WRITING EXERCISES

The writing exercises below come from a variety of sources, including teaching colleagues, former teachers (especially Doug Glover), former students, and the following books, which I recommend: The Poet's Companion: A Guide to the Pleasures of Writing Poetry by Kim Addonizio and Dorianne Laux (Norton, 1997); Creative Nonfiction:Researching and Crafting Stories of Real Life by Philip Gerard (Story, 1996); Writing Down the Bones: Freeing the Writer Within by Natalie Goldberg (10th anniversary ed.; Shambhala, 1986);Bird by Bird: Some Instructions on Writing and Life by Anne Lamott (Doubleday, 1994); Three Genres: The Writing of Poetry, Fiction, and Drama by Stephen Minot (6th ed.; Prentice Hall, 1998); and Great Writing: A Reader for Writers , edited by Harvey S. Weiner and Nora Eisenberg (2nd ed.;McGraw-Hill, 1998) [This is what I used as a reader for ENG 202Z; it also has exercises in it.]

1. A GOOD FIRST DAY EXERCISE
List 5 aspects of your identity, eg. student, sister, son, soccer player, writer, future biologist, photographer, community activist, etc.
Next, list 10 things under the heading: "I Know"
Next, list 10 things under the heading "I Remember"
(Now, they always have something they can write about! Usually I ask them to take something off the last list and write about that memory.)

2.DESCRIPTION

A. Each student gets one of the following handed out on a slip of paper. They then have to write about the experience with as much sensory detail as possible.

EATING AN APPLE
WALKING BY A PERFUME COUNTER
SITTING IN THE PARK
FLYING
EATING CHOCOLATE CHIP COOKIES
LYING IN THE SUN ON A SUMMER DAY
SITTING BY A FIREPLACE
A FOREST
THIS CLASSROOM
A ROCK CONCERT
RIDING A BUS OR SUBWAY
A PUBLIC RESTROOM
A CITY STREET
A BAKERY
A GARBAGE DUMP
WALKING IN THE RAIN
DOING THE LAUNDRY
A CHILD'S HALLOWEEN PARTY

B.Take a few minutes to look around the room, absorbing as many details as possible. Then, without looking back up, write down everything you remember.

C.Write a detailed account of a daily routine in your life: getting up in the morning, brushing your teeth, taking a shower. Limit the account to one activity. Be detailed.
D.Close your eyes. Choose a room in the house where you grew up. Let all the sensory details come back to you: sights, sounds, smells, touch. Remember what it looks like. Remember what's happened in it. Who or what do you associate the room with? Now open your eyes and write a description of the room.
E.Choose an object that is somehow significant to you and/or says something about you. Don't write directly about its history or meaning: describe it physically. You can describe what you do with it, but I want you to concentrate on an actual physical description that I can touch and see.

3. POINT OF VIEW

A.Write about something that happened to you as if you were a fictional character.
B.Write a description of a room in a house from the point of view of a mother who has lost her child. Do not mention the mother, death, or grief.
C.Describe something that recently happened to you through the eyes of another person.
D.Drawing on a significant event from your childhood, write about it from a child's point of view.

4. DIALOGUE

A. Some strategies for writing interesting dialogue: (Stolen shamelessly from Doug Glover)
1.Not answering: one party is either silent, lying, or responding to something else unrelated to the question or comment just made.
2. Third thing: Use of an outside person or thing to break up the dialogue or monologue.
3.Scene crunch: bring more than 1 conflict into a scene.
Keeping all these elements in mind, write a dialogue where you incorporate at least 2 of the above.
B.Write a dialogue between two characters. The characters should be from two different already existing stories or plays. Create a scene in which they meet.

5.Playwriting/Screenwriting (could also be used for fiction)

A.Write an opening scene to a play or screenplay. In the opening scene, introduce your main character and have him/her find out something s/he didn't know and will be important to the plot.
B.Make a list of your five favorite movies and their most memorable characters. Why are you drawn to these characters? Try to pinpoint at least three significant traits that make them compelling.
C.A logline is a terse summary of your script for selling it. 1-2 sentences. Think of lines in TV guides. Write a logline for one of your favorite movies, then write a logline for your play/screenplay.

6. Rhetoric/Poetic Crossover
Homework: Choose a news story that particularly interests you (from a newspaper, news magazine, TV or radio). Write a response to it. (We have at this point talked a bit about responses as being open in terms of form and opinion, but that they should not just summarize or paraphrase the article.) Include the article, or if it's from TV or radio, the topic, channel, date, time, and a brief summary of the report.
On the day this assignment was due, I asked them to do the following in-class writing exercise: Begin a new response to the news story you chose. The only requirement is to change the genre of your response: if it was an essay, you might write a poem; if it was a poem, you might sketch out a short story, etc. Volunteers were then asked to talk about what they did and to read aloud the in-class exercise.

