Creativity Muscle Workouts: Remembrance
In preparation for my Remembrance Storybook Challenge, I'm thinking about how people remember loved ones.
WHAT do they never want to forget?
And HOW do they ensure they won't forget?
- I've seen a widower visit his wife's gravesite and bring fresh flowers every week.
- I've seen parents go to a lake and throw pebbles into the water as they remember stories of their child playing there.
- I've seen friends go back to a crash site and leave pictures and flowers every year to remember the place an accident took their friend's life.
- I've seen faith-filled communities take communion every month to remember the cross.
Remembrance is both WHAT you remember of someone and HOW you remember it.
And it reveals a ton about the person remembering, the person being remembered, and their relationship.
Exploring this may be a creative muscle exercise, but it can also be helpful to better understand a character you are writing.
CREATIVE MUSCLE EXERCISE #12
1. Decide to do this exercise for yourself or for a character (one you're writing or one you admire in another story)
2. Who have they (or you) lost?
3. WHAT do they want to remember about this person? And WHY? What makes this person and this specific WHAT worth remembering?
4. HOW will they ensure they will never forget? (be creative with this one)
DEBRIEF:
1. In a culture of convenience and easy disposal, an act of REMEMBERING sets a person apart. Was it easy or difficult to write this? Why do you think that is?
2. Have you lost someone dear to you? Did that make this exercise easier or harder?
3. Did you find your creative muscle for the HOW?