SENSE  AND  MEMORY
This is the exercise Cherylene Lee gave us at the January 1998 meeting (reprinted here with permission from Cherylene). This exercise is meant to be done in a group.

Write down a one word desire, need or objective you have. Possibilities include "love," "recognition," "toilet." Now on a 3x5 card, draw a picture of this desire, or perhaps write a phrase about the desire. The goal is to describe in words or pictures a single object that describes your need or objective. This can be very free-form. For example, for "recognition," perhaps a puppy symbolizes that for you.

Now visualize a character. Perhaps someone you know. Write down a description of the character. Male/Female, eyes, disposition, height, age, employment, etc.

Now, for five to ten minutes, write a scene using only that character - therefore the scene is a monologue. In the scene the character is dealing with the object on your 3x5 card.

At the end of the five minutes, pass your card to the left. With the new 3x5 card, which has on it the phrase or picture of the person to your right, introduce that new object into your character's monologue.

Repeat two times. Now read what you wrote.