March 2025

MARCH EXERCISES

1. Tell the story of how you learned to use a kitchen tool or appliance. It can be when you learned to use a fork and spoon, or a spatula or a mandolin or a potato peeler or the stove or the grill or, well, any kitchen thing.

2. Search for a photograph or drawing of something unusual. Write a short description of what you see and 3 possible titles for your story about the item.

3. Recently, the Playwright group on Facebook held a 30 days of writing prompts and one of the prompts was to write a short piece about lists. Checklists, shopping lists, to-do lists, etc. In any genre you choose, write a story featuring a list.

4. The 1-2-3 Punch scene is called “the 1-2-3 Punch Scene,” because it happens REAL fast. If you blink you might miss it. (So don’t blink…Okay, do blink). Your reader won’t know that you’ve done it but all within one paragraph usually you’ll have divulged very specific character traits that run down through your character’s core in a matter of a minute or two. This is, in essence, the 1-2-3 Punch. In as quick as a paragraph you can have your character carry out 1-2 or 3 quick actions that display who that character is down to their core and it all happens as quick as a punch and your audience suddenly has a large sense of who that character is. To execute this type of scene well you need to decide a couple of character traits you want your character to have. Let’s make an example: I have a Protagonist named Jim. I want to portray that Jim is kind, caring, and charitable. Let’s say Jim’s widowed Aunt stays with him and his son. She comes home one day and realizes she forgot the butter. Jim hears her exclaim her disappointment and he quickly jumps up and says “Don’t worry about it Auntie, I’ll run out and get your butter for you so that you don’t have to run back in town.” He says it with a big smile of course and a great attitude about the whole thing whistling as he’s off on his way to the store. While waiting in line to buy the butter the person in front of him is a dollar or two short. Jim quickly says “Oh, let me get that for you” and smiles at the distraught stranger while digging in his pocket for two dollars. In a short paragraph, we have seen that Jim is kind, caring, and charitable. We didn’t have to SAY “Jim is kind, caring, and charitable.” We used a scene to let the reader see it for themselves. Create a character and decide on 3 character traits you want them to have. Write the 1-2-3 punch paragraph about that character.

FEBRUARY 2025 EXERCISE

 February 2025 - The Genre Exercise!

Create a piece of between 5 and 10 pages length in one of the following genres (not your usual one). Recommendation for February : Use the theme of Romance.

Drama

Stories composed in verse or prose, usually for theatrical performance, where conflicts and emotion are expressed through dialogue and action.

Fable

Narration demonstrating a useful truth, especially in which animals speak as humans; legendary, supernatural tales.

Fairy Tale

Story about fairies or other magical creatures, usually for children.

Fantasy

Fiction with strange or other worldly settings or characters; fiction which invites suspension of reality.

Fiction

Narrative literary works whose content is produced by the imagination and is not necessarily based on fact.

Folklore

The songs, stories, myths, and proverbs of a people or "folk" as handed down by word of mouth.

Historical Fiction

Story with fictional characters and events in a historical setting.

Horror

Fiction in which events evoke a feeling of dread in both the characters and the reader.

Humor

Fiction full of fun, fancy, and excitement, meant to entertain; but can be contained in all genres

Legend

Story, sometimes of a national or folk hero, which has a basis in fact but also includes imaginative material.

Mystery

Fiction dealing with the solution of a crime or the unraveling of secrets.

Mythology

Legend or traditional narrative, often based in part on historical events, that reveals human behavior and natural phenomena by its symbolism; often pertaining to the actions of the gods.

Poetry

Verse and rhythmic writing with imagery that creates emotional responses.

Science Fiction

Story based on impact of actual, imagined, or potential science, usually set in the future or on other planets.

Tall Tale

Humorous story with blatant exaggerations, swaggering heroes who do the impossible with nonchalance.

Biography/Autobiography

Narrative of a person's life, a true story about a real person.

Speech

Public address or discourse.

Young Adult Romance

Tales of teen life written for teen readers

January 2025 The Genre Exercise!

 January 2025 - The Genre Exercise!

Create a piece of between 5 and 10 pages length in one of the following genres (not your usual one):

Drama

Stories composed in verse or prose, usually for theatrical performance, where conflicts and emotion are expressed through dialogue and action.

Fable

Narration demonstrating a useful truth, especially in which animals speak as humans; legendary, supernatural tales.

Fairy Tale

Story about fairies or other magical creatures, usually for children.

Fantasy

Fiction with strange or other worldly settings or characters; fiction which invites suspension of reality.

Fiction

Narrative literary works whose content is produced by the imagination and is not necessarily based on fact.

Folklore

The songs, stories, myths, and proverbs of a people or "folk" as handed down by word of mouth.

Historical Fiction

Story with fictional characters and events in a historical setting.

Horror

Fiction in which events evoke a feeling of dread in both the characters and the reader.

Humor

Fiction full of fun, fancy, and excitement, meant to entertain; but can be contained in all genres

Legend

Story, sometimes of a national or folk hero, which has a basis in fact but also includes imaginative material.

Mystery

Fiction dealing with the solution of a crime or the unraveling of secrets.

Mythology

Legend or traditional narrative, often based in part on historical events, that reveals human behavior and natural phenomena by its symbolism; often pertaining to the actions of the gods.

Poetry

Verse and rhythmic writing with imagery that creates emotional responses.

Science Fiction

Story based on impact of actual, imagined, or potential science, usually set in the future or on other planets.

Tall Tale

Humorous story with blatant exaggerations, swaggering heroes who do the impossible with nonchalance.

Biography/Autobiography

Narrative of a person's life, a true story about a real person.

Speech

Public address or discourse.

