Wednesday Writing Challenge: Word Play IV

Typescript posts a new challenge each Wednesday to encourage creativity and inspire conversation. Feel free to talk about the challenge or share your writing results in the comments section below by leaving an excerpt and/or a link to your own site or blog.

The spark of inspiration can be found anywhere you choose to look. From a title of a song to a sketch found on a napkin, from an overheard conversation to a jumble of words, these stories are waiting to be discovered and told.

Who knew that a jumble of words could provide such inspiration? That such a combination could spark creativity, begin a story? A few months ago, I discovered well over 300 spam comments infiltrating my blog folder, containing strings of words that attempted to sell the latest dietary supplement with links to unknown sites. However, after skimming through these, I discovered that, upon a closer reading, there was really a sense of poetry in the combination of words, hidden inspiration in what seemed to be an incoherent passage.

What emerged was the Wednesday Writing Challenge: Word Play, where writers had a bit of fun and let their imaginations wander, sparking creativity, igniting something magical…

After a few rounds of this particular challenge, we’re back at it again. What inspiration will you find this time?

Word Play

One of the most fascinating aspects of writing is the ability to manipulate words and language to convey your intended meaning. Words have so many meanings within their own definitions, and coupling them with others can produce something not entirely expected but altogether magical. There are a thousand ways to describe an object, person, or place, and so, too, are there thousands of stories just waiting to be plucked out of the imagination and put to paper. Sometimes all we need to create that initial spark of inspiration is a word (or three)…

Challenge: Use one of the following couplings of words to create a new story or poem
(Note: many of these have had minor alterations to make a little bit more sense):

Everybody knew

The lost multiply

Marry one was wrong

Signs say she choose

Withdraw the touched

Music note the dilemma

I was mistaken

Have ordered the wise

The glass audience

Liberation sails

Dead star was evident

Open sky blinked

Children breathed sighs

Pointing to your dignity

Breathing statue born

Before yesterday

Only songbirds saw

Never his world

Given the flames

Flowers understood

Others started walking

What interesting combinations of words can you add to the fold?


3 Comments so far

  1. Becky September 3rd, 2009 10:33 pm

    I started a post in April and three words from the list above finally brought it to life. Sometimes I make things too complicated… http://www.stillsmallspace.com/blog/?p=579

  2. Susan Pogorzelski - admin September 5th, 2009 9:45 am

    Becky: It’s funny how we find sudden inspiration in sometimes the most unlikely of places, isn’t it? And it’s funny, too, how once we let go and stop forcing it, the words can finally come…Love that you chose what I found was one of the most intriguing string of words to end your poem. Great job and thanks for sharing!

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