Patchwork Poems

Feeling frustrated by this poetry business? Centos can really loosen up your creative machinary. A cento (latin for “patchwork) is a collage poem made up entirely (or almost entirely) of lines from other people’s poems. By rearranging or decontextualizing lines from other poems, your task is to create your own poem by stealing from other [...]

Exercise: Past & Present

From Tony: 100 Word Exercise Think of a historical character and put him/her in a contemporary setting. What would s/he think? How would s/he react?

100 Words Fiction Exercise: Story of a Word

This is Tony’s Prompt: Look up the etymology of any word you like.  Write the story of that word.  100 words.

Fiction Exercise #1: 200-Word Sudden Fiction

Write a sudden fiction in exactly 200 words following these rules: 1.  A one-scene story that takes place on a dock. 2.  Characters:  a pilot and a runner, strangers to one another 3.  A second-person narrator 4.  Circumstance:  They’ve both lost something

Dialogue Exercise

prompt: -construct a piece using only dialogue -make it creative non-fiction “I think I should put you in bed, Sophie.” “But Simone! You can’t go to sleep in the middle of a tea party, you just can’t. And also I think you forgot, but my name isn’t Sophie it’s Prince Fred and besides, you can’t [...]

100 Words or more: Smoke

During my last months in Helena, the smoke from the distantly burning forest fires covered the streets and the mountains in a gray veil, obscuring the valley and the hills. On some days, it blurred even the trees across the street, and you could feel it grating on your throat each time you breathed in; [...]

100 Words: Pitcher

“We want a pitcher not a belly-itcher!” Grubby fingers interlocked in the chain fence of the dugout. Half-empty yellow Gatorades on the concrete floor, Emily, on deck, balancing a bat on two fingers. “7’s up, it’s a up thing, 7’s up, she hits it every time…” Parents with newspapers and magazines in the stands, sweat [...]

Exercise: On Storms

Here are the rules: 1. Use a second-person narrator 2. Use 150 words 3. Use the following words: bones, glint, forge, salt 4. Title it “On Storms” 5. Make it creative nonfiction 6. Go…

stethoscopes (100 words exercise)

I love the feeling of a stethoscope pressed against my chest, breathing in, breathing out. When I was younger I wondered what the doctor could be listening for inside the hollows and nooks of my body. I’m not sure I dared to imagine. Even in a doctor’s office, I found it soothing: the gentle pressing [...]

Workshop #3 Exercise: A History of Glass

Prompt: List: 1. Memories associated with glass 2. Facts about glass 3. Feelings you have about glass 4. Questions having to do with glass. In five minutes, write a piece (whatever form whatever genre) entitled “A History of Glass,”using one from each column.