Three-minute exercise for moving forward
Oh, hi friends!
I’ve read (and tried) a lot of writing exercises before. And you might be thinking, “But *I* don’t need a writing exercise — got that covered, and/or I don’t write for work or fun.”
But I think you’ll like the one I read about yesterday, because it can be applied to anything.
It comes from the playwright Jasmine Lee-Jones, whose play seven methods of killing kylie jenner debuted at the Royal Court to raves and is arriving at the Public Theater in the spring.
Here's her genius writing exercise, which she calls THE WORST PLAY EVER. (You can call it THE WORST PROJECT EVER, if you want.) The goal is to get rid of the fear that whatever you create won’t live up to the idea of it in your head.
Ready?
“Set yourself a timer of 3 minutes. In that time write down every possible thing that could go wrong with your play [or project]. Think clichés, plot holes, bad lines, or any words that might come to mind, in the random order it comes in your head, in some ways the more scattered the better.
When the timer has come to a stop, take a deep inhale of fear and when you exhale it out make sure it’s gone for good.
Now it’s time to get to work. Take a look at what you’ve written and pick out any phrases, words or lines that stick out. When you have a couple that you like, hone it down to one.
Now take 6 minutes to write anything that comes to mind based on that one word or line prompt you have plucked from the previous free writing. It might end up feeling like dialogue or a conversation in a scene but don’t force it if it’s not coming. It might just be a continued moment to explore what comes of following your writing instincts.
When 6 minutes has come to a stop take another deep breath and then exhale. Have a look at what you’ve written. You might think it’s completely rubbish but if there’s anything in it – keep it! If you have the impulse to write more, perhaps in an even more structured capacity do! If not, you can now throw it away forever safe in the knowledge that you have written the worst thing possible and now you can write what you actually want to write!”
How great is that? Instead of dancing around the possibility that your project will be the worst project ever, go into the floppy parts, make it terrible, and then look at what you made. It won’t be as bad as you think.
"Something is good not because it is achieved, but because another kind of truth about the human situation, another experience of what it is to be human - in short, another valid sensibility - is being revealed."
Susan Sontag, Notes on Camp (h/t the great Janelle Ward)
I really should put a cute animal photo or video or something here but also need to go start my day so just imagine the cutest animal you've ever seen popping off your screen riiiiight HERE.
Wow you have an incredible imagination.
(Have a great day!)
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Thanks, as always, for reading.
Love, Kara