Writing Assignments

Who Inspires You

Everyone has someone who they admire or who inspires them. For this assignment, write about that person and why you admire them.

Changing Fortunes

There are a few online “fortune cookie generators” (like this one: http://www.myfortunecookie.co.uk) that can actually act as good writing prompts/jumping-off points. Like horoscopes, fortune cookie messages are normally purposefully vague so they can be open for interpretation, whether the fortune is more like a prediction or just a proverb. Use a random fortune cookie generator to write a short narrative. This narrative can be related to the spy theme or not. For example, “Financial prosperity is coming your way!” or “The time is right to make new friends” can be used together or separately to make for an interesting narrative. E.g., as a spy, you might need to cozy up to a rich new friend and come into some money yourself as a way to break into a secret society. Be creative!

The secret life of a spy

In this assignment the goal is to keep a journal of sorts of your life as a spy. Part storyelling and part roleplaying your job is to put yourself into the shoes of a spy character that you create and write about your life and actions as said characater. The purpose of the assignemnet is to come up with the most interesting and convincing story about your life and experinces of being a spy. 

Explaining the Spy

So you have created your character for the class now it is time to tell the story of what other your characters influenced yours. Explain other characters in the genre who potentially influenced your character and how you built off those characters. (In look, personality, type of character, name, etc.) Conversely feel free to expand on any characters that bother you and why your character will be nothing like that. Your explanation can include other media clips or novel quotes to familiarize people with the media that influenced your character. 

The Everyday Life of a Spy

Write an Diary entry from any of your favorite spy daily perspective of his or her life. What kind of trouble did 007 get into and how would he describe his adventure? How did Nancy Drew crack the mystery and How did she feel at that moment? You decide the story whether you stick with the original plot or come up with a new one.

Create your own story line

This assignment helps take your writing skills to a new level. Pick any secret agent and create an alternate story line for that character. You could take an agent like James Bond and give him a whole new background of give him a new mission to complete. You could even take two secret agent characters who normally don’t go together and make them cross paths while they are doing their missions. It is up to you where this assignment takes you as long as the story line doesn’t already exist. 

Emotional lyrics

Choose an emotion (happy, sad, excited, hyper, sleepy, suprised, inspired, ect..) and then choose three songs that elect that emotion. Name emotion, the song, and why it makes you feel that way. This can be done in three seperate tweets to allow for character count. Have fun with this!

How does a song make you feel?

Choose a song that elects a cetrain feeling within you. Copy the youtube/soundcloud URL to a Twitter post, and tell us what feelings this sond brings you. Does it make you happy? sad? pumped? seductive? strong? let us know youre feelings while listening to the song! You can add things such ” at :23 seconds, the hook dropped and it made me want to flail my arms arond and scream”. Have fun with this!!

Poem Parody

Take a poem and create a parody of it! Make a sonnet from Shakespeare into an ode to your cat, or rewrite Poe’s “The Raven” to be about Star Wars — shoot for anything you can come up with. The more ridiculous, the better! Be sure to link back to the original poem, too, so we can see what you’re parodying.

Your Hopes, Dreams, and Fears

Write a letter to yourself describing how you ideally imagine your life, career, etc. in 10 years. Then keep the letter and read it in 10 years and see how your life turned out versus how you imagined it.