A Quill of Writers:
"Everybody walks past a thousand story ideas every day. The good writers are the ones who see five or six of them. Most people don't see any."
- Orson Scott Card
A Handbook for Establishing a Writers’ Group:
52 Weeks of Writing Exercises to
Hone Writing Skills and Develop Projects
It is a myth that great writers toil in isolation. Great writers share their work with each other and are encouraged and elevated by their writing colleagues.
Dahven has been leading writing groups for 20 years. The result is this guide to establishing a writing group and developing writing projects through all stages, from generating ideas to editing and marketing. This 52-week writing program includes mini-lessons and hundreds of in-session writing prompts to identify and cultivate particular writing skills, as well as advice on critiquing prepared and edited work.
"Anecdotes don't make good stories. Generally I dig down underneath them so far that the story that finally comes out is not what people thought their anecdotes were about."
✍︎ Alice Munro
Sample Exercises
8. Mining the Psyche
Warm-up: Superpowers
Would you rather fly or be invisible? Make a list of superpowers. They may be traditional, like being able to throw firebolts or having x-ray vision, or more unusual, like being able to turn things pink, or practical, like being able to find a great parking space.
Exercise 1: Power Corrupts
Choose one of the superpowers from the warm-up and write about someone with that superpower. What can you do with it? Will you use it for benevolent or nefarious purposes? Is there a downside to having the superpower? What does this superpower say about you and your personal desires?
Exercise 2: Mona Lisa’s Smile
For centuries, people have asked themselves what Mona Lisa is smiling about. What do you imagine might be the source of her smile? Is it something that has already happened or something she is anticipating? Is it a secret pleasure, or a known one? Would she be willing to tell you what she is thinking about? Write about Lisa’s smile, or another smile.
Assignment: Pareidolia
Pareidolia is the imagined perception of a pattern or meaning where it does not actually exist, as in considering the moon to have human features. Look for hidden meaning by studying the clouds or looking at rocks. What creatures or situations do you see? Do you see the same images frequently? If this were a message to you, what would it be saying? Write about an experience of pareidolia.
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Our experiences are specific, but our feelings are universal. Writing works best when readers are entertained by the novelty of the specific, but they resonate with the universality of feelings. The writer constantly negotiates between specificity and universality. Trust in the process. All your thoughts, feelings, and experiences – conscious and unconscious – are contributing to what emerges onto the page.
'All great literature is one of two stories; a man goes on a journey or a stranger comes to town.'
✍︎ Leo Tolstoy
17. A Stranger Came to Town
Warm-up: The Two Stories
Make a list of some of your favorite books, movies, and stories, and then try to assign them to one of these two categories. Can you fit all of them into one category or the other? Do your favorites show a preference for one kind of story over the other?
Exercise One: A Stranger Came to Town
Make a list of 5 different strangers and 5 different towns. Think creatively; they do not have to be literal strangers or literal towns. Pair the strangers and towns.
Exercise Two: “Hello, Stranger”
Pick one of your pairs from the last exercise and flesh out the scenario. Where has the stranger come from? Why have they come to town? How do they feel about town? How do you others feel about them? How do they change the dynamic in their new environment? Write about a stranger coming to town.
Assignment: The Stranger is You
Think about a time when you were the stranger. Did you choose to be the stranger? Were you welcomed or did you have to earn your place in the group? Did another stranger come along later and how did you feel about them? Write about a stranger coming to town from the stranger’s perspective.
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Russian writer Tolstoy famously claimed that there are only two stories: “I went on a journey”, and “a stranger came to town”. And perhaps there is really only one story, seen from different perspectives: one from the stranger who went on a journey, the other from the town to which the stranger journeyed? Are there other stories? Is the world ready for a new story?
"Writing is not necessarily something to be ashamed of, but do it in private and wash your hands afterwards."
✍︎ Robert A. Heinlein
28. Literary Devices
Warm-up: Juxtaposition
Make a list 10 or more opposing adjectives like short and tall, fast and slow….
Exercise One: The Tortoise and the Hare (Juxtaposition)
Choose one of your pairs of opposing adjectives and assign them to two characters who embody these opposing traits, like Mutt and Jeff or the Tortoise and the Hare. Write about juxtaposed characters and how they conflict with or complement each other.
Exercise Two: Phyllis Diller (Hyperbole)
Comedians often make use of hyperbole to surprise and delight, capitalizing on the humor that comes the exaggerated and the unexpected. Choose one or more of the following sentences and complete it in as many ways as you can. Do your analogies become funnier or more creative as you dig deeper?
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My house is so small…
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My cat is so lazy…
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My wife is so bossy…
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My hometown is so hick…
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My job is so boring…
Assignment: Move Over, Aesop (Allegory)
Imagine that you want to give someone a piece of advice but you cannot offer it directly. Can you present it in the form of an allegory? Would it be more palatable if you describe the situation in terms of scorpions and frogs? Or is there an experience in your life that yielded a similar lesson? Can you imagine a scenario that might have apply to a favorite proverb, like the story of the rolling stone that gathers no moss. Write an allegory.
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Writers have been playing with words for hundreds of years. Over time, we have come up with some especially delightful ways to arrange words like Juxtaposition and Hyperbole. As new art forms arise, we need new ways to arrange words delightfully. Texting, for example, because it prioritizes brevity, has spawned a plethora of acronyms, with new words like YOLO and NIMBY – Acronoymization! New literary devices await discovery.
