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“Unexpected Loves” is the title of a prompt in Session 2 of Write What You Don’t Know. Session 2 is called “Let Rip” and it’s all about ranting. Saying what you mean (or not)! Meaning what you say (or not)! Putting passion into your writing: positive and negative.
Most people’s default setting is neither icy cold nor burning hot, but somewhere in between. Tepid on a bad day, warm on a good day. That’s fine for everyday communication but can lead to bland writing. It’s good to throw away the reins from time to time and just let rip. If you’re still trying to find your voice, this is an excellent strategy. If you worry about saying the wrong thing, or you think your writing feels ordinary, this is an excellent corrective.
So what do you Effing Hate, and Effing Love? Rants work great for character development and dialogue, too. (I used two of my own for two characters in my novel A Stolen Summer.) And the more unexpected, the better.
First, make a list. Choose things you hate that other people love or don’t notice, and things you love that other people hate or don’t notice. Stay away from politics and religion. Two of my hates: men wearing slip-on shoes, and Christmas music (even though I love Christmas). And a few days ago in Puerto Vallarta I noticed something else I love that I hadn’t thought of in a long time: tangles of wires hanging above streets.
You probably think I’m insane. But there’s something about this kind of streetscape that really pleases me. The last time I got a strong hit of it was in Cluj, a city in Romania, when I was a judge at the Transylvanian Comedy Film Festival. (No kidding.) Cluj is quite cosmopolitan, as it’s the discount university degree capital of Europe, but it still has old electric trams on rails in the streets, and lots of this random spaghetti wire.
I haven’t set my 10-minute timer and written my rant yet. Maybe I’ll do that in Dallas airport this time, as I wait for my connection on my way home.
Here's the link to my post about ranting from a few months ago: with demo of how I used my own in my novel
https://imaginativestorm.substack.com/p/what-really-pisses-you-off
Love this ranting idea. Hell yes. Setting a timer today to get that sh*t flowing.