Chairs are being turned around to face the front stage where a band is setting up. An awful smell wafts up to your nose, causing you to pinch it close and glance to your side. There’s a cyclops pulling up a chair next to you. You smirk at the chair, since the pathetic little thing looked as if it would be better suited at some little girl’s tea party then underneath the rump of this oversized oaf. Still, you wanted to know what was going on. But before you had a chance to say anything to him I appear out of no where and pull at your ear.
Lemme talk to ya fer a sec.
You try to pull away from me…but it’s too late. I’m already leading you away.
You demand perfection of yourself, right?
There’s a crash on your side. The sound of splintering wood. You knew that chair was too small.
There’s nothing wrong with wanting every word in your manuscript to string together a sentence so poetic that it dazzles your reader. Or wanting them to feel every nuance of the world and characters that you made up. In fact, that’s the whole purpose of writing, isn’t it? Being able to transport your reader somewhere else.
While that’s great and all…it doesn’t work for the first draft. Not at all
You see, the words create and critique are about the same as the Hatfields and McCoys. They don’t get along! Actually you’re provoking one heck of a bar fight if you try to put them together. You’ll have one big narrative mess that only agitates you further and critique more, more, more, more and more. Until finally, a beast comes out of the woodworks.
Writer’s block.
No one likes dealing with that beast. No one.
Which brings me to the subject of this post: a freewriting assignment for you to do, if you dare. Typically I will introduce to you a simple theme and you write about whatever comes to mind without editing. Freewrites are meant for you to let loose and just write. Don’t worry about spelling, sentence structure, theme, or anything. The overall point is to ignore your inner critic. Which is essential for that tedious first draft.
So what’s the theme?
Today’s theme is based on a folk song called “Rattlesnake” by David Grisman. Simply listen to it, and then go write whatever image (scene, event, or ect) the song conjured in your mind. You can post it on your blog and leave a link in the comments if you like.
Simple, right?
Well lets get this show on the road!
Whistles for BoBo (my earth elemental bouncer) to dim the lights. An assortment of human, dragon, and alien eyes look towards the front stage.
