10 minutes: Let’s empty out those brains!!

Set the timer when you’re ready. Once you start, don’t stop. I want you to forget spelling, grammar and formatting. That’s not important here.

For 10 minutes I want you to write whatever it is you’re thinking. We’re always thinking. You might write down the word “nothing” and there might be a lot of repeating at times but that doesn’t matter. No rules. Just 10 minutes of free thinking and free writing.

After the time is done, don’t read it. This is important. You can read it later, but don’t read it now.

40 minutes: Time to get our creative juices flowing.

When writing characters into your stories, different perspectives are important to convey so that the readers can distinguish between them all. This exercise is help create perspective by focusing on one aspect of emotion. The scene is the same. It is a grocery store. Same grocery story that each different character experiences, but due to their own unique perspective, note how different the same grocery store could be.

Paragraph 1: A nervous person walks into the grocery store. What does a nervous person look like? Act like? Dress like? Is there a reason they are nervous and how does the grocery store impact this nervousness?

Paragraph 2: An angry person walks into the grocery store. What does an angry person look like? Act like? Dress like? Is there a reason they are angry and does it impact the way they interact with other people?

Paragraph 3: A happy person walks into the grocery store. What does happiness look like on a person? How are they acting? How does their outfit convey happiness? Is there a reason they are so happy and how does their happiness impact the grocery store (if at all)?

Paragraph 4: A sad person walks into the grocery store. What does sadness look like on this person? How are they acting? What does sadness look like for you as clothing? Is there a reason they are so sad and does it impact the way they interact with other people?

Paragraph 5: Choose a different emotion yourself for the next person that walks into the grocery story. What does this emotion look like? How are they acting based on this emotion? Have the clothes symbolise this emotion and give a reason (if any) as to why this person is experiencing this emotion and how it might impact their shopping experience.

Finally, if you haven’t already, have all of these characters interact with each other. Are their any clashes? Do things get worse or better? What has brought all of these characters together to have to interact? When they leave the shop do all of them have the same emotion as they entered or has things changed?

10 minutes: Read through what you’ve come up with. Does anything stand out to you? Anything you like you might want to expand on or use elsewhere? A highlighter would come in handy here. Take note how you portrayed each emotion. Did you fall into any tropes or stereotypes? Is there another way you could portray each emotion? #StoryStones

If you’re enjoying Story Stones, I’d love to hear from you and if you want to support this online writing group blog, please don’t hesitate to donate to Kofi! The link is on my website!