The What-the-F Exercise

Find a good quote from Weekly World News. I have a notebook full that I give to my students. Some of my personal faves:

"I wish I could just disappear, but the best I can do is become sort of lamely translucent."

"Thank God, I got to him before the crows swooped down and ate him."

"There was a big bang and I smelled like fish for a week."


Next, use that line/quote as the first line to a dialogue between two people. One characters says it, and the other character reacts/responds to first line.

Continue this dialogue for five-ten minutes/free write.

Now, using flashcards, write down some emotions. Examples: sad, depressed, jubilant, curious, angry, etc.

Write down some genres. Examples: Cowboy/Western, Sci-fi, Soap Opera/melodrama, , Cinemax soft-core porn, etc.

Shuffle flashcards (genres and emotions) and draw a card. Use whatever is on that card and continue your dialogue. So if you pulled a Sci-fi card, you have to create environment (possibly through dialogue of two characters) and they have to react to environment. Alien attack? What will your characters do or say in this situation? If you pulled a Sad card, your character or characters have to be sad. What makes them sad? Did they get bad news? What will happen to the dialogue? How will it change? You could have two piles: one for genre and one for emotion. You can pull card from each pile and write.

This exercise allows you to get closer to understanding your characters. How will they react in different environments? How will they behave with different emotions? Make it tough on your characters. Make it weird. Make it difficult. Really put them through hell. You'll be surprised by the break-throughs they have (and you have as a writer). Good luck.