August
1 "Birthday
Cake, etc"
Write a brief scene that includes: a red sneaker; a birthday
cake; a giraffe; the smell of paint and cigarettes.
August
2 "Three
Jackets, Three Men & a Joke"
Describe three jackets. Describe the three men who are wearing
them. One man tells a joke. How do the other two react?
August
3 "The
Big Three"
Quick list the three biggest things you are procrastinating on.
How does each one feel to you? Make a simile. (For example, I
am procrastinating on writing my will. Simile: It feels to me
like a giant boulder covered in velcro.)
August
4 "When
in Rome"
Do as the Romans do: speak Italian. Have your characters, who
are arguing about something (whatever you like) use some or all
of the following words and phrases:
Dove? (Where?)
Buona notte (Good night)
Ha un gelato? (Have you any ice-cream?)
una crema de barba (shaving cream)
E compreso il servizio? (Is service included?)
E sulla strada sbagliata (You're on the wrong road)
August
5 "Class
Envy"
Your character hates rich people. Give him 3-4 lines of really
nasty dialogue. Then, in two sentences or less, identify the
specific source of his feelings.
August
6 "Scratchy
Things"
Make a list of scratchy things.
August
7 "Wrong
House"
It was the wrong house.
Use this as your opening line and start writing.
August
8 "Books,
Books, Books"
Schopenhauer said, "Buying books would be a good thing
if one could also buy the time to read them in". Use
this an your opening line, and start writing.
August
9 "Elephant
Ride"
Your character takes a ride on an elephant. Write the scene.
August
10 "Boy,
Pool, Dive"
Describe a boy. Describe a pool. Describe the way he dives into
the pool.
August
11 "The
Control Freak, the Liar & the Narcissist"
Three characters, all members of the same family, sit down to
dinner. Show by the things they say to one another that one is
a control freak, one a liar, and one a narcissist.
August
12 "Bread"
Describe, as sensuously as possible, the most delicious bread.
August
13 "Cardboard
Box"
Describe the cardboard box. Describe what was in it. What happened
to the box?
August
14 "Musical
Chairs"
Describe a game of musical chairs.
August
15 "Yellow
Bird"
Describe the yellow bird. What did the yellow bird do? What did
he say about it? What did she say about it? Then what happened?
August
16 "Aftermath
of the Pizza Party"
Your character comes in to the aftermath of a pizza party. Describe.
(Hint: show don't tell.)
August
17 "In
a House the Size of Closet That's Big Enough"
He wants to move; she doesn't. Write the dialogue.
August
18 "Ch-ch-ch"
Chisel, chunk, chew, Chicago— make a list of words
that begin with "ch". Stay with this one for the full
five minutes if you can.
August
19 "10
Amusing Things"
Make a list of 10 things that recently, or not so recently, made
you laugh.
August
20 "Permutation
Exercise"
From Henry James's The Portrait of a Lady:
She was a neat, plump person, of medium stature, with a round
face, a small mouth, a delicate complexion, a bunch of light
brown ringlets at the back of her head and a peculiarly open,
surprised-looking eye.
What I think of as a "permutation exercise" is
to keep the syntax but vary nouns, adjectives, and/or imagery,
etc. For example:
He was an imposing, bony person, of gigantic stature, with
a squarish lantern of a face, teeth like disarranged pegs, a
moon-white complexion, not a single hair on his well-oiled head
and a peculiarly intelligent half-lidded stare.
Do as many permutations as you can in five minutes. When
you've finished, circle the one you like best.
August
21 "Another
Permutation Exercise"
Here's another permutation exercise, this one also from Henry
James's The Portrait of a Lady:
Isabel wondered, as she had wondered the first time, if her
remarkable kinswoman resembled more a queen-regent or the matron
of a gaol.
What I think of as a "permutation exercise" is
to keep the syntax but vary nouns, adjectives, and/or imagery,
etc. For example:
Betsy wondered, as she wondered the last time, if her strange
neighbor resembled more a clown on his day off or a pothead.
