freewriting to freewrite, you must write without stopping for a designated period of time. while...

Freewriting

To freewrite, you must write without stopping for a designated period of time. While freewriting, don’t pause to think of the perfect word or to get your thoughts in order. Don’t even worry about spelling or punctuation. Just write whatever pops into your head and keep your pen moving. At the end of 5 minutes, count your words and record the number. This will improve fluency.

Jonas Brothers vs. Creed

Identify your favorite band or musician and your least favorite band or musician.

Compare them. Record your Word Count.

Poison Pamphlets In the old days, feuding writers wrote pamphlets

attacking each other’s ideas. These pamphlets were inexpensive and quick to produce. The pamphlet form has been reborn in recent days with the advent of email and blogs.

Have you ever attacked someone’s ideas online? Write

about what happened. If you’ve never done that, write about the ideas you’d like to attack, and why.

Record your Word Count.

Igloo Living

If you knew you were going to be banished to an igloo for the rest of your life, what five items would you take along? (Assume you would get all the food, water, heaters, and warm clothes you needed.) Write a paragraph about what you’d take, and why.


No One Needs Email

Is email important for people to have? Why or why not. Make sure that you make an arguable claim.


Inventing the New Checkers

New board games come out all the time, but very few of them catch on. Describe a new board game that you think could be a big hit.


An Army of Everyone

What do you think about requiring every American teenager to serve in the army for two years?


It’s Off to the Spa

If you could be any celebrity for one day, who would you be? Explain why you would want to be this person and what you’d do that day.


For Breakfast, I Ate…

Write a journal entry about your day today. Be honest, and include mundane details.


Lip-Synching Hall of Fame

If you could create a hall of fame, what would you devote it to? Write a paragraph about what topic you think deserves a hall of fame. Who would be your first inductees?


Donkey, Elephant, Neither?

Write about your views on American politics.


Thailand, England, Iowa?

Where would you most like to go on vacation. Imagine that money is no object. Why would you like to go to this place?


A Seat From Giant Stadium

If you could own any piece of memorabilia, what would you choose? Why?


Fog Obscured the Old Mansion…

Create and describe a setting for a scary story. Include details.


A Terrible Loss

Imagine that you’ve lost your most precious and prized possession. Write about what the item was, why it was special to you, how you lost it and how you felt when you realized you lost it.


The Meat Is Mysterious

Write about the food in the school cafeteria. Include facts and opinions.


For Sale: A Splendid Sweater

Choose something you’re wearing right now and pretend you’re about to put it up for auction on eBay. Sing its praises.


Chocolate Milk and Croissants

If you had to spend two weeks alone on a remote island and could choose only one kind of food and one kind of drink to take along, what would you choose? Why?


Magic Mail

Suppose the invention of a magical mailbox has made it possible to deliver letters to any person in human history. To whom would you write a letter? What would you say? What questions would you ask?


On the Topic of Pets

Write on the topic “The Worst Pet Imaginable.”


This Is The World

Write a description of the world as you know it. Pretend that the description will be placed in a time capsule that will be opened 500 years from today.


Your Own Antagonist

In the story of your life, who is your antagonist? Describe the way in which this person acts against you.


Hair Horror

Write an account of a disastrous visit to the salon or barber shop.


Parent Switch

In the novel Freaky Friday, by Mary Rodgers, a daughter and her mother switch bodies. Write about the day you’d have if you changed places with a parent.


Ronald and Arnold

Do actors make good politicians?


Twilight Zone

Imagine that you wake up one morning, walk outside your house, and find that everyone in the world has mysteriously vanished. Describe what you do next.


Snowed Again Today

Imagine that you live in a place where it snows all the time and temperatures regularly approach thirty degrees below zero. Write about daily life in this climate.


Prison Memoir

One of literature’s classic novels, Vladimir Nabokov’s Lolita, takes the form of a confessional written from jail. Imagine you’ve been jailed for some crime. Begin to write your memoir from prison.


You’re Invited

Describe a lavish party that you would like to throw.


I’m Hungry

Describe a meal that includes all of your favorite foods.


I Need a Vacation

The University of Bahamas has named you one of three finalists for a full scholarship to its College of Vacation and Relaxation Sciences. Why do you deserve to get this scholarship?


Soaring or Sneaking?

If you could either fly or be invisible, which would you choose? Write about why you’d choose that ability, and what you’d do with it.


About Hudson

Describe life at Hudson. Address aspects such as sayings, dress, mannerisms, customs, groups, and the best and worst qualities.


What’s In Your Name

Write about your name. What does it mean? Are you named after someone? If you could change it, would you?


