Writing cue: random connections

 Choose ONE word from each of the following lists:

LIST ONE:        LIST TWO:        LIST THREE:        LIST FOUR:        LIST FIVE:

silver                    cherry                     bacon                        horse                      steam train

pewter                  orange                     bread                        elephant                    Porsche

clay                      lime                         banana                     tortoise                   school bus

treacle                  pomegranate            yogurt                     cuttlefish                skateboard

ruby                    persimmon                quinoa                    labrador                   helicopter

soot                    apple                          cheese                     snake                      aeroplane

chalk                   pear                           linguine                  lion                          raft

linen                    grape                        potato                      frog                         scooter

Now, write down your five words and try to think of as many things associated with those words as you can. Allow your mind to wander and write down everything that comes to you. Don't put too much thought into this. Let one idea suggest another. Each word might suggest something specific or generic, something only you would think of or something many people would think of. Cross out any association that seems too obvious or uninteresting. 

EXAMPLE:

'soot' - after a fire - burnt-out building - letter burning in a fireplace - industrial site - nineteenth century air pollution in big cities - darkness (black as soot, sooty sky) - Sooty and Sweep - Sooty as name for a beloved teddy bear or pet - Sooty as a racist slur - a world of soot with soot covering every surface - wet soot like black ink - what has been burned? Soot = ashes? - blackness - dustiness - dirt - smudges - knee-deep in soot - Othello's 'sooty bosom' - soot/foot/gut/slut/glut/shut/hut/mutt/cut/strut

Next, try to make some connections between items on your 'Ideas Chart'. Which ideas are you most drawn to? Can you see any narratives forming, or possibly just ideas or hints for narratives? Have any unexpected images arisen? Do any of the ideas have a strong emotional pull for you? Are different ideas coalescing or transforming your original thoughts?

Use this 'Ideas Chart' to generate some prompts for stories or poems. Hopefully, you will find that each Ideas Chart you produce gives you several ideas for writing, and you can go back to the five lists you started with to select different words as often as you like. 

You might also attempt to link the words, or write a story which uses all five words, or use derivatives of the words (such as 'elephantine', 'chalky', 'appleblossom', 'cheesy', 'rafting', etc). The words are there to be used in whatever way you wish.

Happy writing!