EXERCISE: Add A Bomb?

[mbarker.livejournal.com]

Original posting: Thu, 04 Jan 2001 00:23:16 -0500

Flipping across the odd cable stations, I happened to see a short film segment.  It was on Independent Film Channel or some similar collection of eclectic bits.

It was an interesting piece.  Set in a diner, starting with an old woman coming in the door saying to herself, "So I am speaking French?  How interesting!"  (the movie was subtitled)

She glances at the table with the reserved sign, sits down at the next booth, and tells the waitress that she knows what she wants to eat.  She orders the special, eggs, bacon, sausage, etc. and tea and coffee, "not in the same cup, of course."

We get a glance around the restaurant, then shift to the young man in heavy coat and knitted hat pulled over his hair who comes in and sits at the reserved table.  In the background, we hear the waitress say, "That's reserved."

He shifts, pulls something out of his coat, and puts it under the table.  Then he gets up, hands empty, and heads out of the diner.

A pair of men come in, and sit at the table.  We see the young man get out cigarettes and a funny black box, then switch it on.

Then we cut to under the table.  Sticks of explosive, and a timer, starting at 5:00.

Another set of shots around the diner, this time solarized as if a bright light were shining.  Frozen shots, as the timer ticks across the first few seconds.

The two men who apparently were the intended targets leave.

Then a series of tiny scenes.  The old man yearning to meet the old woman.  The fat man trying to resist food, and wanting it.  The waitresses trading snippets of conversation as they pass, then taking a moment on the stools for the best part.  The young girl who sees the blinking light on the bomb, but cannot convince her mother to believe her.  The young couple who come in angry with each other and sit at the table with the bomb.

The timer ticking down, down, down.

The old woman picks up the discarded black box out of the trash (she had watched curiously as the young man discarded his cigarettes).  First she switches it one way and the timer stops!  Then she shakes it, shakes her head, and pushes it back again, and the timer starts again.  3...2.

She pushes the switch back and forth.

A quick flip through the faces, the people we have come to know, to wonder about.

And then the scenes come to life again.

And we see that the timer has frozen as the old women tossed the box in the trash again.  She smiles at the old man, and we exit, with music.

Slices of life, almost cliched, some trite, not particularly exciting.

But!  With the bomb under the table adding its accent, somehow these scenes gained in interest.  One focused on what might be the last moment for each of these people, and wondered.

So -- your exercise.  Take a common scene (diner, office, bank, subway, you pick it).

Add a bomb.

Then tell those scenes of life against the backdrop of the ticking bomb.

And let us know whether the end is...

BOOOM!

or

life goes on.

EXERCISE: A Quicky Quirky...

[mbarker.livejournal.com]

Original Posting: Fri, 08 Sep 2000 00:35:28 -0400

Pick a name.  It can be ordinary, extraordinary, male, female, genderless, genderful, old, new, something borr...okay, you get the idea, pick a name.

Got it?  No, you can't go on until you pick a name.  Now pick one!

Okay, here we go...  the first line is

And then along came (insert your name here).

The next line (and succeeding lines, words, paragraphs, tomes, etc.) are yours to write.

(In case it isn't clear, the first line of whatever you are writing consists of five easy words, something like:

And then along came Phil.

You then write the rest of the tale/poem/wondering...)

And they will be wonders to behold, I think!

Write?