What I’ve Learned

Imagine that you are moving to a foreign country and won’t see your friends and family for many years. Write a letter to a friend or sibling, shelling out some words of wisdom and explaining how you would have done certain things differently.


Childhood Memories

Most people have vivid memories of certain events from childhood. What sticks in your mind? Pick one particularly strong memory and describe it in detail.


The Big Event

When a special event is on the horizon, people plan for it and get excited about it. Think of a special event that you planned for and looked forward to that turned out much differently from what you expected. Write about what you expected would happen and what actually happened.


Musical Memories

Songs can invoke vivid memories; hearing a particular song can rocket you back to your past. Write about a song that is really evocative of a certain time in your life.


Friend Types

Do you have one best friend? Are you the kind of person who goes everywhere in big groups? Or do you prefer to fly solo? Write about the kind of “friend person” you are.

Record the Word Count.

Remembering Firsts

There are many firsts in our lives that we don’t remember, such as our first step and first birthday. Firsts from later in childhood come easily to mind: a first pet, a first award, a first kiss, a first summer at camp. Write about a special first that you remember clearly.


To Be Great

Dr. Martin Luther King Jr. once said,“Everyone has the power for greatness, not for fame, but greatness, because

greatness is determined by service.”

Do you agree with this statement? Why or why not?


Holiday Cheer

Write about your favorite and/or least favorite holidays.


All Alone

Mark Twain once said,“The worst loneliness is not to be comfortable with oneself.”

What do you think he meant by this?


This I Believe

You probably share a basic outlook on life with your friends. However, most people have a few beliefs that would shock their friends. Write about a belief of yours that annoys or surprises the people who are close to you.


The Boob Tube

“Television hangs on the questionable theory that whatever happens anywhere should be sensed everywhere. If everyone is going to be able to see everything, in the long run all sights may lose whatever rarity value they once possessed, and it may well turn out that people, being able to see and hear practically everything, will be specially interested in almost nothing.” -E.B. White

Comment on this statement.


The Nature Nut

Are you a nature fan, or would you sooner eat cockroaches than voluntarily go on a hike? Write about your best or worst nature experience.


Delivery

You answer a knock at the door and find a delivery guy holding a package for you. You open it up and find…what? Describe the best package you can imagine receiving.


To Live Deliberately

“I went to the woods because I wished to live deliberately, to front only the essential facts of life, and see if I could not learn what it had to teach, and not, when I came to die, discover that I had not lived.” -Henry David Toreau

What do you think Thoreau meant by the phrase “to live deliberately”? Do you think you live deliberately?


A Story of Food

In Laura Esquivel’s novel Like Water for Chocolate, each chapter begins with a recipe that gradually turns into a narrative. For example, one chapter begins with intructions for preparing Christmas rolls:

“Take care to chop the onion fine. To keep from crying when you chop it (which is so annoying!), I suggest you place a little bit on your head. The trouble with crying over an onion is that once the chopping gets you started and the tears begin to well up, the next thing you know you just can’t stop. I don’t know whether that’s ever happened to you, but I have to confess it’s happened to me, many times….”Think of a food that provokes strong emotion in you, perhaps because it reminds you of your childhood or because you were eating it when something dramatic happened. Taking the passage above as a model, write the recipe for this food and gradually shift into a narrative.


“Just So” Stories

Rudyard Kipling wrote a series of famous stories called Just So Stories. These stories create myths to explain how the leopard got its spots, how the rhino got its skin, and how the camel got its hump. For example, Kipling imagines that the camel was lazy and said only “Humph!” whenever he was asked to work. Finally, as punishment, his “humph” turned into a hump. This way, the camel could work for three days straight without eating or drinking. Write your own Just So Story to explain something.


What a Fright

There’s “fun scary” (walking through a haunted house, screaming through a horror movie, riding a roller coaster) and then there’s “scary scary” (being in a car accident, getting caught in the ocean’s riptide). Describe the scariest experience you’ve ever had. Was it fun scary, or was it really terrifying?


The Best Year

Is there one year of your life that stands out as exceptional? Maybe you starred in a play, or you met someone very important to you, or your mother was in a yearlong fantastic mood. Describe this year.


Hit the Jackpot

Suppose you win $10 million in the lottery, but there’s a catch: You have to donate half of the money to charity. What charity would you choose? What would you do with the money you got to keep?


Literature for Life

“What we call education and culture is for the most part nothing but the substitution of reading for experience, of literature for life, of the obsolete fictitious for the contemporary real.” – George Bernard ShawSomeone who hates reading could use Shaw’s words to argue that books merely distract from real life. Whatever your feelings on the matter, write a rebuttal to the anti-reader, explaining why literature is an important part of life.Record your Word Count.

