Family Fun

Strand’s Simply Writing Tips

Writing Exercises for Family Entertainment

Exercise 1

Have you ever thought about writing as a form of family entertainment?

Writing can be fun and even therapeutic.  Not only can writing itself be fun, but learning to write can provide an opportunity for family entertainment.  And it’s not that difficult.

In today’s world of lightning-speed communication, we still all need to write to communicate.   Beyond the cryptic tweat and text, we write an e-mail in search of a job, a carefully composed apology to make up for a mistake, or a message at work to help do your job.  Most important, communicating with one another continues to be the base of a relationship.  Writing can be a valuable way to reach out to one another.  So it makes sense to hone your writing skills.

At the same time, in this accelerated world, family members are preoccupied with their individual activities –Mom and Dad with their jobs and with maintaining a comfortable dwelling for the family, and kids with school, sports, band, debate club, and, of course, their chores.  Sometimes we have time to read a book, but seldom do we have time to practice our writing skills.  Frequently we find writing to be a drudgery and avoid it, basking in the brevity of social media.

So let’s try a simple first exercise to polish our writing skills and have fun with the family.  To start, decide which writing implement you can share—a laptop computer or even a large piece of paper pasted on the wall with felt-tip pens for everyone.

Each member of the family – except the cook – is to describe how the cook makes dinner.  You can divide each of the items among each family member or everyone can describe the entire event.

·      First, don’t forget to tell us about the cook: in a hurry, enjoying or hating the task, quick movements, procrastinating.

·      Then use at least 3 different action verbs to tell us how the cook actually prepares our dinner.  Does he/she slide a pan onto the stove?  Attack the microwave door to insert a frozen dinner? Pierce the cellophane package?  Pounce on the potatoes?

·      Finally describe the result.  I must remind the teenagers especially who are participating that this is a writing exercise, not an opportunity to critique your parents’ or your sibling’s cooking skills.

When you complete the exercise, read it aloud either while you are sitting around the table eating the meal, or at the next opportunity when you get together.

This is a simple exercise that can be repeated.  Keep paper and pen nearby the kitchen in case someone wants to do it again.  Other members might see your writing and choose to contribute.

For our next exercise, let’s combine the exercise of writing descriptions with the output of actually drawing pictures from the description.

Joyce T. Strand, Ph.D.

Author of the Jillian Hillcrest Mystery Series

Joycestrand.com

Strand’s Simply Writing Tips

Writing Exercises for Family Entertainment

Exercise 2

Let’s continue to explore the theory that learning to write can be a form of family entertainment.

As I stated in my first column, writing can be fun and even therapeutic.  Not only can writing itself be fun, but learning to write can provide an opportunity for family entertainment.  And it’s not that difficult.

It bears repeating that in today’s world of lightning-speed communication, we still all need to write to communicate.   Beyond the cryptic tweat and text, we draft an e-mail in search of a job, a carefully composed apology to make up for a mistake, or a message at work to help do your job.  Most important, communicating with one another continues to be the base of a relationship.  Writing can be a valuable way to reach out to one another.  So it makes sense to hone your writing skills.

At the same time, in this accelerated world, family members are each pre-occupied with their individual activities –Mom and Dad with their jobs and with maintaining a comfortable dwelling for the family, and kids with school, sports, band, debate club, and, of course, their chores.  Sometimes we have time to read a book, but seldom do we have time to practice our writing skills.  Frequently we find writing to be a drudgery and avoid it, basking in the brevity of social media.

The first exercise we explored involved a family description of cooking dinner.  Each family member first described the cook, then used at least three action verbs to tell us how the cook actually made the dinner, and concluded with a description of the result—with the caveat that it was not intended to be a way for teenagers to critique their parents’ or sibling cooking.

