I believe its time for a little writing activity to get the juices pumping. Pick anyone of the following and stick with it. Write a short story or even a poem following the guidelines given. Post your creation here, and see how two people come up with completely disparate responses.
1. A character walks into his bathroom. He discovers something that shouldn’t be there. What is it?
2. Two hippos walk into a café. What’s going on?
3. Write a dialogue that begins between two people, but ends with 100 in total agreement.
4. Write a poem without using the articles (the and a) and use the words fizzy, green, freckle, cranberry, and sweet as verbs.
5. Write a poem that includes allusions to the muses, a former US President, a figure in pop culture, a war that occurred over 100 years ago, and a famous animal. Also, use the word “obstreperous.”
6. Write from the perspective of someone of the opposite sex, someone who is much older than you, someone who is much younger than you, someone who is blind, someone who is deaf, or someone who is mute. Then insert that perspective into a typical situation that you have dealt with, but somehow things go awry.
7. Write a short story about a town with weather that controls its inhabitants.
8. Write a short story about a boy named Highliss. How did he get his name, and how did he end up locked in a Mexican kitchen?
I know it is counterintuitive to have a list that surpasses 5 but doesn’t reach 10, so I encourage you to write the last two challenges and post them!
My creative writing class at Yale is a workshop that requires you to read and critique class member’s creative pieces. This class is truly exciting for me as I have never been in a classroom environment that encourages free, untamed, uncensored creative writing (with the exception of the occasional creative on-demand assignments in my AP English Language class). We have been reading dozens of short stories both student-produced and from renowned authors. Each day, my eyes open just a tiny bit more to the immense world of fiction writing. A common theme in the first cluster of our readings has been gloom, promiscuity, and shame. I love those things just as much as the next person (um.. not so much) but I attempted to turn seemingly depressing prompts into opportunities to make a joke. It really gets your mind going to imagine a conflicting ending to a given prompt.For example, a prompt is: “He has carried aches and pains throughout his days for years. A type of pain that squeezes out his energy and love. This pain is…”You are immediately forced to think of an equally gloomy ending to this story. Yet, you can turn it around and create something unexpected and unique. I suggest you guys to try it. Post your prompts and replies here and see how people respond!