City of IF

Thunderbird

I have been thinking of introducing this little exercise to the denizens of IF for some time now. We used to do something like it - called it a 'penwalk' - in my creative writing class in high school. (Trivia: at first it was just a club and I was one of its first members - yep... been a nerd for a while! ;) )

Anyhow, the goal of this little excercise is to write whatever words come to mind, as quickly as possible, editing as little as possible (though you may wish to try to omitt certain colorful phrases for the kiddie's sakes), for a timed period of exactly 5 minutes. Try to put spaces between your words but don't even think about crafting sentences, paragraphs, or any manner of grammar. Its all about speed and shutting down your analytical mind as much as possible - just letting it all flow from your fingertips as fast as you can type.

DO NOT look at the screen! DO NOT try to think of what you just said or allow your mind to wander into considering the significance of any of it! Just GO!

Now, for this little practice, I had to find an online timer. You can use this to let you know when to stop - though it might be better if someone else does it for you or if you utilize a stopwatch.

Once you've finished typing, you may look over it to make sure it wouldn't be overly offensive (but that's ALL you may edit!) and then submit for the rest of us.

This is not a competition. This is not a contest to see how fast we can all type (though it may be somewhat revealing) or how creative we can be. This is simply a way for us to open up our creative muse, to loosen our brains and give us a bit more fluid access to our vocabulary. We share it for the humorous value alone (and it usually does the trick in that department!)

Feel free to do this as often as you like. Its a great way to get warmed up for writing a chapter as well.

Not only will it offer some good chuckles, it should help you to improve a great many regions of the mind that we access when we write.

Ok, 'nuff explainin'. I'm gonna try one myself! :lol:

Thunderbird · Posted: Fri Apr 15, 2011 7:40 pm Post subject:

Post my underbelly for the sky to see I wish to float on the air beneath my feet while aloft in the heavens above. To wear my jacket with a tear in its dreamland reality a dog wanders into sight in the dead of the night. Carefree glasses of wine await me but that isn't the half of it. Too bad the oaf can't make sense of a terrible sense of bits and kibbles. Crunchy cereal is all about scattered amongst egyptian nightmares a cat screams in the night waiting for me to pay attention to him but he knows I never will. Its not everyday you find a silhouette underscoring a chain when the dog wants a walk to get away from the cat. My car seems like a much better mode of transportation wouldn't you say? I mean flying is one thing but when you drown in the sky you're just going to die. And your hair is going to be a huge mess. Underwriting all of this there is news saying that we are about to all become hippos. Hippos? We can't even swim! What is this all about anyhow? Is it just the worries of a spinster telling her craft to the townsfolk? I mean sheesh don't we have enough trouble from the maggots? I mean, they're revolting in droves these days carrying me away on insect waves and lifting me up to a platform whereby I might fall! I've never liked being put on a pedestal really but then again that must be a lie because I do it all for the fun..... and the glory I guess. Who wouldn't? There must be some kind of emotion we can feel without being considered a total asshole y'know? I wouldn't. Dang smokes always wanna ash.

D-Lotus · Joined: 21 Oct 2004 Posts: 4123 Location: Hollywood, USA

Some interesting themes there, TB: Animals in the night. Flight. Altitude. Underwritten.

Let me try.

Semblance of the irradiating moonlight that shadows the fog which breeds in my soul. Whatever the midnight brings, I know it will pervade the scent of alcohol within my inner desires. So this is all a musings for the intention of placing the unconscious in a clear view mirror and then take it apart piece by piece until i realize, like I told francine the other day, that we are just a pile of neurons firing in random directions and somehow we are capable of producing a reified ego which shouts triumphantly in its infantile throes. I stop to look at my watch and realize it has been less than one minute and I have already poured out my soul at a fascinating speed, it is all dribbling out like warm marmalade from a toaster. That's a bizarre image, I wonder where it is we conjure it all up. Osama Bin Laden is dead, and where does that leave us? Don't we realize that fundamentalist religious movements stem from the fact that globalization has disrupted the traditional patterns of life of different societies and that they are left fragmented, without direction, without control of the movement of capital, completely at the mercy of brokers who have no consideration for the fate of a community, of a single beating heart unless it turns a profit. Sometimes I wonder, wouldn't I be better off in a society which sticks to traditional mores and conducts and is tight knit and actually cares about each other?

