Dialogue and Metaphor

Dialogue --

Part of any (or squarely most) stories is dialogue -- how people talk to each other and the art of what they say, what they don't say, what they mean, what is heard and what isn't heard. In some cases, whole stories have been built out of dialogue -- check out this: It's one of my favorite stories of all times:
Hills Like White Elephants, by Ernest Hemingway

And also sometimes people talking on their own like this other of my favorites:
Girl, by Jamaica Kincaid

The following is an exercise for all ages. It was developed by Richard Jackson -- I read it in The Practice of Poetry (The link here is to Amazon, but may I suggest you buy it from your favorite independent book seller <3)

There is a warm up for each level, then the exercise is at the end.

NOTE:
PLEASE SEND ME YOUR WRITING!
This is one of my favorite exercises of all times. I would really love to see what you come up with.
Send me the five sentences -- your name, age and where you are from. Also, let me know if it's ok to post!! PRETTY PLEASE


Elementary Note:

A metaphor is when something is like something else -- but you don't use the words like or as, so that the one thing and the other thing merge... this allows us to say something about the first thing without all the words...
My son's smile was my sunshine.
My daughter's laugh was a booming cannon.

Before we get started try some of your own:

_______ is a ________

take a common noun for the first blank -- and then something much much bigger or smaller in the second. Can the second say something about the way you feel about the first?


Middle Note:

You too, practice some metaphors.
The day was a green, big-eyed alien.
Toilet paper was today's Abominable Snow Man.

Write a page about how you are feeling today, about what is going on in your world. What are you afraid of? What are you finding joy in?
Use adjectives and verbs in your writing.
Now look around and think of the things near you.
The heart of metaphor is how what we see is colored by our perception.

Write five metaphors that allow the everyday things around you to say something about your day.



High School and Beyond

Metaphor.
How are you feeling today? Write for five (ten or fifteen) minutes about the way you are feeling and or what is happening in your world today. Use adjectives and verbs. Notice what the adjectives and verbs say about what you might be thinking and feeling that you didn't notice before.
The very heart of metaphor is perception and communication. How you communicate your perception. How things become distorted by our inner lives... and how we can communicate about everyday things in ways that make them more like the way we see them. Bigger, smaller, more dangerous, less important.

Write five metaphors. This is for warming up...



THE EXERCISE!

Ok -- now here's the way to do this. Take a piece of paper. You will write five sentences.
DO NOT READ AHEAD OF THE SENTENCE YOU ARE WORKING ON.
DO NOT SKIP.
I have given you some extra white space so that you can scroll to the sentence you are working on.




FIVE EASY PIECES

1. Describe the person's hands.

2. Describe something he or she is doing with the hands.

3. Use a metaphor to say something about some exotic place.

4. Mention what you would want to ask the person in the context of 2 and 3, above.

5. The person looks up or toward you, notices you there, gives an answer that suggest he or she only understands part of what you asked.

Conflict!

Conflict. It’s what makes a story a story…

Today we will look at that thing that will be the kernel of your story — the thing that gives your character more to do than just sit around and look pretty… There are lots of beautiful character studies — or beautiful views of the landscape. But when characters have to react to influences — from inside or outside — then they begin to move through development — they can learn, grow and teach us something.

Elementary:

Again, it’s always best to start by reading what you have already done. Yesterday I got totally caught up in other things — and maybe you did too — so maybe it has been a day. Look again at your character and their setting. Say good morning to your character! Maybe you can offer her some of your breakfast?

Now, it’s time to start giving your character their story. Conflict — that’s the fancy word. But all that means is that your character wants something they can’t have. Or someone wants your character to do something they don’t want to do. Something happens that is going to mean that your character, who has been going along just like any other day, is going to have to do something different!

I bet you can think of lots of things like that. Some people are having trouble finding toilet paper right now. That could make a mess! My son only likes a certain kind of cheese… My daughter doesn’t want to walk the dog! There’s a famous story where a man wakes up to find out that he has become an insect! Can you imagine??

It is also possible that conflict isn’t uncomfortable at all — maybe your character finds something mysterious — like a bracelet that is really beautiful and they want to find out who it belongs to so they can give it back? 

First: Think about something that surprised you yesterday. Write as much as you can about what happened.

Next: It can be a good idea to read a few of your favorite books. Can you find the place where something happens to the main character that they have to react to? 

Now: imagine that you are your character. What do you think might surprise them? What do you think happens that is going to change their whole day — or maybe their whole life?

