My students have been good-natured guinea pigs, showing me what writing exercises work and what falls flat. If the assignment does not contain any spark of surprise or delight or mystery, then I need to pass it up. Sometimes I use the same or similar exercises with the elementary, middle school, and even high school students. Everyone comes up with something unique. High schoolers have more life experience and will write something completely different than an elementary student or my much older self. I have found that writing alongside students encourages them and rejuvenates me.
Every prompt or restriction creates a challenge and offers a brainstorming technique. Ideas are sparked from places I don’t suspect. My daughter wrote an entire 200 page book, starting with a first line I gave her. She asked me for a sentence prompt, and out of the blue I said, Walking along the sidewalk, she was startled to notice something slimy had passed in front of her.
Freewrites are, hands down, the most popular brainstorming tool my students enjoy. They must write for 5 minutes straight in complete sentences, without stopping. It does not have to be cohesive; the ideas can be willy-nilly about the subject. If students are stuck after completing a sentence, then rather than sit idly, they must write the last sentence again. Usually by the time they are writing the repeat, they think of something else to write. The time constraint forces them to focus. I almost always give them a choice of a few things to write about, just for fun, to show students how to write one. Having a silly topic like mud, caves, Girl Scout cookies, socks, or soap, makes freewriting fun and memorable. Anytime a brain is niggled to produce something clever, a student is hooked.
Lists are my personal favorite brainstorming tool. I use it every time I write with the class on the board. Almost every week I model the homework assignment on the board. Besides watching exactly how to do the assignment, the students find it is not that difficult. I write all their ideas on the right side of the board as a list, and then we use them in our exercise. I use lists for writing poetry as well as essays.
Rhyming is a terrific ideas tool. Having to create rhymes for a poem means the poet must find and fit an idea between end rhymes. This is fairly easy with rhyming couplets, but sometimes even freer with a rhyme scheme like ABCB. Students find it helpful to find rhymes online from rhyming dictionaries like Rhymer or Rhymezone.
This brings me to different poem forms. There are so many different forms with structure and rhyming constraints. These too beef up brainstorming. In a swap quatrain, the rhymes are laid out in the first line. In a Shakespearean sonnet, the rhyme scheme has to be ABABCDCDEFEFGG. In a sestina, the end words do not usually rhyme, but they are in a specific order, wringing notions from the poet. —-
I also like graphic organizers. I draw bubble outlines for essays and a pyramid for mapping plots. Some of my students use a diagram for creating or analyzing a character, and some prefer a fill-in worksheet I give them.
One of my favorite assignments is an ode or a free verse poem in which I hand out a descriptive chart. It’s really just a list of figurative language types or literary devices. I ask the students to fill it in on their subject and write a poem using as many as possible. This list includes imagery of each sense, metaphor, similes, onomatopoeia, personification, repetition, rhyming, allusion, etc. The poems written using this list turn out beautifully!
I have a handout for Writers Block or Brain Freeze. I give this out each year to my middle and high schoolers. This has more ideas about preparing to write. Vary the place you write, on your bed, outside in a swing. Vary your font. Deal with a troubling problem before writing. Schmooze with a friend or Mom. Set realistic goals. Walk away from a paper and return later or the next day.
There are many more brainstorming tools. It’s normal to become stuck sometimes. It’s also nice to be able to discuss a subject with someone else. I always encourage my students to call or email me. No need to become stymied, when I can help. I want them to succeed.
BRAIN FREEZE -- WRITER’S BLOCK
If you get the writing willies try these ideas:
Get something on paper. Brainstorming, freewriting, spider webs, cluster outline, regular outlining, even doodles about your subject to christen that white paper.
Schmooze with a friend briefly. Tossing around ideas can get you thinking creatively.
Ignore factors such as sentence length or word count when you first start out. Concentrate instead on getting a draft in place.
Write the draft out of order, starting with the parts you find easiest. For instance, start with the conclusion, move to the body paragraphs and end with the introduction.
Vary your method: use the computer keyboard with different fonts, print while sitting on your bed, hand write on the porch swing outside. If using the computer, turn it off and just focus on your thoughts for a while.
Figure out what’s keeping you from writing, Deal with the problem, and then go back to writing.
Set aside a specific amount of time and make yourself write for all of it. Don’t worry about the product.
Set realistic goals, such as one paragraph or a page at a time, not an entire essay or novel in one sitting.
If you write without a net or plan or outline (or even if you do), look for links among your ideas. Remember you are not obligated to use all or part of your draft. This realization can free you to explore new directions.
Ask reporter’s questions: Who? What? When? Where? Why? and How?
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