Just By Chance! Drill Time!

[mbarker.livejournal.com]

Original posting: March 4, 1995

You will need a die for this...go ahead and find one.

(that's one dice--like a mie is one mice? so rye is...no...:-)

Roll the die to pick one of each of these. (Just a suggestion - either print this and circle your choices, or write them down as you make them. Seven things is just too much to try to keep in my poor little noggin, at least.)

First Character

1. soldier 2. subway guard 3. swimmer
4. telephone operator 5. ticket taker 6. waiter

Second Character

1. prostitute 2. PR agent 3. reporter
4. riveter 5. seamstress 6. sheriff

Place

1. Restaurant 2. A Fish Market 3. The Wrong Restroom
4. An Art Museum 5. A Bus Depot 6. A Mortuary

Object One

1. Tuna fish 2. Bowling pin 3. Gardenia
4. A ceramic frog 5. A map of Florida 6. A locked one-year diary

Object Two

1. six gold thumbtacks 2. an opened envelope 3. a piece of wire
4. a key 5. a lump of coal 6. a stick of dynamite

Adjective One

1. ornamental 2. fitted 3. pliable
4. greedy 5. untidy 6. final

Abstract One

1. absolute 2. artistic 3. political
4. mental 5. economic 6. theoretical

Okay? Rolled, picked, and ready to do something with your seven bits?

Think about these people, in this place, with those objects. That adjective and the abstraction both should play a part.

And write!

(based on #44 on page 128 in "What If: Writing Exercises for Fiction Writers" by Anne Bernays and Pamela Painter]

Who Chopped What Where?

[mbarker.livejournal.com]

original posting: Mon, 20 Feb 1995 22:30:57 EST

(In honor of the holiday, which vaguely resembles some DWMs' natal dates, to which we shall give scant honor...merely remembering that myth says they never told a lie--or fairly few--always paid back debts--mostly--and so forth:-)

According to the Boston Globe, various school systems are considering teaching values. Lists abound...

1994 Gallup--honesty, democracy, acceptance of racial and ethnic differences, and patriotism.

An educators' list--self-esteem, honesty, respect, trust, loyalty, justice, self-discipline, self-reliance, commitment.

One group out to reform education--honesty, decency, integrity, and morality.

(core values? first you eat the banana the snake gave you, then slip on the peel...what's left after that is just the real hard core, right?)

So...

1. Make your own personal list of values which you consider crucial, necessary, etc. Keep it short, comprehensive, and otherwise impossible (don't forget to ask yourself WHY this value is critical).

2. Pick a character or three. Give them different slants on one of your values. Then...

3. Rub them up against a situation which brings out their differences, and forces them (and the reader) to look at the results. Don't hide from the uncertainties, the pains, and even the possibility that you might be wrong...

4. WRITE THAT STORY! FINISH IT! AND SEND IT OFF TO THE PUBLISHERS!

*rah, rah, ree, write a stor-ie!
rah, rah, ray, mail it out today!
fee, fie, foe, keep them in the mail!
sis, boom, bed, you'll be published!*