8/28 Guided Writing Exercise

This exercise asks you to write a scene, following specific directions, about a place of your choice. The constraints of the directions may help you to discover new aspects of this topic since you are following the sentence-level prompts even as you develop your content.

1)     Bring your place to mind. Focus on “seeing” or “feeling” your place.

2)     For a title, choose an emotion or a color that represents this place to you.

3)     For a first line starter, choose one of the following and complete the sentence:

You stand there…                                                                                     The face is…

No one is here…                                                                                         I see…

In this (memory, photograph, dream) you are…                  We had been…

I think sometimes…

4)     After your first sentence, create your scene, writing the sentences according to the following directions:

Sentence 2:         Write a sentence with a color in it.

Sentence 3:         Write a sentence with a part of the body in it.

Sentence 4:         Write a sentence with a simile (a comparison using like or as)

Sentence 5:         Write a sentence of over twenty-five words.

Sentence 6:         Write a sentence of under 8 words.

Sentence 7:         Write a sentence with a piece of clothing in it.

Sentence 8:         Write a sentence with a wish in it.

Sentence 9:         Write a sentence with an animal in it.

Sentence 10:      Write a sentence in which three or more words alliterate; that is, they begin with the same initial consonant: “She has been left, lately with less and less time to think….”

Sentence 11:      Write a sentence with two commas.

Sentence 12:      Write a sentence with a smell and a color in it.

Sentence 13:      Write a sentence with a simile.

Sentence 14:      Write a sentence that could carry an exclamation point (but don’t use the exclamation point).

Sentence 15:      Write a sentence to end this portrait that uses the word or words you chose for a title.

5)     Read over your scene and make changes as needed so that it will read smoothly.

6)     Read over your scene and mark words/phrases that seem symbolic, especially rich with meanings (themes, ironies, etc.) that you could develop.

7)     On the right-side of the page, for each word/passage you marked, interpret the symbols, name the themes that your description and detail suggest, note any significant meaning you see in your description.

8)     On a new sheet of paper, rewrite the scene you have created as a more thorough and cohesive description. Feel free to add lines and transitional words/phrases to help the piece flow.