A Star Is Born

If you were allowed to star in the movie of your choice, what kind of movie would you choose? Pick out your costars, your shooting location, and your wardrobe. Include, if you like, your action sequence and the martial arts you’d learn.


The Road Ahead“Each of us has the right and the responsibility to assess the road which lies ahead and those over which we have traveled, and if the feature road looms ominous or unpromising, and the road back uninviting, then we need to gather our resolve and carrying only the necessary baggage, step off that road into another direction. If the new choice is also unpalatable, without embarrassment, we must be ready to change that one as well.” – Maya AngelouWhat is Angelou saying about courage and decisions? Do you think this is a helpful way to look at life? Talk about a time in your own life when you had to change courses.Record your Word Count.

Five Senses Minus One

Most of us are born with five senses – sight, hearing, touch, taste, and smell. If you had to give up one sense for the rest of your life, which would you pick, and why?


A Dream Come True

Describe your most terrifying nightmare, your recurring dream, and the dream you wish had been real.


You Make the Law

You have been called to Washington, D.C. The president wants you to add an amendment of your choosing to the Constitution. What would you add? Write out your new amendment and explain how you hope it will affect or help the people of the US.


Exemption from Prejudice

“There is no prejudice so strong as that which arises from a fancied exemption from all prejudice.” –William HazlittHazlitt suggests that those people who are most convinced they’re not prejudiced are actually most vulnerable to holding prejudices. Do you think he’s right? Do you know anyone who proves him right. Discuss.Record your Word Count.

Time Machine

If you could go back in time and change one decision you’ve made, what would it be? Why do you regret making this decision?


I’m Sorry

Apologizing is hard to do. Sometimes you can’t bring yourself to do it, or sometimes your attempt to apologize just infuriates the other person even more. Write about an apology you wish you’d made or an apology that went awry when you tried to make it.


15 Minutes

Pop artist Andy Warhol once said that in the future, every person will experience fifteen minutes of fame in his or her lifetime. The advent of reality TV, among other phenomena, has certainly made many average people briefly famous. What do you think would make you famous for fifteen minutes? Consider your own skills, ambition, and geographic location.Record your Word Count.

Dare to Date

Say you’ve met an amazing person you’d love to date. This person is interested in you, only there is a quality about them that your family would flip out about, even though you don’t think it’s a big deal. What about a potential boyfriend or girlfriend would be problematic for your parent(s)? Would you date the person anyway?Record your Word Count.

Making a Life

“An educational system isn’t worth a great deal if it teaches young people how to make a living but doesn’t teach them how to make a life.” –AnonymousReact to this quotation by reflecting on how it applies to you and your future.


Spilled Popcorn

What’s the worst movie you’ve seen recently? Imagine you’re a film critic and tear this movie to shreds.


Generation Representation

For many people, the passage of time reduces history to a series of oversimplified images and ideas. We associate the 1950s with prosperity and conservatism; the 1960s with social upheaval, experimentation, and war; the 1970s with self-examination; the 1980s with prosperity and decadence. How do you think history will reduce the events of your generation? What will people associate with your generation in the future?Record your Word Count.

Generation Gap

Parents and children often claim to be misunderstood by each other. Explain something you think parents don’t understand about your generation. Then explain something you think parents would say people your age don’t understand about them.


Prisoner of Prejudice

“Everyone is a prisoner of his own experiences. No one can eliminate prejudices – just recognize them.” –Edward R. MurrowMurrow was a journalist and broadcaster. Do you think journalists have a special obligation to examine themselves honestly?


I’m Grateful

Even the dreariest weeks have moments that aren’t awful. Think of a few things that have happened this week that you’re grateful for.


Breaking Up

Woody Allen once said,“It’s better to be the leaver than the

leavee.”

Do you agree? Which do you think is more painful.


Kids in the Shade

“One generation plants the trees; another gets the shade.” –Chinese proverb

This proverb, which uses a metaphor to express a big idea, applies to all generations. How does it relate to a current political situation?Record your Word Count.

Class Design

What new class would you add to the curriculum? How would this class help you prepare for life after graduation? What kind of assignments would be required?


From Passive to Active

“We have not passed that subtle line between childhood and adulthood until we move from the passive voice to the active voice – that is, until we have stopped saying ‘It got lost,’ and say, ‘I lost it.’” –Sidney J. Harris

Write about a moment when you were tempted to use the passive voice but ultimately decided to use the active voice. Or explain what this quote means.Record your Word Count.

