Sprouting Ink: Challenges

Challenges

I've recently done a few collaborations, and wanted to share a couple of activities that worked out well for us. Writing with other people is such a cool experience, and many times you'll end up with a really awesome piece. So, here are a few you guys can try out:

1. Free Write & Swap

So far, this technique has worked especially well for poetry pieces, and in the end you'll end up with two super near pieces that already have a fusion of styles. You essentially do exactly what it says-- free write for a set amount of time, swap pieces, and free write again. This is super easy to do, and it's always fun to see what the other person has done with your free write.

2. Line Prompts

I've only done this once so far, but the results were brilliant. I found that I had a couple of super poetic lines or phrases, and my partner did as well. So, we swapped three lines and wrote to/used them. I found it fun to try and connect all three of her lines into one prose poem, whereas she took one of my lines and expanded on it. This exercise worked out well for our situation because we didn't have much time to meet up, and the swapping of lines were pretty quick. Instead, we wrote and edited the pieces separately, and then came back to share in a fun reveal. It was fascinating to see what she had wrote because I never would have gone there with that line, and she seemed surprised by what I wrote as well.

3. Prompt & Combine

This one is a bit more time consuming, but it allows you to work with your collaborators more intimately because you are creating a piece that belongs to all of you. Again, basically what the title says: choose a prompt, take a timer and write separately to it (without editing), and then come back and combine the pieces and ideas into one. This will take some innovating and a ton of editing, but at the end of it all it really is worth it when the piece comes together.

4. Pick a random object

One of my best friends came up with this one, but I found it really simple and the results were cool. Essentially we both took a turn at closing our eyes and swinging our arms around until the other person said “stop” We’d then identify the object we were pointing at (if it’s in a general vicinity just choose one thing) and use it as one of our prompts. You can try to incorporate one or both objects, but personally I found it a fun little challenge to incorporate both. You could end up with some stuff you’d never had dreamed up before (one of our objects was a pre-calc textbook! :)

February 09, 2021