Writing Advice - Experiment

Experimenting is an important part of growing as a writer. And it’s fun. Not everything you write while experimenting is going to be brilliant but sometimes it’s interesting to break out of your usual zone and try something new.

What I try to do every so often is find an idea or style that I want to try and just work with that. For example I once wanted to try writing one of those stories where every description and metaphor was part of a longer theme of imagery. One example that comes to mind is in Eliot’s The Wasteland, one of the sections of the poem is about an afternoon hook up and all of the adjectives, while fitting the setting, also have sultry or sexual implications as well. Since I had been watching abundant amounts of Doctor Who at the time I decided to go with space imagery. I wrote a brief sketch about a boy and a girl hanging out in a park at midnight. I tried to make all the images I used sound celestial and extraterrestrial. Using words like dusty red, to invoke images of Mars, or describing green eyes as tractor beams. It wasn’t my usual style but that was the point. I was trying to break out a bit.

This past week I decided that I had been too busy writing stale, homework papers and doing boring editing, I wanted to write something new. I tried a new experiment because that released me from the pressure of creating something phenomenal, or even usable, and allowed me to just have fun with it. What I tried to do was write a completely generic story. I only used personal pronouns, none of them with gender connotations and avoided all gender stereotypes or identifiers as best I could. No skirts, heels or ties, long hair or short. I tried to create to protagonists who could be anyone. It was an exercise in realizing how much gender comes into play when choosing adjectives or personality traits. 

Experimenting, writing something for the style rather than the story, probably isn’t the best thing to make a habit of. The story is important of course but sometimes it’s a good idea to practice just your style as well.