If you are a creative writing teacher, a teacher who uses creative writing, a teacher who writes fiction, or just a person who loves information about crime, here is the resource for you!
This site is a link dump that has information on things like:
FBI's information on serial killers
How long it takes for bodies to decompose
Homicide detective checklist
Glass fracture patterns
Analyzing ballistics
Weapons details
And just so, so much more. Crime doesn't pay, but writing about it might. If nothing else, some of the information you find here may just inspire you or your students to write the next great crime novel.
This is a simple and fun exercise to get students going. You need a book you don't mind destroying and enough black markers for every student. Cut pages from the book. I prefer to cut the pages in front of the students because it is a weird feeling for them to see a book defaced in an English class by the teacher.
Tell them we are going to take the Michelangelo approach to poetry.
The poem is in that page. They just have to find it and mark out all the words that do not belong in the poem. The presentation has several examples (all from other sources linked in the presentation notes), but here is one for you to check out:
If you are a creative writer teacher, you may even want to get fancier with it and have the blacking out done in colors and decorative.
The presentation is here: https://docs.google.com/presentation/d/1xyWe-eXVQsZyl88S38VF8Q9iUyxcKvQCTfqBJMa2Tn8/edit#slide=id.g1c7b2d684c0_0_12
If you want to make use of it, be my guest. If you want to make changes, just make a copy of it first and then it is all yours. If you get a really good one from a student, I would love it if you snapped a picture of it and sent it to me at extremeenglishteacher@gmail.com!
Today's creative writing assignment will be a Random Dialogue. Here is how we will do it:
First, on your paper or computer, write down four numbers between 1 - 10. They can be the same numbers.
Got them? Now, scroll down below the picture and you will find that your first number will be the first character. The second number will be the second character. The third will be the setting and the fourth will be the subject of the dialogue.
First Number - Character number one
a mom
a kid
an alien
a dog
a rich man
a grocery store owner
a soldier
a baby
a superhero
a vampire
Second Number - Character number two
a dad
a teenager
the President of the United States
a cat
a poor woman
a cowboy
a spy
a wizard
a super villain
a werewolf
Third Number - Setting
morning at the beach
in a grocery store
in the White House
on a city building rooftop
nighttime in a graveyard
on a golf course
by the pool in winter
in a school classroom
in a fast food restaurant
Christmastime in a house
Fourth Number - Dialogue Subject
how much something costs
the latest video game
deciding on where to go for a date (not necessarily with each other)
politics
a dream the first character had last night
what to have for the next meal
character two is not happy about something character one did
character one is excited about something that just happened
a sporting event
a movie they just watched
Now, you decide if they are arguing, being silly, serious, discussing, fighting, happy, etc. Oh, and you had ten minutes, so no time to think ready... GO!
O.K., was it any good? awful? just plain silly? If you typed it, feel free to cut and paste it into the comments section. You can always do this, no matter when it is you find this blog post.
Here is a great creative writing prompt to get kids pushing their thoughts a bit. You do not need to be a comic book fan to participate (although if you are, there is that much more interest in it). All you need is the ability to think divergently.
Show students this cover:
Now, supposing that everything shown on the cover is true for the story inside, how could this happen and Peter Parker still keep his identity secret? We have these characters on the cover:
Dr. Octopus - his four extra mechanical arms are just as strong as Spider-Man and allows him to reach far away.
Peter Parker - the true identity of Spider-Man. He has the strength, speed, and agility of a spider and has a nifty spider-sense that warns him of danger (which didn't help as the cover shows).
Four random police officers
Betty Brant - she is a secretary for the newspaper The Daily Bugle and Peter Parker's girlfriend at the time of this comic.
J. Jonah Jameson - a newspaper editor who hates Spider-Man with a passion.
Let students write out how Peter Parker is able to keep his identity secret even though seven people clearly see him unmasked. Give prizes to the most creative and the closest to the original.
So what is the real story?
Peter Parker has a cold, so he has lost all his spider powers. Doc Ock, however, wants revenge on Spider-Man. He notices that the Daily Bugle seems to get all the press on Spider-Man, so he breaks into their building, tells the editor, J. Jonah Jameson, that he will print a challenge to Spider-Man to meet him at a certain location. He then kidnaps Jameson's secretary to insure that it gets done. Peter Parker, fearful for his girlfriend's safety, dons his Spidey suit and goes after Doc Ock, even though he doesn't have his powers anymore. Doc Ock beats him easily and unmasks him. When he sees it is a teenager, he exclaims that the real Spider-Man is too scared to fight him and sent this kid in his place. Figuring that was why Spider-Man's punches were so weak and why he was so easily beaten, Doc Ock throws Peter to the ground and leaves. Betty and Jameson both think that Peter is quite the hero, albeit rather stupid, and the police, after toying with what to charge Peter with, finally leave them alone.
Writing random snippets is a challenge for young writers (and old) that helps to focus on voice. This particular assignment is timed, so the writer must think fast and not be hung up on being "perfect".
First, on paper or computer, students write down four numbers between 1 - 10. They can be the same numbers.
Got them? Now, scroll down below the picture and you will find that your first number will be the first character. The second number will be the second character. The third will be the setting and the fourth will be the subject of the dialogue.
First Number - Character number one
a mom
a kid
an alien
a dog
a rich man
a grocery store owner
a soldier
a baby
a superhero
a vampire
Second Number - Character number two
a dad
a teenager
the President of the United States
a cat
a poor woman
a cowboy
a spy
a wizard
a super villain
a werewolf
Third Number - Setting
morning at the beach
in a grocery store
in the White House
on a city building rooftop
nighttime in a graveyard
on a golf course
by the pool in winter
in a school classroom
in a fast food restaurant
Christmastime in a house
Fourth Number - Dialogue Subject
how much something costs
the latest video game
deciding on where to go for a date (not necessarily with each other)
politics
a dream the first character had last night
what to have for the next meal
character two is not happy about something character one did
character one is excited about something that just happened
a sporting event
a movie they just watched
Now, you decide if they are arguing, being silly, serious, discussing, fighting, happy, etc. You had ten minutes, so no time to think ready... GO!
Have you got any fun writing prompts that you would like to share or did this in your class with some good results? Let us know in the comments!
