The Writers' Lighthouse at Ship
A High School Writing Community Resource from Shippensburg University
Assignments, Exercises, and Prompts
Inside each category, you'll find a single PDF with material that strives to be both helpful and fun. While I avoided any direct connections between these exercises and the Reflections/video lessons to allow for maximum flexibility, some pairings are fairly obvious (e.g. Imagery video followed by Imagery exercises). More on the way!
First Person Fun
Assuming the voice of another character, using their language to capture their perspective, is uniquely challenging and rewarding. Certainly a standard narrative can employ first person, but so-called “voice pieces” rely less on action and plot than on the way the story is told. We see the story behind the story. Imagine a wedding toast ripping the groom, a high school graduation speech decrying the conditions for girls, or a Yelp review for a restaurant that turns into a love letter for a waitress. Trust me, these can be fun.
Write a speech that reveals your character:
Eulogy
Confession
Wedding toast
Student presentation
Valedictorian speech
Coach’s halftime inspirational speech
Award acceptance
Siri answering a question
Nightly news editorial
Opening statement at a trial
Phone message
Pilot/flight attendant addressing passengers
Press conference opening
Sermon
M.C. introducing visiting writer
Voice mail greeting
Compose a written document that reveals something crucial about your character:
Letter of recommendation
Yearbook message
Yelp review
Text or email
Dunkin Donuts customer survey
Obituary
Xmas family update
Workplace self-evaluation
Book or movie review
Letter to school paper
Company newsletter
Student evaluation of professor
Comments to student explaining a grade
Book dedication or acknowledgement
Email “Out of the office” auto message
Invent your own!
Teachers (or students): If you’re curious about more works these, check out Fake: An Anthology of Pseduo-Interviews, Faux-Lectures, Quasi-Letters and “Found” Texts as well as Dear Luke, We Should Talk, Darth: And Other Pop Culture Correspondence,
Poetry Prompts
Poetry is such a private art form, and you’ll find inspiration in unexpected and wonderful places. But if you’re eager to write and out of ideas, check out the notions below. Don’t fret about sticking to any specifications. It’s my hope these may trigger similar approaches.
* Write a 2 stanza poem, with the first being how you viewed something as a kid (your mom, the beach, church, the concept of saying “I’m sorry) and the second being how you view it now.
* Begin with the line, “Sometimes when it is late at night,” and consider rhyming couplets with a similar syllable count.
* Write a 4 stanza poem, one for each season. Populate it with the happiest images from each time, and/or the most vivid, or those that best capture your feelings.
* Write a poem about a physical object that holds great meaning for you.
* Write a poem about a place that has special significance. If possible, go sit in that place when you’re composing.
* Write a 2 stanza poem, with the first line a version of “People look at me and see…” and the second stanza beginning with something like, “But the truth is I am…”
* Take a favorite line from a poem or song and make it the first of your original piece. Be sure to give proper credit, best done with a simple footnote, or even in the title. Set the line off in italics.
* Write a poem about a role you have, like sibling, student, friend, child.
* Make a list of 10 words you like. Embed each one in an independent sentence. Pick the sentence that feels most like a first line and get going.
* Keep an image journal. Every day write down a dozen striking, vivid sensual details you encounter. (A woodpecker’s jackhammering, the smell of barbecue, a splotch of blood on a woman’s shirt you saw at WalMart, an ant carrying a piece of food, a bead of sweat running along your neck). Pick one and begin, or see if some don't want to naturally group together.
* Write a poem about your favor color, maybe where you encounter it. Try to help us feel what you do. (As an alternative, maybe a color you consider unpleasant).
* Write a poem about a love one who has passed.
* Write a poem about a childhood game or toy.
* Make a list of strong emotions. Choose two or three that are closely related and give each a stanza, capturing your unique understanding. (Happiness is…//Delight is…/Joy is….)
* Make a list of singular concepts. Choose two or three that are closely related and give each a stanza, capturing your unique understanding. (Hunger is…//Desire is…//Yearning is…)
* Make a list of memories from grade school. Put them together in a poem or take one and explore it.
* Make a list of memories from high school. Put them together in a poem or take one and explore it.
* Summarize a made up character’s whole life in the first stanza. In the second, focus on capturing the best (or worst) thirty seconds of their life.
Story Starters
If you haven’t check out the Character Sketch exercise elsewhere, I recommend it as a good place to start. But if you’ve already created a fictional person and are looking for some ways to develop them, I hope one of these comes in handy.
* Your character is faced with an unusual request from a customer.
* Something disrupts a typical high school event your character is attending.
* Your character receives a “wrong number” voice mail or text that prompts action.
* Your character is given a task.
* Your character receives a gift.
* Your character hears a rumor, about a loved one or themselves.
* A good day for your character is marred by something that triggers an unpleasant memory.
* An unpleasant day for your character is lightened by something that triggers a warm memory.
* An interloper/unexpected guest arrives at a family event.
* Your character receives an invitation.
* Your character discovers a friend’s secret.
* Your character is preparing to do something for the very first time. (pick a hobby
you have and use that specialized knowledge!)
* Your character receives bad news and has to share it.
* Your character finds a wallet or other item with a name attached.
* A friend asks your character for a favor.
* One of your character’s parents comes to them with a dilemma.
* A few hours into a good vacation, something goes wrong.
* Your character forgets something.
* Your character has to apologize to someone.
* You character enters a contest.
* Your character suffers an injury.
* An authority figure accuses your character of a specific act of wrongdoing.
* Your character is running through a list of errands and get sidetracked.
* Your character awakens in a strange place or unusual circumstance.
* Your character is granted 3 wishes.
* Take your character through their first day of something—like a new job, marriage, or middle school.
* Take your character through the last day of something—like a high school romance, a soccer season, or a summer vacation.
* Trap your character in a situation with someone they have a disagreement with. (Forced to sit in study hall next to an ex; driving across the state with an angry parent.) This is a nice practice exercise for dialogue.