A. Think of a work of fiction that you cherish .

2. A. Think of a work of fiction that you cherish.

3. B. State the major reason why you love reading it. How did the author achieve this effect?

4. C. Write down ten things that could serve as story ideas. • People • Emotions • Thought • Situations

5. D. Think of a character. If that’s a problem, make them a performer: a singer or athlete who’s hit middle-age and is finding most of their career is faded glory, or a parent or child who is having difficulty with his or her own parent or child. • Think of a specific desire for this character.

7. E. Open up one of the works of fiction you cherish – write out a page, word for word, to let yourself feel what what it might have been like to create those words. • Make small notes to yourself about • how the author accomplished a particular effect.

8. F. Recall a dialogue exchange you had in the past few days. Do your best to write it down, being faithful to what was actually said. Don’t airbrush out the boring parts. Write it down just like you’re transcribing from a tape recorder. Use colons to note speakers.

9. Jack: Hey man Tim: S’up. Jack: Where are you? Tim: Ah, nowhere. Just Tanner Brothers. Jack: Oh. Is that, like, near by where you guys found your dog? Are you buying groceries? Tim: My mom found it. I think so. Yeah, my mom found it. That dog is so ugly. Jack: She’s a pug, right? Tim: Oh my God! Red bell peppers are, like, $1.49 a pound. That’ll give me ample amounts of vitamin C all week! What’s that? Yeah, she’s a pug. But she stinks. Her face smells like a corn tortilla wrapped around a cat turd.

10. F. Now take the same dialogue, rewrite the exchange, this time making it snappy and fictionalized. • You see the difference?

11. “Hey, man,” Jack said, the reception clear in the hot, humid afternoon. “Sup,” said Tim, pushing open the door to the farmer’s market with his free hand. The steel and glass door swished open and the air conditioning hit his unshaven face like a wall of ice. He moved the cellphone to his other hand. “I’m just at Tanner Brothers grocery store getting some super-cheap peppers.” “That is where your mom found your dog, correct?” Jack said. “Yeah,” Tim said. “Your dog’s a pug, right?” “Double-yeah,” Tim said. “That dog is so ugly. And she stinks all the way into her wrinkles. Her relaxed face seriously smells like a corn tortilla wrapped around a cat turd.” What words sounded “real”? What words sounded awkward?

12. G. Describe a place that is familiar and comforting to you. Focus only on the details that are most important. “Looking out over the sandy plain, the green trail of cottonwoods and willows curved between the silver crowns of Russian olive trees. Grasshoppers tick and fly through bulrush reeds. Beyond, the maroon hills rise slowly from the valley, shedding pinon pines and sagebrush until their tops are capped only with weathered sandstone and broken petrified wood.”

13. H. Recall the worst person you’ve ever met. Or make someone up. • Assign one redeeming quality to • the character – kindness, courtesy, sympathy. Then write a passage showing this person doing that redeeming action.

14. I. “ Anyone who has lived to the age of eighteen has enough stories to last a lifetime” – Flannery O’Connor • Write down a particular memory that haunts you.

15. J. Go back to that character who you gave a desire. • Now give that character two contrasting traits. Jot them down. • Ex: He is overly considerate to people, but turns into a bastard when the barista leaves room for cream and sugar in their Starbuck’s coffee.

18. K. Go back to the five books you cherish: write down the dramatic question for each of them • Ex: Will Roland catch the Man in Black? • Will Holden find a place where he belongs? • Can a political assassin ever be right?

19. L. Bring the character you gave the desire into your mind: now bring them to life. • Have something life-changing happen to them. • Give him or her a major dramatic • question.

20. L. Return to the character - the one with the dramatic question. • Now write an entire story around the major dramatic question you created. • It should have a beginning, middle with escalating conflict, ending with a crisis, climax, and consequence. One more thing: This story can be no longer than 500 words. Not 500 pages. Five. Hundred. Words. Afterward, if you’re so inclined, you can turn your idea into a longer work.

21. M. Think about SUBTEXT • Create two people sitting down to a dinner of tuna steak – one suspects the other of being unfaithful (in some way) and the other is guilty (in some way). Write a dialogue exchange where the sore topic isn’t referred to directly, but instead simmers beneath the spoken words. Don’t enter the thoughts of the characters. Keep the conversation focused on the tuna steak they’re eating. If you exhaust the tuna steak, then talk about movies or politics. Silly, but see if the finished product doesn’t have a ring of truth.

22. N. After reading the Page You Wish You Had Written Reflect on that author and think about them when they were your age – a teenager, in school, living their life. What do you think got them to the point where they could write a page like that? How could you get there?

