Below are a few exercises I use with my creative writing students to generate ideas, content, and discussion.
FOUND IN TRANSLATION
Robert Frost said, “Poetry is what gets lost in translation.” Websites like The Intrepid Guide list many words without a proper English equivalent. Have students pick a word that intrigues or inspires them and write a poem in response. They should then explain how their piece is related to their chosen word and share how the process went for them.
WHAT IF
Creative writers are masters at playing the “what if” game as it’s essential to get the imagination working—establishing situations, possibilities, images, and the needed spark of curiosity to follow an interesting idea. Have students finish phrases like these with something shocking that they can possibly develop into a larger work. What if…
- all your ancestors arrived together on your doorstep to tell you…
- every dream you had was recorded each night in order to…
- all the children in the world suddenly began to…
- you were the only person alive who…
- one day instead of water, it rained…
- Santa Claus delivered…
FIRST LINES
The opening line to a piece of writing should hook the reader by establishing conflict, a sense of mystery, wonder, action, suspense, comedy, etc. Randomly generate two words with a website like WordCounter, and have students include them in an engaging opening line. Give them one minute to write before moving on to the next pair of words to make another opening. Repeat as desired.
Here’s an example using “Trauma” and “Passengers” that creates drama and an intriguing premise:
“After the air crash, all passengers said they experienced no trauma—even when no survivors were found.”
LAST LINES
Knowing when and how to end can be challenging. Give students a flash fiction story or a poem with its last line(s) missing. A couple stories and a poem that work well are linked below. Have them create the last line(s) to share before showing them the actual ones. Finish with these discussion questions:
- How satisfied were you with the real last line(s)?
- What made yours better or worse?
- How do we know when a piece is finished?
- What functions can a last line serve?
- How are last lines similar to / different than first lines?
- In what ways can a piece end too soon or too late?
Sample pieces:
“Born Again” by Mason Binkley
“No Matter Which Way We Turned” by Brian Evenson
“Tilt-A-Whirl” by Nancy Miller Gomez
READING BATCHES
Students obviously can’t write well if they don’t read widely and respond to what’s being published today. Throughout your units, give them “batches” of contemporary pieces to read. Include a wide variety of voices, styles, formats, themes, topics, and identities. Students then highlight and comment on what they like and/or dislike about these works. Comments should be detailed as to why they like or don’t like something and could be at the paragraph/stanza/sentence/line/word level. This helps them see what they would like to include—or avoid—in their own writing and generates fruitful discussion. Format comments like this: “I like/dislike…because…”
Aaron Sandberg teaches near Chicago, IL. He’s published over one hundred pieces and has appeared or is forthcoming in Asimov’s, No Contact, I-70 Review, Alien Magazine, The Shore, Plainsongs, West Trade Review, The Offing, Sporklet, and elsewhere. A Pushcart and Best of the Net nominee, you can reach him on Instagram @aarondsandberg.