- Pretend you are riding on a bus and overhear one person say to another person, "I'll never forgive you as long as I live." Write a story that tells who these people are and what happened before their conversation.
- Write a story rich in dialogue. Some examples are: a dialogue between a child and a grown-up involving a monkey; a dialogue between two people stuck in an elevator together; and a dialogue with a friend after they've broken their friend's favorite possession.
- Write an essay about trading places with someone. This can be someone famous or someone who lives down the street. Describe your day in detail as that person, and that person's day as you.
- Begin your piece by writing "I remember" and write down any memories that come to mind. It doesn't matter if a memory happened five minutes ago or five years ago, just to write down what you remember. The point of this exercise is to generate ideas without worrying about how the words are coming out or analyzing them. If a memory is particularly vivid, a writer can stick with that memory and add detail about it. Later, writers can go back to their memories and choose those that seem most interesting to write larger pieces about.
- Think of something you dislike and write about it as though you love it, then change perspectives and write about it as though you dislike it, and then write about it as though you don't care one way or another about it. This exercise is a great challenge for your imagination, and a means for getting them to explore different writing perspectives.
Have fun with this and we will share them on Monday! Enjoy your weekend.
