Exercise one

Description: Go to a busy café or diner, or some other eatery, where you can sit near other people and eaves drop on conversations - without being obvious. Anticipate spending at least 20-30 minutes at this place, enough time to eaves drop on several conversations. From the various conversations, listen carefully, pay attention to what is being said, what conflict is arising, what is expressed and revealed through the language.

NOW, also pay attention to the people involved. What do they look like? What is their body language? Pay attention to all the details. Do not write anything at the busy café or diner. Just listen to what is said. Watch. Pay attention to all the details. At a later time (when you get back home) construct a scene (or two) about what happened BEFORE these two people arrived at the diner. If the two people met up at the diner (rather than arrived together) then it will have to be two PARALLEL scenes.

I am not interested in the dialogue of the conversation that you overheard - but you need to be, that is how you are going to get your information to inform you imagination about what happened immediately before hand. I am interested in what already happened. Start at a point that makes a strong BEGINNING. End the scene when there is a strong END... which lead into the scene/situation you observed. You can write this scene in play format, script format, or in creative fiction prose format (using quotation marks for dialogue).

Exercies Two

Description: Pick a drawer. Tell me about what type of drawer it is. Where is it? What is it made of? Where does it live? What do you hear, see, smell, feel when engaging with the drawer. Now open the drawer. Look closely inside. Observe the details of the objects in that drawer. Look closely! What do you see? What type of drawer is it? How are items arranged? Describe the contents in detail. After your descriptions, I should be able to picture the drawer and its contents perfectly from your details.

Now pick up at least three of the contents? Touch and feel them. What do you smell? What do you feel? Describe these objects to me in very specific details, colors, textures, shapes, size, etc. Give me all the details that allow me to fully see this object, and in the process help me learn something about these objects and why they are important. Remember, use the details of what you see, hear, feel or even smell (in regards to these objects) so that I learn something about the objects and their significance to you.