Paraphrasing David Byrne, You may ask yourself, “What am I reading here?” Well here’s an explanation. A lot of what you read here is just unedited free writing. Take any writing class and you will experience a variety of brainstorming exercises. These words, these thoughts, are those exercises put to paper. Well actually put to silicon and magnetic media.
If you’re looking for a polished peice of writing, this isn’t the place. These aren’t even first drafts. They are ramblings and brainstormings. If you want to be a pedantic douche canoe feel free to edit and revise.
10 Premises
10 Premises is exactly what it sounds like. I start with a simple suggestion and then using that suggestion come of with 10 sketch premises that in some way incorporate the suggestion. The suggestion can be central to the sketch premise, or merely an inspiration for the sketch. It’s completely up to me.
I have to keep writing premises for 30 minutes. If I don’t get to 10 by then, it’s ok to stop before 10. If I hit 10 before the 30 minutes I stop. No editing. If an idea pops into my head I put in down. This is an ideation process, not all of them are going to turn into a sketch.
An SoC Monologue
This is a simple stream of consciousness monologue. I usually begin by typing a title and then just keep typing for 15-20 minutes. No editing. No filtering. Whatever pops into my head I type.
Earth2: Horton’s Guide to Earth2
Earth2 is my post apocalyptic world of lost science and discovered sorcery. These entries are by one of its many inhabitants, Horton, a gaurdian of one of the Realm Gates.
Ideation with Free Write
Begin with one of the more common forms of ideation and then choose something from the ideation and do a free write. The whole process should take about 30 minutes.
List and Commentary
For about a half an hour come up with a list on a random topic. Provide some commentary on it. No self editing. This list is then used as inspiration for various sketches. Hopefully.
Milestone
A bit of commentary on significant events in the blog or possibly even the real world.
Narrative Improv – Solo
This is 15 to 30 minutes of writing towards a narrative plot. It’s intended to simulate the live improvising of a story with multiple characters and a story arc. Like most of the items in this blog, it is developed with no preparation and no editing. Sure I’ll go back and fix obvious typos or mistakes, but the story is the story however it comes out.
Neptune Station
An improvised space opera. Obviously no idea where it’s going.
Speed Dating
Imagine speed dating. You’ve only got 5 minutes to introduce yourself. Speed Dating is me creating a character on the fly as if the character were witting across the table and being interviewed at a speed dating event. Quite simply it’s an improvisational one sided character monologue.
The resulting piece can be used as idea generation for a sketch. It could be used to create a more rounded recurring character and it’s good practice as a part of solo improv practice.
As with most of the other items on this blog, the work is basically unedited. I’m just typing what I think as I think it. There are bound to be typos, continuity errors, and general grammar issues. If I see something, I’ll fix it. I do not formally edit or censor the work.