One of my most popular creative writing exercises is very simple. Choose two inanimate objects and imagine they are having a conversation. You can make this into a fun classroom lesson that you can use to discuss voice, dialogue, character, and point of view.
1. Define what an inanimate object is.
2. Brainstorm a list of objects—perhaps even asking each student to come up with a list of 8-10 objects. Put all the suggestions into a big bowl and ask students to each draw two objects.
3. Give them 5 minutes to write a dialogue between the two objects. If a student gets stuck, suggest that one character asks the other, “What do you want?” Discuss what was easy or hard about this. Brainstorm how the conversations could be revised, if desired.
Look at how plays/scripts are formatted and talk about how formatting dialogue can help a reader to understand who is talking. Allowing students to act out their dialogues in pairs is really fun and motivating. Enjoy!
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