Middle:

Again, it’s always best to start by reading what you have already done. Yesterday I got totally caught up in other things — and maybe you did too — so maybe it has been a day. Look again at your character and their setting. Say good morning to your character!

Conflict… Something needs to happen to your character today that changes everything. Conflict is a place where the person (or cartoon or animal) you have created will have to overcome an obstacle… face a challenge and change — for the better or worse — forever.

First: Think about your favorite story. Can you identify the conflict? A lot of times there is set up first — or maybe the story dives right in, starting with a mad moment of action. What kinds of conflict are you drawn to in stories? 

Next: Think about a conflict in your own life. When was a time when you were confronted by wanting something you couldn’t have — or when something was asked or required of you that you didn’t know how you would be able to do it?

Maybe you’ve heard about the crazy toilet paper shortage of 2020— some people stocked up way in advance — some people didn’t and ran out. Some people are waiting in line at 6am at CVS in Wellesley on Friday. Some people have 150 rolls in their basement… Do you think this is about toilet paper? Why would toilet paper become crucial? What is it about control that makes us take it out on such strange things?

The situation we find ourselves in might provide lots of good ideas for you — or maybe you want to use your fiction as an escape… yesterday I was walking on the beach and I found a plastic bottle of holy water! Who lost it? What happened as a result? Maybe it was a vampire…

Or a vampire masquerading as a priest…

Ok. What challenge is facing your character?

High School and Beyond:

I think a lot of people start with conflict — but, as I said before, it always starts with character for me. I think it’s pretty easy to look around right now and find plenty of inspiration… For many month I’ve been thinking about the phenomenon of hoarding — who is the person who has 150 rolls of toilet paper today? What are the causes? The ramifications? What is the situation that will force them out of that space? The mother of three who breaks down crying on FB?

Think about what limitation your character has that they will need to grow larger than…

That old adage about problems being gifts — it can be annoying to hear in life, but in the realm of the story it has to be true. Without conflict your character would never have the opportunity to grow. 

Another way I like to think about conflict is before, during and after. What was the thing in the hoarders childhood that created that need? And where will the character go with it?

I suppose growth isn’t the only option… I really hate those stories where one things goes wrong and then everything sort of begins to spiral out of control… maybe I should try that. I think that very often the exercises you are most averse to is where you can learn the most — it is showing you that there is a weak muscle… weakness is a place to build strength!

Here’s another thing I’ve thought about a lot lately — it’s what I need in the writing… I have been working on a very dark novel for quite some time — but I realized several months ago that I didn’t feel like it was the right novel for me for now… I heard a talk by Shonda Rhimes where she talks about the relationship of story to what’s going on in society — how they often need to bounce off of each other rather than reinforce… I am usually a serial killer viewer — and right now I only want to watch Dharma and Greg. Again, just sharing my thoughts to help you think your own!

With love and writing,

Jennifer

A Pen! What for? To see it dance! 

A sense of place...

First step -- read everything you wrote yesterday. This helps -- it lets you re-enter the world you are creating... imagine your character and put yourself back there...

Today we will talk about place.



Elementary:

Do you have a favorite book nearby? What do you notice about where your character lives? What kinds of colors did the artist use? What kind of shapes are there? How do the pictures make you feel? Are they funny? Sweet? A little monstery?

Look around your own space. You can use the place where you are working (I am sitting on my green velvet couch, looking out the window at the neighbor's garage), or you can go and look at your bedroom, or another favorite spot in your house. Write down five things that you see. How do each of those things make you feel?

What is your favorite thing about your neighborhood? Do your neighbors have any fun things on their lawns? Do any of them have barking dogs? (My dog barks but she is actually very very sweet.)

What do you know about your character? Do you think your character likes bold colors or light ones? Do you think they like flowers? Do you think they live in a forrest or a city?

Spend as long as you need and imagine everything about the room where your character lives.
Then think about beyond their room. What is the neighborhood like? Can you imagine your character's best friend?



Middle:

When you think about setting, you start to think about the inner life of your character, and how their inner life corresponds to their outer life.

Is your character a prep who grew up very preppy, or a prep who grew up with super crunchy parents who wants to rebel?
Was your character born in the wrong time period? Why? What was the right one?
Did your character used to love their town but then in 5th grade something changed? Does the town look differently because of that?

Spend some time and write down as much as you can about the place your character finds themself. Are they home? Are they away? Tell us about their room; their house; their neighborhood; their school.


