bottlenecks of the process are and management can adjust them until the “slowest” part of the line becomes a different part. Each slowest part gets fixed in turn, until everything is as efficient as possible under the present technology and needs of the production line. The downside is production never ends. Each day is more of the same.
Most chores within a home are products. Making meals three times a day goes from groceries restocking through dishes dried and put away. Sweep, mop, and dust once a week. Mow, weed, and pick up branches. Never-ending tasks, but needed for survival. Just like heartbeats and breathing. A school year is another product task line – the student body moves from kindergarten through senior year.
Projects, on the other hand, are one-off tasks. Once done, they are done. But making them more efficient is nigh impossible, because the bottleneck on one project might not be the bottleneck holding up finishing the project on another. In information technology, most items being produced are projects. 
We are about to go into the “project” time of year for homes. Thanksgiving dinner requires a different group of materials than usually is in the house; Christmas presents need to be bought; Halloween costumes need to be decided on. While we may be using last year’s blueprint as a guide, the costumes and presents must be new, and the T-day dinner is nothing like normal food production and throws the normal meal production line into turmoil for about a week. Within school, there might be special projects to break things up for the teachers and students.
Where does writing fall into this? Well, BIC (butt-in-chair) every day would be product line, as is draft to second draft to cleanup to beta reading to editor to publisher to book. Writing a series might have one book in draft stage while another is with the editor and one about to come out and marketing is needing done.
But at the same time, every story is different. If genres switch up, mysteries have a very different process from romances in the skill and tools needed.
Diana Pharaoh Frances wrote about dealing with the Production vs. Project (though used different terms) issues of writing in “The Truth About Writing Books” in Magical Words (3/3/2011):
Most people are either product or project oriented by nature and/or training. By tapping into the mind-set that works best for you, you can harness a business model that best suits your energy production.
WRITING EXERCISE: Create a business model for your product/project nature.
My attempt
I’m a project person. I like thing done. Some personality types like things undecided and are most comfortable with something always flowing. I’m working toward done. I check in my head how long something is taking, look how far I still have to go, and know about how long I have until finish. Like everyone, I always under guess-tamate, but I’m working toward something.
So for my books, I need a project to finish. Unfortunately, right now I’m completely “ooo, shiny” – moving from one idea to the next with my project windows in hours, not weeks. I need to crack down and create a weeks-type project process. And now – with holiday package season kicking off for the post office and tax season around the corner – that isn’t going to happen. Soon though. 2022 will be the year! 

Writing Exercise: Personification and Oxymoron

Erin Penn

Photo by Shubham Dhage on Unsplash

Continuing the exercises related to figurative language, today’s challenge is Personification and Oxymoron.

Oxymoron is one of my favorite because of the language play. English provides a rich history waiting to be mined for contrasting words. Dodge Ram. Fine mess. Original copy. Civil war. Oxymorons combine contradictory words.

Personification involves giving human qualities to inanimate objects or an abstract quality. Disney does it all the time: dancing tea kettles and wooden puppets are just two examples by them. In writing, attribution of the human qualities is usually verbed. The wind howled and the lightning danced. The table groaned under the Thanksgiving feast.

WRITING EXERCISE: Write a three-to-five sentence paragraph using personifications at least three times; write another three-to-five sentence paragraph using oxymorons at least three times.

My attempt

Do guitars regret never being played by Santana? Never singing under his fingers? I can’t imagine how heartbreaking it is for the instruments to know the master is out there and never being strummed by him.

Acting naturally, I snuck in the party in plain view. It was a calculated risk as my ex had been thinking of attending. Between the conversations and the music, the dull roar kept my gasp from being heard when I spotted my personal sweet misery.

Writing Exercise Series of Figurative Language
Metaphor and Simile (6/22/21)
Synecdoche and Symbolism (7/27/21)
Personification and Oxymoron (8/24/21)
Understatement, Sarcasm, & Litotes (9/28/2021)

Series inspired by: “Figurative Language: Why and How You Should Use it” by Zara Altair. ProWritingAid 6/11/201

Writing Exercise: Synecdoche and Symbolism

Erin Penn

Photo by George Pagan III on Unsplash

Literary devices like figurative language brings layers to writing, especially with Symbolism and Synecdoche. These are important tools for the writer’s tool kit.