7.Poetry Circuit Training
Poetry Circuit Training is one whole class day I set aside for exercises, usually in the poetry unit. The room should be set up in stations (enough for every student) with a different exercise. Give each station about 5-7 minutes. Instruct the class to do as much of the exercise as possible, but not to worry about getting through it. Also, they should be writing the whole time they are at a station. Some examples of these exercises are below. (I have also required them to expand and develop one of the exercises from the training for their Poetry Portfolio.)

A. COMPLETE THE SIMILES BELOW. GO FOR SOMETHING UNUSUAL AND UNEXPECTED. If there's still time left, go through them again, writing down NEW ones.

I am as tired as ____________________.
The waves unfurled like __________________
Their faces were like ______________________
It was black as ______________________________
Their lovemaking was like ________________________.
He was as hungry as _____________________________.
She rose like a(n) ______________________________.
They sing like ____________________________.
It smelled as bad as ___________________________.

B. Write a NONSENSE poem of words you make up: think of "Jabberwocky" or Dr. Seuss. Make it RHYME.
C.Write a poem or prose paragraph about a recent national or world event. Some ideas: Monica Lewinsky, Winter Storms, War in Bosnia, Saddam Hussein, Economic crisis in Russia, Zapatista rebels, etc.

D.Write about one of the following:
Your favorite book as a child.
Someone who is no longer in your life
What happened last night
A commercial jingle that sticks in your head.

E.Rewrite the following Rilke poem into a different poem, using all the same words.

This laboring through what is still undone,
as though, legs bound, we hobbled along the way,
is like the awkward walking of the swan.

And dying--to let go, no longer feel
the solid ground we stand on every day--
is like his anxious letting himself fall

into the water, which receives him gently
and which, as though with reverence and joy,
draws back past him in streams on either side;
while, infinitely silent and aware,
in his full majesty and ever more
indifferent, he condescends to glide.

F. [This station requires a good dictionary.] Randomly flip to any page in the dictionary. At the first word your eyes rest on, write that word down. Then, write down two words in the definition. Look up one of those words and write down one word from that definition. Repeat this twice more. Now, time permitting, use these words to write a poem.

G.Write a haiku (a 3-line poem with 5 syllables in the 1st and last lines, 7 syllables in the 2nd line. Usually contains images of nature; states or implies a season; and suggests a striking similarity between 2 seemingly different things) If time, revise your haiku, or write another.

H.Write about your favorite color. Include an explanation of why it is your favorite.

I.Write a poem in the shape of something eg. a circle, a bird, a cross, a tree, a house.

J.[This station requires a portable tape player with headphones--the music should be some kind of blues.] Listen to the tape for about 1 minute. Then, turn it off and write a poem where you try to incorporate the rhythm and ideas of the blues.

K.Write a poem about love without using any of the following words: love, kiss, touch, hug, sweet, sex,heart,embrace, passion, lips, need, miss.

L. Fill in the blanks. List as many answers as possible.
I hate it when:
I don't know why:
My most embarrassing memory is:
I love to:

M.Write a persona poem--a poem in someone's voice emphasizing their character. Make the persona someone very different from you.

N.Write a poem that begins and ends with the same line. The reader should feel differently about the line the second time s/he encounters it because of what happened in the poem.

O.On the paper provided free-write a series of words. Don't attempt to make sense: just write down words and images as they come to you. When you leave, leave the paper behind. The next person should read the last SIX words and free-write more.

P.Write a poem with the following words: [pick 6 unrelated words]

Q.Once upon a time there was. . . [the student has to come up with his/her own assignment here]

R.Write longer sentences out of the short ones that follow. Use sensory details to create a vivid picture.
The old man sat in the park.
She was crying.
He loved everything about the woods.
I'm terrified of spiders.
It was a beautiful day.

Of course, any of these exercises could be used as regular in-class exercises as well.

8. Other Poetry/Language Exercises

--Read Dylan Thomas's "Do Not Go Gentle into That Good Night." "Scan" it. Consider: why did Thomas use the villanelle to convey his idea in this poem? What is the impact of using this form? Exercise: Write your own villanelle.
--Write a definition for poetry. Do not use a dictionary. Write what you think poetry is. Keep it succinct: 2-5 lines.
--Browse through the poems in Great Writing or the reader. Pick one that you like and read it through carefully a few times. Now, write a poem that satisfies at least one, but could be more, of the following conditions:
1. Use at least 4 consecutive words from the poem you read in the poem you write. Do not alter the order of the words. Keep them together.
2. Attempt to follow the exact form and rhythm of the poem: use the same number of syllables per line, use the same number of lines and stanzas, etc. A stanza is to a poem what a paragraph is to an essay. Even if the poem is "free-form," attempt this.
3. Pick one concrete image in the poem (ie something that can be touched, tasted, seen, or smelled, etc.) and use that image in your poem to allude to a different idea. For example, "dancing in the kitchen" from Lucille Clifton's "Good Times" could be used in a poem about a memory of your grandmother dancing in the kitchen.
--Choose a poem by an author you like and are familiar with. Read it over a couple times, analyzing its theme, content, style, rhythm, etc. Take down notes in your journal. Now, write a poem where you try to mimic the poet's style. Include a copy of the poem in your journal along with the poem you write.

