It’s National Awkward Moments Day!

By WB Intern Cathy Sheafor

Have you ever imagined turning an obscure holiday into a writing opportunity? Well here’s your chance! 

Today is National Awkward Moments Day.  Everyone has experienced an awkward moment or two. Most of us have lists much longer than that. It’s time to take your awkward moments and use them in your writing. What better way could there be to celebrate today?   

You may wonder how to best write an awkward moment. So, here is one way. First, set a timer for a few minutes and make a list of  awkward moments.  These may be personal experiences where you felt awkward or perhaps you witnessed someone else’s awkwardness. Set that list aside. 

Then, set a timer for a few more minutes and make a list of feelings. Alternatively, check out The Emotion Thesaurus:A Writer’s Guide to Character Expression by Ackerman and Puglisi and use their emotions list.  

The final step in this exercise is to take an item from list one and write it as a scene using an emotion from list two.  For example, if your awkward moment was tripping while walking across a stage and the emotion from the list was denial, you would write the scene imagining how denial might come into play when your character tripped.  Does the main character outwardly deny that they tripped? What physical evidence shows their denial? Or does the main character experience inward denial? How does that manifest? Perhaps the main character suppresses their denial or experiences a longer term response. 

Play with these combinations and make random selections from the two lists that challenge you to write in unexpected ways. What if happiness is the emotion for an awkward moment? How can you write that? 

If you want to take this exercise one step further, consider taking the scene that you’ve written and weave it into a larger work — a short story, a picture book, or a chapter in your novel.   

Have fun with it! And, if you have other tips you think can help when it comes to celebrating awkward moments through writing, please share them with us on social media! 

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About the Author

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Cathy Sheafor is a writer from North Carolina. She is a graduate of Duke University and Washington University School of Law. She is currently working on picture books and her first middle grade novel. Apart from writing, Cathy loves swimming, hiking and traveling.