Creative Writing Exercise: DIALOGUE



Creative Writing II Exercise Q4, #1: Dictionary Help

Guided Writing—A La Dictionary

1. Open the dictionary to three different places at random, selecting three different random words. Write those three words here:

2. Write for 4-5 minutes on each of these words—don’t stop to think, just write freely.

3. Look over what you’ve written, selecting strong words, phrases or images—underline them, or circle them on the page

4. Examine these phrases, words and images to see where you’d like to go from here; you may choose to write a poem using one/several of these ideas as a starting point—or you may choose to write a story, should your words/images take you in that direction. See where those images take you.

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Creative Writing II Exercise Q4, #2: The Hero of the Twenty-First Century

Design the hero for the twenty-first century.

• Include those qualities that you think make him/her heroic.

o Why is she needed?

o What is his/her story?

o What are his/her flaws?

Provide a history of his/her quest. Include all aspects of the motif:

• origins (What are her beginnings?)

• calling (How does he know what he has to do?)

• obstacles (What gets in her way?)

• foes (Who gets in his way? Who opposes her?)

• romantic interest (Do I need to explain?)

• his/her goal (What wrong will he right?)

If you are having trouble creating these components, think about any hero that you know and see how they fit the criteria.

Creative Writing II Exercise Q4, #3: Childhood Games

1. Start freewriting with the phrase “When I was a child, I used to pretend…”

2. When you reach a spot where the freewriting stops flowing, take a look back at what you’ve written.

3. Take something from your writing and create a complete piece: it may be a poem based on a line or two; it may be a complete, nonfiction story about an event; or it may be a fictional account of a related event.

4. Complete some finished work in your journal (1.5 pages).

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5-4-15 Creative Writing II Exercise Q4, #4: Your Prompt

Take a look through your Writing Warm Ups, or any earlier journal. At the end of each, you should have generated a few story ideas. Take one of these ideas, write it at the top of the page, and use it to guide your in-class assignment today.

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5-6-15 postponed to 5-11 Creative Writing II Exercise #5:

Things Lost Creative Writing Prompt

Free write about something you’ve lost. (For a masterpiece in the genre, we will read Elizabeth Bishop’s sestina, “One Art,”. For more examples, see Naomi Shihab Nye's collection What Have You Lost?

Things Found Creative Writing Prompt

Follow up the previous writing prompt with this one. Notice what emotions these topics tap into. Are they different tonally, or much the same?

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5-19-15 Creative Writing II Exercise #6: Secrets

For this exercise, students will each make up a secret, writing their secrets on pieces of paper. Have students fold these pieces of paper in half—then re-distribute the “secrets,” so that each student has another student’s secret to write about. Your little secret could give someone big ideas.

5-21-15 Creative Writing II Exercise #7: The Blues

Read Langston Hughes’s poem, “Po’ Boy Blues,” then brainstorm for five minutes about things that give you the blues. Free write for 15 minutes about one of them. (If you really want to get in the mood, have a little Muddy Waters playing in the background.)

I like using poetry as writing prompts. Though poems can be read in a short space of time, they pack in a lot of images. You might also find that the poem's rhythm and the compression of language will influence your writing in positive ways.

Po' Boy Blues

When I was home de

Sunshine seemed like gold.

When I was home de

Sunshine seemed like gold.

Since I come up North de

Whole damn world's turned cold.

I was a good boy,

Never done no wrong.

Yes, I was a good boy,

Never done no wrong,

But this world is weary

An' de road is hard an' long.

I fell in love with

A gal I thought was kind.

Fell in love with

A gal I thought was kind.

She made me lose ma money

An' almost lose ma mind.

Weary, weary,

Weary early in de morn.

Weary, weary,

Early, early in de morn.

I's so weary

I wish I'd never been born.

5-28-15 Creative Writing II Exercise #8: Overheard

In the library one day, I overheard this snippet of conversation:

Person 1: “Do you use coco butter? You are soft.”

Person 2: “~~~~~~~”

Person 1: “What do you use? Your skin is like, like a baby’s.”

Take this conversation and create a story, any story, or reaction to it (including nonfiction)

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