Exquisite Corpse with DWWP’s Workshop Students and It’s the BEST!

DWWP held our first workshop – excuse me – SOLD OUT workshop a few weeks ago. Twenty students and the writers of DWWP gathered to discuss the topic of the advantages of being part of a writing group, including giving out exercises and tools to get the students started. Thanks to all who participated. It was delightful and we hope to see your work on our site!

One of our favorite DWWP exercises is the “Exquisite Corpse”, which is a writing exercise where writer A will construct a single sentence on a sheet of paper, then writer B will write a second sentence then fold the paper to conceal the original sentence and pass it to the next writer for a further contribution – read, write, fold, pass. It’s a perfect exercise to see what happens when writers work with each other, have no expectations, and let go of control. DWWP and the 20 writers who participated in the workshop created the following exquisite corpse:

I couldn’t believe she said that! Just as I sat down in the wet hay. I felt a soft velvety nose touch my shoulder, as a barnyard smell wafted over me. It reminded me of that day in firth grade when my Uncle JoJo took me to the stables.

He thought we could get a meal and was upset to only find stale scones. I can’t imagine what he was expecting in Dorchestershire; two days before Christmas, before the dawn – he was always unrealistic. The fact there was a foot of snow on the ground and he was without boots was maddening.

“I hate winter and I’m a grown up, so why do I still live here,” she said to herself.

But flirting with frostbite is exciting! I love the winter; the sound of snow crunching underfoot. I hate how the dirt looks – it ruins the serenity of it. It would be so much cleaner if there were pebbles, then again, they might get stuck in my butt. Don’t get me started on the last time that happened! It made me the woman I am today. If I had to do it over again, then, I would have worn the red lipstick. But it was raining and I was running late.

The door banged against the white frame. She dug the cigarette out from behind the napkins and fumbled to light one. Why was it so difficult to do on this humid windy day? The sunscreen was no match for God’s intentions. The subsequent mutation proved that those intentions were meant to encourage survival.

Marcia could not believe she was given the task of mating with JoJo the flipper boy. “What would mother say!” she cried.

“She’d say that the people from Nevada are degenerates. No exceptions.” Exceptions are for rich socialites and tax evaders because they have no idea how money became so important.

*****

We will be discussing future workshops and video workshops for the near future, in the meantime – here’s a video to show you how to create an exquisite corpse with your own band of bar stool bards: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=IxIvCxS77G0