Will six of you writers join me in this group writing exercise? This week I have been reading essays in Creating Fiction: Instruction and Insights from teachers of the Associated Writing Programs, edited by Julie Checkoway. At the back of the book are several writing exercises. Writing exercises can pull out powerful material buried deep inside us. But like flossing, I often fight doing them. But not today.
Dinty Moore, Penn State Altoona, contributed this exercise. He says that that the resultant seven-sentence stories are strained and inelegant. But that they help us break away from predictability and familiar plots.
1. Write first sentence, introducing one character.
2. Introduce second character and establish conflict.
3. Problem grows more complex.
4. First character speaks.
5. Second character speaks.
6. Climax
7. Resolution
Okay – don’t leave me hanging. Here’s my first sentence. Next poster writes sentence one and adds number two and so on.
1. Sixteen year old Sarah Janson snuck out of her parents’ house every night.
1. Sixteen year old Sarah Johnson snuck out of her parents' house every night.
2. Sarah's twelve-year-old brother Robbie always saw her leave.
1. Sixteen year old Sarah Johnson snuck out of her parents' house every night.
2. Sarah's twelve-year-old brother Robbie always saw her leave.
3. One night, when Sarah was gone, Robbie went into her room and found condoms, weed, and their mother's missing pearls in the bottom drawer of his sister's dresser.
1. Sixteen year old Sarah Johnson snuck out of her parents' house every night.
2. Sarah's twelve-year-old brother Robbie always saw her leave.
3. One night, when Sarah was gone, Robbie went into her room and found condoms, weed, and their mother's missing pearls in the bottom drawer of his sister's dresser.
4. "You want them?" Sarah asked.
1. Sixteen year-old Sarah Johnson snuck out of her parents' house every night.
2. Sarah's twelve-year-old brother Robbie always saw her leave.
3. One night, when Sarah was gone, Robbie went into her room and found condoms, weed, and their mother's missing pearls in the bottom drawer of his sister's dresser.
4. Fastening the pearls around his neck, he imagined how they'd look with the pink blouse and denim miniskirt he had hidden in his closet, beneath his hockey pads.
Oops, I did it wrong. This is why I can't do writing exercises. Or math.
funny! i'll help:
1. Sixteen year-old Sarah Johnson snuck out of her parents' house every night.
2. Sarah's twelve-year-old brother Robbie always saw her leave.
3. One night, when Sarah was gone, Robbie went into her room and found condoms, weed, and their mother's missing pearls in the bottom drawer of his sister's dresser.
4. "You want them?" Sarah asked.
5. Fastening the pearls around his neck, he imagined how they'd look with the pink blouse and denim miniskirt he had hidden in his closet, beneath his hockey pads. "Only if you have the matching earrings."
Good save, Jen…almost. One sentence is the rule, so I'll doctor it a bit.
1. Sixteen year-old Sarah Johnson snuck out of her parents' house every night.
2. Sarah's twelve-year-old brother Robbie always saw her leave.
3. One night, when Sarah was gone, Robbie went into her room and found condoms, weed, and their mother's missing pearls in the bottom drawer of his sister's dresser.
4. "You want them?" Sarah asked.
5. Fastening the pearls around his neck, he imagined how they'd look with the pink blouse and denim miniskirt he had hidden in his closet, beneath his hockey pads and said, "Only if you have the matching earrings."
We've got to finish this so I'll go again. (nice save everyone).
1. Sixteen year-old Sarah Johnson snuck out of her parents' house every night.
2. Sarah's twelve-year-old brother Robbie always saw her leave.
3. One night, when Sarah was gone, Robbie went into her room and found condoms, weed, and their mother's missing pearls in the bottom drawer of his sister's dresser.
4. "You want them?" Sarah asked.
5. Fastening the pearls around his neck, he imagined how they'd look with the pink blouse and denim miniskirt he had hidden in his closet, beneath his hockey pads and said, "Only if you have the matching earrings."
6. Their mom walked in.
And so…
1. Sixteen year-old Sarah Johnson snuck out of her parents' house every night.
2. Sarah's twelve-year-old brother Robbie always saw her leave.
3. One night, when Sarah was gone, Robbie went into her room and found condoms, weed, and their mother's missing pearls in the bottom drawer of his sister's dresser.
4. "You want them?" Sarah asked.
5. Fastening the pearls around his neck, he imagined how they'd look with the pink blouse and denim miniskirt he had hidden in his closet, beneath his hockey pads and said, "Only if you have the matching earrings."
6. Their mom walked in.
7. "Oh, Robbie honey," she said, "I think it's time for that operation you've always wanted."
Lisa, LOL!
Claire, how'd we do?
This is so good, it almost makes me forget my shame over my inability to count/read.
Yes, this is great–good effort on everyone's part. But I have to ask: whose story is this? What happened to our opening character–wasn't she the protagonist? By the end I am far more interested in Robbie. Maybe the beginning needs to be rewritten. But then isn't that ALWAYS the case?
Indeed. Thanks, everybody. You made it happen. Isn't it just like the brother to take over the story line? Maybe we have two novels. I dread the day when someone says, you know, you really have two novels going on here. Cheers.
And what happened to the condoms? And the weed? The mom character seems suspiciously relaxed.
ohhhh funny!
I had never heard of the "exquisite corpse" until your post, Claire. Then, this week, my art-major daughter told me about an art project her class was doing. "It's called 'exquisite corpse,'" she said. They divided the canvas into vertical stripes, and each person had to add on to the previous person's work. The catch? The previous pictures was covered, except for 1/2 inch along the edge. So each new artist had to use the 1/2 inch that was visible and add on to the picture. I'll post a photo on my Facebook page.