Writing exercise: Pick a new genre

Today, I want you to write in a genre or form that you've never written in before. If you're a mystery writer, I want you to write a short romance. If you write screenplays, try writing an article. If you write nonfiction, write a rhyming poem. And so on.

No great commitment-- you're trying it for one day only, so take a risk! Write something totally out of character for you.

Feel free to post the result of this exercise here if you like! No critiques allowed unless you ask for them.

OK, I was contemplating this excercise and just happened to go see what the writing prompt for today was on WD, and it worked out to my advantage. The topic was write a poem about your favorite food. Well I am hardly a writer as of yet, but poetry is definitely outside of my normal genre of interest. So I wrote a poem about my favorite food (well more doggerel than a poem), but had fun with it. Don't laugh too hard, it is my first attempt at poetry in a very long time


Cheeseburger

Smear mayonnaise on a sesame seed bun.
Squish if flat. It’s so much fun.
Cut it in half, or leave it whole,
Take a big bite, now you’re on a roll.
Feel tomato juice dribble your chin,
Warm melted cheese…oh, heavenly sin.
Pink in the middle, perfectly cooked.
I must admit I’m totally hooked.
My appetite is completely diminished,
One last bite and wow, I’m finished.

:clap

I'd like to try subbing some greeting cards, which I've never done. Crit from some of the experienced folks on the board would be appreciated, although you can email me at [email protected] if you don't want to muck up this thread.

Here's one I wrote for Thanksgiving. Picture a card with a drawing of a full Thanksgiving-type meal:

Outside:

Green beans and cabbage and corn and potatoes,
Lettuce and carrots and yams and tomatoes,
Freshly baked bread from the wheat of the field,
Pancakes with syrup the maple trees yield,
Turkey with stuffing and cranberry jelly:
With a meal like that you can fill up your belly.
So let us give thanks to our God up above
For the bounties He showers down upon us with love.

Inside:

Happy Thanksgiving!


This one's from wife to husband:

Caption:

To the greatest husband!

Verse:

I love you when you're happy,
I love you when you're sad.
I love you when you're wreathed in smiles
And when you're hopping mad.
I love you when you're neat as neat.
I love you when you're grubby.
I love you all the time, you know,
'Cause you're the greatest hubby!

Happy Anniversary/Birthday/Valentine's Day!


This is a "please write" card. Picture a cartoon character on the front, holding a letter out in front of him/her, with eyes popping out.

Outside:

Woah!
A letter from you!

Inside:

(Graphic: Cartoon newscaster at desk)

This just in: A reliable source has informed our newsroom that the world as we know it just ended.

Tag Line:

Please write!




So, Jenna and others: are these any good?

Are Elonna and I the only brave ones here?

I tried a poem:

"The Rejectee's Lament"

I write
To share
What is risible

BUT

I think
My ink
Is invisible

I'll try the super-short-short horror genre:


The creature crawled through his ear canal, then inserted its tentacles into his skull, laid sixteen grain-sized eggs and waited for its own death. Four weeks. And let them multiply.

Ray, that's Fla!

(Fla is really short flash :grin )

*Clears throat*
For my entry, I shall write an original song lyrics. *bows*
----------------------------------------
Outlaw Without a Clue-
(in F7m)

Park your train beside my old pickup.
When you fetch me beer, yer cuter than a speckled pup
(Oh, baby, baby)

Come in the trailer and stay awhile.
when you do my dishes, I cant help but smile.
(Oh, baby, baby)

I shot the sheriff, but not the judge,
Say, baby, oh baby, will you make me some fudge?
(Oh, baby, baby)

The posse' is coming, and I'ma goin' to jail,
I almost wrote "Prison" but rhyming that was pure hell
(Oh, baby, baby)

If they condemn me to death and I hang from a rope,
check under the bed, you can have all my d--
(Oh, baby, baby)

Chorus- (everybody join in!)
Baby, baby, oh baby, baby. Oh, Oh, baby-O!
I said,
Baby, baby, oh baby, baby. Oh, Oh, baby-O!
-----------------------------------------
Thank you, New York!
Peace! Out! eace

:jump :clap Wow, Liam--you got TALENT!!!

meanwhile, I only have an unemployed flash fantasy spoof. . .:ack

:rofl

Wow, Liam--you got TALENT!!!

Click to expand...

Yeah, but for what?

:smack Hmmph! Another person with a bias against country music!
:rollin
(besides me)

My Turn

A poem about love lost:

I Miss You

I miss your smile,
I miss your face,
I miss your kiss,
Your warm embrace.

I miss the flatulence you shared,
Come home, my love, and foul the air!
Yes, come home, as soon as feasible-
I really miss your buns, so squeezable.

I miss how close we two once were,
I miss your back, with all its fur.
I miss the times we shared such laughter
Come home and we'll be happy ever after.

:gone

I should have started something like this in HUMOR.

:ha :ha
:rofl
:rofl

Liam, you are just plain hysterical.

Melina: *snort!* *snorffle!* I think I know this guy!

Barb:ack

Re: I should have started something like this in HUMOR.

Hi image! Something bizarre happened with your post's html and I had to erase it because it messed up the board. Please feel free to repost! (With no html, please.)

Re: I should have started something like this in HUMOR.

You mean some of it might have actually worked???? I am amazed. I won't repost it because it don't know anything about HTML or how it works. Gosh, I'm impressed though.

Re: I should have started something like this in HUMOR.

:grin

Re: I should have started something like this in HUMOR.

Okay, okay! So I busted on the country and western song.
Today, I'll take a shot at a different style and genre; Scifi Playwriting (A modified reprint from another thread.)

Loosely based on the play,
Merchant of Venice
retitled
Ham of Venus
performed by William Shatner as Admiral Kirk
(with apologies to Shakespeare)

Scene lll

Kirk addresses the Intergalactic Federation of Over-the-Top Actors (the IFOTA).

"I am... a ham! Hath not... a ham... eyes!? Hath not... a ham... hands... organs...dimensionssensesaffections.... passions?!?!?; (where's that damned dilithium crystal stash?) fed with the same... FOOD, hurt with the same... WEAPONS, subject... to the same... DISEASES, healed by.... the same MEANS (work with me, Spock!) WARMED and COOLED by the same... WINTER and SUMMER as a...Romulan is!!??!? If you prick us... do we not... BLEED?!!? If you tickle us... do we not ...LAUGH?!?!?? If you poison us... do we not ...puke on your SHOES?!?!!??"

The curtains close as Kirk is booed off the stage (the highest accolade afforded an IFOTA member) and signed to a Fox network "movie of the week" deal.

Re: I should have started something like this in HUMOR.

Ham hands... can't... breathe... :ha

Re: I should have started something like this in HUMOR.

Captain Kirk in: I..... Robot....

Re: I should have started something like this in HUMOR.

LOL@RAY

Re: I should have started something like this in HUMOR.

Liam, replacing "Jew" with "ham" – I mean, are you sure that's kosher?

Re: I should have started something like this in HUMOR.

Reph,

Hmm...perhaps Ray was right. I should have used "robot."

Re: I should have started something like this in HUMOR.

You mean some of it might have actually worked???? I am amazed. I won't repost it because it don't know anything about HTML or how it works. Gosh, I'm impressed though.

Click to expand...

image,

I wondered about that... I did read through it, and was laughing by the end.

Liam,

Um. Um. Um... :rollin