Tag Archives: short story exercises

Photo: J Gabbitas

I found this writing tip on Twitter from @Jill_Jepson. I liked it. It made me think about the space around me and how it exists throughout time. I liked it so much I thought it would work nicely as a writing nudge – but with a bit of a tweak; Jill asks us to imagine the spot 100 years in the past. But what about 100 years in the future?

Nudge #9 One hundred years

Go to a park. Find a beautiful spot. Imagine the spot 100 years ago, or 100 years from now. Write.

image: Martin Parker

Adjectives.

Write 16 lines (or a good-sized paragraph) on the subject of a building (any kind of building is fine)

Use no more than 5 adjectives.

Try to avoid using adjectives for colour, temperature and texture (e.g. ‘ruddy cheeks’, ‘blistering heat’, ‘rough cloth’) instead try to find a different way of evoking the image or feeling.

Have fun!

Here’s an example of a few choice adjectives, working well:

From A Bird Came Down by Emily Dickinson

“A bird came down the walk:
He did not know I saw;
He bit an angle-worm in halves
And ate the fellow, raw.

And then he drank a dew
From a convenient grass,
And then hopped sidewise to the wall
To let a beetle pass.”