Here’s a fun creative writing exercise. It involves Free writing and caged lifts!This exercise works best if you write using a timer. Working against the clock liberates your mind from overthinking and perfectionism, both the dangerous enemies of creativity!
Writing freely is very liberating and often surprising as the act of writing transports you to places and to characters whose company may feel strange, unexpected, bizarre, poignant and tender….Imagine getting into a lift supposedly empty and you press the floor and the floor is ignored and you stop at another and heaps of people get in, some pushing around to clear more space, some more bashful, worrying about personal space and whether they should get out at their floor or the next!Writing freely can feel like that I wonder if we played with this experience playfully….we might consider how emotions and behaviours may become concrete in characters.I have written about ‘writing rubbish’ on this site and writing freely with a prescribed time limit is often a very simple way to generate all sorts of ideas…
So imagine a lift. Can be one you know or one you make up. New or old. I like caged lifts!
Now imagine characters stepping in and out of the lift, your lift.Consider who they are and what behaviours they might reveal or embody.Write about whom we might stand next to. Use the following if the ideas help.1) curiosity.2) flattery.3) shyness.4) arrogance.5) loyalty.6)meanness
I find that when trying to write something, getting started is such a big step – and it can be off putting. But these ides of writing freely and not overthinking are really liberating – I used these concepts to get me over starting my a level eng. homework, and they helped a lot! – and I really like the idea of the lift – could be something be scary, or funny, light or intense – Drama compressed! So thanks, from Pauline