Whew. That last part was a bit of a social critique rant... my thoughts turned in that direction cause at that moment I heard the news from people around me. Anyway, that was fun until I started my rant. :)

Thunderbird · Posted: Sun May 01, 2011 8:41 pm Post subject:

That was fun to read that rant! I agree with it entirely :D Thanks for giving it a go D! Heh, heh... you gave yourself away here ;)

Quote: I stop to look at my watch and realize it has been less than one minute and I have already poured out my soul at a fascinating speed, it is all dribbling out like warm marmalade from a toaster.

Dribbling out like warm marmalade from a toaster... very nice.

Helps to loosen up the head a bit doesn't it?

PopeAlessandrosXVIII · Posted: Sun May 01, 2011 10:12 pm Post subject: My try

Lift and tug and pull and push, The life abounds with last thoughts before comming to that place within and without of light and coal. With trembling fingers, the last of our kind lifts it's beat to the sky in laves of love and defiance. Kin of mine, oh one of fate, let not be of christ and man. For beyond the craft and bouth of lent will be not of sand and growth of tart within. Fight beyond the ground and from the lath break off your mind in it's last call of night. Sun of sky and earth of north with flight and fire upon the ice of thine. Might with lost crayola gantz and fringe. Knight of sould that can't be undone, and freight yonder living in it's own will of justice. Man be of not right or wrong, but of the cander of a mother's womb. Laugh and make merry, for tonight will be the last of your death howl. Just as from the beginning there was what is, to this end there is not stopping what life has laid out before your feet as God lay forht his own path. Give to thee all of me, and in your heart, feel of my soul in thine.

++++++

That was fun, but I got some random words in there.....I'll do another one of those again tomorrow!

Shillelagh · Joined: 11 Mar 2010 Posts: 398 Location: Kansas

Well, I guess I'll give this thing a try, I always feel awkward about doing these sort of things, I don't quite understand the appeal really but I do need to work on some essays so maybe it really will help- anyway at least I'm doing something less procrastinate-y. I feel bad that I'm not working on my story but curses I really will get back to it- huh, I wrote 'curses' I kinda self-censored in my head. I find that kinda weird, really. My mind didn't used to be that dirty, really, but anymore I can't think of anything innocent. I remember as a kid when the worse word in my arsenal was 'fart', but now... oh, no, everything's completely down the gutter. I'm starting to slow down, yet I've got three minutes left. I think that's part of the reason these things confuse me. I feel like I should be writing a story here, so that something actually happens, instead of me ranting. So, one day, there was a kid named Billy. He was walking along when he accidentally fell into an alternate dimension. He was really confused, but the colors were pretty and anyway he really had nothing better to do, so what was the harm. I'm not sure what happens to Billy next. I'm really bad at writing plot and conflict. But it's a happy story, so I bet it ends with him saving the day somehow. I'm not sure who the villain would be- perhaps aliens. From Outer Space. Who kinda look like Jamie Farr. Points if you get the reference. I bet Billy rescues a princess, too. Or at least some sort of a babe. There's always a girl in these things. Everything comes down to love, really. Or death. Or taxes. Or, well, okay, so maybe things can't be boiled down into something simple. That's really the appeal of the whole thing, innit? I don't quite get it myself, but I hear that... Oop, time.

Vishal Muralidharan · Joined: 24 Aug 2010 Posts: 867 Location: City Of IF!

Bin laden is dead! As if i really care anyway. That guy was a tyranny and of course Im quite happy but this doesn't really affect my life in a really big way. Im still gonna do the same things over and over again. Though I don't know when I'll be able to return to Nightmares, I hope It'll be pretty soon. So I guess Tommorow I'll watch Dwayne "THE ROCK" Johnson's birthday on youtube. Too bad we get wrestling a week late. I just have to see this one. The Rock is freaking amazing but Cena doesn't suck. I mean Cena is okay, but the rock is just WAAYY better than him. My brother's watching Tv now, and I'll go try to get him back on IF after Im done with this. I've asked him so many times, and he says "I will". What the hell is that supposed to mean. I must try some more violent methods. Maybe blackmail?! No Im not that type of a person. No-one deserves to be treated like that. Blackmail SUCKS. So does Ice-Cream. Chocolate is better than Ice cream. If I tell someone that I love them more than chocolates then they should understand that I can't love anyone more. I still got 20 seconds left. What do I write? Wait... How much long will this take?! DONE!

Thunderbird · Posted: Mon May 02, 2011 6:49 am Post subject:

GREAT!

