Write Like a Pendulum Swings
Eight step essay to write a balance of scene and exposition
Exclusive Writing Lab introducing a simple but effective exercise to help writers connect with their surroundings, thoughts, and memories
If you are like me, you likely think about prompts like you think about having the furnace vents in your house cleaned. Like never.
But, when I do, the change in the air quality is rather stunning. Same with a writing prompt. When you do one, you’ll find it can bring a breath of “fresh air” into your mind, and can help shake free some stuck detritus in your primary project.
This Mini Essay in Eight Steps was created created years ago. I often share with memoir writers who have a tendency to get stuck in exposition (telling). It’s deceptively simple.
Mini Essay in Eight Steps
The only rule here is to write in first person present tense
1) Look out a window. What do you notice?
Write one paragraph.
Example: The street outside is quiet, children long gone to school and the sun at noon sky. Indian Summer. A couple of squirrels chatter over a chestnut. A man walks past, slumped shoulders and a pot belly. He has a tiny Scottie dog at the end of a leash and the little white dog stops to sniff the base of the horse chestnut tree. The man stops, too, and while he waits for his dog, pulls out his cell phone and taps at the screen.
2) Write where you sit as you write. What’s in front of you, behind you, right and left? Look up. What’s on the ceiling?
Make this one paragraph, too.
Example: I’m at my desk in the living room, the place where the kids will do their homework tonight. But now it is just me, an empty house, cobwebs in the corners where the ceiling meets the walls. Hard wood floors all around. Behind me comes the tick sound of the coffee pot.
3) Now turn inward. What are you thinking? Look deep (don’t worry, no one is here, just you). What’s been eating at your mind? Money worries? Relationship challenges? Kid worries? Time concerns? Write it raw. Write from the “I” perspective.
No more than two paragraphs.
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Example: John has gone to work. Finally. We yelled at each other. Again. Last night, we were up too late. The conversation that never ends. Is it time for both of us to move on? Are we done? Why can’t we just be happy together? On and on it goes this way, an endless circle that has become our life.
4) Now write a memory from childhood. One thing that is connected to your current worries/thoughts. When did you, as a younger person, worry about this same time or when did you see your own parent think/speak in this way.
No more than one or two paragraphs.
IE: Did my mother and father ever have these conversations, all those years ago. and if they did, why didn’t I pay closer attention? From the outside looking at them, everything seemed “just fine.” They were happy enough but it’s true, I did hear yelling at night. Many times. I heard my mother crying later, too. A sorrowful, frightening sound. My father, jaw set, said nothing. Did he cry? I don’t remember, to be honest, because back then, I was just a child. What did I know about the world of adults? What I do remember most is restless sleep and bad dreams.
5) Answer this question: Is there a connection between your current worry and your past memory? Do you see it? Write: As I look back I realize…(fill in your observation on the connection or lack thereof).
One paragraph.
IE: As I look back, I realize I slept through my future and that John and I have become my parents. I want to go back, look closer at the past, and perhaps spot a clue that might help me escape this rut I find myself in today.
6) Return to your immediate environment. How do you feel in your body? Is there a sensation you can describe?
No more than two paragraphs
IE: Coffee. The pot ticks on the burner but the idea of another cup makes my stomach turn. The smell of burned grinds makes me feel sick and small. Coffee was my mother’s beverage of choice. All day, every day, until cocktail hour and then, it was the end of the day.
7) Look up, down, right, left and describe something you didn’t see last time you looked around.
One paragraph.
IE: On the bookshelf, to my right, a collection of titles: Your Love Map, Getting the Love You Want, Men are From Mars & Women are From Venus. All these books are untouched and covered with dust.
8) Now look out the window again. What’s happening outside? How has the outside environment changed since you sat down?
One paragraph.
IE: The man and his little dog are gone, as are the squirrels. A woman, my neighbor, gets into her car. An old Subaru. Maroon. She tosses her hair back as she lowers herself into the car. All I know about her is that she is a single woman. Lucky girl.
She starts her car and drives away.
What Now:
Read what you’ve written out loud. How does it sound to you?
Take a pass through and deepen it or add more description.
Share your experience in the comments, and the writing. If you are more comfortable sharing with me behind the scenes, email jenniferlauck@substack.com.
Happy writing, J. 🍎
It’s Sunday morning, My neighbor Bill’s car is still parked in his driveway. The Hooligan’s (we’ve given some of neighbors pet names) deaf Dachshund Lilly is crossing the street to pee in Sterling and Jackie’s front yard. The Faux Lawn folks have gone to Church and the elderly from two streets over is riding by on his bicycle with his Maltese puppy in a basket between the handlebars.
The sunshine is warm through our large east-facing living room window. I’m in my pyjamas curled in my favorite chair sipping flavored coffee. My husband is still sleeping, our Labrador retriever is half awake on her bed near my feet. She opens one eye to make sure I’m still here. She woke me today with a puppy yelp. She is ten now, greying under the chin, and groaning with arthritis. The black clock with red poppies says it’s almost ten o’clock. My side table has a book my neighbor friend gave me for Christmas. I haven’t had the time nor the inclination to pick it up yet. On both sides of my chair are bags of knitting. One has toques just started, for my niece and her baby. The other is four infant sweaters, complete except for buttons. The Belladonna living room light, a mix of metal and crystals is dusty but the sunshine still makes rainbows bounce onto the walls.
My thoughts are on moving. We’ve decided to list our house for sale and move farther west. We are tired of the weather, politics, high taxes, foul drinking water and small-town redneck attitude. But we designed this house, had it custom built, and intended to live here until we didn't need a house. But, I’m a Gemini and always up for change. I like moving. But preparing our house for realtors and potential buyers is a slog. We’ve started purging and downsizing; my husband, bless his heart, is focused and relentless. We are tearing the place apart and giving things away left and right. Our motto is ‘if we don’t use it, wear it, love it or eat it - we get rid of it’. Every day I am more excited about packing, moving, and unpacking. But first, we need to sell our house, which means clean, clean, clean, windows, floors, cupboards, closets - and the dreaded storage shed. One day at a time, I think.
As I look back, I realize I have moved at least twenty-five times, maybe more. I have lived in cabins, bungalows, apartments, townhouses, two-storeys, an acreage and a farm! My first move was the hardest. I was thirteen and moved from a lakeside village to a huge city. I’ve always wanted to return to water, I can smell it when I’m near; it smells like home. I smile now because the small city we are moving to is surrounded by three lakes!
The wind has picked up and an empty Diet Coke box bounces down the street. Bill is getting into his car. He backs carefully out of the driveway and heads north. His wife has recently been diagnosed with early-onset Alzheimer’s. She has been in the hospital for over a month, and he goes there every morning to take care of her. Sometimes she knows him and sometimes she doesn’t. I think I’ll make him a Banana Loaf and leave it at his front door.