Greetings Again!
Notebooking Daily is relaunching as it was intended, a place for daily writing exercises. I'm sure there will be some dry stretches, but I'm going to do my best to plan ahead and keep the exercises different every day. There are general categories of exercises like ekphrasis, narrative threads, wordbanks, random generation, how to's, as well as many others, and even unique exercises if something happens to strike me. Usually there will only be one or maybe two exercises (The wordbank micro-exercises are an exception) a day, but for the first day here are a few different exercises to choose from.
Ekphrasis:
Ekphrasis is from Greek meaning the description of a work of art as a rhetorical device. That's actually pretty straight forward, but another way to look at it, is it's highfalutin fan fiction, usually about paintings or pieces of music, but it can be about virtually anything. Look at or listen to the following piece of art and write a piece of prose or poetry that is inspired by some aspect of it.
1) Facebook by Waldo Lee. There are many ways to interpret this for your own piece, whether it's the culture that 'makes' you, it's a visualization of being an open book or bearing yourself to someone. It could be more realistic in a horrific, nightmarish sort of way. There are tons of opportunity to use this image as the spark for a story or poem.
2) Welcome Home by Jeff Edes. This abandoned house surrounded by a wheat field in Oregon is an amazing setting whether returning to the home after a long absence, a metaphor for the decaying structure of a relationship, an actual residence or one maintained as a memorial. Options galore.
Narrative Threads:Take the following story aspect and work it into a piece, whether poetry or prose, whether you explore what led up to this place in the story, it begins with the thread, or the thread is merely a tiny aspect of the story that has crystallized around the original image. However you choose to write it, use the following as a jumping off point.1) Adulthood begins early at the skatepark for one boy. Interpret that how you will, and make it however large or small an aspect of the story as you wish.2) "It's just not a ghost." Use this phrase or a near variation of this phrase three or more times in your piece. How does this drive the narrative for you?
Good luck with your writing, and I hope to see some comments on if any exercises are fruitful or confusing or just plain boring.