For this next exercise, we are going to call on the artistic skills of each family member.   One member of the family is in charge of writing a paragraph describing a room that none of the other members has seen—perhaps a room at school, at the mall, or in a library.  The writer will describe:

·      the physical characteristics of the room:  its size, the colors of its walls, is it light or dark, whether it’s organized or sloppy with things lying all about

·      the furnishings:  stove, number of chairs, pictures on the wall, tables

·      the environment:  is it hot or cold, humid, musty, clean or dusty

The originator of the paragraph describing this room will read the paragraph to the gathered family members who will then within ten minutes draw the room as described.  To you artists, drawing hot or cold might be challenging.  Perhaps there’s a large thermometer in the room, which registers 40 degrees.    You can take creative license so long as you faithfully draw what the author is describing.

Each other member of the family takes a turn writing a paragraph and reading it to the remaining family members.   These family gatherings can be as along or as short as you want, but the idea is to give each family member the opportunity to write a paragraph that describes a room.  The art work will help the authors to understand how successfully they have used their words to communicate.

Next, we’ll work on describing a specific thing and compare how other members of the family write about it.

Joyce T. Strand, Ph.D.

Author of the Jillian Hillcrest Mystery Series

Joycestrand.com

Strand’s Simply Writing Tips

Writing Exercises for Family Entertainment

Exercise 3

Let’s continue to explore the theory that learning to write can be a form of family entertainment.

As I stated previously, writing can be fun and even therapeutic.  Not only can writing itself be fun, but learning to write can provide an opportunity for family entertainment.  And it’s not that difficult.

It bears repeating that in today’s world of lightning-speed communication, writing continues to be a valuable way to reach out to one another. However, busy families seldom have time to speak to one another, much less take the time to learn how to write together.  Nonetheless, it makes sense to hone your writing skills—even if you find writing a drudgery and avoid it, basking in the brevity of social media.  So take the time to evaluate if your family might enjoy the simple exercises outlined in these columns to improve your writing skills while you have fun with your family.

In the first exercise, the family described the act of cooking dinner.  Each family member first described the cook, then used at least three action verbs to tell us how the cook actually made the dinner, and concluded with a description of the result—with the caveat that it was not intended as a way for teenagers to critique their parents’ or sibling’s cooking.

For the second exercise, we called on the artistic skills of family members.  Each member of the family took turns writing and then reading a paragraph describing a room that none of the other family members had ever seen.  They then spent ten minutes drawing that room.

For this current exercise, we are going to write a paragraph describing something that each member of the family sees every day, and ask the other family members to identify it.  It can be a room, a sign, a specific tree, a park, a road, a place, a water tower, a bridge, a restaurant – anything that your family sees regularly.  Each family member should prepare a paragraph, and then at a family gathering, read the entire paragraph.  The other members have five minutes to guess what it is, but the quicker the identification, the better the description.  Time how long the identification takes.  The winner is the one who takes the least time to be identified.

As part of the description, the author should describe:

·      Physical characteristics:  size, color, weight, color, shape, height, movable or permanent

·      Environment:  smell, light or dark, clean or dirty, bright, dark

·      Parts of the whole:  furniture, paper, wires, wood, water

Of course, you and your family may not always be at home.  Next, let’s explore having fun writing if you’re on a trip together.

Joyce T. Strand, Ph.D.

Author of the Jillian Hillcrest Mystery Series

Joycestrand.com

Strand’s Simply Writing Tips

Writing Exercises for Family Entertainment

Exercise 4

Let’s continue to explore the theory that learning to write can be a form of family entertainment.

If you have been performing these exercises, by now you should agree that  not only can writing itself be fun, but learning to write can provide an opportunity for family entertainment.  And it’s not that difficult.

It bears repeating that in today’s world of lightning-speed communication, writing continues to be a valuable way to reach out to one another. However, busy families seldom have time to speak to one another, much less take the time to learn how to write together.  Nonetheless, it makes sense to hone your writing skills—even if you find writing to be a drudgery and avoid it, basking in the brevity of social media.  So take the time to evaluate if your family might enjoy the simple exercises outlined in these columns to improve your writing skills while you have fun with your family.

