Good activities for an introduction to creative writing?

My school is starting a writing club, and I get to be the head of the club (yay! ). Basically the teacher is expecting me to put on a good show, and I've been working my butt off to come up with a really great lecture to present.

So I need any good tips/activities to start the group off. I have a few in mind, you know, the simple stuff. But I need stuff that helps get them into the observation, imagination, and language (OIL) frame of mind.

For example:
Observations - Pick your favorite object and look at it deeply. Describe EXACTLY what you see.


Thanks a lot!


lovelovelove,
fragile_heart(!)

Uhm, you could have people listen carefully to how certain people talk, and what gestures they make, that would help with dialogue.

I got this from a book:
First of all, go somewhere where there's a lot of people...this could be really hard if your the only afterschool club.. and tell them to write everything that they hear. Or, if that's not possible (with the too little people thing), you could simply give them a picture and either have them describe it in as much detail as possible, or you could simply say, "Write me a story for what's going on in this picuture"...
The possibilities are endless.
Oh, and congrats on being the leader.

I got another one. Show them a picture of someone, like a random picture, and make them make up a character (name, background, likes/dislikes, goals, all that jazz) based on the picture.

And it might help if everyone starts one of those notebooks where you just write any idea or snipit in. I think it's call commonplace books? Those might be useful.

I remember the first thing I did in Creative Writing class:

The teacher had a whole array of random items (i.e. hand sanitizer, a rose, a television). Each student gets to pick one of those random items. Within the class time, they have to write a story that has that item in it. Example: I had hand sanitizer, and I ended up writing a children story about a bunny named Buddy who loves to clean. xD Could do something like that. ^_^

My teacher did a lot like that. She would list random words, and we'd have to write a story with those words in it. Or this was a good one: The teacher says seven letters (one at a time, of course), and the students have to think of a word that starts with that letter. Then after they have their words, they have to write a story with those words in it. That was fun. ^_^

I'll come back when I remember more or think of fun activities for you. Be sure you advertise YWS! D:

Jabber, the One and Only!

This is one of my favorite creative writing exercises:

Have everyone bring an iPod/MP3/CD and listen to a certain song. It can be their favorite, or something new. Have them research the lyrics and write a short story based on the song, including named characters, places, situations, and dialogue. It can be really fun, and a few of them can be the beginnings of a whole new story.

Discourage the use of actually lines in the song. EX: "Marry me, Juliet, you'll never have to be alone." ("Love Story" by Taylor Swift.) Make sure they don't use this kind of dialogue. Make sure it is original.

Anyway, it's really fun to see what people come up with. Also, at the end of the project, you can have everyone play the song before/after they read their interpretation. It will give people a chance to think of what they would have written.

It's fun!

~Sunny

*cues up Attero Dominatus by Sabaton... yay Stalin is hero of story! Wait... that's bad...*
*cues up Legend of Galactic Heroes... SEIG KAISER REINHARD! SIEG KAISER REINHARD*

Yeah... well... that's how my music goes... Lol. Lots of instrumentals, but still seems fun.

As for my writing activities... they are really easy. Eat lots of food, go to bed, sleep for 12-14 hours. Wake up and write what you dreamed. With any luck you'll be writing for weeks. Just beware of nightmares... they tend to last forever with that 'activity'. Had one just last night... skeletons in water and creepy stuff everywhere... guess its better then getting shot again. That hurts really bad. *rambles off*

I copied this from a webiste, but you could write a word on the board, cover it up, then give everyone a minute from when you reveal it to write whatever comes into their head when they read that word.