Prompts
The better of 82 Writing Experiments by Bernadette Mayer:
Using phrases relating to one subject or idea, write about another, pushing metaphor and simile as far as you can. For example, use science terms to write about childhood or philosophic language to describe a shirt.
Write what cannot be written; for example, compose an index.
The possibilities of synesthesia in relation to language and words: the word and the letter as sensations, colors evoked by letters, sensations caused by the sound of a word as apart from its meaning, etc. And the effect of this phenomenon on you; for example, write in the water, on a moving vehicle.
Attempt to eliminate all connotation from a piece of writing and vice versa.
Choose a subject you would like to write "about." Then attempt to write a piece that absolutely avoids any relationship to that subject. Get someone to grade you.
Write a series of titles for as yet unwritten poems or prose's.
Write a bestiary (a poem about real and mythical animals).
A shocking experiment: Rip pages out of books at random (I guess you could xerox them) and study them as if they were a collection of poetic/literary material. Use this method on your old high school or college notebooks, if possible, then create an epistemological work based on the randomly chosen notebook pages.
Write a macaronic poem (making use of as many languages as you are conversant with).
Attempt to speak for a day only in questions; write only in questions.
Write the longest most beautiful sentence you can imagine-make it be a whole page.
Write poems that only make use of the words included in Basic English.
Using phrases relating to one subject or idea, write about another, pushing metaphor and simile as far as you can. For example, use science terms to write about childhood or philosophic language to describe a shirt.
Write what cannot be written; for example, compose an index.
The possibilities of synesthesia in relation to language and words: the word and the letter as sensations, colors evoked by letters, sensations caused by the sound of a word as apart from its meaning, etc. And the effect of this phenomenon on you; for example, write in the water, on a moving vehicle.
Attempt to eliminate all connotation from a piece of writing and vice versa.
Choose a subject you would like to write "about." Then attempt to write a piece that absolutely avoids any relationship to that subject. Get someone to grade you.
Write a series of titles for as yet unwritten poems or prose's.
Write a bestiary (a poem about real and mythical animals).
A shocking experiment: Rip pages out of books at random (I guess you could xerox them) and study them as if they were a collection of poetic/literary material. Use this method on your old high school or college notebooks, if possible, then create an epistemological work based on the randomly chosen notebook pages.
Write a macaronic poem (making use of as many languages as you are conversant with).
Attempt to speak for a day only in questions; write only in questions.
Write the longest most beautiful sentence you can imagine-make it be a whole page.
Write poems that only make use of the words included in Basic English.