In the first exercise, the family described the act of cooking dinner.  Each family member first described the cook, then used at least three action verbs to tell us how the cook actually made the dinner, and concluded with a description of the result—with the caveat that it was not intended as a way for teenagers to critique their parents’ or sibling’s cooking.

For the second exercise, we called on the artistic skills of family members.  Each member of the family took turns writing and then reading a paragraph describing a room that none of the other family members had ever seen.  They then spent ten minutes drawing that room.

For the third exercise, each family member wrote a paragraph describing something that each of them sees every day, and asked the other family members to identify it, with the objective to identify it as quickly as possible.

For this exercise we are going to assume that the family is traveling—either in a car, a train, or plane.  Before you start, choose your tool of writing.  If you each want to have a computer and that’s possible, then use the computer to write.  However, a more likely writing implement might be just a small notebook with a pen.  (It still works for writing.)  It should be noted that if you are driving in a car, the driver is not to write anything and should focus on steering the car.

As you travel, identify something new that the family has never seen before, and each of you write a paragraph about it.  If agreement on one item is a problem, the driver should resolve the argument, and assuming time allows, you can choose the loser’s item for the next sentence.  The idea is to write a paragraph about each new thing and then review them at the end of the trip as a memento.

Remember to describe:

·      Physical characteristics:  size, color, old or new, clean or dirty, moving or stable, liquid or solid, animal, bird

·      Environment:  light or dark, smell, water, humid

·      Parts of the whole:  furniture, porch, stones in the water, fences, grass, bugs

·      Conclude with how you felt when you saw it:  happy, sad, concerned, nervous, hopeful, content, wanting more

When you arrive at your destination—or even while you stop for dinner at a restaurant on your way—read your descriptions to each other.  Hopefully you will also have time to gather them into some kind of file for safekeeping.

We have spent the first few exercises describing places or things.  Our next exercise will focus on character development.

Joyce T. Strand, Ph.D.

Author of the Jillian Hillcrest Mystery Series

Joycestrand.com

Strand’s Simply Writing Tips

Writing Exercises for Family Entertainment

Exercise 5

This is the fifth in a series of articles to explore the theory that learning to write can be a form of family entertainment.

If you have been performing these exercises, by now you hopefully agree writing itself be fun and learning to write can provide an opportunity for family entertainment.

The goal of these exercises is to give you the opportunity to improve your writing skills while simultaneously having fun with your family.  Clear and compelling writing is a key attribute in today’s working world and it can also be an advantage in our personal lives for advocacy of our causes or even to reach out to loved ones.  So take the time to evaluate if your family might enjoy the simple exercises outlined in these columns to improve your writing skills while you have fun with your family.

In the first exercise, the family described the act of cooking dinner.  Each family member first described the cook, then used at least three action verbs to tell us how the cook actually made the dinner, and concluded with a description of the result—with the caveat that it was not intended as a way for teenagers to critique their parents’ or sibling’s cooking.

For the second exercise, we called on the artistic skills of family members.  Each member of the family took turns writing and then reading a paragraph describing a room that none of the other family members had ever seen.  They then spent ten minutes drawing that room.

For the third exercise, each family member wrote a paragraph describing something that each of them sees every day, and asked the other family members to identify it, with the objective to identify it as quickly as possible.  In the fourth exercise, we assumed the family was on a trip and asked each member to write a paragraph describing something new that they were all seeing together for the first time.

Now it is time to focus on people—on character development.  When we meet someone for the first time, we base our judgment of that person on a variety of observations.  When we write, we want to portray the person to the reader so that the reader comprehends the character we intend.  For this exercise, the end game is a little different.  Our goal is to make the description as comprehensive as possible.  Therefore, what we’ll ask of our family members is to respond with two questions about something we could have added as part of our description of the person.

