Welcome back for the seventh day of Writober. How did last week go? Did you dig deep into ego death: face it and find ways to fight it? Most of all, did you write, create, and have fun? I sure did, and I really enjoyed the poems, stories, and photos you linked up to the different prompt posts.

This second week we’ll be exploring the universal fear of Separation. Fear of separation builds on last week’s exploration because part of fear of ego death is fear of rejection, and not being accepted or included. But fear of separation also has to do with survival. Our ancient ancestors needed their clans and tribes to stay safe from predator attack. Separation could lead to death.

The phrase: Anaphora

As for our writing tools, last week we started with our most basic writing building block, the letter, and then combined them into syllables, and then words. This week we’ll combine words to create phrases and combine phrases into the poetic line.

Fighting Fear of the Blank Page: When we want to write, sometimes the blank page stares back like your inner critic is already judging or a giant void of nothingness ready to swallow you up. But what if the page isn’t blank to start with?

Erasure: Creative writing is the action of choosing words and how they join together. Why not start with a full page of words—any full page of text: a newspaper article, a page from your journal, a page from your favorite book, anything—then black out (erase) all the words you don’t want, leaving only the words you choose.

*Quick Note about links in this post: I am an amazon associate, so most of the links in my post will take you to amazon products. If you buy from these links, I will make some pennies which will help me pay for this site and my creative endeavors.

OctPoWriMo

Poetry Toolbox

These are quick exercises that I hope you’ll do every day. We will build on these exercises throughout the month.

1. Word list: Write down the first ten words you think of when you think of fear. Any words at all. Anything that comes to mind. Then choose your three favorite and say them aloud a few times until you hear the accented and unaccented syllables (if more than one syllable) and notice the duration of each syllable. (Inspired by Frances Mayes’ list of a hundred favorite words in The Discovery of Poetry)

I created this Excel Spreadsheet for you to use to collect and explore your fear words.

OctPoWriMo wordlistDownload

2. Sensory Imagery: In your journal or a word processing file, fill in these lines as quickly as you can. Notice they are slightly different from last week. You may want to revisit one or two in more detail if you’re inspired and have time.

I see

I hear

I carry

I smell

I follow

The empty room

The tug of

I taste

The cold down my spine

I witnessed

I touched

(Inspired by a week one exercise in the poetry chapter of The Portable MFA in Creative Writing)

3. More Sensory Imagery: I find a great place to start when exploring abstract ideas, is to brainstorm sensory imagery. Write down the first few things you think of to answer these questions:

What does separation smell like?

What does separation taste like?

What texture is separation? What does it feel like to the touch? What temperature is separation? Where do you feel it?

What does separation sound like?

What color(s) is separation? What is a symbol of separation? What does it look like?

4. Choose one poem to study all week: Did one example poem stand out to you last week? Is there a poem or poet that you find challenging? Choose a poem, any poem you would like and copy that poem into your journal. Writing it by hand, or even typing it out, slows you down to make you look at each word? Write in your journal what you like about the poem, what you don’t like about the poem. What stands out to you. What don’t you think you understand. (Inspired by the poetry chapter of The Portable MFA in Creative Writing)

Poetry Building

Anaphora is the repetition of a word or phrase at the beginning of each line.

Example poem: Today we’re looking at Fear by Ciaran Carson, copied here from poets.org for educational purposes.

Fear

Ciaran Carson

I fear the vast dimensions of eternity.
I fear the gap between the platform and the train.
I fear the onset of a murderous campaign.
I fear the palpitations caused by too much tea.

I fear the drawn pistol of a rapparee.
I fear the books will not survive the acid rain.
I fear the ruler and the blackboard and the cane.
I fear the Jabberwock, whatever it might be.

I fear the bad decisions of a referee.
I fear the only recourse is to plead insane.
I fear the implications of a lawyer’s fee.

I fear the gremlins that have colonized my brain.
I fear to read the small print of the guarantee.
And what else do I fear? Let me begin again.

From Selected Poems by Ciaran Carson, published by Wake Forest University Press. Copyright © 2001 by Ciaran Carson.

Notice how Carson uses anaphora to create a rhythm, and emphasize that fear is always present, until the very last line.

Today’s poem: Write a poem exploring the fear of separation using anaphora.

Form: If you’re looking for more of a challenge, write a blitz poem. Or, use erasure to create your poem.

Writober Flash Fiction

Write a story with a beginning, middle, and end with conflict that leads to change in less than a thousand words (no minimal word count) inspired by one of the images in the Separation folder of the Writober 2024 Pinterest board.

NaNo Prep

Last week we came up with an idea, met our protagonist, and antagonist, and they met the each other. Today, let’s begin to explore our settings. Think of one place that is important to both your protagonist and your antagonist. Perhaps the own has a clocktower, or church with chimes. An important building that can be seen from everywhere in town, or a statue that one character loves and one character hates. Maybe it’s a view of a mountain from a certain spot, or a park by a river, or a lake.

Whatever the important place is, write the scene in which the place became important to your MC. Then write the scene in which the place became important to your antagonist.

How might this place be important to your story. Brainstorm scenes from the beginning, middle, and end of your novel in which the protagonist and antagonists feelings about this place could increase the stakes and affect their actions.

Halloween Photography Challenge

Take a photograph that depicts separation or fear of separation and link to your photo in the chat.

Get Moving

Now that you’ve read all the prompts and have all these ideas running around in your head, it’s time for motion. Some suggestions:

Cardioglide: I have a cardioglide ( similar to the rower squat machine). My neighbor left it on the street for free, and I’ve been enjoying it for years. I keep it on the porch and get fresh air while getting my heart pumping. Most people have some kind of exercise equipment that they bought with the best intentions and then abandoned. What’s your abandoned exercise equipment? Give it a try today. Give it three minutes.

Now, grab what inspires you, and create!

Let’s start this week strong.

Don’t forget to come back & link in the comments.

See you soon!