I love this newest exercise from The Five Minute Writer:
Imagine you've found someone's bag, briefcase, purse, or other smallish container. You don't know who its owner is but you decide to find out by being nosey. You open the bag and pull out the contents. Without thinking too hard, list at least six items. Don't just go for the obvious mobile phone and tissues, although you can of course include these, too.
I only chose to list five items, but I figured the result would be the same!
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- Business card of a National Geographic photographer named Linda Kizecheck
- Old Zippo lighter engraved with the initials CSA, the "S" most prominent
- Pack of Chicklets Peppermint gum
- Set of keys from which hangs a medallion depicting an eagle and swastika
- A handheld audio recorder
*****
Now, write a short character sketch based on the items you've discovered.
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His name is Christoph Schreiber, a German writer who migrated to the United States in search of his mother, an English woman who had been deported at the height of the 2nd World War.
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I don't know that this exercise would have us agreeing about the character sketch, because we each associate different items with different stereotypical cultures. So, who do you imagine this person to be based on my five items?
I challenge you to complete this exercise, because I'd like to do a character sketch based on the items YOU retrieve!!
Linda's boyfriend Steve gave her the lighter and the audio recorder. Yesterday while taking some photographs of Central Park in winter, a leaf blew to the side and revealed the keys. She's thinking about walking them over to the National Museum's lost and found section.
ReplyDeleteGood one! :D
DeleteI love my artistic friends out here in the blogosphere.
This is a great exercise to get the brain going! Thanks for sharing it :)
ReplyDeleteAngela
Happy to share, Angela!
DeleteLove this exercise!
ReplyDeleteI found these items.
1. a pair of used socks
2. a miniature switchblade
3. a pack of cards
4. a calculator
5. a picture of a old woman with a fat baby boy in her lap
I see, a guy who always keeps an extra pair of socks on him for going to the gym. His name is Archie Lance. He collects knives and plays illegal poker in empty dusty warehouses. He has fond memories of his grandmother, the woman who raised him.
I can see myself playing a little 5 card draw with this dude. lol
DeleteI see a traveling "picker" who goes around making bids on people's junk belongings. He's on the road quite a bit, thus the cards for entertainment. The switchblade is an awesome tool for any occasion. He uses the calculator to tally up his earnings, and the picture is of his mother, who is watching over his newborn baby that he cannot afford to raise. He'll hit the jackpot one of these days and can stop traveling around the country, a pickin' and a grinnin'. lol
DeleteA wonderful idea to get the creative juices flowing. Thanks for, Diane!
ReplyDeleteNo problem! I'm on a creative writing exercise kick these days! lol
DeleteThis is so much fun!
ReplyDeleteTry one, Kelly! :D
DeleteAwww how fun! I think I'll try this on my own blog this week :D
ReplyDeleteI'll be sure to stop over and take a look to see what you've come up with! Can't wait. :D
DeleteLinda’s a photo-journalist for National Geographic who’s more likely to keep track of and guard her cameras than her purse, which she regularly loses. Anything important, such as her passport, other ID and money, go into her camera bags.
ReplyDeleteShe collects old things and checks out pawn shops and thrift shops wherever she goes. The lighter particularly tickled her fancy because the initials reminded her of the Confederate States of America and her great-grandfather fought in the Southern army during the War Between the States.
The medallion on the keychain was given to her as a comic gift at the last staff Christmas party. Since she’s aware it’s also a Native Indian good luck sign (and she likes the guy who gave it to her), she’s kept it.
I'm curious about this guy who gave Linda the medallion. Is this a romance in the air? :) He better be an alpha male! I like him.
DeleteNow I'm curious - maybe I'll have to write something to find out, huh 8^)
DeleteThis is such an inspiration. I'll have to try it. Thank you for sharing and Happy Holidays!
ReplyDeleteThanks Lucie! Can't wait to read the items! :)
DeleteBe safe and Happy Holidays!
DeleteReally fun and enjoyable project. It is a real fun way to make a protagonist. Just imagining a bag or taking your own and seeing the random items in there could be a great way to form a character and a plot for a story.
ReplyDeleteFor me, when I read those items, I got an Indiana Jones impression. An CIA agent who received a mysterious package from a woman he met at big time event at Washington. They had exchanged cards and promised coffee once she was back from her next photography-job in Berlin. Two months later, thinking the coffee date has been permanently postponed he receives a package with a set of keys and a recorded that carries a old voice speaking German riddles.
Very concerned and suspicious he starts to investigate and finds his coffee-partner had been missing for over a month from her job. Armed with some gum in his pocket, a substitute for smoking, he decides to go find this missing woman and figure out the riddles.
At least that is the first impression I got from the list XD not super original I think though!
Hmm, five items from a bag:
1) An empty wallet
2) A blue pen
3) An old, worn photograph of a small boy
4) A hankerchief (Sp) with the embroidery of two golden winged birds
5) A rusted, old fashion key
I like the CIA spin on this and the missing date. :)
DeleteThe items tell me it's a poor, single lady, maybe somewhat aged from a hard life stripping. In her younger years she made the tips to support her drug habit, but today she's trying to better her life and find the son she gave up for adoption.
The handkerchief is one some old guy used to wipe her tears away when she'd decided she couldn't sleep with him for money. He wrote her a check for $5,000.00 with the blue pen, asked her to use it to get cleaned up. She did.
She kept the old key to her room at the Foxy Lady Hotel, a junked out whorehouse. It's where she met most of the people who formed the values she accepted which put her on this path to finding her long, lost son. She knows she'll find another job. Until then, she'll be broke and hope people have the compassion to look in her bag and give a little helping hand.
Love it!
Oops, I meant I like your spin on mine.
DeleteThe rest is my character sketch on your items!! I hope that was clear. :D
The set of keys with the swastika eagle medallion would fit into the genre I write, so it caught my eye first. Somewhere in the back of my head is an idea for a villain descended from a Nazi who hid out in Argentina after the War.
ReplyDelete