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Santa Claus is
considering retirement and is looking for a successor. You’ve decided to
apply for the gig. Explain why you should be the next Santa, and what changes
you’d make to the North Pole workshop. You can post your response (500 words
or fewer)
~~~Or~~~
Using a creative
approach - re-tell the story of the Birth of Christ. Where and how you start
and end the story is up to you. Please be truthful to the Gospels. Other than
that - be creative!! YOU DECIDE HOW TO WRITE IT! ~ ~ ~ IDEAS ~ ~ ~ - Tell the
story from the viewpoint of Mary, or one of the wise men, or Joseph or even
Jesus himself. - Be an outside observer in Bethlehem
and tell what you saw the night Christ was born - Put yourself into the scene
and describe what you see - Interact with the people or just narrate it - or?
Got another idea? Run with it!
12-2-06
Dreams are very
useful in fiction, as well as fun to write. Sometimes we use dreams to give
verisimilitude– they are, after all, a part of life. They can also be used
to show a character's mood or even to make a point, as a sort of allegory in
the mind of a character. Write a dream for a character in a piece of fiction
you are writing or planning.
Imagine that you are
lying in a hammock, gazing up the trunk of tree that
holds the hammock. You are profoundly relaxed; summer is almost over. Your mind drifts with the slow rocking of the hammock. Your spirit soars toward the top of the great white pine. Suddenly....
Free write
12-9-06
Sit in your car
or on a public bench and observe the people going in and out of a store or
public building. Pick out one who catches your attention, and write about
who you imagine that person is– where do they live? What are they like?
Where are they going next?
Think of an
important event in your life or in a project you are writing. Write the
weather for the day it happened. This may require closing your eyes,
counting down from ten, trying to empty your mind– whatever works for you
to become focused. This exercise, of course, is not just about the weather,
but about going deeper into the past by using the sense details of what it
felt like to be in that place at that time
Free Write
12-16-06
You meet a man in a
bar in a strange town. He has a cat on his lap, and he orders a cup of
coffee, slowly spoons sugar into it. He strokes the cat's black fur and
says, "This contact is illusory. The cat and I are separated as though
by a pane of glass, because man lives in time, in successiveness, while the
magical animal lives in the present, in the eternity of the instant."
What do you say back to him? And he to you? What does the cat do? What
happened to this man before he came into the bar?
A person is choosing
a gift for another person. What objects draw the gift giver? What thoughts
and memories pass through his or her head? Does the giver reject the first
several items? Or see the perfect thing immediately?
Free Write
12-23-06
A character observes
another character's skin. This might be a lover's skin, or the wounded bare
feet of a homeless man in a subway. What can you learn about the person by
looking at their skin? What can you learn about yourself?
You have often passed
a particular house (or first floor apartment) as you walk to the train or
drive home from work. This particular evening it is just past dusk so that
there is still a little deep blue color to the sky, but all the lights are
on in the house/apartment/place you notice. Something makes you stop and
look.
Think back to
Christmases past… write about your favorite
Free write
12-30-06
Three weeks ago,
while folding laundry, you noticed a sock was missing. Last week, another
sock disappeared. Where are they going? You’ve hidden a micro camera
inside a sock to find out. Describe what is happening to your socks. You can
post your response (500 words or fewer).
Looking in the
window, you can see rooms and pictures on the wall, furniture. It seems
strangely family. Suddenly you are in the room, and it is a room you have
been in so many times....
Your family gathers
for the holidays and you’re looking forward to the feast. At the table,
grandma--who knows you hate being the center of attention--asks you to stand
up and name the five things you are most thankful for. Instead of the usual,
you decide to name a few silly things. What are they? You can post your
response (500 words or fewer)
Free write
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