High school and beyond:

As far as I am concerned, the best thing about writing fiction is that you get to turn on a movie and walk in. I write in a lot of genres -- journalism, poetry, fiction, memoir... I think fiction is the most fun. In fiction, it is as if you turn the switch and walk into a world -- then you just record the movie!
In that case -- if you are creating a world that you are going to live in during your creative time -- choose a world you are intrigued by. A world you can see and feel. And a world that holds something of interest for you. A world in which you can explore a conflict that concerns you -- that you want to explain or understand.

I think you need to go about it both big and small. It can always change later -- but for me, I need a lot. I need the bedroom, I need the kitchen -- I need the backyard over-looking the river, and I need the downtown area where the mother is busy while the daughter is home getting up to no good...  I need the way the mug feels with warm tea after bad news -- and I need the loveliness of the cafe escaped to when all is lost. I need to know what time of year the river has water. I need to know where the mother goes to work and where the daughter goes to school.

What do you need?

On the first day of fiction...

This week I thought I would do a little five day fiction thing... I think it would be fun to do this with a poem too (maybe I'll try) -- and would certainly work for memoir. But right now, I'm thinking about fiction... so there you have it.


Did you set up your space? Do you have your things? If not, you might want to take a look at Friday's idea to start you off... I hope to post M-F with weekend suggestions at the end of the week.

What a character!


Elementary:

To start off, do you know what fiction is? Fiction is something that is made up, it was created by the writer and, often for your favorites, an artist too. Sometimes this is easier to spot than others. Look around the house -- can you find two things that are fiction, two things that are non-fiction? You can tell the non-fiction things because they really happened. Maybe a story about somebody real -- news, magazines, letters.

Today, I want you to create a character.
A lot of times, characters are made with some idea of someone you really know. This helps, because the things we know are often easier to write about than the things we don't know.

First: Think about someone you know.

Imagine someone who is very special in your life. Someone who gives you a warm fuzzy to think about.
OR
Imagine someone who you wish you knew but don't. I really like the man who used to bring my mail. I often used to wonder if he liked cookies.
OR
Imagine a friend from school or a family member you don't see very often.

Now.
Describe that person physically.
What do they look like? What do they wear? What do their hands do when they are talking? What do you like about them most?

Now.
If this person were an animal, what animal would they be?

Now.
Imagine the animal. You can name it after the first person, or not, but now you have a new character. What do they look like? What do they wear? What do they do with their hands when they are talking?
Close your eyes and think really hard about your new animal.
Open your eyes and write the first ten (or five or twenty) words that come into your mind.

Now.
Write a journal entry as if you were that new character. A journal is something you write about your day and what is in your mind. You write it from the first person; that means you say, "I..." Write about what your character had for breakfast -- maybe it is what you had, or maybe they ate something crazy like ice cream with cookies, or snails on toast!

"This morning, I went to the beach. Then I came home and made breakfast for my son. Then I wrote this letter to you. In my letter I wrote about character. You can write about anything you want!"



Middle:

Ok -- so today I want you to decide on the character you are going to use as the protagonist for a story. The protagonist is the main person in a story -- if you don't care about your protagonist, no reader will, either.

So --
Do you want to write about someone everyone likes or someone everyone makes fun of? Do you want to write about someone who knows what they want or someone who is really confused?

Tomorrow we will have to think about conflict -- and that might come up for you today -- but today, the idea is to figure out who your character is.

Physical:
what do they look like? what do they wear? what do they do with their hands? do they wear make up or piercings or tattoos? what is their look?

Where:
Where do they live? What do they do? Is it a place you know? Is it far away? It's a good idea to write about what you know about... is there a place that you know about that no one else does?

Time;
What time frame is your story set in? Is it now? Is it ten years from now? 100 years ago?
Probably part of this is also what genre are you writing in? Fantasy? Sci-Fi? Mystery (I really want to write a mystery...)

Spend as much time as you need to just write as much as you can about your character.

Then:
Write page 112 of their autobiography.




High School and Beyond:

So this all comes to me because I am intrigued by character -- I always have been. This week I am thinking about a set of character vignettes (that I can't tell you more about or I will jinx it). When I was in college I used to pass a little book binary every day and was so intrigued I eventually asked him if I could interview and photograph him, which taught me so much!

For the rest of the week we will be working on different elements of story. Different people start different places -- for me I always start with the protagonist. Writing about characters lets us explore parts of ourselves and of society -- of other people. Allows us to learn and understand and communicate.


