by Sandra Young, Sacred Heart University One of the premises of the creative writing classroom is that a single suggestive
exercise can snowball into a productive piece of fiction, creative nonfiction,
poetry, or drama. Things we see, hear, smell, taste, or touch can trigger meanings that cause
us to scribble moods, images, sounds, snippets of conversation; all a disconnected
maze that waits to be untangled. Another premise is that creative writing instructors take any exercise and
turn it into their own and then turn it over to students to find ways through,
around, under, and over it. The following exercises are old, new, original, borrowed, stolen. If one sounds
promising, try it. Make it your own. See what happens.
Put any two people in any room. One says, "I don't like what you're doing." Continue the drama without revealing the relationship of the two people.
Start with your current age. Make a list of large and small events that are parts of your story. Now, starting with your current age, write a poem that tells the story of you going backwards in time, and weaving in the list of events.
People watching is a terrific way to find both quirky and mundane mannerisms. Settle safely somewhere and watch. Then write a poem about what you saw; incorporate smells, sounds, sights.
List the contents of a place (start with a small space) that is entirely yours - your wallet, backpack, desk drawer, underwear drawer, medicine cabinet. Whatever. Now list the contents. Choose two or three items and write a story about why they are in your wallet, backpack, desk drawer...
"She (or he) had a normal childhood." Write more. Write in the third person of your gender, or write in the voice of the opposite gender.
"There was nothing but black in the rearview mirror." Write more. Write in the second person.
Write the "story" about yourself that you tell strangers.
Two people are sitting at a table. One is reading the newspaper. The other sits. The reader starts laughing. The other says, "What's so funny?" Continue the drama but both characters must use very short sentences.
Visit a local cemetery. Walk among the headstones. Make notes about names, dates, groups of families. Describe the condition of the headstones. Write a story about one of the people represented now by the headstone. How old is he/she? What do you know about this person based solely on the year he/she died? Try first person.
Using fine detail, describe someone's face. You need not know the face you're describing, but you'll need to have time to watch this person.
When the time came for me to make my first Thanksgiving turkey, I poured over several cookbooks. I had everything I needed, but when I set to work, I didn't refer to one of the cookbooks. I was flooded with memories of my mother preparing dozens of turkeys and I knew what to do. Write about a similar memory.
Write a story about your mother or father when they were the age you are now.
Write the same story but as a drama.
Write the same story but as a poem.
Choose a Tarot card. What does the card represent? Write a poem about you and the card.
Watch people (safely) in a restaurant. Can you determine their relationship to each other? Describe them and write a short dialogue.
Visit a museum and wander around. See what catches your attention. Try this as a description exercise.
Hospital waiting rooms are even better than restaurants for people-watching. Hang out in an ER waiting room and just watch, listen, and smell. See what images come from this experience.
Follow (safely) someone in the grocery store who's talking on a cell phone. Is the conversation grocery-related? Write a poem using snippets of the conversation and weave in descriptions of the food on the shelves.
Holidays are often landmines. Family gatherings can trigger some pretty interesting old memories and their accompanying tensions. Write about such a memory/tension, but try to find the humor in it.
Visit an antique shop and write a short descriptive piece about one item in the shop. Use the other items surrounding it to highlight your chosen item.
Every couple fights. Freewrite about an argument that your parents have quite
frequently. Then radically shorten the argument to just three statements from
mom and three from dad. Then write a short drama in which the character talk
about other things and as the conversation builds weave in the statements from
mom and dad. Is the drama still an argument? See what happens. Talk to your grandparents. Ask them what it was like at the dinnertable when
they were 10 or 15. Write a descriptive narrative in which you "recall" a dinner
at your grandparent's table. Do some research on an illness, such as diabetes or congestive heart failure
or leukemia. What kind of a death would this illness produce? Would it necessarily
be a "bad" death? Write about a character choosing to die from such a disease. A young friend of mine carries with her the blue collar worn by her dog who
was put to sleep. She tells me she would be devastated if she lost it, but yet
she carries it with her. Do you have something like the dog collar that you
carry with you? Write a short narration/description about the item and its significance.
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2004 McGraw-Hill Higher Education