9. NARRATIVE

A. Choose a popular fairy tale and rewrite it. Ie change the time period, change something about the character, write it from a particular political perspective (feminist, Marxist, etc.)
B.Imagine yourself in a very bad situation eg. locked in a trunk of a car, dangling from a 12-story window, anything. Now try to describe the sequence of events that led up to this situation.Don't worry if it doesn't make sense.
C.Begin a story with the following: a man gets off a bus, trips, looks around in embarrassment, sees a woman smiling.

10. THE WRITING PROCESS

A. Write about the "voices in your head" that try to keep you from writing. Try to characterize them. What are they like? What do they say? How do you fight against them? When are you successful/when are you not?
B.Seamus Heaney compares writing to digging ("Digging" poem) and Natalie Goldberg compares it to composting ("Composting" in Writing Down the Bones). Think about your writing process. What activity would you compare it to? Write a brief description.
C. THE QUERY. Imagine that you see the following advertised in a magazine: New literary journal seeking fresh voices ages 18-23: submit poetry, fiction or essay up to 3,000 words by January 31, 1999. All styles considered. Send manuscript with letter stating your age and a brief bio to: Alyssa Colton, Editor Fresh Visions Dept. of English University at Albany Albany NY 12222.
Pick a piece of writing you are most happy with and draft a letter to include with your submission.
D. REVISION. Without looking at the original, begin rewriting a piece of writing. Rather than trying to recall the exact words, try to capture the idea in a new way.

11. SOME MORE EXERCISES

A. Free-write on the following topic: (music)
B.Write down the first dream you remembered.
C.Using Lorrie Moore's "How to Become a Better Writer," write a humorous piece about how to become a better ________ (pick something you know about). [Good for point of view & humor]
D.In class, come up with one or several events that is seen as a shared event. In my class, they came up with the Challenger explosion, the beginning of Desert Storm, and the OJ Simpson verdict. Then, the students had to write about their own memory of that event.
E.[After reading selections from Rilke's Letters to a Young Poet): Write a letter to a young writer offering advice from what you've learned [a good last assignment].

F.Group/class assignment:
1. Write a creative prose piece using the following words [can be anything you make up]: cat, attic, discovery, late, crease. Write as much as you can in 5 minutes. Do not stop to correct or revise. Do not put your name on it.
2. Pass your writing to the person on the left. Now read the piece you have been given and add to it, using the following words: slow, glare dust. Again, write as much as you can without stopping.
3. Pass to the left. Add to the new piece with the following words: hideout, sunshine, sword.
4. Pass to the left. Read the whole piece and revise/rearrange as you wish.
5. Pass to the left. Revise/rearrange the new piece that has been revised.
6. Now each student takes a turn reading aloud the piece they have. Then discuss: could you recognize the pieces you worked on? Do you think they were made better, or just different? What would you have done differently? Who is the author? Does this make you view writing any differently (etc.)

G.Cultural capital exercise: "Cultural capital" is a term that refers to references to popular culture exchanged among people "in the know"; for example, quoting a phrase from the Simpsons or knowing the name of the lead singer of the band Bush. Make a list of your own "cultural capital": references, names, phrases, quotes, etc. that circulate among you and a group of your friends. Try to come up with at least 10 of these references. Then, pick one of the following assignments to do:
1. Write a dialogue (real or imagined) incorporating some or all of this list. You must make the dialogue meaningful in some way, however: perhaps its two friends talking about a breakup, or two lovers finding out something key about each other. Think of it as a "scene" in a story or movie. You may use the play-form of dialogue ie leaving out narration, description, etc., if you wish.

2. Write a poem incorporating at least six items from your "cultural capital" list. Make the poem meaningful.

3. Write a critique of the use of cultural capital in a literary work (you can refer to a specific one or write about it in general). How does it add to or detract from a piece of literature? Does it limit the understanding of the reader? What about thirty years later: will something with a lot of cultural capital become obsolete? Do you use cultural capital in your own writing? (These are just examples of questions you might consider in your critique.)
Page minimum for complete exercise: 2 pages, handwritten.

H.In any genre you find appropriate, write about where your family "comes from." We are almost all immigrants: to where do you trace your roots? How has this knowledge shaped you as you've grown up? How has it shaped your language, your beliefs, the stories you tell? How tied in to your identity is this? What do you think makes a person "American"?

