The Place For My Writers Notes

original posting: Fri, 26 May 1995 12:05:02 EDT

Narrative, in case you've forgotten, "tells a story by presenting a sequence of events." Or, as advised now and then, begin at the beginning and go on until you reach the end...

So, with die in hand, let us begin!

Roll once. That's your quote (a theme by any other name would smell as philosophic?:-)

1. A prosperous fool is a grievous burden
2. Fine clothes may disguise, but foolish words will disclose a fool
3. Weep for the dead, for he lacks the light; and weep for the fool, for he lacks intelligence; weep less bitterly for the dead, for he has attained rest; but the life of the fool is worse than death.
4. Even a fool, when he holdeth his peace, is counted wise.
5. There is no need to fasten a bell to a fool
6. A wise man may be duped as well as a fool; but the fool publishes the triumph of the deceiver.

[fool quotes from "The International Thesaurus of Quotations" Rhoda Thomas Tripp]

And roll once more, selecting the narrative which you are going to write...

1. Following a path to a goal
2. Encounter with a famous person
3. Travel (a trip of your very own!)
4. Historical narrative
5. A first (date, argument, violence, time away from home...)
6. An encounter with a larger social group forcing one person to cooperate

[narrative tasks from "Patterns for College Writing" by Laurie G. Kirszner and Stephen R. Mandell]

Roll again!

Here is your fruit!


So, for example, perhaps you are going to write a narrative about an encounter with a famous person, illustrating the theme that "there is no need to hang a bell on a fool." Somewhere in the tale you will include the humble kumquat in one form or another...

[And in the battle of the keyboards, the E is well out in the middle finger lead, closely followed by T on the forefinger, but A is creeping up on the outside pinkie, and the space key just keeps on thumbing along...]

write soon!

Original Posting: Fri, 2 Feb 1996 10:40:29 EST

A. One method of tsiwting plots...

1. Take a story you like. Write down the plot in a very skeletal form. For example, you might simply write down the opening scene and question in one sentence, then each intermediate scene in one sentence, and summarize the climax in one sentence. Strip it to the bones.

2. Now consider alternative endings. Did the girl get the boy in the story? Maybe you want to consider letting the boy escape before the jaws of the trap slam shut--or maybe you want to consider a different dungeon for the kid to languish in? Anyway, think about other endings.

3. Then back up and adjust the intermediate steps. If the boy is going to get away in the end, maybe we need to see him struggling more beforehand, not simply laying back and letting the fangs sink in.

4. Now redo the piece. One suggestion is to combine two or more plots--perhaps the boy is being chased towards the girl, while she, in turn, is trying to overcome feelings of inadequacy due to growing up as the orphan of unknown parents from outer space...

Or, of course, you could rest.

B. One Starting Blockbuster...

And for those who like one sentence starters:


[take this sentence, add thought, sprinkle lightly with keyboard presses, and see what grows...]

C. One Question?

With great thanks for noticing these little exercises...

If you have topics, exercises, questions, and so forth that you would appreciate me trying to turn into an exercise, please let me know. I appreciate the help!

and here come the words, around the bend and into the stretch...

(yipes, late again--write!)

original posting: Fri, 3 May 1996 10:49:46 EDT

[and a one, and a two, and a three to six? Get your dice hot, `cause here we go, ready or not...:-]

A. Take a number! One to six!

Got it? Okay, see what you picked:

1. a flower (roses, maybe?)
2. a wine goblet
3. a beautiful Japanese doll
4. a coffee table book
5. a fine silk scarf
6. a porcelain jewelry case

B. Now another number? One to six, of course.

1. dirty underwear (T.J.'s panties?)
2. a dead rat
3. a very ripe fish head
4. a pig's foot
5. used tissues (someone has a cold...)
6. a well-used toothbrush

C. Last, but not least, another number? One to six:

1. a gift wrapped box
2. a paper grocery bag
3. a violin case
4. a pillow case
5. a CD carrying case
6. a black leather purse

Got your three items? Put the first two objects in the last one. So now your pillow case has a wine goblet and a pig's foot in it, and we're ready to begin.

