>>> Item number 34586 from WRITERS LOG9407E --- (58 records) ----- <<< Date: Sun, 31 Jul 1994 18:35:02 JST Reply-To: WRITERS Sender: WRITERS From: Mike Barker Subject: EXERCISE: Values, Personified. You may have read one of the early stories--with Everyman, Virtue, and so forth blatantly or perhaps slightly disguised. I'm fairly sure most of you remember Snidely Whiplash and similar characters which clearly fit a stock role. In any case, today's exercise is related to those morality plays of old. 1. Pick two characters. Go ahead and dream them up first. 2. Pick one of the following opposed pairs of values or themes: Hope vs. Despair Brotherly Love vs. Bigotry Responsibility vs. Irresponsibility Courage vs. Cowardice Tenderness vs. Violence Forgiveness vs. Revenge Activity vs. Passivity (Apathy) Unselfishness vs. Selfishness Sincerity vs. Hypocrisy Discipline vs. Indulgence (Permissiveness) Intelligence vs. Stupidity Sensitivity vs. Insensitivity Maturity vs. Immaturity Approbation or appreciation vs. Rejection Idealism vs. Materialism Patience vs. Temper/Impatience Resilience vs. Rigidity Optimism vs. Pessimism Patriotism vs. Betrayal [if you don't like these, make up a pair. If nothing else works, pick one "glittering generality" and look in the dictionary to find its antonym.] 3. Now, flip a coin or something and assign one value/theme to one character, with the other character getting the other end of the schtick. 4. Make a list of at least five different situations/scenes where Mr. TrueValue and Mr. BadValue can fight it out. Try arranging them so that Mr. BadValue WINS in the first trials. Then you can have the Incredible Hulk (Mr. TrueValue!) come from behind and show us that truth, justice and the American Flag will always triumph, even against Mr. BadValue... Okay, so you don't want a pure triumph? Write it your way, but write it! [note: start with five, and drop one or two if things get too confused.] 5. Scribble, scribble, scribble. If you want to, run through the first draft using the names of the values as character names, and keep them almost too black and white for words. Then revise until you've got something you think readers would believe. Hooray! What a story! tink