Ponds of Possibilities

Enchantment, fun and wonder become needs in life and writing. Why not incorporate elements that mix illusion with the every day life? Let unlikely images collide. Weave dreams with logic. Get imaginative motors going by reading science fiction or fantasy and observing the elements in surreal painting.

Andre Breton felt dreams can open us to a “superior reality.” His ideas created a definition of surreal. Or what he termed, “psychic automation.” He encouraged free writing to discover the connections.

Rene Magritte created a variety of subjects this way. He painted a rock suspended over the sea, fish people on a rock, a locomotive coming out of the chimney under a clock. How did he make these ideas work to test our curiosity? View his website and write to his paintings.

http://aolsearch.aol.com/aol/image?s_it=topsearchbox.imageDetails&imgsz=&query=Rene+Magritte

Leap into ponds of possibility by trying out new muscles in your writing. Search for untouched areas you have never explored. Move beyond the regular, expected and known imagery. Shift your probabilities. Color an alternative reality.

The Color Blue

What if
midmorning sky
sneaks into café tableware
tricked by the color blue.
Clouds dance on plates
grazing the toast and jelly
like newborn lovers
whose toes never
touch the earth
until familiarity
vacuums the crumbs
sending clouds back
to where
they are supposed
to belong.

- Penny Wilkes


Creative Write: Try an exercise that pushes logic and reason aside. Let your subconscious mind or dreams provide a playground. Connect objects and notions that you would not expect to see together.

Write Beyond Ordinary

We take everyday items for granted.  Imagine the creative minds behind them.

Think zipper.  Did Mr. Zipper, consider a solution to keep the wind away more a button could?  Did he happen upon railroad tracks?   Then an "Aha" moment struck?

The paper clip could have evolved from an orthodontist tired of bending one more wire. He twisted, turned it and tossed it on his desk.  Then he collected his paper work together instead of straightening teeth.

Feathers inspired the notion of Velcro. How did the key or safety pin arrive for use?  Someone became frustrated with burned fingers and designed the coffee collar.

Discomfort has produced an intrigue with problem solving.  The creativity of the human spirit amazes.

Creative Write:   What will you invent today in writing that moves you beyond ordinary?  Ask yourself a series of "What ifs" and see where the writing flows.

Use of Smell and Taste

Don't forget to add smell and taste to enrich writing. They spark a reader's attention and tickle memories.

In "Search of Lost Time," Marcel Proust's narrator dips a cake into his tea.  When he sips, the crumbs blended with the warmth of the fluid transport him into an altered state.  He's filled with pleasure and joy that dissolve his former feelings of mediocrity and mortality.

Does a familiar scent transport you back in time?  Combine the details of smell and taste with warmth and texture to describe a state of mind.

Share a memory involving smell and taste.