Creative Nonfiction Exercise: Narrative exercise

" 'Tell me a story' is an appeal from our most primeval selves. You can aspire to explore the human heart, to analyze cultural conditions, to propose social reforms and to discuss philosophical ideas, but if you want to fascinate, to hold on to your readers, also tell them a good story." --Jerome Stern

Storytelling is at the heart of entertaining and informative writing. And we recognize when a story is absent writing, such as lacking in a dull report, a vapid memo, or a rambling speech. Readers long for intimacy, to be allowed into the mind of the reader and/or characters. They also long for an underlying structure, tension and drive in the words you string together.

Your turn -- Create a piece that includes these fictional elements:

1. A hook -- an opening that forces the reader to keep reading.
2. Setting -- specific details to anchor the reader to a time and place.
3. Dialogue -- a minimum of one or two exchanges that brings people to life.
4. Conflict or tension -- an underlying push.
5. A question to be solved/resolved.

Topics:

• Write about going home for a visit or holiday.
• Write about meeting someone from your past who you haven't seen in years.
• Write about an unsolved mystery from your childhood.
• Write a savoring a specific success.
• Write about a divorce or separation.
• Write about leaving home.
• Write about a specific dilemma of being a parent.
• Write about finding meaning or conscious connection in your spiritual practice.
• Write about a moment when you had to face the truth about yourself or your situation.
• Write about the risks that you never took.
• Write about a time you were in danger.
• Write about attending a high school or college reunion.
• Write about attending a funeral, or somehow facing another person's death.
• Write about facing your own mortality.
• Write about a strange or wonderful incident that happened while you were traveling.
• Write about feeling remorse for a specific incident.
• Write about aging.
• Write about your reactions to the September 11, 2001 terrorist attack.
• Write about your musings on the "new normal" of living after the 9/11/2001 attack.
• Write about your reactions to a book, film, play, sports event, or concert.
• Write about a gathering where the food served played an important role.
• Write about an issue in your life or in society that seems unsolvable.
• Write about a reason to celebrate, savor, or appreciate a specific thing.
• Write about resilience.

©Jessica Page Morrell
For more information contact:
Jessica Morrell | Email: jesswrites@juno.com