Collect!
When we are at school or sitting at a restaurant, we often overhear words or conversations that attract our interest. For most people, this is considered eavesdropping rude, but for writers, this is considered part of our education to learn how other people speak, communicate, and argue.
For this assignment keep your Writer’s Notebook with you and start collecting sentences and words you overhear, some will be funny, some interesting, some even scary. Also, collect odd little things that people do before or while they are speaking (these are called mannerisms) and are also part of communicating.
Perhaps your aunt always smiles when she talks; perhaps your teacher blinks a lot when she gets excited, perhaps the librarian hums songs to herself when she stacks books, perhaps your father licks his lips before he is going to say something that is angry. All these little mannerisms help you understand or realize the words that will follow.
Watch, listen and collect. Then, when you want to write a story or a poem, go to you Writer’s Notebook and select the perfect words and mannerisms for your characters.
When we are at school or sitting at a restaurant, we often overhear words or conversations that attract our interest. For most people, this is considered eavesdropping rude, but for writers, this is considered part of our education to learn how other people speak, communicate, and argue.
For this assignment keep your Writer’s Notebook with you and start collecting sentences and words you overhear, some will be funny, some interesting, some even scary. Also, collect odd little things that people do before or while they are speaking (these are called mannerisms) and are also part of communicating.
Perhaps your aunt always smiles when she talks; perhaps your teacher blinks a lot when she gets excited, perhaps the librarian hums songs to herself when she stacks books, perhaps your father licks his lips before he is going to say something that is angry. All these little mannerisms help you understand or realize the words that will follow.
Watch, listen and collect. Then, when you want to write a story or a poem, go to you Writer’s Notebook and select the perfect words and mannerisms for your characters.
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