Created by Kimberly Ward, Community Healing Arts Program Coordinator, Spartanburg SC (July 9th, 2009)
Use a basket or bowl to gather some random items from your home. OR take a look at the picture below of a basket of random items. Possible items include: a model car, paintbrush, candy, dice, playing card, cow bell, a smile sticker, small teddy bear, and a comic book.

Choose a random trinket that you find interesting. Take the item in your hand and think about a story relating to the item. It can be a memory or a fictional story. It can be happy, sad, funny, even quirky. If the object spoke to you, what would it tell you?

This exercise was created by Jeff VanderMeer, a multiple World Fantasy Award winner is best known for his Ambergris Cycle. VanderMeer is also an anthologist, a blogger for Amazon.com, and the assistant director of Shared Worlds, a creative writing camp for teenagers at Wofford College. VanderMeer offers a two-part exercise that immediately gives participants a vivid image (two people on a beach) and asks you to look closely and notice revealing detail about human interaction.

Part 1: Two people are walking on the beach. You see them from afar. Describe what they’re saying just from their body language. (In other words, don’t use any dialogue.)
Part 2: Now, write the same scene (two people walking on the beach as described by their body language), but this time write the scene all in dialogue with no description.