Now, keep in mind that I sorta tend to break my own rule about not trying to craft sentences as well. Its as involuntary as thinking of the next word to say when you've been writing for a while. And I find typing, rather than writing in pen, tends to somehow push in that direction even more. Probably an interesting brain activity insight for all those brain chem enthusiasts.

But yeah, keep in mind, just put down the FIRST thing you think, no matter if it makes sense or not. This has been fun to read through! Keep 'em comin. I'll try another one here soon too.

Lebrenth · Joined: 29 Dec 2005 Posts: 1483 Location: Utah

Have a heart of lumpy what'sit. I can't keep up with harold the moth. Why not? Give a guy a chance, we're all here to get it on! Now where have those melons gone? I can't give two bits of sense, to what I have here is nonsense. I can't help it, I type so well! We are together now. Not together, we're together. Hey, where's the fish? You can't go out to the sprinkler. You can. Have telekinetics. We don't have goat's milk. You have the girls I have the bats. Hats. That's not we who held the line. Not a lot. Help! You get that. You aren't that. I can be the army. What hillbillies? That's the world in the great outdoors. That is good. Here is the world. Heckling bellies. Hoops and garters. I have the goose. handles of the goodness be. Get your scrumptuous. Who is? The great marvel of the good help the yellow mango get the blue bottle. Mirror of delightful interruptions, I get a hold of the arrow again. I thought it would not be friendly but the gold is for those who ate mush. Heaven is not holding a gravel. Weakening the thing for yuppies, the burned peanuts bring joy. That's because of higgins. I ...

Thunderbird · Posted: Mon May 02, 2011 8:33 am Post subject:

Higgins? :lol:

Lebrenth · Joined: 29 Dec 2005 Posts: 1483 Location: Utah

Thunderbird wrote: Higgins? :lol: I guess so...

D-Lotus · Joined: 21 Oct 2004 Posts: 4123 Location: Hollywood, USA

Shame on you for not keeping up with Harold the moth. :D

PopeAlessandrosXVIII · Posted: Sun May 22, 2011 2:20 am Post subject: Post

NErock bo jim boyonik foi. I love the end of cancer meds. last of crack betyond the frog with trips and fropp. list the men tack sum piondi. lips of grath york nibble my heart. fog of grons yech jrips dende. jack of trog and ace of sptial gorches. divide the last of decks in hindered tips of gaths. kripples of great hoggsbi. kcraft grets degger tibbles. or beyond the fight yonder trags delever telles minial in spoty good. jands triviers waggle thy moons at the ass of sightlessness. hand og god in all the fights determined by slugs and men. huro deru wegts miffed ors pletok girrafs. hippie in my trousers and grates down the hall of my hospital room. joy of bongs and weed in hearts of cons and fidgets. aberoth regular beaches of toggleing hats and deranged bonfires. loeru dopper tevers tang fo tio nobs. last for the ben of grats anf graggle bond doibeft. Zibber dibbers dog.

++++++++++

God that made NO sense.......

Thunderbird · Posted: Sun May 22, 2011 9:03 am Post subject:

Nope... but it was great for a good :lol:

Hippies in my trousers... woah

D-Lotus · Joined: 21 Oct 2004 Posts: 4123 Location: Hollywood, USA

This would actually be a great exercise for liberating the fecund mind bog of verse. Do you mind if I borrow this concept--slightly tweaked--- in the poetry guild?

Thunderbird · Posted: Sun May 22, 2011 9:38 pm Post subject:

Of course not D! Go right ahead (and now you've left a cute ad for the guild behind in your wake too ;) )

Andolyn · Posted: Sun May 22, 2011 9:41 pm Post subject:

Dragons are cool, you know i find that the more i try not to make sentences the harder it is to actually acheive this goal. anywho, here we go with this timing thing. we'll see how far i get. i was always really good at these things in English comp 1. Friends are great. I've made a lot of new ones since ive been on here. Biz is probably my closest now. scratch that, he's definitely the closest on here. that's ok though. i still love everyone else. hamburgers are greasy. the green hornet is a really good movie if there wasnt so much crude humor i would have liked it better. i seem to be declining in my health these last few days. times of discontinued breathing are never fun. swords on the other hand, now those are fun. anything pointy really. i dont cut myself i'm not emo. in fact i tend to be a rather cheerful person. see previous posts. doctor who is the greatest show created. you know a lot of people really misinterpret the Bible. i find that sad. it would make them much happier if they knew what it truely meant. Jesus is not the man everyone thinks he is. he's much better. did you know that Christianity in its truest form has very little to do with denomination and is in fact centralized on the relationship one has with the creator? i think more people would be open to the idea if they knew that as well. oh, look at that. the timer's goi...