Most of us are familiar with trademark symbolism – where the Golden Arches is McDonalds. And with the rise of texting, using emojis ;-). In writing, symbolism is linked to creating themes. River being the passage of time or travel. Storm coming in also brings the monsters.

More on symbolism can be found in the MasterClass article: https://www.masterclass.com/articles/writing-101-what-is-symbolism-symbolism-definition-and-examples-in-literature#5-ways-to-use-symbolism-in-writing

Synecdoche, as a term, is less well known. You can review the definition here at LiteraryDevices: https://literarydevices.net/synecdoche/

TL/DR version – Basically, synecdoche is a form of abbreviation by taking part of the whole to mean the whole. Instead of a business man about his job, it’s “the suit is here”. Asking for a person’s “hand” in marriage. Stopping for “a bite” on the way home.

WRITING EXERCISE: Write a three-to-five sentence paragraph including two symbols. Write a three-to-five sentence paragraph including two synecdoche. Which one was easier for you to create? 

My attempt

I clicked the shopping cart and closed the app, knowing my purchases would be at home tomorrow. Money is like water, meant to be shared so no one goes thirsty. On the way out, security hit me up for a different type of thirst but I slammed the stop sign on them. When would they learn? Business and pleasure are separate, at least in my book.

The hand stopped advancing when the professor started the lecture. Hours passed as the teach never used one word when ten could be substituted. Only when the bell run could I move freely, then out the door to the trees. I breathed in the green. Why had I thought college would help me be a better ranger?

Writing Exercise Series of Figurative Language
Metaphor and Simile (6/22/21)
Synecdoche and Symbolism (7/27/21)
Personification and Oxymoron (8/24/21)
Understatement, Sarcasm, & Litotes (9/28/2021)

Series inspired by: “Figurative Language: Why and How You Should Use it” by Zara Altair. ProWritingAid 6/11/201

Writing Exercise: Metaphor and Simile

Erin Penn

From:

Figurative Language brings passion and vision to the written word. Images are created describing a blanket of snow, eyes sparkling like diamonds, and spring days as gentle as a lamb.

Similes compare two unlike items using “like” or “as” to tie them together. Metaphor drops the comparison word.

WRITING EXERCISE: Write a three-to-five sentence paragraph using similes at least three times; write another three-to-five sentence paragraph using metaphor at least three times. Which is stronger? Which do you like more?

My attempt

My new love moved like satin across the bed. Rising up on their knees, they looked like Venus being birthed from the seas. My heart fluttered like a bird caught in a cage.

The whirlwind ran through the house doing last-minute cleanup before the in-laws arrived. My attempts to calm were oil on water with a match set to flame because, the fool, I, had gave the okay to drop by any time today without telling my better half. When the growling started, I backed off and went to clean the toilet. Possible extinction of all fools could be scheduled for the unwary by the whirlwind.

Writing Exercise Series of Figurative Language
Metaphor and Simile (6/22/21)
Synecdoche and Symbolism (7/27/21)
Personification and Oxymoron (8/24/21)
Understatement, Sarcasm, & Litotes (9/28/2021)

Series inspired by: “Figurative Language: Why and How You Should Use it” by Zara Altair. ProWritingAid 6/11/201

Writing Exercise: What’s around you?

Erin Penn

Photo by Patrick Hendry on Unsplash

White box is an ongoing problem. Writing people and dialog, the heart of the story, flows from the pen easily. Most people hear the people in their head talking and just need to transcribe what they are saying onto paper. But the surroundings of the scene, that takes visualization skills and not every author has that innate ability.

WRITING EXERCISE: This writing exercise is pen and paper, or at least phone notes. Carry a notebook to write on with you. Sometime during the day when you got to wait, break it out and start writing What’s Around You. Describe your seat, the color of the sky, the noise levels, what you smell. Anything, everything that takes your fancy. If people are talking around you, don’t write what they are saying but what they are doing.

Do this three times – just random locations. Then, next time the WIP confounds you with a white box, pull out your notebook.

READING EXERCISE: For your current read, find a passage with a great scene description. What captured your imagination? Any particular words really grabbed you? Is there anything you are imagining beyond what is on paper? Why are you adding those details, which aren’t in the book, to the scene? What was better to leave to the reader’s imagination and what needed to set the scene for the reader?