Pick a character or two, put them in a scene with the little wonder set of three objects you've just put together, and ponder. In the course of this scene, one character will find and open the container, getting out the good and the not so fine contents.

Your assignment, should you choose to try it, is to make us feel the emotional responses of the characters. I kind of like having the people respond in a way which surprises the reader, then explaining, but it's up to you. You might not feel right having your romantic lead laugh heartily at the single rose, then plunge into tears when the panties off T.J.'s bum come to life in our hands...

So, that's it. Start with a little sleight of mind playing with the three objects and a character, and see where your fingers lead you.

[What? You began AND ended in T.J.'s drawers? Well, I hope you washed well afterword, you never know where that furniture has been...]

Incidentally, you may put other objects in the container as desired. After all, it's your story!

Single Sentence Start?


[tickle, tickle, giggle, I hear a neuron snapping, I hear a synapse popping, is that the sound of a brain frying? Out of the pan and into the frying fingers, here come words, punctuation, and flickering flame of a story!]

original posting: Fri, 11 Oct 1996 23:30:20 EDT


Hamlet, III, i, 56, Shakespeare
From Bartlett's Familiar Quotations, 16th Edition.

fardels? oh, well, we could look it up, but such burdens and loads are not worthy of our harried times, eh?

[For those who may be wondering--this is a simple exercise in the art of tall tale construction, sometimes known as writing. For our purposes today, we'll be picking a few bits and pieces by selecting a number from one to six (you may use dice if you like). You may use or abuse the exercise as you like, the instructor in the course isn't terribly formal about it...]

Let's see. Try taking one from the following:

1. There and back again. ...in which someone from our world ventures, falls, or is abducted into another more magical world.
2. Beyond the fields we know. ...those works which take place entirely in magic worlds, with no concrete links to our own time and place.
3. Unicorns in the garden. ...those tales in which magical and fantastic events occur in our mundane world.
4. That Old Black Magic. stories in which the everyday is menaced by the supernatural to inspire fright and horror are a class by themselves; alas, the unknown is still terrifying to most of humanity.
5. Bambi's Children. ...stories in which animals think, speak, and act with human intelligence...
6. Once and Future Kings, Queens, and Heroes. stories that have been handed down from time immemorial, the great legends of many cultures, which have been used by contemporary authors to provide new insights into the ancient myths or into our own time.

[categories from A Reader's Guide to Fantasy, by Baird Searles, Beth Meacham, and Michael Franklin, ISBN 0-380-80333-x]

Mix well with...

1. Health - fitness, ailments, liver, bile, or physical infirmity?
2. Fate - work, career, plans and goals?
3. Success - prestige, distinction, a name?
4. Life - ambition, illness, emigration, where does this life wander?
5. Head - concentration, self-control, independent, reckless, mindful?
6. Heart - the emotions, the feelings, sympathy, jealousy, happiness?

[palmistry lines borrowed from The Book of Fortune Telling by Agnes M.
Miall, ISBN 0-517-64730-3]

Season with a dash of fairy dust, blinking in the eyelids:

1. Ghosts
2. A talking non-human entity (animal, mineral, veggie at your discretion)
3. A moving part of a dead body (which one? you decide!)
4. Energy (flashes, mere shocks, or whatever your little spirit moves...)
5. Parasites, small insects, or even your local viral infection...okay, a mold or two will do if you really prefer fungi
6. those amazing marching machines, ticking their way into your embrace...with a scalpel?

So - one very sketchy category of story, one line of interest, and a dash of ugliness. Stir well, and think about where your protagonist would like to go (the back seat of a chevy? why?) and what your evil genius (the monster, mashed?) wants (a quiet coffin of its very own? with a view of the swamp? simply heart rending, eh, wot?).