The person can be real or fictional, although it is usually easier to have someone in mind when writing about a person.  Consider the following as you write your paragraph describing your person:

·      Age: Toddler, school age, pre-teen teen-ager, adult, old, middle aged

·      Size:  Height, weight, thin, fat, round, giant, child-size

·      Hair: color, short, long, curly, straight, thick, combed, unkempt, clean, dirty, greasy, bald

·      Face: round, protruding eyes, thick lips, Roman nose

·      Smell: sweaty, perfume, stale tobacco, sour, garlic,

·      Clothing: stylish, haphazard, clean, dirty, sloppy, shiny, holes in shoes

·      Movement:  fast, stuttered, smooth, wide-stride, little steps, cautious

·      Health:  healthy, tan, covered by rash or bug bites, pale, shaking

·      Speaking pattern:  slow and careful, staccato, fast pattern, accented

When you have finished your paragraph describing your character, read it to your family and ask them what else you could add to help describe your person.  There is no winner or loser with this exercise.  You are simply trying to create a clear picture of a character.

We have now written about a person, an event, and places.  But the world is not static.  We communicate by talking to one another.  The way to engage and involve the reader in a story is with dialogue.  In the next exercise, we will practice writing dialogue.

Joyce T. Strand

Author of the Jillian Hillcrest Mystery Series

Joycestrand.com

Strand’s Simply Writing Tips

Writing Exercises for Family Entertainment

Exercise 6

This is the sixth in a series of articles to explore the theory that learning to write can be a form of family entertainment.

By now hopefully you agree writing itself is fun, and learning to write can provide an opportunity for family entertainment.

If you are just joining us, the goal of these exercises is to give you the opportunity to improve your writing skills while simultaneously having fun with your family.  Clear and compelling writing is a key attribute in today’s working world and it can also be an advantage in our personal lives for advocacy of our causes or even to reach out to loved ones.  So take the time to evaluate if your family might enjoy the simple exercises outlined in these columns to improve your writing skills while you have fun with your family.

In the first exercise, family members described cooking dinner using at least three action verbs to tell us how the cook actually made the dinner, and concluded with a description of the result—with the caveat that it was not intended as a way for teenagers to critique their parents’ or sibling’s cooking.

For the second exercise, each member of the family took turns writing and then reading a paragraph describing a room that none of the other family members had ever seen.  They then spent ten minutes drawing that room.

For the third exercise, each family member wrote a paragraph describing something that each of them sees every day, and asked the other family members to identify it, with the objective to identify it as quickly as possible.  In the fourth exercise, we assumed the family was on a trip and asked each member to write a paragraph describing something new that they were all seeing together for the first time.  In the fifth exercise, we wrote a comprehensive paragraph describing a person as a first step toward character development.

For the current exercise, we are gong to explore writing dialogue.   You will write 5 to 10 sentences of dialogue that occurred between you and one other person during your day—at school, at softball practice, at work, in the store, on the street, or while taking your driver’s test.  After each family member completes drafting the dialogue, two members other than the author will read the dialogue out loud in character to the rest of the family—one of them will be you and the other will be the person with whom you were having the conversation.

As you write the dialogue, keep in mind the following:

·      What started the conversation:  your coach asked you to stay so he could tell you something; your teacher asked you to stay after school; the principal called you to his office; your boss asked you to work all weekend; your wife said she has to talk with you immediately

·      Once you have offered the reason for the dialogue, first tell us your reaction to the request:  you were annoyed, you felt like someone punched you in the stomach, you were short of breath, you were elated, you were concerned

·      Be sure that each statement follows the other – or if it doesn’t follow logically, explain why.

Dialogue is an important way to engage a reader in a story, so it is important to make it as realistic and descriptive as you can.  However, first, try to capture a conversation as you had it.  That will help to drive future dialogue creation.  Again, teenagers, this exercise is not intended to give you the opportunity to make fun of your parents or siblings.

Joyce T. Strand

Author of the Jillian Hillcrest Mystery Series

http://joycestrand.com