On Wednesday, January 13th TAC welcomed author Nora Carpenter to lead a journaling workshop. To help us organize our new story ideas and current works, Nora introduced us to the idea of writing journals. You don't have to have a story in mind or be working on one to start a wiring journal! Writing journals are helpful to gather ideas that can spark a story or contribute to a work in progress.
Alyssa
Two of my favorite prompts that Nora Carpenter shared with us were to create a map for our fictional world and to write a five senses poem.
I love to draw, so creating a map was really fun, and has helped me better envision my story’s world. For instance, I didn’t know where my characters would end up once they entered the world and the map has helped me draw out their journey. You don’t have to be artistically talented for this to be useful. Creating maps helps writers keep their setting details in line to spare the reader's confusion. Not to mention, busting out a pack of colored pencils and markers can be fun!
The five senses poem was something that I have never done before and I thoroughly enjoyed it. Each person picked three objects and then wrote a poem about the taste, smell, color, sound, and feel of one or all of the objects. This was a great exercise to practice writing with all five senses and Nora explained that it was good practice for longer works where you want to further enhance the reader's experience in your world. TAC member, Charlotte, was kind enough to share her five senses poem and the map on the right is my map:
Eliza
Wednesday night, TAC hosted Nora Carpenter to do a journaling workshop, and I could not be more glad that I went! Not only was I inspired to journal more frequently as a writer, but the exercises we did reminded me that I love to journal about my everyday life and motivated me to keep up with journaling daily or at least weekly. I’m excited to continue my journaling journey to develop novel ideas and my understanding of myself, and am thankful for the push Nora gave us in that direction!
Pictured above is a messy poem based on the five senses prompt that Nora guided us through!
Charlotte
I feel like the Nora Carpenter workshop really helped me get the gears turning again on an old story. I was challenged with new prompts, including being asked to draw a map for my story. It made me realize that even though I know where the geography of my story, I’ve never put much consideration into the building where my characters live and spend a great deal of the book.
We hope that this blog post inspires you to start a writing journal. Happy writing!