Cracked Quotes...

[mbarker.livejournal.com]

original posting: Sun, 24 Jul 1994 18:35:01 JST

Just for fun (rainy days, when the drifting fog stops your mind from wandering...)

1. Take a book of quotations (poems, songs, whatever you like).
2. Fairly randomly, pick a chunk. (even unfairly will do...:-)
3. Now let the mind wobble, replacing some or all of the words with interestingly different ones. Werewolf showtunes, vampire suckings, the merry widow scuttling. If you happen to have several people handy, play "whisper" -- have one whisper to the next, and so forth, then listen to what the last one heard...
4. Then fit it into a story. "The Braid, The Bowed, The View" could be title, could be the three main characters, or just a slogan for a new rug sales chain. Whatever, make those twisted words yours, and shape the tale that makes them fit.

write away, boss!

Titles from the Chinese

[mbarker.livejournal.com]

original posting: Sat, 30 Jul 1994 18:35:02 JST

On another list, someone posted a list of titles translated from the Chinese of novels by an author in the martial arts arena. Seemed kind of interesting and provocative to me, so...

1. Love and Hatred of Book and Sword
2. Sword of Blood
3. Snowy Summit, Flying Fox
4. The Heroes Who Hunt Eagles
5. Divine Eagle, Chivalrous Couple
6. Anecdote of the Flying Fox
7. The White Horse Roaring in the West Wind
8. The Sword of Mandarin Ducks
9. Formula of a Castle
10. Lean against Heaven and Slay the Dragon
11. The Tale of Eight Heavenly Dragons
12. A Tale of the Chivalrous Swordsmen
13. Laughter and Pride of the Kungfu World
14. The Duke of Mount Deer

Pick one and write your own story, in whatever style you prefer.

Values, Personified.

[mbarker.livejournal.com]

original posting: Sun, 31 Jul 1994 18:35:02 JST

You may have read one of the early stories--with Everyman, Virtue, and so forth blatantly or perhaps slightly disguised. I'm fairly sure most of you remember Snidely Whiplash and similar characters which clearly fit a stock role. In any case, today's exercise is related to those morality plays of old.

1. Pick two characters. Go ahead and dream them up first.
2. Pick one of the following opposed pairs of values or themes (spacing only to make it easier to see the list):

Hope vs. Despair
Brotherly Love vs. Bigotry
Responsibility vs. Irresponsibility
Courage vs. Cowardice
Tenderness vs. Violence

Forgiveness vs. Revenge
Activity vs. Passivity (Apathy)
Unselfishness vs. Selfishness
Sincerity vs. Hypocrisy
Discipline vs. Indulgence (Permissiveness)

Intelligence vs. Stupidity
Sensitivity vs. Insensitivity
Maturity vs. Immaturity
Approbation or appreciation vs. Rejection
Idealism vs. Materialism

Patience vs. Temper/Impatience
Resilience vs. Rigidity
Optimism vs. Pessimism
Patriotism vs. Betrayal

[if you don't like these, make up a pair. If nothing else works, pick one "glittering generality" and look in the dictionary to find its antonym.]

3. Now, flip a coin or something and assign one value/theme to one character, with the other character getting the other end of the schtick.

4. Make a list of at least five different situations/scenes where Mr. TrueValue and Mr. BadValue can fight it out. Try arranging them so that Mr. BadValue WINS in the first trials. Then you can have the Incredible Hulk (Mr. TrueValue!) come from behind and show us that truth, justice and the American Flag will always triumph, even against Mr. BadValue...

Okay, so you don't want a pure triumph? Write it your way, but write it!

[note: start with five, and drop one or two if things get too confused.]

5. Scribble, scribble, scribble. If you want to, run through the first draft using the names of the values as character names, and keep them almost too black and white for words. Then revise until you've got something you think readers would believe.

Hooray! What a story!

Basic Needs...

[mbarker.livejournal.com]

original posting: Sun, 14 Aug 1994 18:35:01 JST

1. Pick a character. Any character!

2. Pick two of the following types of needs:

physical--food, shelter, water, etc.
safety/security--marriage, wealth, etc.
love/belonging--relationships, family
esteem--honor, rank, fame, etc.
self-control--decision, challenge, etc.
understanding--closure, patterning, truth, etc.
artistic--balance, symmetry
self-actualization--??

