EXERCISE: Who are my audience, anypersons?

[mbarker.livejournal.com]

original posting: Sat, 16 Jun 2001 01:23:12 -0400

So, as the bits flow past, let's consider a hypothetical ponder.

Suppose one were writing an article (story, book, poem, etc.) aimed at 15 year olds.  Or even perhaps specifically at 15 year old young ladies.

How do you understand that audience?  What vocabulary, interests, etc. do you imbue the reader on the other side of the page with?  What mosiac of factotums, experiences, and preju..er, points of view do you bring to bear in crafting your tale so that it meshes (or aggravates?) the readership?

What measuring rods do you hold up to the audience to let you do your writing?

(which brings up all the fascination of how do you postulate your audience, anyway?  Do you write for yourself, for a specific person, for the greater globularity, or even for the collective?)

Or perhaps your writing isn't measured and metered against an audience?

To ponder, perhaps to consider, and then to write anew...

EXERCISE: Who Lives Here?

[mbarker.livejournal.com]

original posting: Thu, 03 May 2001 10:43:04 -0400

Wandering home this evening, I happened to notice a new sign in front of a local apartment building: "Our Residents See Things No One Else Does."

And I pondered...

Does this indicate something about the residents?  Their selection of mood-altering substances, their medical history, perhaps something unusual about their eyes?  Who knows what odd things can be seen, with eyes of verdigris and crystal thin?

Or does it indicate something special about the things?  Do the ghosties and ghoulies accost these dwellers?  Are there tiny twinkles lurking in the foyer, strange vines twining up the elevator shafts, perhaps even nymphettes most pert sitting in the toilet bowls?

Or yet again, does it refer to those others, those "no ones" who aren't a part of our residency?  Are they so unobservant?

Let your mind ponder a bit, and consider writing a little fantasy, a little poking of wonder into words, a tale of the residents in that hall who see things no one else does...

Go ahead, you know you have a tale to tell!

Tell it.

EXERCISE: Write to the ending...

[mbarker.livejournal.com]

original posting: Wed, 24 Oct 2001 10:31:48 -0400

Haven't done one of these in a while.

Here's the ending:

At the ticket counter, he said to the clerk, "Three tickets for the beauties and one for the beast, please."

(from page 82, Reader's Digest, July 1993)

So there you have it.  Now, your problem (should you choose to accept it, Mr. Phelps?) is to come up with a story (short or as long as your dog has hair) to which this is the ending.

I'd start by thinking about who he is, and maybe a little about who the three beauties are.  For that matter, just who (or what) is the beast?

Now what kind of tickets are they getting?

Go ahead, write that ploy!

And end with

At the ticket counter, he said to the clerk, "Three tickets for the beauties and one for the beast, please."