Then write that tale of the darkness, enchant the evil spirits, and send it in to the contest! Only a few hours remain before sharp edge of time cuts across the deadline, so hurry, hurry, hurry, scrape your very own beast out of the dusty soul of the cemetary and let it go...

[this was an exercise as part of a contest, thus the deadline - but you can set your own!]

Fast Start?


[You may use this sentence to start your work if you like.]

What dreams may come...

[was that a shiver running down your spine...or a ghastly finger from beyond?]

Original Posting: Tue, 15 Apr 1997 08:15:22 EDT

On an episode of Xena, Warrior Princess (hopefully I have the title correct) which I saw recently, there was an interesting little bit of business.

Essentially, the story extended the mythological story of Pandora by the simple device of having the box require daily resetting of the lock. In case you've forgotten, Pandora caught the hope of mankind in the box, so her granddaughter was forced to constantly carry the box around and every day do a little work to make sure that hope wasn't lost.

What a beautiful little extension or addition to the myth! The notion that every day we have to do some work to make sure that hope doesn't escape or get lost, turned into a concrete part of the tale through adding a little detail to the box (a time lock that requires regular attention--and we'll ignore the anachronism, if you please).

And that's the challenge. Take a mythological tale, then extend it a bit. Your choice as to whether the story (poem, essay, etc.) which reveals the extension is contemporary, passe, or even quite futuristic.

If you don't remember a myth, let me see...pick a number from one to six, please?

1. Latona and the Rustics
Wherein Latona, bearing twin dieties, begged a drink of water at "this pond of clear water, where the country people were at work gathering willows and osiers."..."but these clowns persisted in their rudeness; they even added jeers and threats of violence if she did not leave the place." and sure enough..."their backs are green, their disproportioned bellies white, and in short they are now frogs and dwell in the slimy pool."

2. Minerva and Arachne
Wherein Arachne "filled her canvas with similar subjects, wonderfully well done, but strongly marking her presumption and impiety." ... "[Arachne] could not endure [her guilt and shame] and went and hanged herself. Minerva pitied her as she saw her suspended by a rope." and so Minerva transformed her into a spider.

3. The Tale of Arion, the Poet
Who set sail for Sicily to compete, was thrown overboard by the sailors (who wanted to steal his wealth) but was allowed to sing one last time before jumping. The dolphins, wooed by the beauty of his song, saved him and set him ashore. "He journeyed on, harp in hand, singing as he went, full of love and happiness, forgetting his losses and mindful only of what remained, his friend and his lyre." And when Periander (King of Corinth) confronted the sailors..."He lives, the master of the lay! Kind Heaven protects the poet's life. As for you, I invoke not the spirit of vengeance; Arion wishes not your blood. Ye slaves of avarice, begone! Seek some barbarous land, and never may aught beautiful delight your souls."

[stories taken from Bulfinch's Mythology, Thomas Bulfinch, Airmont Publishing Company]

4. Holle, Holda, Hoide. "The Frau Holle of German folklore was the German lunar goddess of witches and sabbath. In summer she was to be surprised bathing in forest streams, while in winter she shook down the snowflakes from the trees."

5. Adapa "A sage of Eridu...while fishing, the south wind capsized his boat, and in his fury he broke the wings of the wind, which ceased to blow. Anu summoned him to appear for punishment. ... Anu offered him the bread and water of life but he refused, thus losing forever immortality for men."

6. Aiwel "founder of the hereditary priesthood known as the Spear Masters by the Dinka people of the upper Nile. Aiwel's mother conceived him by allowing the waters of the river to enter her after her own husband died. From early childhood Aiwel possessed the ability of a Spear Master to make his word come true, no matter what the consequences."

Other sources of mythology? There's Joseph Campbell, for example.

Feel free to use other myths or tales, but remember--extend the basic premise. Stretch it into a metaphor that teaches us, that reaches us.

And write!