Do as many permutations as you can in five minutes. When
you've finished, circle the one you like best.
August
22 "Yet
Another"
I've been fixated on permutation exercises the last few days.
Here's another, also from Henry James's The Portrait of a
Lady:
Madam Merle was a tall, fair, smooth woman; everything about
her person was round and replete, though without the accumulations
which suggest heaviness. Her features were thick but in perfect
proportion and harmony, and her complexion had a healthy clearness.
Her grey eyes were small but full of light and incapable of stupidity...
What I think of as a "permutation exercise" is
to keep the syntax but vary nouns, adjectives, and/or imagery,
etc. For example:
Mr Jost was a short, pale, rough old man; everything about
him was rough, though without, strange to say, a single scar.
His features were the perfection of a Roman coin, though his
complexion was unhealthy. His black eyes were large and heavily
lidded and incapable of laughter...
Do as many permutations as you can in five minutes. When
you've finished, circle the one you like best.
August
23 "Hallway;
Office; Storeroom"
Describe a walk down a hallway. Describe an office. Describe
the storeroom.
August
24 "Facial
Expression"
Animator Mark Simon's book Facial Expressions:
A Visual Reference for Artists offers 3,000 photos with 50 different
models. A few of these photos are on his webpage: scroll down to the first
example, which shows model Tina Pinto making a variety of facial
expressions. Use the first one as your writing prompt. Your fictional
character is making that same exact facial expession. What's
the story?
August
25 "Bed
& Breakfast"
For a dozen different characters:
What does he/ she wear to bed?
What does he/ she eat for breakfast?
When you're finished, circle the two that strike you as the most
interesting to write about.
August
26 "Ben
& Ned in the Gas Station"
One the things I most admire about Henry James's novel The
Portrait of a Lady is the vivid and very effective way he
uses body language. For example:
"I'm not bound to accept your theories as to whom my
daughter loves"— and Osmond looked up with a quick, cold
smile.
"I'm not theorizing. Your daughter has spoken."
"Not to me," Osmond continued, now bending forward a little and dropping
his eyes to his boot-toes.
The exercise is this: two characters, say, Ben and Ned, are in
a gas station arguing about who should pay. Write the dialogue,
and be sure to insert some body language that shows Ben and/or
Ned's mood and/or character and/or relationshp.
August
27 "Language
Overlay: Pirates"
Sprinking in language that reflects a character's concerns and
passions gives richness and texture to a narrative. For example,
if I have a character who loves to cook, when he gets mad, I
might say, "his feelings came
to a boil." Or,
"his hand sliced the air like a knife." Maybe he would have a Balsamic vinegar stain on his shirt,
or, a pantry
full of exotic spices and expensive dried mushrooms (Chanterelles,
Porcini, Shitaki)...
Maybe I'd write a scene where he's just received a Sur la Table catalog; he's slowly leafing
through it, snipping out certain items (the Pasta maker, the $599 Capuccino maker) as he would snip grapes...
Now suppose your character is a pirate or, perhaps, a little
kid who loves pirate movies. The idea of this exercise is to
generate vocabulary—nouns, verbs, adjectives,
adverbs, phrases, gestures, metaphors, etc,— that would have to do
with or suggest pirates. This is just about making a list, coming
up with a rich store that you might draw from later. Make as
long a list as you can in the five minutes.
August
28 "Phone
Call"
The phone rings in the middle of the night. Who is it? What do
they want? In what way does this change everything?
August
29 "Bizarre
Accidents"
Make a list of bizarre accidents. When you've finished the five
minutes, circle the three that are most bizarre.
August
30 "The
Steak Was Perfection"
Take this title as your first line and write on.
August
31 "Stamps,
Pins, Clips"
What did Stan do with the stamps, pins and clips? |
|
C. M. MAYO
