Here’s a fun activity to get your creative juices
flowing.
Fold a sheet of paper into three columns. Label the
first column ‘Character,’ the second column ‘Setting,’ and the last ‘Thing.’
Then, as I did in the example, brainstorm!
Make a list of characters,
where they’d typically be found, and an object that might be near them. In my
example, I placed an executive in her office with a paperclip nearby, and a
fairy in the woodlands with a magic wand. Sounds ordinary, right?
Now for the fun. Cut the three columns apart. Slide
the columns up or down to make new character/setting/thing arrangements, as I
did in my examples.
Some arrangements will make sense and others will be
absurd. That’s okay! It’s an exercise in creativity. Choose one combination of
character/setting/thing and write a scene that contains all three.
I’ll leave you now so I can go think—what would place an
executive at a garbage dumpster with a pitchfork? Sounds like a murder mystery
to me!
Why would a fairy carry a sword in ancient Egypt? Hmm…
Have fun!