Just as with any good story, it all starts with the five Ws! We'll get to the what and the why a little later -- so start with three:

Who:
Who do you want to write your story about?
If you are stuck, you can look back at the younger versions of today's post to see if any of it interests or inspires you. My characters usually come from people I meet in passing. But they might just as well be inspired by people in my life I am intrigued or struggling with. Or characters from major works I think have been misinterpreted... I have a running list of stories I wish were written by other people... it can be fun to imagine! What if two authors were writing to each other? What if Jane Austin had written Brett from The Sun Also Rises, or Joy Harjo had written the characters in Watership Down? What if my ex-boyfriend were stranded on a desert island...
Anyway -- all of that was just to get you thinking. ..
Who do you want to write your story about?

Now picture them.
Physically. And emotionally. How does their emotion play out in their physical appearance? Does it show up in their aesthetic? Their profession? Their body language?

When:
When is your story set? This might ask a bit of genre too -- Sci-fi? Fantasy? I'm dying to write a mystery... last year? Twenty years from now?

Where:
This will be both where the story is set and then also where does the person live.


Today:

Write a description of their favorite place. (a room, a rock, a beach...)
Write a page from their journal.


Have Fun!

A pen, what for? To see it dance!

Getting Squared Away

Ok... so here's a thing I have been thinking about. One thing about writing is that it really helps to have a place for it. It doesn't have to be fancy -- but it does help to have a little space cleared, supplies situated, stuff ready to go. A lot of us -- and of your parents -- may have been stocking up a little bit this week -- cleaning things and space and thoughts so that when we are ready to hunker down we will be as comfortable and feel as cozy as possible.

Next week I thought I would do a five part fictional building block set of days that will build on each other.
I write in many genres, so you can expect different things on here -- not just fiction... so if you are a poet or a memoirist -- fear not! Adapt and be patient... which seems to be the name of the game right now...

So today, I was thinking, let's just set up.

You need paper (unless you are working on a computer or other device).
Do you like white paper? Do you like lines?
You can write on shopping bags, on the back of used printer paper...
Do you have a notebook you can designate your writing notebook?
Pencils.
Pens.


Elementary:

You can make a notebook very easily by taken a small stack of computer paper, fold it in half and then use something to hold it together -- staples, an elastic, if you have a hole punch and ribbon that can be extra fancy. I suggest that today you draw on the outside. Write your name. Make it your special place for writing.

If you have any favorite books you could place this notebook on top of your favorite books. I think this makes everything feel like friends. Your writing and your books! Who are your favorite characters? Can you draw them on your notebook?


Middle:

After you get your supplies together -- make some sort of holder. Use a folder, a box -- decorate. Make this your special spot for writing.
Then, make a list.
List your favorite books, poems, children's books. This will remind you to connect with the art and that you can create stories that will bring other people into your world.
Next -- take a little while to list any story, character or poem ideas you already have. I like to keep this list in a little notebook titled "idea book." This helps me remember my ideas and gives me things to do not he days that I am stuck. Ideas are a little like toilet paper... sometimes you never think about it's absence... then one day the shelves are bare! It's good to have a few rolls on the shelf.


High school and beyond:

I know some of you will start thinking about school work again soon. I will keep posting for you though. For me, writing is a really important outlet during times of stress -- it can be a hobby, and even when there is work to be done it can be very sustaining...

Recently something I read suggested putting your three favorite books on your desk. I have many books surrounding me -- but it was really good to dig out my favorites. It reminds me of their enduring nature, their comfort and their inspiration.

Next, make a list. Do you have any ideas for things you have been wanting to write? Ideas that you have had but never got around to? Do you have a larger project you have been wanting to try? If you do -- you could think of the things you find here as warm up exercises -- a little bit of play before you get down to business. If not, the writing along will find you somewhere, I am sure of it.

Having idea books is crucial for me -- I use them all the time.

See you next week!
Please feel free to send me any thoughts or ideas -- and please please send me writing!

Our faces, my heart, brief as photos

For this writing assignment, start with a photo. This can be any kind of photograph -- it can be in an album or a frame -- it can be on-line or in a book.

As yesterday, there is a poem (and today, also a song) at the end of the post.

Remember... Have fun!

In my house, I have photographs of relatives I never met, in fancy clothes from before I was born... I have photos of myself as a child... I have photos famous people have taken in famous places... what do you have?

I ask lots of questions in this prompt -- I suggest you write for a bit -- maybe 5 minutes (or as long as you want) about any of the questions that interest you.


Elementary writers:
Parents -- if you can, help your child find a photograph. Be warned, a tiny bit of curation here can go a long way. On the bottom shelf of my kids k-8 library I found one of the most graphic and moving books about the middle passage I have ever seen... photographs can be powerful -- even from the newspaper and magazines.  Do you have an old album or shoebox of pictures they can rummage through on their own? Children's books will do too. Book covers.

