How to Write a Landscape, Week 1
Photo Credit Ryan Roth-Klinck
Welcome to What Holy Mystery. This series of writing practices coordinates with the What Holy Mystery Incarnational Study found here.
For this series of writing practices we will be exploring spaces. How to write a landscape, envisioning moving in those spaces, and scene setting. Will those scenes have anything to say to you?
How to write a landscape:
As you use the writing practice instructions, take time, before you begin and every time you need to restart (see instructions), to visualize the physical space you are writing about. What is the terrain like? Temperature? Smells? What inhabits the area? Is anything moving? Focus in on something concrete and try to describe it thoroughly. This is a great time to use lists.
Once you have your detail, try to figure out where north is. This will help you figure out where the sun and shade is. It might not come into your writing, but it will help you figure out if the paint on the door of the cottage is peeling or moldy.
Over seven weeks, we will write through your landscape. If you are writing about a place you remember, please do not look at a picture until you are done with this series of writing prompts (revisiting is fine).
Monday: Listing exercise: The land was (flat, broken, paved, grassy, etc)…
Tuesday: As I stood watching the sun set…
Wednesday: The sounds of the…
Thursday: All around me I saw…
Friday: There was not a single…
Writing Practice Rules:
Grab a pen and paper or dictation device or computer.
Write/record the prompt at the top of your page.
Set a timer (you can adjust the time to suit your needs…I keep the practices short so they don’t seem overwhelming).
Take a few moments to visualize what the prompt is bringing up.
Write or speak or type!! Try not to edit or criticize. Just write.
Write the details of what is coming up. I call this catching what rises.
If you get stuck, make loops with your pen or nonsense syllables with your voice or tap the keyboard.
If you get really stuck, rewrite/record the prompt as a new paragraph.
Write the details of what you are seeing until the timer goes off.