Wednesday, September 9, 2009

controversy writing exercise

so i'm always on the look out for different books that will help me write. whether it's inspirational books, how to books or anything else that will help me with writing. well i have a book called the daily writer by fred white. it's sub title is 366 meditations to cultivate a productive and meaningful writing life. so every page in the book is a different day and it then gives you a different inspiration on what to write that day. well for day july 3 the idea is controversy. and the idea was to write both sides of a controversy in a story. don't have them spewing crap at each other without listening, actually have it as a meaningful conversation. besides the writing excersice it also helps you look at both sides of a controversy that you probally wouldn't normally look at. well i picked abortion. which in our country is a HUGE controversy; to say the least. (and if you know me, you know me as a huge advocate for the right of choice. but choice in all things, i just believe that you should be allowed to have the choice. you have every right to not want an abortion but it's when you say i can't have one either then, because you think it's wrong, is when i dissagree with you.) so i went to the library and got a whole bunch of books on abortion. i made sure that i got pro-choice books and pro-life books. and then i just started reading the books and wrote down in my notebook, anything i thought that was important. i'm not fully satisfied with all the imformation i have; though i think it's one of those issues that i would never be fully satisfied. but i've started to plot out what the charactors would say to each other. what one person would start out to say and then finding the counter agrument in the notes i have. it's been really interesting look at the other side of the table and seeing what their arguement would be. this story isn't anything i would publish but it's a great writing exercise. i've enjoyed it so far and i'm looking forward to actually writing out the story.

2 comments:

smash. said...

What a great topic.
I can't wait to have long discussions with you about censorship and women's rights next month!

mollie said...

oh man ashley, i can't wait! hopefully i'll have my story done and then i can show it to you.