I. WRITING WITH COMPASSION: Sit quietly. Breathe deeply. Contemplate the image of a person you has caused you suffering or a person who you do not understand. Regard the features you hate or find the most puzzling. Try to examine what makes this person happy and what causes suffering in his/her daily life. Contemplate the person's perceptions: try to see what patterns of thought and reason this person follows. Examine what motivates this person's hopes and actions. Finally, consider the person's consciousness. See whether his/her views are open and free or not, and whether s/he has been influenced by any prejudices, narrow-mindedness, hatred, or anger. See the world through this person's eyes.Continue until you feel compassion rise up in your heart like a well filling with fresh water and your anger, resentment, or frustration disappear. Then, write with compassion about this person, following one (or both) of the following instructions: a) write one page from this person's point of view in the first person. b)write one page from the third person point of view about this person. Remember to write deeply about this person: a superficial or surface-level characterization will undermine compassionate writing.

COMMUNITY ACTION LEARNING PROJECT

For the Writing Sequence, many teachers incorporated a Community Action Learning Project. This ranged from trading letters with elementary school children to conducting a class at a local high school to writing a brochure for a community group. The first semester students came up with their own projects. One group conducted a writing workshop at a high school. One had children writing about what they saw at the New York State Museum in an after-school program. Another group wrote and produce a 'zine on writing. For the second semester, I made the project more streamlined and required all students to do the same assignment, though it was up to them to choose the issue. This assignment seemed more in line with the class and their interests.

ASSIGNMENT:

For this assignment, I would like you to do some thinking about what kinds of community/political/social issues concern you. Some suggestions are listed below, but the possibilities are nearly limitless. The idea here is to begin to see writing as a possible tool for ACTIVISM as well as to reflect on your position in a community, be it local, national, or global. If no issues immediately come to mind, think about issues that have touched your life: have you known someone who has been injured or killed by gun violence? are you concerned about war? have you or somone you know had unending problems with healthcare? have your parents been involved in labor issues? are you concerned about your safety on campus? are you concerned about free speech? The assignment is to find an issue of concern to you and do some research on it. It needn't be extensive research, but you should attempt to read 2-3 articles on the topic and/or view or listen to TV or radio reports on it, if possible. You need to decide where you "stand" on the issue. Talk it out with people. Find a specific, immediate issue. For example, don't write broadly about "reproductive rights": write about legislation surrounding partial-birth abortions or public access to clinics. Don't write broady about "gun control": write about current legislation regarding gun control and what should be changed, if anything. If you're really lost for something, check out what issues current student groups are addressing on campus: the issue needn't be national; it can be something as close as improving facilities on campus. For national or global issues, check out news magazine shows like "Dateline," "20/20" and "60 Minutes." You may work with a partner on this project if you wish. Before you begin this project, I would like you to turn in a proposal outlining what you plan to do: this should include: the specific topic, issue, or question you are addressing; your stand on it; and what sources you've looked to for your information, being as specific as possible in your citations. Then, tell me what you plan to do for #1 and #2 (below). DUE: APRIL 9. ( I will let you know by April 12 if the proposal is insufficient.) YOU MUST HAND IN THE PROPOSAL. Then, I would like you to do the following: 1.) Write a public letter to someone in a political position (congressperson, senator, president, etc.) OR to a newspaper or magazine (or even to a TV news show that invites it) detailing the importance of attention to the issue and outlining and defending your position on the issue. If it's to a person in a political position, you should find out if any kinds of bills relevant to the issue are being considered, and you should tell the person how you would like her/him to vote on the issue; or, you might encourage that person to introduce legislation, if you feel that is something that should be done. The letter should be 100-300 words and be formatted like a business letter. Read "letters to the editor" sections to get a feel for this.
AND
2.) Create some kind of "creative" response to the issue: poem(s), short story, personal essay, a dramatic monologue, etc. 4-6 pages.
BOTH 1 & 2 ARE DUE APRIL 19.
Some possibilities for topics:
*gun control *trade with China *Clinton's impeachment trial *the justice system *prisons/criminal punishment *mental health *herbal medicine *student safety *sweatshops *free speech/censorship *pornography *parking on campus *curricular reforms *education (eg. tuition vouchers for private schools) *euthanasia *reproductive rights *SUNY tuition hikes (a good organization to contact here would be SASU) *global warming/environmental issues *unionization (you can talk to me about this one)*death penalty *healthcare/HMOs *Social Security *affirmative action *immigration policies *childcare debates *urban development *gay marriage--gay & lesbian rights *drug war *the media (... and violence, and sex, etc) *teen pregnancy/sexual disease *AIDS

LINKS

Syllabus for "Introduction to Publishing" (Summer 1999).

Syllabus for ENG 300Z: Expository Writing (Fall 1999).

The Hitchhiker's Guide to Publishing