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Week 04 Episode 05: Exercises

Table of contents

  1. Listen
  2. Transcript
  3. Exercises
    1. Today’s writing exercises
    2. Today’s audio exercises:
  4. Further Reading
  5. Subscribe

Listen

Transcript

Hello!

Today we’re going to do a couple of writing tasks in preparation for the LONG episode coming up.

The first task – hey, you guessed it – is reflecting on your reality right now. Feel free to make this an audio recording instead of writing – it’s up to you.

5 minutes, starting now.

5 mins

Great, we’re back. How was that?

This week’s long podcast is going to be about narratives, making stories. I would like you to write some lists that will help with story generation.

The first list is of fictional works that you enjoyed. You’ve got five minutes to write down as many books, films, tv programmes, plays, prog rock concept operas, or whatever it is, as possible. The only criteria is that you enjoyed them. Five minutes, starting now.

5 mins

Great! I would be curious to see that list. If you want to tell me why something is there, do leave a voice message!

Now, I’d like you to think of contexts. What do I mean by this? Well, fiction works well when it’s situated. As predominantly visual thinkers, we tend to veer towards bold visual imagery. I’d like you to think of as many evocative contexts as you possibly can, from fiction and the real world. You can be really specific if you like. For example:

  • Sunny Los Angeles in the early 1960s, the desert outskirts of a city that is still expanding
  • A quiet Japanese monastry garden at an unspecified time, the monks slowly observing the change from winter to spring
  • Downtown Brussels in the 1970s, inside an anarchist squat.

You get the idea. Places that would make an interesting context for fiction. Try to be as varied as you can, and capture the elements that make your images so evocative to you.

OK, 5 minutes, starting now.

5 mins

Right, we will use these lists later! Now let’s get onto the audio production.

This week you’ve produced a few audio works, some reframing of the spaces you inhabit, some recordings of processes like doors opening and the like. I’m not going to ask you to make anything new right now, but just to take a bit of time to review those recordings. Don’t delete anything! Even if you hate the sound of your own voice, or think you said something silly, just keep it.

Take some time to reflect.

Oh, and finally, please think about storing your recordings in some sort of cloud backup. I’m not going to recommend any platform over another, but quite a few will be able to store your recordings privately for free. We’ll be working with them quite a bit over the coming weeks, and it would be a shame to lose them if you drop your phone, or the battery dies, or anything like that.

I hope you’ve had a good week, and will be back with the long podcast soon!

Exercises

Today’s writing exercises

  • 5-minute free write about life at the moment
  • 5-minute list of works of fiction that you enjoyed. Book, TV shows, films, plays, anything. As many as p possible!
  • 5-minute list of contexts that conjure up strong imagery. For example, sunny Los Angeles, just outside Hollywood in the early 1960s. A snowy path in the Belgian woods in the 1920s. A Japanese monastery.

Today’s audio exercises:

  • You should have produced 15-20 minutes of audio this week. Reflect back on this. Listen to your recordings, think about how your relationships to the space and objects might have changed.
    • How did you relate to each mode of writing and narration?
    • Have the same objects been used multiple times?
    • How do their realities change each time?
    • Which modes of creation did you enjoy, and which ones did you dislike?

Further Reading

  • Resources - resources and inspiration for writing, producing, and editing audio stories
  • Transom.org - a great list of audio resources

Subscribe

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Want to contribute? Send a voice message!


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