Young Adult Romance

Tales of teen life written for teen readers

DECEMBER 2024 MISH MASH

 DECEMBER 2024

Exercise #1 - Scent

Bringing the senses into a piece of writing can illuminate descriptions of scenes and characters. Descriptions of sounds, tastes, and smells will draw the reader into the world you are creating. 

Describe an everyday object or a place primarily through its smell. Be as detailed and precise as possible.

Exercise #2 -Elizabeth Costello

Writing from the perspective of a character if the opposite sex and finding a truly representative voice is a very important, and difficult, skill.

Write an account of a small episode in which you hail a taxi but as you are getting in another person pushes past you and gets in. The taxi drives off. Describe what happens and what you are thinking. Does the other person say anything? If so, what do they say and how do they sound? Do you say anything? Then, flip the sex of the two protagonists around and rewrite the episode from the point of view of somebody of the opposite sex. Do the nuances of language change? Does the episode change in any way?

Exercise #3 - N + 7

A classic Oulipo writing constraint is N+7, whereby every noun in a sentence ius replaced by the noun seven places forward in the dictionary.

Write a short piece of writing on any subject you like, using any writing method you like, whether it be first person monologue, an account of your day, or just a single line of fiction.  Once complete, grab a dictionary. Work through your piece, replacing every noun with the noun seven places forward in the dictionary. Once you've finished, read your writing back. How does it read?  Does anything new and surprising jump out at you? Are there any new objects, ideas, or thoughts that might lead you onto another thought pattern for a new piece of writing? Or can you take your existing piece in a new direction?

NOVEMBER 2024 - Stephen King

Exercise #1 - Idea Generation

Think of your own "What If?" scenarios to generate story ideas. Below are some from Stephen King, to start you off.

What if a policeman in a remote Nevada town went berserk and started killing everyone on sight?

What if vampires invaded a small New England village?

What if a cleaning woman suspected of a murder she got away with (her husband) fell under suspicion for a murder she did not commit (her employer)?

Exercise #2 - Random words, phrases and ideas

If you already track random words, phrases and ideas in your Writer's notebook, share a couple with us. If you never have done this - give it a try in November and see how it works.

Exercise #3 - Five "whys"

Start with a final event and ask why this event has occurred. Answer the question with "because..." Then ask, "Why?" again and continue the process until you have asked five "whys?". Have you worked your way back to the opening point of the story? Every time you write an answer to a "why" you are likely to find a character emerging. You will end up having formed a number of characters and the basic structure of your story. Write the event and the five whys and the because.

Exercise #4 - Planning

Structure this plan for your story ideas. On the left half of your page, list very brief details of the key events in your story.  From these, pick out the three most impactful events in the story and put the first under "Beginning", the second under "Middle" and the last under "End". Does the story still begin and end where you are expecting or does this process offer any alternative perspectives on the structure?

October 2024 - Scary Stuff

 OCTOBER 2024 - SCARY STUFF

We are not looking at any other writer's except ourselves this month. Here are the exercises to work on:

EXERCISE #1

For a story to have tension, the writer must create characters with depth that the reader can empathize with. Create your own spooky character. Create a profile of that character – what is their name? Personality? Body Language? What do you know about them? Strengths and weaknesses? What makes us care about them? Then, using your profile – write a brief description of your spooky character in a way that makes the reader want to know more.

 

EXERCISE #2

Every great story needs a sizzling first line or two to drag the reader in. Create a great start for these topics:

·         Trick or Treating is dangerous

·         Ghosts do exist

·         Vampires versus Werewolves

·         Halloween is better than Christmas

·         Being scared is fun

 

EXERCISE #3

I personally hate writing prompts like these – but for this month let’s give them a go. Write a paragraph or two for each prompt.  Here are the prompts (do one or do all):

·         What is the scariest thing that ever happened to you? Why was it so scary?

·         What is the best Halloween costume you have ever had? What made it so special?

·         What is something that used to scare you, but no longer does? Why was it so scary?

·         Write the story of one Halloween night from the perspective of the Jack o Lantern on your front porch.

September 2024 - Murakami

 Haruki Murakami - September 2024

Murakami is known for Magical realism and surrealism and his best known work is "Kafka on the Shore" 2002.

Exercise #1 - Murakami Metaphor

In his novel "The Wind-Up Bird Chronicle" Murakami uses metaphor to describe loneliness: "The pages of a book in my hands would take on the threatening metallic gleam of razor blades." Murakami gives the book a sinister edge with the unexpected association of page and razor blade.

Think of an everyday object, perhaps a door, and create a metaphor that will make the door more sinister, associating it with loneliness, or anger, or despair.  Then write a sentence using this metaphor to bring out strong emotion. 

Object - 

Sentence -

Exercise #2 - Onomatopoeia

When spoken aloud, onomatopoeic words imitate the sound they are describing. This enables the reader to "hear" what is happening and can bring them further into the writer's world. Onomatopoeic words fall into five categories relating to the exercise.

Write some onomatopoeic words relating to each of the five categories. Then create a sentence using one or more of the words you have written.

Water

Air

Collisions

Voice

Animals

Exercise #3 - A different Perspective

Does a narrator have to be a person?

Try writing from the perspective of a building, a boat, or a tree. Let them describe as a first-person narrator the things that go on around them. What have they witnessed in their history? Who has lived or died in the building? Has the tree witnessed emotional moments that have long since passed?

Exercise #4 - World Records

Writing the fantastical in mundane tones is one of the marks of magical realism. Make up some world records that might appear in the Guinness Book of Records.  Think of extremes: the smallest, tallest, highest...Write about the records and the people, actions and things involved, as if they are facts.