Never Ever

The one thing I will never do is…


Prom Night

You have to plan the prom. You have total control. What decisions would you make?


Darkness and Light

“Darkness cannot drive out darkness; only light can do that. Hate cannot drive out hate; only love can do that.” –Dr. Martin Luther King Jr.Do you agree? Do you think that in all situations a peaceful response is the correct one?Record your Word Count.

Love Is the Flower

“Love is the flower of life, and blossoms unexpectedly and without law, and must be plucked where it is found, and enjoyed for the brief hour of its duration.” –D.H. Lawrence

Explain this metaphor.


Life Lessons

What are some lessons that you would want to pass on to future generations?


In the Attic

You have just discovered a trunk in an attic that belongs to relatives. What would you like to find in that trunk?


The Ideal Mate

Describe the values that you imagine your ideal future mate to possess. Does this person look similar or different from you?


Whom Would You Call?

“If you were going to die soon and had only one phone call you could make, who would you call and what would you say? And why are you waiting?” –Stephanie Levine

Answer Levine’s question.


Happiness

Some people think that we can be as happy as we decide to be. Others believe that events and circumstances beyond our control determine how happy we will be. Is happiness something that you can work at, or is it beyond our control?


Time Capsule

What items would you place in a time capsule which best representation today’s world?


What Is Love, Anyway?

“People love others not for who they are, but for how they make them feel.” –Irwin Federman

Have you found this statement to be true?


Under Pressure

Do you think your friends or parents have a bigger influence on you? Has this changed throughout the years? Is there an issue that you feel so strongly about that neither your friends nor your family could influence you?


Holding Out Hope

“Reserving judgment is a matter of infinite hope.” –F. Scott Fitzgerald

Do you think people who refuse to think badly of other people are fools or optimists? Do you tend to make snap judgments about people? Is your first impression usually right or wrong?Record your Word Count.

School Cliques

Do you think cliques are an unavoidable part of school, or do you think they’re preventable?

Like a Giant

In Shakespeare’s Measure for Measure, the character Isabella tells the powerful duke, “O, it is excellent to have a giant’s strength; but it is tyrannous to use it like a giant.”

What does this mean and how does it apply to a situation in your life?Record your Word Count.

If I were Ahab

If you could live the life of any character in fiction, whom would you choose, and why?


Money Is The Root of All Evil

Do you agree that the desire for money and the possession of money lead to corruption and violence, or do you think something else is the root of all evil?


Famous Firsts of the 1900s1903- Marie Curie becomes the first woman to win the

Nobel Prize.1932- Amelia Earhart becomes the first woman to make a transatlantic solo flight.1945- Jackie Robinson becomes the first African-American baseball player to sign a formal contract in the major leagues.1969- Neil Armstrong becomes the first man to walk on the moon.Which one of these people would you choose to have been, and why?Record your Word Count.

Bad Habits

What are your bad habits? What can you live with, and what would you rather stamp out altogether?


Dogs and Cats

Do you prefer dogs or cats? Explain your preference.


So-So Schooling

“I never let schooling interfere with my education.” –Mark Twain

What is meant by this, and how is it relevant for your life?


First SentenceBegin a Story With…

He swore on his mother’s grave, but then he swore on just about everything.


My only defense was to write down every word that they said.


My brother did this weird thing with turtles.


On Tuesday, Margaret told me she like the little oranges with the seeds better than the ones I bought. I hated her for that.


I had this system for getting exactly what I wanted out of people.


“I like hats.” That’s what Donald said the day before he killed Sally.


I loved the way she said “balloon.” She said it as if she were blowing bubbles.


There were 17 cats living in Larry’s basement.


Dad gave me a wink, like we were pals or something.


Your mother lied to you. That’s the truth.


Michael sat down in the middle of the road and began to cry.


I put tulips under all the pillows, and then I set fire to the house.


I was dressed in a completely inappropriate shade of pink.


Charlotte ate green peppers all day long.


My grandfather lied to my grandmother. I guess it runs in the family.


My mother was doing that thing she did. That thing with the rag in the sink.


The only way John could pass the exam was by cheating.

Write a 5 minute story &Include 1 or both of these …

• She was standing behind the counter, giving him this root beer-float kind of smile.

• the stain on the wall


• “There you go, making up lies again.” That’s what they told me.

• the hole in his sock


• She started taking up a lot of bad habits.

• the day her mother slapped her face


• On Tuesday she asked me the most peculiar question.

• the time Fred went to the car wash and never came back


• She found him in the Terminal Bar and Grill. He was sober, for a change.

• the way Herb defrosted the refrigerator.


