Kootenai River in NW Montana, near Canadian Border

Kootenai River in NW Montana, near Canadian Border
photo by Gene Tunick of Eureka, Montana

Saturday, January 28, 2012

Tip O'Day #278 - Think in New Ways

Novelist Amy Charlotte is today’s guest blogger on the topic of freshness.

Try to describe things in fresh, new ways. I can't emphasize that enough. Avoid cliches. Write about what you're passionate about. When you're writing imagine the smell of an absent lover's shirt.

Listen to songs that evoke strong feelings. The Elvis tune, “I’ll Be Home on Christmas Day,” is one of my favorites to listen to while writing.

Dixon says: It's amazing how sensory inputs can lead to more sensory writing. An old lover of mine liked to sprinkle herself with baby powder instead of cologne, and the talcum scent never fails to put me in a bittersweet, reminiscent mood. For me, listening to favorite old artists like Moody Blues, James Taylor, Electric Light Orchestra or Carly Simon also seems to get the creative juices flowing.

2 comments:

  1. This is so true. On a cold winter day, the smell of firewood burning in the fresh air, never fails to remind me of a place I once called home. It never fails.

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  2. Going outside does help the juices flow for poems.
    I had been told that if you think about your story before you go to sleep, when you wake up, your juices will start flowing. Sometimes this works and sometimes I can't sleep because I have got ideas flowing through my head.

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