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   Character Exploration Initial Writing Exercise [19]PDF [20]Print
   [21]E-mail 
   Written by Tom Hart

   These writing exercises are designed to draw out hidden and submerged
   story ideas and to play with spontaneous writing as a tool in creating
   stories.

   This was tailored for kids who are largely uninterested in writing in
   long spurts, so each exercise was kept to five minutes (which was a
   stretch for some even still). But writings like this could easily be
   for 20 minutes in good instances.

   It went like this:

   Choose a character from one of your stories. Make a brief sketch of
   that character, write his or her name down.

   Explore the character in the following timed writing exercises of five
   minutes each. Important is to write slowly, and keep your pen or
   pencil moving. Write the images and ideas that appear in your head as
   you relax and try to focus on seeing the character.

   Don't stop writing. If you get stuck, write "WHAT IF" and continue
   from there, allowing your writing to take surprising turns. In other
   words if you are writing, "John the ape is blue with scales and is
   moving slowly down the hill towards the town," and then get stuck, try
   "WHAT IF." For instance, "WHAT IF he is not walking, but he is
   sledding down the hill, on a giant billboard..." In other words, let
   your ideas and images change to something different, even if they seem
   ludicrous.

   Important: GOOD IDEAS and BRILLIANCE are not the goal here. Just
   stirring up your imagination and letting the elements of your story
   appear and evolve rather than appear full-bloom and forced is the
   objective.

   Write on the following for five minutes each. Keep your pen moving
   during each one, and use, "WHAT IF?" to get yourself unstuck if you
   need to.
    1. Write something the character wants. It can be world peace, the
       end of evil or a glass of water. It could be as simple or grand as
       your imagination wants it to be. Write the first thing that comes
       to mind, and let it change as you follow the train of thought. By
       the end of this five minutes, you may find that your character
       wants something different than you originally believed.
    2. Describe and envision your character's LAST fight or argument with
       another character -- it can be a mother, an enemy, a friend, a
       grocer -- whomever. Just imagine an argument or fight, and imagine
       that this is the FINAL time this fight will ever happen. Describe
       it visually or with dialogue if you like. Just remember to see it
       in your mind, write slowly and follow the imagery you see. Write
       what you see.
    3. In the same way, describe the character's death. Imagine how you
       see the character living his or her last moments. You are not
       defining the character's entire story arc here; you are merely
       playing with the POSSIBLE ways your character might die. Use "WHAT
       IF..." if you get stuck. You may find yourself describing numerous
       deaths for the same character. All this writing reveals more about
       the personality and drive of your character.
    4. In the same way as above, describe an imagined CHILDHOOD SCENE.
    5. Briefly make a list of objects in the character's pocket,
       backpack, in his car, or something he is holding. Make a list of
       possible objects. Begin with one of them and describe a scene with
       that object. Is your character giving it to someone? Receiving it?
       How is she using it? Who else wants if? Again, don't answer these
       questions directly, just describe a scene.


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