New Year Writing Workout #5: Shopping List

How are you feeling? Are those exercises getting your writing muscles limbered up?

Today’s exercise is odd, but fun. First things first, take a peek in your fridge and cupboards, then grab a pen and paper and write out a grocery list. If you want, you can borrow mine:

sour cream
eggs
bananas
cucumber
bread
crackers
milk

What we’re going to do is make that grocery list stand out. We’re going to make it evocative. Ready?

We’ll get ourselves started with a few themes to help us get in a ‘mood’. To make it simple for our first go around, we’ll use some of the main story genres; romance, science fiction, mystery and literary.

Let’s start with romance. Pick an adjective (or verb) for each of the items on your grocery list that shows your genre/theme. By the time you’re done your list, there should be a feel for the theme. For example, in romance you might have passionate milk or caressing sour cream, maybe some doe-eyed eggs and swooning bananas. My list is a bit silly, but it gives you an idea, particularly if you compare it against the adjectives you pick for another genre.

How would your list differ for science fiction? And mystery? Maybe you’d have screaming crackers, murdered eggs, stealth bread.

When you’re done your lists, compare them. Can you get a sense of the genre/theme or emotion you are trying to convey in each list? (Ignore the genre title.)

When you are done laughing at yourself and your list, check back with a few scenes in your manuscript and see if your adjectives and verbs are doing the work you think they should to evoke mood.

Enjoy!