Thunderbird · Posted: Tue May 24, 2011 10:18 pm Post subject:

Ah... still enjoying reminiscing on the chats this inspired :)

Andolyn · Posted: Wed May 25, 2011 10:29 am Post subject:

haha! those were some pretty deep chats, no? haha

HalfEmptyHero · Posted: Thu May 26, 2011 1:05 pm Post subject:

The hangover is such a terrible movie, i hated it I didn't think it was even remotley funny but for some reason i am still probably going to see the second one in theaters mostly because i have nothing else to do and because i like movie theater popcorn although not as much as i used to but anyways the hangover was terrible why does everyone think it is so funny is there somthing wrong with me or with everyone else. i am inclined to believe the second option, as the movie was terrible and any sane person could see that the jokes were forced and the story was unbelievable what ever happened to funny because its true. those were the days. hmm, i'm drawing a blank now. stephen king, i'm not a huge fan i've read half of two of his books and a few short stories they weren't bad they just didn't do it for me. a girl at work said she didn't like his novels but his short stories were better. she also said that he was in love with himself and was unable to take the stephen king out of his characters. in different words of course, but i agreed with her. that was probably only because she said it and there was no opposing opinion so i went along wiht it, i don't know enough or care enough about stephen king to. . . .
out of time

Guest · Posted: Thu May 26, 2011 1:15 pm Post subject:

If susan sais that my mummified paw should be used to make something out of a scene, to create a sublime, creation that would cornfuzzle the readers or even the watchers....(sorry don't have time...)

Thunderbird · Posted: Thu May 26, 2011 8:10 pm Post subject:

lol... I loved the Hangover! But then, I AM from Vegas now. Thanks for the deep thoughts guys!

Lilith · Posted: Sun Sep 11, 2011 1:52 pm Post subject:

That is one giant timer I wonder how long the wasp is going to keep banging into my screen oh squirrel why am I doing this, oh right boredom maybe I should shut off this harry potter audio book I really haven't been paying attention since I got them oi kitty quit batting at my arm meh im not quite sure I like stephen fry or jim dale better whatever both british accents which can be pretty hot wow I just now realized I have ADD pretty bad now even my fingers which I need to take the rest of the chipped polish off or buy some new I'm not sure I like the old orangey shiney one gah cold nose on my arm where I got burnt today what an odd sensation but why did Tika go away to walk the dog gah now I'm bored again and there's nowhere I want to post on Legacy does everything get boring when you verbally scrap with people I wonder or is that just the frigging hellish heat of the summertime oh well doesn't matter can't wait to go back on vacation again actually can't wait until it's permanent hehe ah now I really can't type what's going through my brain but oh if you only knew WHY WON'T THAT SQUIRREL AND WASP LEAVE ME ALONE I don't like wasps stupid stinging bastards

******* End Challenge********

*coughs* Well then, that is probably the madest thing I've ever written or typed... give my brain five minutes to do whatever it wants and this is what happens... WOW.

Thunderbird · Posted: Mon Sep 12, 2011 6:39 pm Post subject:

That was awesome Lil! Thanks for contributing your touch of madness to our pool of delerium! From this well we shall crystalize inspiratium...

Vikas Muralidharan · Joined: 29 Aug 2010 Posts: 600

Vishal Muralidharan wrote: My brother's watching Tv now, and I'll go try to get him back on IF after Im done with this. I've asked him so many times, and he says "I will". What the hell is that supposed to mean. I must try some more violent methods. Maybe blackmail?! No Im not that type of a person. No-one deserves to be treated like that.

I thought I was back on IF BEFORE The Rock's retun?! Anyway, The Rock whoops ass :P

Also, LOL at The Hangover stuff.... I cant imagine anyone who doesnt like movie thatre popcorn ;)

I'll try this one soon :)

