The Notebooking Daily 2020 Writing Series is a daily writing exercises for both prose writers and poets to keep your creative mind stretched and ready to go—fresh for your other writing endeavors. The writing prompts take the impetus—that initial crystal of creation—out of your hands (for the most part) and changes your writing creation into creative problem solving. Instead of being preoccupied with the question "What do I write" you are instead pondering "How do I make this work?" And in the process you are producing new writing.
These exercises are not meant to be a standard writing session. They are meant to be productive and to keep your brain thinking about using language to solve simple or complex problems. The worst thing you can do is sit there inactive. It's like taking a 5 minute breather in the middle of a spin class—the point is to push, to produce something, however imperfect. If you don't overthink them, you will be able to complete all of the exercises in under 30 minutes.
This may be pushing 40 unless you're really writing fast, but writing fast is the goal.
This may be pushing 40 unless you're really writing fast, but writing fast is the goal.
#68
Rhymebank Rounds-Rhyming Poem 3
Rhymbank Rounds are a new type of exercise. Kind of like the Wordbank sprints, but there will be more focus on editing and re-writing, and you'll complete a piece, with the main focus of the exercises being on Like Sounds. If you're typing I suggest copy/pasting the lines you're editing to save time, save the originals in their own exercise space.
- Take three minutes and jot down/type all rhymes and slant rhymes (include phrases for multi-syllabic words/feminine rhymes) you can think of just off the top of your head for the word: Four. If you have trouble getting more than ten or so remember to rhyme with court, cord and fork. You want to have close to thirty (30) words even if they're only kind of rhyming.
- Now take another three minutes and brainstorm rhymes for Tree. Be sure you get at least fifteen (15), but aim for thirty (30) again.
- Fragment time! Write down ten (10) sentence fragments which use two words from one of your lists and at least one from the other list (so something like "The poor storm trooper could hardly see" would work).
- Fragment time 2! Write at least ten (10) 5-word partial sentences that use at least two (2) words from only one of your lists. Don't worry about context or what might be being said, just make sure you can make some logic of the phrasing.
- Short fragment time! Write five (5) three-word partial sentences which use two (2) words from your rhymebank back to back. No dawdling, but try to switch it up and use words you hadn't yet if you can. An example would be "can afford forks" or "the Ford's torque".
- Fragment time! Write ten (10) 5-7 word fragments that include a number and two words from either of your lists (you can do 1 from each for this one).
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Poem or story time!
- Rhymed Poem: Write a poem that is 20 lines in five quatrains (4-lined stanzas) with the rhyme scheme ABAB CBCB CDCD DABA ABCD . Try to use fragments from the previous exercises and even the rhymebank itself to fill out your poem with as many 'like' sounds as you can within the lines. Use at least six of your fragments, if not more like ten.
- Free form narrative: Pick your ten favorite fragments and find a way to fit those pieces together. What do I mean by fit them together? I mean that you're required to use ten of the fragments you'd written in a coherent piece by adding connective tissue and exposition/whatever needs to get you narratively from one line to the next. Whether you write this as a story or a poem is up to you.
- Title Mania: Write a piece that uses your favorite fragment as your title.
- Randomize: Pick your favorite ten fragments, and six words from the rhymebanks, either or both. Type Random Number Generator into google and gather 3 numbers from 1-10. The corresponding lines must be used in your piece. Generate 2 words from that list of 6 using 1-6, you must use both of those words in your title. Now make it work.
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If you'd like some background music, try American producer Flying Lotus's album 1983.
