Friday, January 29, 2010

Iguanas vs. My Little Pony

Welcome!  Thank you for taking a look over today's freewriting prompt.  As always, my goal is that you'll have these few minutes to take a break and begin to feel some inspiration.  For today's prompt, we'll turn the clock back to meditate on childhood, those days when girls had cooties and boys were just gross...

To start, I'd like you to imagine your nemesis from grade school.  Yes, the one person in class you simply could not stand.  It might have been the class bully, it might have been that boy who smeared boogers under his desk, it could have even been the girl who was your best friend in the whole world until she stole all the lipstick from your mom's bathroom.  Or maybe it was your deepest crush, the one you wanted so badly to talk with, but the two of you had nothing in common.  Might not seem like much of a nemesis, but the two of you were never seen in the same room together.  (Little did you know that your crush's nickname was Dr. Horrible...)

Now, write down this person's name.  Think about this person.  Imagine the face, those hands, that hair. Decide this person's animal.  Is this person an iguana?  A penguin?  A rainbow-colored pony with a soft purple mane?  You decide.  This person's entire image is in your hands.  Be as simple or creative as you like.  Write down everything you can about this animal: the type, the size, the shape, whether it has freckles or whiskers or barnacles dripping off its endangered little chin.  And write these things before you read any further.

Were you cheating?  Have you described this animal?  You weren't trying to read farther on before preparing your notes, were you?  I didn't think so...

Because you discover that you've been locked in boxing ring with your nemesis.  And your nemesis is looking mean.  Terrifying, in fact.  And looking horribly, oh-so-horribly, human.

Then you look down at yourself and realize...I am the animal I was just writing about!

Now, write as fast as you can for ten minutes.

Happy Fighting!
Ryan

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