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IWW
Practice-W Exercise Archives
Exercise: Too Much Information
These exercises were written
by IWW members
and administrators to provide structured practice opportunities for its
members.
You are welcome to use them for practice as well. Please mention that
you found
them at the Internet Writers Workshop
(http://www.internetwritingworkshop.org/).
Proposed by Katherine Highcove
Posted on: October 21, 2018
Exercise: In four hundred words or less, create a scene in which
someone is forced to listen to a nearby stranger who is loudly
conversing on a cell phone.
______________________
Thanks to the modern convenience of these devices, it’s getting more
and more difficult to keep clear of other people’s “private”
conversations. Everywhere one goes, in a restaurant, a gym, a
library, a bus, a subway – even in the stall of a public restroom –
someone is loudly yakking on a cell phone, oblivious of their captive
audience. And if the stressed listener tries to signal their
discomfort, there’s rarely a reaction from the loudmouth. They’re in
their own space, chatting animatedly with their invisible companion.
Your scene should show us how tension builds while the listener feels
more and more discomfited. In your scene, does the listener wince
and move on, try to hush the conversation, or find a solution that
registers with the talker? Perhaps your character will do something
you’ve often wanted to try when you’ve been a captive audience.
______________________
When critiquing a SUB, let the writer know what rang true for you in
the scene. Did you feel amused, repelled, or perhaps saddened by the
one-sided conversation? What did you learn about both the speaker and
the listener? Would you have made any changes in the action or ending?
Web site created by
Rhéal Nadeau and
the administrators of the Internet Writing Workshop.
Modified by Greg Gunther.
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