“None are more hopelessly enslaved than those who falsely believe they are free.”
Johann Wolfgang von Goethe
1. There are many ways you can be imprisoned:
- Literally (the tin pail): what are you in for? Who's your cell mate? Are the guards treating you terribly? Are you due any visitors? Or have you been disowned by all?
- Physically: you've lost all use of your body in a freak accident and can only observe things with your eyes. What happens when you can't answer back (I'm writing a short story about this right now, as it happens)?
- Mentally: you're so crippled by anxiety you can't see past what's bothering you. Trapped in your own mind, you delve into a whirlpool of paranoia. Scribble down your thoughts...
2. Sketch a mind-map using the key word as the nucleus, then branch out in whatever direction you please. You might find yourself going in completely unrelated paths (which I personally prefer). Do a five-minute freewrite incorporating as many (or few) branch words as you like. Here is my mind map (created using the SimpleMind app on my phone).
3. Choose one of the following sentence starts and freewrite for a few minutes, letting the words tumble out without a second thought:
- 'You're not leaving until you tell me...'
- Nobody else believed him when he said he didn't do it...
- I'd have to break the glass to escape...
I find it best not to read my freewrites for at least a few days. Why not stuff them in a drawer and surprise yourself? It's blatant evidence that our minds work in mysterious ways. Plus, I defy you not to find an array of story seeds amongst your work.
Do you have any writing warm-ups you'd like to share?
Take care,
Catherine x
Note: All photo prompts in the A to Z Challenge 2013 are my own. Feel free to use/copy/share to your hearts content. Help yourself. :)
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2 comments:
I love the quote you've chosen to accompany this piece. One of the major themes I write about is the concept of freedom. I truly believe we are much more free than we allow ourselves to be. The question is why we trap ourselves with so many boundaries.
Nice post!
Happy A to Zing! :-)
http://cbwentworth.wordpress.com
Thank you, c.b. :) I like your way of thinking about freedom. I'd like to think the same way, but my old philosophy teacher demonstrated exactly how people have no free will during a class, and it was so compelling, it really shook my conviction :( now I don't know what to think, and have to put it in my (ever increasing) "unknowable" file.
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