23. “Sam wasn’t sure if it was a wonderful sign or a sign of disaster, but Sam knew…” • Finish this for the next five minutes.

24. Observe the Rockwell and write a passage from the FIRST PERSON PERSPECTIVE of one of the characters.

25. Observe the Rockwell and write a passage from the THIRD-PERSON OMNNISCIENT PERSPECTIVE of one of the characters.

26. Observe the Rockwell and write a passage from the THIRD-PERSON LIMITED PERSPECTIVE of one of the characters. Have a sense of impartiality. • Showing only.

27. Select one of your poems. • Rewrite the poem as one page of prose. • Show, don’t tell. • Use third-person limited perspective.

28. Description: Pick a place and describe it vividly. Use color, shape, motion, temperature, scent, time of day, sounds. Use everything that fits what’s happening. • Don’t use the crap that doesn’t • matter.

29. FACIAL MOVEMENT [FM] • Select FOUR people and pay particular attention to their facial features. Use FOUR sentences to describe their faces. • Use metaphor. Use adjectives. But use complete sentences. • Ex: The craggy line of his jaw ran askew to his cleft chin. • Her dark lips pulled back from her neat, white teeth in a predatory snarl.

30. Think of those five books. State their THEME in a word or two.

32. Examine the story you just read and analyzed. • As a writer, I learned… • * • * • * • Give three pieces of praise/criticism/appreciation

33. Examine the story you just read and analyzed. • If I had been his/her editor, I would have… • * • * • * • Give three pieces of praise/criticism/appreciation

34. FOR TUESDAY bring either… • The first two pages of your short story… • OR • Your “fairy tale” scene (250-350 words, typed, dbl-spaced) • - Your scene must contain… • - Imagery • Dialogue • Character development • Diction • Tension

35. Have 2 Buddies look over your work. • Note… C D PV 2 examples of IC DC

36. Think of three events that – if they hadn’t happened – you would be a totally different person… • Jackrabbit • Football tryouts • Catching a hawk

37. Then, be ready to tell the story. Interview your buddy about this event. Take down all the facts. Who, where, why, when, how, what, who… All of the details. You’re recording details in order to write a short story in the first person. You will be taking on the vision of your buddy. Their story will become your story. So be sure you get to know them. The short story will be anywhere from 1,000 words to 2,000 words. Try to keep it short but DENSE. Every moment should have meaning and every detail should tell the story.

38. Think of Three People Who’ve Truly Affected Your Life • Write down their names and draw a circle around each. • Five words that are elemental to that person.

39. Vincent Van Gogh • Jackson Pollock • Christina Goss

42. POETRY PORTFOLIO Select five poems you’ve produced that you’re especially proud of. Title them. Type them – 12pt font.

43. Write down five objects you can see that reveal ideas that intrigue you. Examples: Garlic – Natural forces Birds – Intelligence Fishing – Human behavior Rings – Desire to Strengthen Hiker’s Porridge – Independence

44. Write down five experiences you can see recall that reveal ideas that intrigue you. These are what you’d call Fabulous Realities.

45. Examples: Meeting a dog in a war zone – Human compassion While fighting a war, I met a dog who taught me about my own humanity. Hearing ghost story about your dead father – Human connection and the afterlife During a séance, I felt very far from my father when someone told me his ghost was in the room.

46. Watching kids fish in a hatchery – Consequences of modern removal Trout – finned blades to cut the current – wait in a cement-lined pond to be taken by eight-year old girls who hate fishing. Saving someone’s life – Humanity is valuable While I was trying to save someone’s life, I cared less about my own. Getting the crap kicked out of me – Use only the energy you need. After I’d been choked nearly unconscious, the guy shook his head. “This isn’t helping you.”

48. HUMOR Write down five things that make you laugh that reveal ideas that intrigue you. Drivers picking their noses in traffic – False privacy Pugs – People’s love of helplessness and compassion Skateboards that never land in parking lots – Misguided individualism Guys don’t take baths – Strange male preoccupations Macy Yu’s drawings – The innocence of colorful abundance

50. ARTISTIC CONNECTIONS • Write down five television shows, movies, or works of art you can see that reveal ideas that intrigue you. Stick to the visual. • Gladiator – Heroism • Are You Afraid of the Dark? – Under-dog Creativity • Garfield and Friends – Courageous Humor • The Storyteller – Innovative Force of Drama • Apocalypse Now – War destroys hearts and minds. • Start with this phrase: If you want to meet me before you meet me, just watch…