LET THE WILD WRITING RAMPAGE BEGIN!

(Did your teacher already introduce you to a Message-in-a-Bottle Young Writer's Kit? If no, then drag said teacher to a computer, to the home page to download a virtual version!)

Oh, writing exercises are just like other exercises except you don't have to jump up and down and flail your arms. But if you want to jump up and down and flail your arms – if this gets blood to your brain – then by all means: jump up and down and flail your arms!

Exercise One:
Answer the following questions:
Write down the name of something that can fit in the palm of your hand.
Write the name of something that could fit in the trunk of a car.
Write down your favorite color.
Write down something that smells really good or really bad.
Write down something that is very noisy.
Write down the name of an animal.
Write down something that is shiny.
Write down something that tastes really wonderful.
Write down something that feels smooth or something that feels rough.

Now take those nine or so words and use them to start a story. Use the words in any order. Change them around some if you need to. Cow, for example, can be cowboy. Rain can be raining or rainstorm. Once you run out of words, keep on going. Finish the story!

Exercise Two:
The main thing about writing is that you put your pen or pencil on the paper and write words.
This sounds easy, but it's really trickier than it seems. Set the clock for two minutes ... that's all at first (then work your way up to five ... but don't start at ten or you'll risk a hand cramp) and write without stopping. Write whatever nonsense flows into your brain. If you need a word to start with, pick a word that is something you can touch. Something real. Try to stay away from words like fear, confusion, sadness. Start instead with bird, creek, icicle. Sometimes, you'll find a creek can talk about sadness even more than the word sadness. This will eventually make sense.

Exercise Three:
Go out and interview someone. Remember, if I hadn't talked to my source (a girl with rooster hair and big eyes), I'd have never come up with this story. And here's a hint. Old people know a lot. They might be smart. They might not be smart. But they've lived a long time and know of many really strange, crazy, bizarre things that have happened in the world and to themselves and their neighbors – neighbors! What would writers do without the stories of crazy neighbors? Another good thing about talking to old people is that they often have more time than those people scurrying around in middle age or teen years. They're in a reflective state of mind.
So go out and collect stories by asking questions:
Go up to Gramps, for example and blurt out: What's the strangest thing that ever happened to you? What's made you you? Or Grammy: What was the happiest thing in your life? The scariest? The most magical? Now Gramps and Grammy may not be good storytellers. So keep on asking questions of other folks. Questions are good. You're young. You can probably get away with blurting out questions. People might pat you on the head and call you "precocious," and there are worse things to be. Finally, write down the answers. That's what makes writers writers. They write things down.

Exercise Four:
This isn't really an exercise. It's just plain old good advice. Keep a journal. Write down things that happen to you and how you feel. This will often make you feel a lot better. Journals are good for that. Remember how important diaries are to Fern and her mother!!! And if you're a boy, just call it a journal not a diary ... if the word diary is too girlish. You know sea captains always wrote journals or daily logs ... so there's a manly tradition here at work. Also, write down what you see, taste, smell, hear, what things feel like in your hands. This is good training for being a writer. We all rely on our senses; writers rely on them desperately so to make people experience the things the writers write down, and not just read words on a page like a spelling list.

Exercise Five:
Geez! This isn't an exercise either, really. It's just plain good advice once more, staring you in the eyes. READ. Read what you love to read. In your spare time, don't read what you have to. Read what makes you want to write ... You are what you eat, or so some person once said – though I don't agree! I had a banana for breakfast, and I'm not a banana, am I? No. But there's some ounce of metaphorical truth there, and it applies to writing. Sometimes you write more like what you read. So, read someone you'd love to write like. Sample a lot of different writers. Keep pouring over the library shelves and keep looking for great writers. When you're reading THE ANYBODIES, you might notice that there are lots and lots and lots of other books referenced. That's because those books were mighty important to me and to the story. I think that Mrs. Appleplum lives in a great house. Maybe I'll build one like it one day – a house made completely out of books. That's where I'd like to live. Yes.

For more Wild Writing Rampage games and big hooting fun, click here. (Booksellers)

For freebies, click here.

To get a free book-plate sticker signed by N.E. Bode and made out to you to put inside of our copy of The Anybodies and The Nobodies, click here.

If your parents are reading this with you (and good for them!) and they want Wild Reading and Writing Rampage tips, click here.