30-Day Writing Challenge: Day 2

30-Day Writing Challenge Day 2: Here’s today’s exercise from the book by Sara E. Crawford:

Write the worst thing you can think of. Write a terrible short story, poem or short play or screenplay around 2-4 pages. When you are finished, examine your piece and ask yourself the following questions:

- What “rules” did you break to make this so bad?

- How would you do the opposite of what you did here to craft a well-written piece?

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1. 

Im gonna writ a die ree entree as gramtixly incorct as posibl. May bee it’s bests that Im doin this on mye iphon but I hav to etch out for corectv text. ButT may bee some of the foe paws wil be helps by my porr thumbing and the phon’e cortectins. 

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So I’m big on spelling and grammar as far as clarity goes. Let’s try another way of imperfect writing. 

2.

Someone

Somewhere

One time

Did something

It wasn’t a special thing

Or extraordinary

Or even routine

Or ordinary

But it was something

Someone else came along

Somewhere

One time

And did another thing

It wasn’t a special thing

Or extraordinary

Or even routine 

Or ordinary

But it was another thing

Then the one someone 

Met the other someone

Somewhere

One time

And they did their things

They still weren’t special things

Or extraordinary things

Or even routine

Or ordinary

But they were other things

Different from each other

But together

At this time

At this place

Okay, so I tried a poem for the second one. The “rule” I was trying to break was the rule of specificity. But I was surprised that the use of repetition made it better than I thought it would be. 

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As I was asking my daughter about this, she said I should look for misuse of archetypes and more higher level imperfections. So let me try that. 

3.

Unfortunate Similes:

He Her eyes glistened like dew drops on a toilet after a little boy has visited

His stomach grumbled like an old man whose seen too many damned kids in his yard 

The chair was hard like the sudden feel of water after a jump off a 50-foot bridge. 

The water was wet like water 

4.

Unfortunate story ideas::

A pirate story in a desert

Ancient Greeks in space

A horror story set in a senior citizen home (or daycare center)

A hermit arriving in the big city

5.

Unfortunate Titles:

A Day in the Life of a Blade of Grass 

Sudoku: A Love Story

Squirrels Aren’t Nuts

Dead Men Walking: Live in Concert

Travel Guide to Antarctica

Groundhog Day 2-Around the World in 80 Days That Are All The Same

Well, this was a fun exercise. I could keep going but it is more difficult to write “imperfectly” than one would think. However, the idea of giving my students license to write imperfectly may be beneficial. A starting point at least from which to grow. And to make more advanced writers take a step back and break down what they do and don’t do. And the whole group class discussions could be great.