Keep A Wonder Journal
It will do you wonders.
The best thing I’ve done for myself this semester is to consistently keep a drawing and writing “wonder” book. I’m doing it religiously because I’m teaching my comics class about radical notebooking – that is, the act of filling every page of a blank book with play and wondering and ephemera, and not worrying about how it looks.
For this class, I’ve posted ten prompts per week for the past twelve weeks. Most of them are about comics-making and drawing, but some of them lend themselves well to writing, too. So I have an assignment for you, writer.
Get a notebook and take on as many of these tasks as you dare. Do one a day. Don’t overthink it. Let your hand draw, move, and play. This isn’t for anyone else; it’s a gift you’re giving your future self. And if you make something that’s interesting or funny or weird – post about it here! We want to read it.
Sit somewhere public, where you can hear people talking. Surreptitiously, write down everything you overhear. Fill a page with this. Underline anything interesting or beautiful or surprising or or or.
In detail, draw or describe a childhood bedroom.
Write about a walk. Choose a walk you’ve taken in your life, and draw scenes that took place along the walk, or write stories of the walk.
Free-write for a page or two. Don’t let your pen stop, no matter what. Keep going even if you’re not saying something terribly interesting or productive.
As soon as you wake up, write down and/or draw a dream. You might make this a poem, or a scene.
Draw one of the meals you ate today (or a snack) and write any important details.
You are the main character in a dystopian YA novel. Write a page of your (fake) journal.
Go to the library. Choose a book by its cover. Draw the book. Open the book and look for some interesting words and then copy those words into your notebook.
Tell the story of one of your birthdays in as many details as you can.
Draw portraits of a few of your friends. Write a few things you love about them below the portraits.
Write down ten compliments you’ve received in your life. Circle any that still glow. If you can’t come up with ten, then write your own!
Write a letter you’ll never send. Decorate, maybe.
Choose a phrase that seems like it would be fun to write down. Copy the phrase all over a page in your notebook. Fill the whole page. Use as many “fonts” as you can think of.
Think of a platonic love in your life. Please take a moment to celebrate this connection, on the page. This may take whatever form you think it ought to take.
Write about all the facts of your day. Fill an entire page. Try not to write about feelings; try to write about events and images that happened in the past 24 hours.
What do you know to be true now that you didn’t know a year ago? Tell me about it.
Copy a photo from your phone. Add color. Write about the photo.
Choose a song. Write the title of the song on the top of the page. Relax your body and listen to the song. As you listen, draw whatever comes to mind. Scribble. Relax.
Write about your guilty pleasure.
See if you can remember a time you felt euphoric. Write every detail you can about that memory.
Can you write a fictional story in 100 words? Can you draw a picture to go with it?
Write a 100-word story. Write it again in a totally different style. Draw it as a comic.
Write a response about something you’ve recently read
Write a script. A short one! Now turn that script into a comic.
Write a future you thought you might have had when you were a child.
Make a bird identification card but for you, a human. Include the physical properties of yourself, a section for your VOICE, and a section for your HABITAT.
Written and Illustrated by Sophie Lucido Johnson
Office of Modern Composition is a Chicago-based writing studio that both makes compositions and fosters composers. We offer one-on-one coaching for writers and also take on commissions for things you need to have written. We also host free events like our in-person and online co-writes.