Spring Cleaning Prompts

This post will help you respond to the following Spellbinder Instagram post:

“Write a script about spring cleaning. Whether it’s a literal wardrobe clear-out or a metaphorical soul-cleansing endeavour, what are the benefits (or negatives) of tidying, downsizing, and letting go? How can you convey with your dialogue the liberating (or empty) feeling the characters feel after this kind of ritual?”

You could take this prompt in lots of interesting directions, but pinpointing a way to start could be tricky. Here are a couple of steps to help you start on your spring-cleaning script!

1. Begin by having a look through your own possessions — is there anything there that you would like to get rid of or pass on? If so, think about what symbolism there could be behind the object. In addition, think about the story behind that object. How did it come into your possession? You could then use all these different thoughts as inspiration for your own script — perhaps a character chooses to clear out an object like yours, and reflects on where it has come from. Plenty of the best stories are based on real life, and this starter exercise is a good case in point.
2. Write a couple of lists. The first one can be all the benefits that you see in actual — or metaphorical — tidying, downsizing and letting go. The second can be all the negatives. Once the list is complete, look back on what you have written. Can you create a character, or characters, who is experiencing one of these benefits or negatives? Alternatively, perhaps they are seeking to do so, but something is stopping them. Think about what obstacles could be in their way.
3. Write a scene where one character has had a spring clean and cleared out something that means a lot to another character. What dialogue could ensue from this situation? What could the possible subtexts be?

These are just three exercises, but hopefully they prove useful in helping you to begin creating your own script based on literal, or metaphorical, spring cleaning. Let us know how you get on, and good luck!

Ned Vessey, Blog Co-Ordinator

Photo by Pixabay from Pexels.

Read this blog post on the Spellbinder website here.