Prepared by: Florence Cardinal
Posted on: November 10, 2002
Reposted on: November 28, 2004
Reposted on: January 9, 2006
Start with a mundane, everyday occurrence,
like washing the dishes,
driving
to work or weeding your garden. Then - let your imagination take over.
Let
the ordinary lead you into an extraordinary adventure. this can be a
possible adventure, or it can be a true flight of fantasy.
This is how many great stories are born.
Use the what if question.
What if I
was washing dishes and looked up to see a stranger in weird clothing
peering
in my window? What if, while driving to work, I travelled through a
bank of
fog - into the year 3011? What if, while weeding my garden, all the
weeds
began to grow until they towered over the house?
Don't use these examples. You can do
better. Start by describing the
ordinary task you're doing and then let that task lead naturally into
your
adventure.
Everyone has fantasies. We all try to
imagine how things could be
different
than what they really are. We all ask "What if......" Writers need to
draw
on
these fantasies to encourage new ideas and get through any blocks in
their
writing.
EXAMPLE:
You have your hero trapped in a cave. There's no way out for him - or,
it
seems, for you as the writer. Now ask yourself: What if? What if he
finds a
small hole in the wall, just large enough to squeeze into. Might this
lead
him out? What if he's carrying an explosive device and it detonates,
blasting
a hole in the cave. Although injured, he's free. Keep brainstorming.
You'll
be surprised where your imagination will take you.
Exercise:
In 500 words or less, describe some every
day task you've done many
times.
Then stop and ask yourself "What if?" Take your readers on an imaginary
adventure.
Florence Cardinal's wrap-up
Posted on: November 19, 2002
Great participation this week. I've just
read through all of the
SUBS again.
Isn't it surprising where our imaginations can lead of us if given free
range?
I'm hoping this exercise has given
participants a way to dream up
new
stories or get a plot moving again when it stalls - or even beat that
old
nemesis, writer's block.
The majority did the exercise well. My
only complaint would be that
a few
jumped write into the fantasy without letting us know what mundane task
led
to it.
But on the whole, I would have to say,
well done.
Florence
Pam Hauck's wrap-up
Posted on: November 19, 2002
Thanks to everyone who participated and
helped make this week's
exercise a
success.
The submissions demonstrated the Flights
of Fancy our imaginations
can take
us on when we start with a mundane, everyday occurrence and ask, "What
if?"
Overall, the critiques were improved with
more details, pointing out
both
the positive and negative about the submissions.
Hopefully, this exercise has helped all of
us learn more about ways
to
create new stories or give new twists and turns to existing ones.
I appreciate everyone's response and wish
you all the best with your
submissions.
Pam Hauck
Web site created by
Rhéal Nadeau and
the administrators of the Internet Writing Workshop.
Modified by Gayle Surrette.