• On the following Friday, we packed our bags and planned our escape.

• the tear in her dress


• The plane was two hours late.

• the lemon sherbet that melted all over the counter


• Eloise was my half-sister, but everyone thought she was my cousin.

• the last time they saw a movie


• “You could make a living doing that kind of thing.” I suppose I could, but I had never thought about it, until then.

• the bill she forgot to pay


• She may be young, but she’s not stupid.

• the time Leslie called me a leech


• She found a diamond bracelet in the back of the car.

• the day Lillian learned to drive


• They were all the same, I decided

• the day Sheila brought Hillary to my office


• It wasn’t so much that I had been blind to the truth. It was just that I had seen the truth differently.

• the way she made tea


• Tom lost 25 bucks at the races.

• the thing he does with the newspaper


• “If you don’t take chances,” said the man in the striped pajamas, “you might as well not be alive.”

• the time he caught a fly ball


• He was skating on thin ice – that’s all I can say.

• that weekend in Duluth


• Margaret had this habit of spitting. It began to get on my nerves.

• the time he invited his mother to dinner

Last SentenceEnd a 5 Minute Story With…

the day I loaned Morgan 400 bucks


the thing she did to the brakes on the Honda


the way he writes with both his left and right hands

In a 5 Minute StoryInclude 1, 2, or 3 of these…

• pink fuzzy lint

• a supermodel with a large cat

• the sound of Henry crying


• orange spray paint

• a green bird in the winter

• the smelly microwave


• Berlin last summer

• the smell of fresh mint

• a man wearing a plate on his head


• the smell of Susie’s leftovers

• the voice of the ex-wife

• the taste of lipstick


• the smell of spring

• the toenails of the yoga girl

• a rusty weathervane


• a beekeeper’s outfit

• a child with wings

• the fresh floor wax


• the barefoot waif

• a can of Easy Cheese

• November in Cincinnati


• yesterday‘s Wall Street Journal

• the sounds of the surgeon’s footsteps

• blue index cards


• the whine of a lost dog

• a bat circling the sky

• the last of the toothpaste


• notes from a jealous husband

• a ripe apple

• the Jenny Craig Center


• sticky raspberry yogurt

• ripped upholstery

• an old Danielle Steel novel


• the sound of the dishwasher

• a chewed-on pencil

• a woman with 12 fingers


• a half-eaten box of Fig Newtons

• a purple lollipop

• the feel of spandex


• a crooked umbrella

• five bucks left on the table

• moldy oranges


• the sound of a garden hose

• a half-eaten tangerine

• the straggling cuticle


• someone’s red leather journal

• a sidewalk with a crack

• the sound of Marcie’s feet


• a lime green deck chair

• a man selling bananas

• the smell of your grandmother’s laundry room


• Paris in August

• the smell of peach pie

• the taste of chicken


• a yellow bus

• the smell of the T-shirt from a Coldplay concert

• an old letter from Amsterdam

Elements of the StoryCombine these to form PLOT

• Protagonist: Frank, the painter• Goal: to find true love• Obstacle/Conflict: the inspector• Action: takes up dancing


• Protagonist: Bill, the circus clown• Goal: to be the strongest• Obstacle/Conflict: Mother• Action: learns to foresee the future


• Protagonist: Joy, from the rock band• Goal: to see the world• Obstacle/Conflict: the barista at Starbucks• Action: takes up cooking


• Protagonist: Laurie, the famous actress• Goal: to escape an abusive situation• Obstacle/Conflict: the Cat Lady• Action: takes up stalking


• Protagonist: Margaret, who loves Sy• Goal: to save mother• Obstacle/Conflict: the bartender from

Seattle• Action: learns to drive


• Protagonist: Angelo, who is dating someone in Long Island

• Goal: to be young again• Obstacle/Conflict: the lady at Stop & Shop• Action: gets married


• Protagonist: Iris, the psych major• Goal: to get rich• Obstacle/Conflict: the woman in 3B• Action: wears a disguise


• Protagonist: Liz, who works on a cruise ship• Goal: to write the Great American Novel• Obstacle/Conflict: that idiot from corporate• Action: does research at the library


• Protagonist: Devin, with a gift for comedy• Goal: to discover• Obstacle/Conflict: fear of heights• Action: gets on television


• Protagonist: Jill, who’s left leg is in a cast• Goal: to be wild and free• Obstacle/Conflict: Fred, the monster• Action: gets special training


• Protagonist: Margo, who just returned from Israel

• Goal: to know God• Obstacle/Conflict: Irene, the temptress• Action: buys a new wardrobe

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