Creative Exercises
CHALLENGE 1
Write the interior monologue of a person in the act of digging their own grave.
CHALLENGE 2
Poke into plastic. Describe the assorted plastic containers in your cabinet. Do they resemble your life in any way, shape or form? Write a creative fragment that uses these containers as part of a literary world in response to the modern life.
CHALLENGE 3
Write the Last Will and Testament of a character from a fictional world you have studied. Here you should reinforce the central ideas of their literary world.
Write the Last Will and Testament of a character from a fictional world you have studied. Here you should reinforce the central ideas of their literary world.
CHALLENGE 4
"They're trying to make me think I'm going crazy but it isn't going to work." Use this sentence as the opening to a short story.
CHALLENGE 5
Write about a customer at a nail salon from the manicurist's point of view.
Write about a customer at a nail salon from the manicurist's point of view.
CHALLENGE 6
Text 1: Extract from Perfume: The Story of a Murderer by Patrick Suskind
Here you can find the opening chapters of the novel, Perfume: The Story of a Murderer by Patrick Suskind.
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Perfume explores human nature and questions how much of our response to others is linked to our sense of smell. It is set in France in the mid 18th century during the rise of the Bourgoisie (middle class). Perfume crosses genres. It has elements of historical realism and elements of fantasy and satirical exaggeration. You can read more about the novel here.
Read the first chapter and answer the questions below.
Read the first chapter and answer the questions below.
- Suskind draws you into the world of France in the mid 1700's in the opening chapter. What is your emotional response to this place? Why?
- How does the composer represent the world into which his protagonist is born?
- How would you describe this world? Provide examples to support your observations.
- What values are embedded in the culture of this world? Support your observations with evidence from the text.
- Is this a valuable or worthwhile world to explore? Support your argument with reason and discussion.