Shillelagh · Joined: 11 Mar 2010 Posts: 398 Location: Kansas

Oh, hey, look, it's this thing. I forgot this thing existed, but it was kinda fun, so maybe I'll give it a go again. I mean, technically, I saw it again with Lilith posted, but I didn't say anything then, but it keeps coming around, so I guess I'll give it a go. I really wish I had a better timer, but my phone just has an alarm clock and a stop watch. I can measure when I get to five minutes, and I can measure an end time, but I can't get anything to time down from five minutes. How lame is that? Pretty lame. I wish I could get back into the writing spirit again. I have a lot of ideas, but most of them are only beginning-heavy with no conflict, and a lot of them muddy together and I'm not sure which ones I should use and even then not all of them would work well for SGs I think I mean there's the time-travelling lovers one, and the one with the intern who shows up to a wacky lab but I think that plot idea's a little too wacky, but the only other one I really meant to use on another site, although I guess it's okay if they share, I just don't know that the two sites have much synergy given how kid friendly everything around here is. And I'm still tempted to write a story that involves body switching on some level, but it's such a corny idea that gets over-used so very, very much I feel kinda lame needing it for a plot device. But really, I guess it's fine as long as I make it work, I just don't know if I'd be able to give it justice, especially given the recent body swap movie. It looked terrible, and I don't want to buy a ticket in case that makes them want to make more, but I'm really curious what it was like, like a guilty secret. Maybe I'll get it when

Emperor · Joined: 02 Nov 2004 Posts: 471 Location: San Diego, CA

These are great, I really like this TB.

Murport · Joined: 14 May 2012 Posts: 5 Location: Louisiana

I enjoy doing exercises like this. Sometimes these things make me nervous for fear of revealing too much about myself. I suppose that comes with being a writer now that I think about it. I really have no idea how I'm going to achieve NOT forming sentences and/or paragraphs. Okay enough rambling Murport, get busy.

These words what will they convey? Pleasure mixed with agony and knife with a steel heart. Where are all the random afflictions and...
I suppose this movie has is standing room only since I am so uncomfortable. Cooking the fish in the slow cooker didnt affect the random predators. goofy and mickey agreed that it was pointless. laughter and silence which came first? I am a foregone conclusion. Swam through the barrier and took a hard right. What and why did you touch me. RUde and polite in the favric jumping into oblivion with a single play. Thats not yourt property moron. Get the hell up and taste this weekend. John or is it Jon. He was my favorite. Neck of time and the years took their toll. Food service was the only rebel left. Eggs and chocolate bean salad. My fingers carry the blade of a thousand miles. Fair rude cracker clothes in my bag. This coke

scissorkitty · Posted: Sat Dec 28, 2013 8:07 pm Post subject:

Perhaps the most fun aspect of this challenge is the fact that I can rant on, and on, and on, and also type much faster than I suspected when I started. Like, significantly faster. I don't know how fast I thought I could go- I haven't made a concentrated effort to do any prolonged writing or typing in a considerable amount of time. Time is like that. Life is like that. It lifts you up and takes you where it wants to go, where it wants you to go, and there you are- you don't always go where you think you'd like to be, but when you open your eyes, you're in location and the shot is always in motion. I enjoy the challenge of life, sometimes. Sometimes I just need a little time to think,and a glass of wine, and maybe a few minutes in a room with no one else in it (except maybe my cat). Cats are good. They understand things with just a clink of a lemon-yellow eye. The universe can be heard sighing in soft contentment inside the paradox of a cat-purr. How do they make that marvelously noise? Nothing soothes me to sleep quite so unexpectedly. Phew! My wrists are actually a bit achy with all this effort. I hope everyone realizes that I will be going back and correcting my spelling here. I can't NOT do that. I've over 30. My mother is a retire English teacher. Some part of my brain will surely whither and die, and also tell Mama on me and get me grounded, if I don't at least correct some of the mistakes that I see glaring at me from up above there. That's ok. Mistakes are how we learn. How's learning going for everyone these days? How do people learn things? Does anyone even practice the fine but dying art of proper grammar anymore? Sometimes I feel so OLD!

(AAAnnnd, there's my time. Phew!)

Emperor · Joined: 02 Nov 2004 Posts: 471 Location: San Diego, CA

I need this, I know I do. The rust on my writers pen is so thick it will not simply roll off, nor will a simple dusting to the job. I need a chisel and hammer, I need a motor powered saw blade to rid me of this rust. In my mind I know I need this. My heart is heavy, my aptitude is devoid, my instincts are dull and sloth. So I drink from this five minutes of hope, to maybe throw a spark in the dry kindle of my soul. Maybe a purple bonfire will light, throwing a warm twilight glow over me and those I love. In my arms, and my chest and the soles of my feet, I know that I need this. The fox on my floor looks at me with hopeful, but exhausted eyes. I know that you can only be ignored for so long, I know that you can only go unfed before wasting away. It is cruel of me to believe that I can leave you there lying on the floor for so long, unattended - and then just come back and demand inspiration. The timer shrills at me, mockingly.