Chicago Writer: Journaling Exercises


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	Exercise 1	Imaginative Writing An exercise in imaginative writing gets your creative juices thinking about something that pertains to nothing in your real life. Forget that scene that's moving too slowly. Forget the deadline on your project for a moment. Take a few minutes this morning and try this: Imagine holding a dinner party for 10. Invitees can be real or fictional, alive or dead. They can be from any sector of society, any place in the world. Who would you invite? Need Freud to have a word with one of the characters from your latest work in progress? Always wanted to ask Einstein a question about particulate matter? Plan the party and the scene as you would a real event. Where would you hold this dinner? How would you seat your guests? What would you serve? Play the consummate host and make sure that each of your guests has someone of like interests to talk to. Can't limit yourself to 10? Repeat the exercise to plan for a larger gathering. Let your imagination run wild and have fun!
	Exercise 2	Descriptive Writing Descriptive writing hones your powers of observation to pinpoint accuracy. By sitting still and becoming aware of what's around you, you realize how much you miss in the general hustle of the day getting from point A to point B. Take your journal and go sit someplace where you can write and observe people. Your favorite cafe, a shopping mall, a hotel lobby, or the public library are all good choices. Write a page or two about what's around you. What do you see, hear, feel, smell, taste? Take a closer look at one person or object in your view. Describe it in detail: color, texture, movement, how the light plays off it. Don't speculate on its purpose, that's for another exercise. Right now, just describe the here and now, the concrete facts of the space it's taking up in your line of vision. Notice how you can move from wide-angle to microscopic observation with just a blink of an eye. Switch back and forth to keep your object in context. How has your environment changed since you last observed? Continue this exercise until you can see the different patinas your writing takes on as your eye shifts its focus.
	Exercise 3	Rhetorical Writing Rhetoric has gotten a bad reputation in modern times, suggesting a writing style that leans toward the use of exaggeration and bombast. But travel back to the days of Plato and his pals and you get a much different perspective. The Greeks defined rhetoric as the art of using language persuasively. Thus, we get argument and persuasion as the two major types of rhetorical writing. Effective rhetorical writing includes three components: LOGOS: THE APPEAL TO REASON Most people believe themselves to be reasonable so appealing to a person's sense of reason is the most effective means of convincing them to change their way of thinking (" If we don't do this... then..." ). ETHOS: THE APPEAL TO CHARACTER We all share certain common ideas of what is just and fair as well as what it is to be just and fair! By demonstrating your own, or appealing your opponent's sense of what is right and fair, you can create quite a powerful persuasive device. (" Like you, I share a sense of horror and repulsion at what is happening..." ) PATHOS: THE APPEAL TO EMOTION It is said that when emotion comes in through the door, reason departs via the window, so use emotional pleas with care, but persuasion does often succeed by the careful and considered use of emotion—especially showing how passionate you feel for your point of view. (" Can we genuinely call ourselves human beings when we allow this kind of thing to continue unabated..." ). Shake off the specter of high school English class and try your hand at a rhetorical essay with the perspective of an accomplished writer. Establish your position on an issue and write either to defend that position or to persuade others to follow suit.

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