A Writer’s Mind

Writers are weird people. I can say this because I’m one. I also must add, I like weird. Each of us has a unique creative process. One of my favorite writing processes is to use found words. I’m going to walk you through how it works for me.

Start with a random book from your shelf (or a favorite). Open it to a random page. Scan, do not read, for words that catch your eye. Write down three nouns, three verbs, and three adjectives. Make a bunch of sentences with them.

Here are my words from On the Origin of Species by Charles Darwin:

Noun	Verb	Adjective
diagram	occupied	divergent
generation	modified	successful
form	represented	medium
rule	condensed	diffused

Here are my very weird sentences:

The divergent form represented a new rule.
The condensed generation occupied a medium level
The rule condensed the generation.
Though modified, the diagram was a diffused rule.
The diffused form occupied a generation.
The divergent diagram was alone, but happy.

Ugh, Right? Now fit some (or all) of them into a paragraph:

The rule condensed the generation, but the diagram was divergent. Meanwhile, the diffused form occupied a place of repose.

What the —-? Think about the sentences as metaphors. What could they mean? I’ve been upset with the legal activities surrounding a woman’s control of her body. This weird paragraph starts to have meaning when I see it as metaphors that apply to this topic:

Better: The law collapsed a generation, removing all gains. The future vision, however, was divergent in its hope. Meanwhile, ghosts of generations past sat in repose, creating thought spaces. Out of this grew a divergent vision of hope.

Much of this paragraph is redundant and is missing some of the emotions I feel. Time to be specific and to pare the redundant:

Their law collapsed this generation, distilling despair. Ghosts sat in repose, creating thoughtful spaces. From this grew a divergent vision of hope.

I like this. Is it a story? Maybe. It has a beginning, a middle, and an end. However, I’m more likely to use it in a story or as a prompt to generate a story.

Your turn. You can even use my words. What weird and wonderful tale will you come up with?