Date: Thu, 31 Aug 1995 15:57:35 -0700 From: Cinnamon Toast Subject: EXERCISES: from Square1 Here's part 3, a list of exercises. ___________________________________________________________________________ Okay, here's the 3rd and final installment, a list of sample exercises. There are no rules with these, just what is in them, and in you. They're jumping off points, not designed to elicit a specific response or work. A Grab Bag of Sample Exercises 1. The first word 2. Write half a dozen beginnings. Make sure your beginnings start in the middle. 3. Three-word repetitions. Choose three words and use them as many times as you can, in whatever order, in a piece of short prose or poetry. Variation: see if your three words evolve a fourth. 4. Rewrite something of yours from memory. 5. Chose a seed sentence at random from a book. 6. Create a moment in time. Write a haiku. A haiku is a moment in time. 7. Stepping stones. Write down single phrases to describe 8-10 turning points in your life. Choose one time and write about it in the present tense, beginning with the phrase "It is a time when...". 8. Write a study of a member of your family. Be as honest as you can. When you're almost done (and not before) you'll discover that you're able to complete the phrase "...and that's why I...". 9. Write a letter to your most ancient ancestor. Who would that be? 10. Clustering (discussion of Gabriel Lusser Rico's book "Writing the Natural Way") 11. Sketching. Place words randomly on a page as if sketching a persons face. When you're ready, start creating the character. 12. Spend one half hour in silence listening to whatever you can hear around you. You will not know what to write when you begin. You will not use the time to figure out what to write. You won't hear something that gives you an idea. But at some point you will get an idea. 13. Pick an emotion. Write down anything that helps you feel that emotion. Keep writing in such a way as to feel that emotion more and more. Keep at this until you notice the emotion change. Go with the change. 14. Create a meeting. 15. Create a parting. 16. Create a scene. Keep writing until someone enters it. 17. Create a character. Keep writing until you discover what the character does. 18. Create two characters in a scene. Keep writing until a conflict emerges. 19. The Life and Death of the Artist. 20. A weakness: a leave-taking: help from an unexpected source: a conflict: a choice that comes from deep within: the consequences 21. Observe two characters in dialogue 22. Take a descriptive sentence from something you've written and rewrite it as behaviour. 23. Write about food 24. Write in the first person as someone of the opposite sex 25. Pontificate about something you know nothing about 26. Write anything at all. But every time you pause (pick the pen off the paper) make a slash mark. Later go back and consider the choices you made at each juncture. 27. Write about something you've had for at least 10 years Write about something you had for at least 10 years, but no longer have 28. Exchange seed words, phrases, or titles with another writer. 29. Each writer describes one character through his/her behaviour in a one page vignette . . . both writers put both characters into a scene. 30. After a relaxation exercise, go inside your body and travel to the place inside you where your are a poet. Be there for a while. Before you leave, you will take a word or phrase back with you. Use this as a seed. 31. A secret 32. Begin with a card from the Tarot 33. Begin with a hexagram from the I Ching 34. Begin with an item in the newspaper 35. Write as an empty house, with the wind blowing through the rooms. Remember to breathe. 36. Collaborate with others, writing alternate lines. 37. A first memory 38. Behaviour as experienced through a window 39. Create a nonsense language, and compose a nonsense ditty out loud. Write it down and translate it into English. 40. Write the opposite of something 41. Who does the writing? Write a quick biography. Don't forget the writer's death. 42. The fire 43. Write a limerick. Be rigorous about the rhythm 44. Write a Sestina. A Canzone. A sonnet. Create your own intricate verse form 45. The Store-front 46. Knot of Gold 47. Write something paying attention to the near rhymes in your words. 48. Write something paying attention to the meter in your sentences 49. Write something paying attention to each sense: sight, sound, touch, taste, smell, and the sixth sense. 50. Write a family myth. When you're done, write an afterword beginning with "That's why I..." 51. "A caress and a death" 52. Tell the truth ~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~ Lisa MacDougall lmacdoug@unixg.ubc.ca UBC Main Library (604) 822-5034 (work) ~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~