Years ago I came up with an exercise to show this difference.  Ideally you do it in a group or with a writing buddy.  Take an object – something from your pocket or purse or desk. Write for 5 minutes about where you got it, how you feel about it, etc.  Now exchange objects with another person (or, if you’re alone, take something else off your desk) – this new object belongs to B.K.  Write for 5 minutes: Where did B.K. get it? How does B.K. feel about it?  There’s no way to do this logically of course.  Imaginary stuff will come to you if you give it a chance. I’m always amazed at what my students come up in this exercise.  And so are they.

We did another exercise this morning that I’d never tried before.  Everyone was to bring in a family photograph last week to write about in the memoir class, but we didn’t get to it.  So this week, everyone wrote about their photo and then handed it to the person next to them.  The second part of the exercise was to write about who this person in the photograph was and what were they going to do after the photo was taken.

Another similar fiction exercise is to go through magazines and tear out pictures of people and events and place them in a big envelope. Then sometime when you’re feeling less than creative, take out one of the pictures and start making up a story about the people in it. It’s just an exercise, not a big deal. But maybe you’ll discover a story, or something new about a character or plot you’re already writing about, or maybe you’re just practicing.  That’s okay too.