Writing Exercises

Like Sophie, I think the main thing these writing exercises have gotten me to do is think outside the box. I had never really thought about writing plays that included otherworldly aspects, but I started to really appreciate doing those types of things after the play with no words, and the following assignment which forced us to turn someone else's play into something fantastical and unreal. I also think these exercises have been beneficial because it's been forcing me to find material in my subconscious...when I read back to the "once upon a time" story that I wrote for myself, I thought, "huh, this is definitely not what I would have said had I had more time to think about it." 

I especially liked the exercise we did on the day it was snowing, where you led us on an interesting journey. And we were clearly all writing plays in our heads, but the most interesting part is that each person was left with a list of objects that they thought up and had to incorporate into a play. So, we were all told the exact same thing, but we'll all have extremely different plays. 

I thought it was interesting when Vicky said in class that her play would have to consist of her mother and Fellini in a sex scene, because as she mentioned so strongly, she would never choose to write such a thing. Except, I can see it coming out very interesting...in a good way. 

I did think that the exercise that including archetypes for people we know was extremely hard, but also interesting in the same way that my "once upon a time" story was. Clearly we all have a lot to say about these people, since they are who we think about most, but to sum their entire personality up in one sentence in a few seconds was extremely difficult but eye-opening because I was surprised at what I ended up with on my paper.