Permission to talk to yourself

This was a very interesting exercise I did in writing class yesterday.  The idea was to write a piece of dialogue between yourself and a topic (which we had already workshoped as the topic of our short story).  My topic is the house where we will live one day, on a farm, where I dream of spending retirement, writing.  It sounded weird at first, to talk to something other than a human, but its really a great way to get ideas and form your writing piece.  We only had to write 2 pages, but I could have gone on and on!

Below is my example. How about any of my readers who are writers trying this?  See where it leads.  Share it on your blog.

 

 

Dialogue with My Topic – The Writing House (WH)

Me: Why are you called the Writing House?

WH: Because that’s what I am, a house where you can write

Me:  But what makes you different from any other house, could we not write there?

WH : Because I am special

Me:  In what way?

WH : Well first my location.  I am not a city house, but a country house; I stand alone, not part of a crowd.

Me: How alone are you?  Does that make you sad?

WH: I can’t see any other houses from where I stand, and no, I like being the only one here.  It makes me feel closer to the people who live in me.

Me:  So who will live in you?

WH:  You, and perhaps your husband.

Me: And when will this happen?

WH : When I am built.

Me: What will you look like?  How will you feel?

WH: I will be a house set into the side of a hill.  The biggest hill on the farm.  So I will have the best vantage spot.   I feel proud about that.  That I will be above everything else.  My back will nestle into the hill, supported by earth.  But my front will be balanced up high on metal stilts.  Kind of like a canter lever.  I will be made of wood and glass and welcome all that come to visit me. 

Me: Who do you think will visit?

WH: Your family, your friends, neighbours.  But not all the time.  I like my solitude like you.  You and your husband will live here, but only your heart will be here, his wont.  Maybe it will come to live here after he has been here for a while, we might then capture his heart.  But yours will be here as soon as I am built.  Before even.  I can feel your heart with me now as we talk.

Me:  How do you known that?

WH: I can see it in your face as you talk to me, see how you long for me to be built, your clear vision of me is what has made me real, what has enabled us to talk this way.  You think if you had not created me in your mind that I would exist?

Me: I guess not.

Me:  Will there be other buildings around you?

MH: Yes.  There will be a shed, that’s where your husband will likely spend most of his time.  I think too there will be stables, and I might have to share you with them.  But you will always see me as the most important.  You will walk the paddocks and look up and there I will be.  This will make you smile, and it will always feel like coming home. 

Me: Tell me more about how you will look

WH: My front will be your favourite place.  It will be timber floors that reach out into the decked area. Seamless.  The break between the two areas will be a glass wall that can be slid back when the weather is fine, or closed up when its bleak. I am very protective of my inhabitants and will always be warm or cool for you.  You will be compelled to set up your desk in from of one of the large front windows, so you can look down over the paddocks and see all your animals and your pasture. 

Me: What will I do at my desk?

WH : You will write of course!  That’s why I am called the writing house.  I will give you all the inspiration to be creative and write every day.  I will take care of you so that you can fulfil your dreams of writing.  I was built for this very reason. 

Me:  But will you ever get built?

WH: Yes. 

Me:  How can you know that?  You are just a house.

WH : Because you have dreamt about me for so many years, you have planned me over and over in your head, I exist in your head, therefore I exist. 

Me : How many years until you are built.

WH:  Ahh. Now that question I can’t answer you.  You will have to ask your husband that question.  He holds the key to you and I being together.  If his business finally becomes a success, then I will be built.

Me:  So until then, I guess we can still go on talking, there is no harm in that?

WH : Precisely.  We can still plan and tweak and I will become the best house ever built.  By the time you get to buy the land I will sit on, I will be perfect.