3. Refine these for your character. S/he needs challenges, growth in self, but also needs the safety and security of marriage. Perhaps the challenge lies in wilderness survival, perhaps in picking a color for the curtains, or wherever you like. The marriage? Is it the boy next door or a strange prince from another dimension? Up to you! What do these needs mean for you and your character?

4. List (oh, no, not another list? yes!) at least five ways that these two needs might conflict with each other. Make the conflicts realistic and difficult...

5. Now arrange two or three of these conflicts in order of increasing difficulty and stress. Consider how resolving one, even partially, could lead into the next.

6. Write up the scenes and disasters as your character is torn between their own needs. Can they compromise? Or do they give up on one for the other? In losing one, do they lose both?

[incidentally, the grouping of needs usually is described as a hierarchy, with the suggestion that until the lower needs are met, it is harder to concentrate on meeting the higher needs. I listed them from low to high--according to this theory, until you've met your physical needs, artistic needs aren't terribly interesting...]

write soon, write later, but write!

Basic Needs...Lost!

[mbarker.livejournal.com]

Original posting: Sun, 21 Aug 1994 18:35:02 JST

(some of you are going to think you've seen this before. patience...there's a twist!)

1. Pick a character. Any character!

2. Pick two of the following types of needs:

physical--food, shelter, water, etc.
safety/security--marriage, wealth, etc.
love/belonging--relationships, family
esteem--honor, rank, fame, etc.
self-control--decision, challenge, etc.
understanding--closure, patterning, truth, etc.
artistic--balance, symmetry
self-actualization--??

3. Refine these for your character. S/he needs challenges, growth in self, but also needs the safety and security of marriage. Perhaps the challenge lies in wilderness survival, perhaps in picking a color for the curtains, or wherever you like. The marriage? Is it the boy next door or a strange prince from another dimension? Up to you! What do these needs mean for you and your character?

4. Define how these needs are already being met for your character. They are married? To who? They have rank? How much? In what organization?

5. List (oh, no, not another list? yes!) at least five ways that these two needs might be threatened, lost, or damaged. Probably should list five ways each need could run into difficulties.

6. List some of the actions your character might take trying to restore the lost condition. Consider the difficulties they could run into trying to find the missing family, beg for money, or whatever. Make the conflicts realistic and difficult...

7. Now arrange two or three of these conflicts in order of increasing difficulty and stress. Consider how resolving one, even partially, could lead into the next.

8. Write up the scenes and disasters as your character struggles with their losses. Can they live without it? Or do they give up on something else for this need? In chasing the lost one, do they lose others?

They want something? Make them struggle to get it. They have something? Take it away from them!

[BONUS: Satisfying a need may lead to trouble with other needs/desires. That way lies realization and more problems for your characters...keep those rascals in hot water!]

Writers are nasty to their characters...

Basic Needs...Over there!

[mbarker.livejournal.com]

Original posting: Sun, 28 Aug 1994 18:35:02 JST

and here they come again!

1. Pick two characters. Any characters you like!

2. Pick one of the following types of needs:

physical--food, shelter, water, etc.
safety/security--marriage, wealth, etc.
love/belonging--relationships, family
esteem--honor, rank, fame, etc.
self-control--decision, challenge, etc.
understanding--closure, patterning, truth, etc.
artistic--balance, symmetry
self-actualization--??

3. Refine it, define it, make it finely detailed and real. One of your characters (flip a coin? pick one!) NEEDS this...

...but doesn't know it. doesn't realize what they need, how badly they need it, what it would mean to have it met, how they could possibly provide for it...

4. List (another list? of course!) at least five ways that this need might manifest itself to another while staying misunderstood or unseen to the poor needy person. Make the ways this need is shown realistic--put some smells and sounds and sights on those puppet strings...

5. Your other character is going to (a) see the problem and (b) try to help... so, arrange two or three of the manifestations of need in order of increasing difficulty and stress. Consider how the needy character could lack understanding of their own problem, and what the other person could do to try to enlighten them...

6. Write up the scenes and disasters as your characters attempt enlightenment. Can the needy understand? Will the helpful busybody get their nose mashed in? Write all about it!

[7. BONUS: why is the busybody trying to help? what do they learn through sticking their nose into the grindstone?]

*look, I'm sorry about this, but my girlfriend can't win the gold with you around, so hold still while I bust your knees, okay? what do you mean, fame isn't everything? who cares about fame? we're looking at residuals--commercials, testimonials, and so on. * [details changed to protect Big Al--some stories shouldn't be faked...]