EXERCISE: Just like That?

[mbarker.livejournal.com]

Original posting 9 September 2009

Okay, while we're waiting for September... or something like that... how about picking a number from 1 to 6? Roll the die, or just pick a number.

Got your number now, right? Let's see what you've picked:

1. "Chase destiny like a harpoonist" Edith Pearlman
2. "Pale blues like old people's eyes" Edna O'Brien
3. "Tossed all night like a man running from himself" Paige Mitchell
4. "Writhing like a baited worm" Countee Cullen
5. "He's like a scalded cat" William Alfred
6. "A lonely face, pulled in like rain off the wild stretches" Elizabeth Spencer

All of these came from Falser Than A Weeping Crocodile and Other Similes by Elyse and Mike Sommer.

Your task is simple. Take your simile and think about it. When would someone use a phrase like that? What's the character or the scene that this makes you think of? What was the question that someone answered with it, or what did someone say after your character used this phrase? Go ahead, stretch it out, think about what led up to this, what happened next, and then...

Put it together. Sketch that scene out. Put down the words, tell us who the people are, let them rail against fate, let them dodge and duck, let them fight... whatever it takes. And somewhere in your scene, use that phrase.

Write?