1) Literary Telephone: Have each student write a brief descriptive paragraph,

then pass it to the person on their left. Have that person translate the paragraph
into boring, nondescriptive language, and fold the sheet down to cover the
original paragraph. Pass to left; have the person fill in the descriptions. Wash,
rinse, repeat, etc until it’s gone around the entire circle and is back to the original
author. Have them read the first paragraph and the last one, and see how things
have changed.

2) Mixing Up Metaphors: As a class, put every overused metaphor or simile you

can think of on the board (quick as a fox, strong as an ox, cold as ice, swift as a
river, etc). Then, erase the last word and replace it with something unexpected
(quick as an ER waiting room, strong as a diamond, cold as a doctor’s hands,
etc). It’s a fun exercise and teaches students to avoid cliches.

3) Raising Voices: Write down a character’s name, age, and occupation; give a
character to each student. Have them write a first-person monologue in the
voice of that person. (Example: Lisa Topaz, 46, Green Peace Organizer; what
does this character sound like? What about Susie Johnson, 4, preschooler, or
Jonathan Miller, 63, preacher?)

4) Bait and Switch: Write a flash fiction piece about an argument between a
mother and a daughter. Almost every time, students will write about it from the
viewpoint of the daughter. Then, have them re-write it from the viewpoint of the
mother.

5) Life is Not Like a Box of Chocolates: Replace “chocolates” with something they
do think life is like, and write about why.

6) Red Bicycles, Blue Seas: Pick a color and write about a memory associated
with that color.

7) Triptych: Choose three physical objects you own, and write a flash piece about
why each one is important to you. Don’t try to connect the flash pieces to one
another.
8) Found Poetry: Have students bring their cameras to school and spend a class
period walking around the campus (or surrounding town, if possible), taking
pictures of signs, labels, notes, etc that they come across. Compile the words and
phrases into a list, and have them construct poems using nothing but those
words and phrases. For an extra challenge, give them a topic their poem has to
be about (love, the environment, passing of time, loss, etc). Also optional:
Creating a collage from the pictures they took that tells the poem.

9) Four-Sense Food Sonnets: Blindfold each student and hand them a plastic
sandwich baggie with food in it. (I used kiwi slices, peanuts, chocolate-covered
raisin, pickles, and stuff like that– be sure to check for food allergies and
restrictions first.) For five minutes, they should taste, smell, feel, listen to their
food items without knowing what they look like. After five minutes, they can
take off the blindfolds and write sonnets about their foods, being as descriptive
as possible but without including a physical description.

10) No-Send Letters: Write a letter (or letters) to someone (or someones) that
you know you’ll never send.

11) In Transit: Write about a time you (or a character) were walking, flying,
running, or biking somewhere, why it was important, and what you (or the
character) were feeling as you moved.

12) This I Believe: Write an essay, fiction piece, or poem based on the NPR series.

13) Fill in the Blanks: “I think the world needs more of _____________” or “I think
the world needs less of __________________”. You can take the serious route (more
love, patience, compassion), the absurd (more air fresheners, hamsters, pencil
sharpeners), devil’s advocate (serial killers, discrimination, etc), or anything else.
Use your answer as the first line of an essay, fiction piece, or poem.

14) Dr. Farsnworth, A Chiropodist….: Print off copies of the poem “Dr.
Farnsworth, A Chiropodist, Who Lived in Ohio, Where He Wrote Only the First
Lines of Poems” by Tom Andrews (available in his collection Random
Symmetries, or online, although I don’t think I can provide the link here for legal
reasons). Take one of the first lines, and continue it into a story or poem; if you
get bored with that one, choose another.

15) Something Beautiful, Something Ugly: This one takes about three class
periods. For the first one, freewrite on what you think makes something
beautiful and what you think makes something ugly (half the class period for
each). For the second one, let loose in the school or go outside, and turn on your
“macro” lenses to look at as many tiny details as possible, taking extensive notes
as you do so. For the third, focus on the objects you took notes on and write two
creative responses, one on something beautiful and one on something ugly that
you found.

16) Write About Names: Where yours came from, or where you wish it came
from. Who you’re named after. Who your father, mother, neighbor is named
after. Odd names. Nicknames. Street names. Family names. What you wished
you were named. Why they’re important, why they’re not important. Write
about names.

20) You can also ask specific questions about visual prompts, such as: Who is the
man in the picture frame on the left, or what is the helicopter looking for? What
are the woman in yellow and man in white talking about under their umbrellas?
What is the woman in the last picture thinking?

21) Write a letter to your future self.

22) Write a letter to your past self.

23) How the World Began: Peruse animated creation myths from around the
world via The Big Myth website, then write your own.

24) Write about an emotion without stating the emotion. Avoid stereotypical
responses to the emotion as well; if you character is sad, convey it in a different
way than making them cry, or if they’re happy, show it some way besides them
smiling or laughing.

25) Long Division: Write a flash piece where two characters are splitting
something between them; it can be a record collection, an inheritance,
Thanksgiving dinner leftovers, or anything else. Do they both want it; do neither
want it? Are there old rivalries between the characters or backstories to the
items themselves? What is causing the tension?

26) Colorful Writing: Pick up a bunch of free paint cards from Lowes or Home
Depot. Spread them out on a table. Have students choose one; whatever paint
sample they choose, they have to use the name of that color (which is usually
kind of ridiculous or unexpected) as the title to a short story, poem, or essay.

27) The Very Recent Noel: Re-tell a famous Christmas story using modern-day
celebrities and public figures as the characters. This can be a short story,
narrative poem, or play.

28) Write a flash fiction piece for each shape/some of the shapes in Stern’s
Making Shapely Fiction. I did this around Halloween and had the additional
caveat that they had to be “horror” flash fiction pieces (campy rather than truly
scary was always welcomed, too).