Find a photograph that you like a lot.
What do you imagine about the person you are looking at?
What do you think they are looking at?
What do you imagine them doing the day the picture was taken?
What do you imagine them doing today?
What do you think about their clothes?
Ask them three questions.
Tell them three things.


Middle Writers:

Create a persona for the person -- it can be or can be not true to life.
What do you see about expression? Clothing? Setting?
Create a scene out of the day.
What is your person's biggest concern on that day?
Are there other people in the photo? Who are they? What are their biggest concerns? Is there no one there? Is that a concern?

What do you think about cameras? How do the people in your picture think about cameras. A camera can act as a barrier between two people -- it can also act as a connector. Do you have that experience? What is the difference between a selfie, a group selfie, a school photograph, a family photograph?

Write a story or a poem where the photograph becomes a conflict for the person you are writing about. How does that play out, and what do they do about it?


High school and beyond writers:

Write down as much as you can about the photograph. Notice as much as you can about what is there -- clothing, setting, expression...
What do you think is right outside the frame?
How did this photograph come to be?

Imagine the difference for this person in the day that the photograph was taken and the same day, when the photograph never happened. Why didn't it happen? Did that change everything?

Write a poem or a story about this.

AND OUR FACES, MY HEART, BRIEF AS PHOTOS

When I open my wallet
to show my papers
pay money
or check the time of a train
I look at your face.

The flower's pollen
is older than the mountains
Aravis is young
as mountains go.

The flower's ovules
will be seeding still
when Aravis then aged
is no more than a hill.

The flower in the heart's
wallet, the force
of what lives us a
outliving the mountain.

And our faces, my heart, brief as
photos.

                                 -- JOHN BERGER 

The Story was inspired by this poem and made a song!

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=5SScXmCTuO0&list=RD5SScXmCTuO0&start_radio=1&t=15

A pen! What for? To see it dance!

Writing exercise day 1

Ok... so here goes a first try. I thought I would try offering different age suggestions, though when I taught it was mostly older students. It starts with a poem, that I will paste at the end of the post:

Elementary school kids: 

Do you have a favorite character either on TV or in a book? (If you have the book you can go get it now.)
what do you know about the way the character looks?
what do you think about their personality?
after you have spent a little time thinking/talking/writing about the character, imagine the character was sitting down next to you.
Write a letter to the character. What would you like to tell the character about your life today? What would you like to ask the character about their life today?
Sometimes I wonder what the Pigeon's mom said to him later. Or if Toot and Puddle go to the movies. Do you?
What do you think Snoopy would do if he was home right now?

Middle School: 

Imagine a story you love. It could be on TV or in a book or a comic -- anywhere.
You can do this one of two ways.
A: Imagine that you step into a specific page of their story and rewrite that scene/chapter/story if you could "knock over houses with your breath?"
This, of course, could work the other way and your character could come into your life to help with a problem you've had, or maybe mess up your birthday part...

High School and beyond:
Imagine the intersection of two worlds. Here, Collins talks about the intersection between fiction and reality. What other intersections intrigue you? The place where one person and another person's thoughts are separate, man and machine, dog and owner, sky and tree... I am often obsessed with the relationship of perspective -- where a place (or person or language) can look so strange and too big to take in a moment, while years later it seems so ordinary -- known. Personify some part of that, or embody another consciousness.
Does the sky get cold when the sun goes down?
Write a story where you explore the boundary you have chosen, and what happens when that boundary disappears.

Remember -- writing is play! It's always a good idea to work younger!

Wolf

A wolf is reading a book of fairy tales.
The moon hangs over the forest, a lamp.

He is not assuming a human position,
say, cross-legged against a tree,
as he would in a cartoon.

This is a real wolf, standing on all fours,
his rich fur bristling in the night air,
his head bent over the book on the ground.

He does not sit down for the words
would be too far away to be legible,
and it is with difficulty that he turns
each page with his nose and forepaws.

When he finishes the last tale
he lies down in pine needles.
He thinks about what he has read,
the stories passing over his mind
like the clouds crossing the moon.

A zigzag of wind shakes down hazelnuts.
The eyes of owls yellow in the branches.

The wolf now paces restlessly in circles
around the book until he is absorbed
by the power of its narration,
making him one of its illustrations,
a small paper wolf, flat as print.

Later that night, lost in a town of pigs,
he knocks over houses with his breath.

-- Billy Collins