Wednesday, June 26, 2013

Wednesday Writing Workout: An Audio Exercise

Today's Wednesday Writing Workout is from our guest TeachingAuthor, Melanie Crowder. If you haven't read my interview with Melanie, please go do so now, and enter for a chance to win an autographed copy of her debut novel,  Parched (Houghton Mifflin Harcourt). The details are all in last Friday's blog post

Okay, now that you're back, here's a simple, yet powerful, Writing Workout from Melanie.


Find an audio clip that relates to your story. Maybe it’s the sound of a train, or crickets, or rain falling on a sidewalk (YouTube is a good resource for this). Play the clip for about one minute before you begin writing. What rhythms do you hear? What metaphors can you pull out of the sound? What kind of atmosphere does the sound create? Wistful? Frustrating? Intense?

… and GO! Play the clip on repeat for 5 minutes while you write.

* * *
Thanks, Melanie. If any of you try her workout, please let us know how it works for you.
Happy writing!
Carmela

3 comments:

April Halprin Wayland said...

Wonderful idea! And just today a listserv offered this site:

http://www.freesoundeffects.com/


!!!!

Carmela Martino said...

Oh, what a cool site, April! Thanks for sharing it.

The Pen and Ink Blogspot said...

Excellent idea. Thank you!