Splash Pond

Choose one or more of the prompts below and have fun splashing around! The more you play around with the possibilities of language, the more nuanced your own sense of Style will become.

1. Write your next paragraph as if you were explaining your research to your grandmother.

2. Rewrite one dense sentence as a conversation between two curious friends.

3. Take your most formal paragraph and rewrite it in the style of your favorite novelist.

4. Write one sentence that sounds exactly like you talking, then gradually "academ-ify" it through five versions.

5. Pick three personality traits you love about yourself and consciously write them into your next page.

1. Find your longest sentence and break it into three punchy ones.

2. Write one 3-word sentence, then one 30-word sentence, back-to-back.

3. Take a paragraph and rewrite every sentence to start with a different letter of the alphabet.

4. Replace every "is" and "are" in a paragraph with active verbs.

5. Write the same idea three ways: as a question, as an exclamation, as a whisper.

1. Read your writing aloud and mark where you naturally pause - then punctuate accordingly.

2. Choose a song you love and try to match its rhythm in a paragraph.

3. Write a paragraph where every sentence has a different number of syllables (5, 7, 12, 3, 15)

4. Take a boring sentence and add three specific, unexpected adjectives.

5. Write one idea as prose, then as poetry, then find the sweet spot between them.

1. Start three consecutive sentences with "You might wonder...", "Consider this...", "Imagine if..."

2. Write your argument as a guided tour: "First, we'll explore... Then we'll discover..."

3. Include one moment where you admit uncertainty or ask a genuine question.

4. Use a metaphor from your favorite hobby to explain your most complex concept.

5. Write as if your reader is brilliant but encountering your field for the first time.

1. Write your conclusion first, then work backward to see what arguments emerge.

2. Start with your most controversial claim and build toward your safest one.

3. Write the same paragraph three times: past tense, present tense, future tense.

4. Take one key point and express it through: statistic, story, question, image, analogy.

5. Write your introduction as if it were a movie trailer for your ideas.

Do you have a Splash Pond experiment to share? We’d love to hear about it! Email your ideas for splashing with Style to writespace@helensword.com.