EXERCISE: Revive that Metaphor!

[mbarker.livejournal.com]

original posting: Mon, 5 Jan 1998 12:31:36 EST

Okay, we've recently seen the metaphoric statement "don't beat a dead horse" used repeatedly here on the list.

Think about where this comes from. No matter what you do, a dead horse won't move the wagon...

And then think about current times. Very few of us deal with horses on a regular basis anymore. So what does this saying translate into for our age?

Don't type into a computer that isn't plugged in?

Quit flicking the switch when the bulb is dead?

Don't break the key off, there's no gas in the car!

Work at it. Dream up at least five variations...select the best and work on the wording so that it has some snap, some interest.

Polish an aphorism for our times today, okay?

(and when you get tired of that dead horse stinking up the place, try reworking some of the other cliches that pile up in our common language...)

FILL: Writer's POLL! Yesterday...

[mbarker.livejournal.com]

Original posting: Sat, 7 Mar 1998 10:58:57 EST

[under the influence of a book I'm reading -- no points for guessing what it is, but thank you for playing...I present a question which you may answer, consider and quietly decide not to answer, take as a starting point for a tangent, sine or cosine, or otherwise wave a tangeld web about...]

Remembering how you spent your day yesterday, would you have been better off:

• going to the movies instead
• as a cockroach for the day
• meditating on your life as a crystal
• as a runner-up in a Bill Gates Geek-Alike Contest
• as a [Ricki Lake or other daytime show] participant (don't forget to tell us what the theme of the day is)
• suing yourself in Judge Judy's courtroom for impersonation
• other fanciful variation at your selection

Don't forget to tell us why! and make us feel the pathos as you show us your day, and what you could have done with it...

EXERCISE: Imagine that!

[mbarker.livejournal.com]

You remember the advice given to Alice? Practice imagining six impossible things before breakfast? This reminds me of that.

From What If? by Anne Bernays and Pamela Painter, p.126 Stranger Than Truth

The Exercise

"A man is having an affair with his secretary. He goes to bed with her in a motel room. When he wakes up in the morning he's in the same motel room but the woman next to him is his wife."

They suggest writing up a couple pages of dialogue, with a few lines of action. Hold the description, assume it's already in place. Personally, I'd suggest go ahead and write the tale. But at the very least, put us in the motel room where the man has just woken to a mystery.

The purpose of this, by the way, is to get exercise -- practice -- at imagining an improbable scene and bringing it to life. This is a separate issue from making a story.

Go ahead. Write it up. Feel free to try some variations -- a comic approach, a tragic swerve, maybe something from the Outer Limits? You might even consider the simple linguistic switch, pointing out that sometimes a secretary is a wife, too? and then there's ... yep, make a list of variations and play that wordy tune again, Sam.