Last week I shared a picture of a book of happy or as I put it – random ideas to write. The truth is I literally just schedule that post five minutes before starting this writing, so that one little book prompted more than anything intended when I bought it.
Proof you never know when words, ideas, will come and why you need to carry some method to record them. As a friend asks – do you carry pen and paper to the bathroom?
Now what does this have to do with constructing a poem or piece of prose?
Most of my prose is emotion-driven writing. It’s always been this method for me, if you could call it a method. There’s at least one poem which had a specific subject assigned, and rules to follow in writing. I love this poem, it has a truth I don’t think would have been found any other way.
Lately, I’ve gone against my norm and will take a random word or phrase and let it roam into what it will. One method, the name I’ve forgotten, is to draw a circle around the word and free-think any linking words, creating more circles connecting to them.
It also works when you stumble in any writing, which is exactly what happened with – French Lace. This random word sent me researching what is considered French Lace.
Somewhere in all this I know lace will pop up in future writings. How can it not, writers collect all sorts of bits and bobs.
It’s how we construct.