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IWW
Practice-W Exercise Archives
Exercise: Graffiti
These exercises were written
by IWW members
and administrators to provide structured practice opportunities for its
members.
You are welcome to use them for practice as well. Please mention that
you found
them at the Internet Writers Workshop
(http://www.internetwritingworkshop.org/).
Prepared
by: Ruth Douillette
Posted on: Sun, 11 Mar 2007
Reposted on: Sun, 31 Aug 2008
Reposted on: Sun, 21 Feb 2010
Reposted on: Sun, 10 July 2011
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Exercise: In fewer than 400 words write a story in which the conflict
revolves around graffiti. Use first person POV. The person speaking need not be the one who wrote the graffiti, but could be.
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Coming up with story ideas can be the hardest part of writing, yet
imaginative writers often build stories around seemingly inconsequential objects or common place images that others might overlook. Creating a story from the smallest detail is a skill worth developing. This exercise provides practice in developing a story around such a simple detail: a few words of graffiti.
Words are everywhere, even places they don't belong: spray painted on
bridges,lipsticked on public restroom walls, scratched into an old school desk,carved on the trunk of a tree, smudged in the grease on the back of a truck.
You might write about a sixteen year-old girl who writes a note using
her finger on the fogged rear window of her dad's Chevy. The message emerges again on a rainy day when Dad is driving the family to church. Or perhaps a man calls the number scratched on the wall of a gas station restroom, and recognizes his neighbor's voice. Does she recognize his?
Have fun with this, but remember the point is to spin a story from a
simple detail. Push your imagination, and enjoy.
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Exercise: In fewer than 400 words write a story in which the conflict
revolves around graffiti. Use first person POV. The person speaking need not be the one who wrote the graffiti, but could be.
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Critique by commenting on how well the story uses the graffiti as the
point of conflict in the story. How does the writer's choice of the protagonist make the story more effective than if told through the eyes of a different character?
Web site created by
Rhéal Nadeau and
the administrators of the Internet Writing Workshop.
Modified by Greg Gunther.
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