An Object to Tell a Story
This is the nineteenth
installment of The Curious Creative, weekly 10-minute writing
exercises for busy individuals interested in exploring their creativity. For
the complete rationale, click here.
My Thoughts:
Objects have stories. This week, you will use an everyday object – a
wristwatch, a coffee cup, a cologne bottle- as inspiration to create
characters, a scene or a story. You will use the details of the object to evoke
memories of times gone by- either a real or imagined world of nostalgia.
Your Turn!
- Find the oldest object in your home.
- Title your blank piece of paper by the
name of the item, ie, “A Coffee Cup.”
- Write down concrete details about the way
it looks, feels, smells.
- Look at your object until it is
communicating with you. What places has it been uprooted from? Who did it
used to belong to? Write down any imagined details of place or character-
the way the room looked where it was used, how the person who used it
moved and talked, etc.
- From your notes, begin a story about your object with “Left behind in a…”
How did you do? Did the object evoke some
interesting concrete details? Were you able to (re)create a world of days gone
by? Did an interesting character or premise emerge that you might use as a
jumping off point for another piece?
- As a longer-term project, you can write a
catalog of entries about several objects. In reading through all the
catalog entries, a narrative might emerge.
To encourage
each other and grow a community of Curious Creatives, sign in from a google
account so you can share your creation in the comment boxes below. Also, if you
subscribe to this blog (submit your email address in the "Follow this Site
by Email" box to the right), you will get an email update whenever a new
exercise is added. Thanks for playing!
Inspired by Orhan Pamuk’s Museum of Innocence in Istanbul, Turkey and
his “Modest Manifesto for Museums.”
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