Scene Prompt: From a Quote

1. Share the quote

2. Build your scene based on the quote.

Here's the quote:

When people play emotional games make sure that they don't cheat.

Scene Prompt: The Auction

An auction for an obscure work of art. Several casual bidders but two who are deadly serious. Each of the two simple MUST win the auction.

And...go.

Scene Prompt: Interior Design for Big Big Meals

View the collage below, Interior Design for Big Big Meals, and then improvise a scene that occurs within this picture.

Stuck? Consider the following:

• What if the food is much larger than usual?
• Who would be the most unexpected guest?
• Is BBQ an option?

Notes:

collage: Interior Design for Big Big Meals by douglas brent smith

Picture This: Pathways

 

Did you choose your pathway or did your pathway choose you?

Have you ever jumped from one pathway to another?

I became curiously aware of how pathways can be taken for granted or unusually challenging one day when Judi and I were walking in Deep Cut Gardens in New Jersey. We wanted to take advantage of beautiful weather and wander among many varieties of plants. It's a large garden. There is more than one way to navigate its many twists and turns. As it turns out, most of those pathways are challenging for someone with joint pain. As we grow older, the joints call attention to themselves. Those knees! Those hips! Those (yes even those) ankles!

Fortunately, I am blessed with unusually great health and while my knees will mindfully remind me that pick-up basketball is a sport from my past, and now a current avocation, I do not feel restricted or limited much. I walk, and I walk, and I can walk about all day even with hills and narrow stones to walk on. 

Judi, facing knee replacement surgery, is not so nimble on narrow pathways. We did our best to stay on level ground and avoid stone steps, but it was still a challenge. It slowed me down enough to appreciate each step even more. 

We take so much for granted on our current pathways. Slowing down to see more clearly is more blessing than limitation. It is indeed, all good.

Picture This (writing prompt)

1. Find a random picture.

2. Write non-stop for 5 minutes and only 5 minutes.

Draw a map

 

Improv Activity:

1. Draw a map. Pay no attention to accuracy, simply represent some area with your own original map.
2. Write three lines describing your map.
3. Next Level: Improvise a scene based on your map, or, write a short piece (poem, story, description) based on your map.

Materials Needed:

• Paper and pen or something else to construct your map.

Keep Going

Challenges? Of course! Problems? Everywhere! Improvisation gives you and advantage: you can think on your feet in the moment, fearlessly. Creativity gives you an edge -- what you try that doesn't fly shows you a better way to get by.

Don't stop creating until you stop breathing. 

Don't stop improvising until you die.

Keep the fun alive.

-- doug smith

 

Stay Creative

Staying creative opens more possibilities.

-- doug smith