Dahverbs
100 New proverbs to address modern moral challenges
Over two millennia ago, the Greek storyteller, Aesop, created more than 700 fables to illustrate the perils and pitfalls of human behavior, born of his experience as a slave, a sage, and a keen observer of human nature. Parables like The Boy Who Cried Wolf, The Tortoise and the Hare, and The Scorpion and the Frog are still just as relevant today. But Aesop lived 2500years ago! While much about virtue and vice has remained the same, the context has changed: less shepherds, more telephone solicitors; less scepters, more cell phones; less slavery, more racism. Sadly, Aesop offered no advice on parking, global warming, or cell phone etiquette.
Sample Dahverbs
The Moon, the Man, the Ant, and the Dog
The ant emerged from its hill one day to find itself looking into the giant muzzle of a dog. The ant saw only the enormous nostrils and the lolling tongue, unaware that behind the nostrils were eyes, head, body, and a long wagging tail. Nevertheless, the ant was very impressed. The dog snuffled around the ant, panting and drooling, without seeing the ant, and eventually the dog moved on to savor the tantalizing smell of cat urine on a nearby tree stump. When the thunderous noise passed, the ant raced back to its colony. “I have seen God,” it declared with certainty as the other ants gathered round to listen to it describe the giant nostrils of the dog.
The dog continued its tour of tree stumps and fence posts until night fell and the moon came out, a brilliant full moon hanging low in the sky. The dog felt a powerful stirring in its chest as it gazed up at the mysterious light in the sky. It plunked down on its haunches and opened its mouth to howl towards the moon, “Aaaaaaahhh-rooo.” Hearing the howling, the dog’s owner opened the door to look outside and said, “Whatsa matter, boy?” The dog jumped up to lick its owner’s hand and cast its eyes back upwards to the moon, meaning, “I have seen God. Look, look up at the glowing orb in the sky.”
The man chuckled and brought the dog inside, where dog and man settled down beside the fire. The man opened his Bible and read a few passages. Shortly his mind strayed and he found himself gazing into the fire, thinking about the generations of men who had done the same before him and the generations who would continue to do the same when he was gone. “I have seen God,” he thought, feeling close to the great mysteries of the universe.
The moral of the story:
Man understands God about as well as an ant understands the moon.
An Homage to the Semicolon
A group of punctuation marks met one day at the local coffee shop to catch up with each other. They sat around the table, as old friends do, laughing, sharing, and finishing each other’s thoughts.
“Did you hear about the man who killed himself?” asked Question Mark.
“Oh no!” exclaimed Exclamation Point. “That’s terrible!”
Colon, ever the font of knowledge, had more information. “He had a myriad of problems: his wife left him, his dog died, and he lost his job,” he said, listing the poor man’s misfortunes.
Comma nodded her head in rhythm with Colon’s words. “I guess he was lonely, depressed, and broke,” she added, pausing to emphasize each word.
Period jumped in. “Whatever. He’s dead now.” Period was like that, always putting an end to things.
Ellipsis shook her head at their callousness. “You all are so… I mean, it’s a…” Ellipsis had trouble articulating her thoughts and made the mistake of thinking that everyone else knew what she was talking about.
Exclamation Point groaned when Ellipsis trailed off. “I can’t stand it! Just finish your damn senten--”
“Settle down, Ex,” Hyphen interjected. “Everything is blood-and-thunder with you.” Hyphen had a bad habit of cutting people off, but she thought of herself as the glue that holds things together - all right, sometimes an interrupter - but usually a blender-builder. What a chameleon.
Semicolon spoke up from where she had been sitting quietly at the end of the table. “The man died; his story did not.” She continued, “His daughter went on to establish a new holiday; World Semicolon Day celebrates the continuing stories of the people who survive attempted suicide.”
Period, true to form, put an end to the story, lest it run-on. “Yeah, but she killed herself too.”
“Oh! How tragic!” exclaimed Exclamation Point.
What is the moral of the story?
A. It takes all kinds; everyone has a part to play.
B. Life is a string of semicolons; with a period at the end.
C. The most interesting characters are not necessarily the most obvious.
D. Punctuation matters: the misunderstood hyphens; the presumptuous ellipses; the melodramatic exclamation point… but semicolons are the best!
E. A few commas may be the difference between a happy panda and a mass murderer; consider the phrase, “Eats shoots and leaves.”
The Missing Acorn:
How to Make an Apology
“Did you take my acorn, Squirrel?” asked Chipmunk upon finding her hidey-hole empty.
“Of course not,” said Squirrel. But he had. He heard Chipmunk’s stomach rumbling and looked away, saying nothing, but instead of feeling the satisfaction of a full stomach, he felt the emptiness of deceit.
The next day he thought better of his lie and went to Chipmunk to admit the truth. “Chipmunk, I did take your acorn,” he said, taking Responsibility for his mistake.
As he feared, Chipmunk was angry. “I worked hard to bury that acorn! I saved it so that I would have food during the long winter. I was hungry all day,” she said.
“I’m very sorry. Even so, I know my apology cannot fill yesterday’s empty belly,” said Squirrel, in Recognition of the harm he had caused.
“I am disappointed that you stole my acorn, Squirrel, but I appreciate that you told me the truth.”
“If I could undo it, I would,” said Squirrel. “But since I can’t, I brought you my best acorn.” He proffered his own acorn in Restitution to the surprised Chipmunk. “You have my word that I will never steal your acorn again,” said Squirrel, offering her Reassurance, along with his best acorn.
Because Squirrel had admitted his mistake, Chipmunk believed him. “Forget about it, Squirrel,” said Chipmunk. “I’ve forgotten about it already.”
But Squirrel did not forget about it. Every time he saw Chipmunk, he felt the familiar sting of regret and was reminded never to lie again.
What is the moral of the story?
A. Sorry has four R’s: Responsibility, Recognition, Restitution, Reassurance.
B. It’s easier to forgive someone else’s mistakes than your own.
C. How many R’s does sorry have?