Lucky Dip

This will be the last task of this strange term: at the beginning, I made a folder in my email inbox and called it Class During Corona, and I guess that's what it's been. It seems a long time since those sunny April days, when the lack of traffic noise made the birdsong sound louder. I don't know yet where or how we'll meet in September, but for now, we are going to have our usual summer break.

For the last task, an online version of the Lucky Dip story exercise, where normally I pass round a number of envelopes, each containing several possibilities - one for character, one for setting and so on. The challenge is to construct a story round these suggestions. A bit like a sort of literary rounders game.

Choose one from each list. I don't quite know how we can introduce the element of chance - if you want to do that, it's up to you to find a way. Otherwise, just choose a bit of what you fancy.

Constraints have an odd way of setting the imagination free. Usually, we get some intriguing results from this exercise, so I'll look forward to seeing what emerges from the depths!

A random pair of ruby shoes!

Character

A nurse

A dustman

An investment banker

A gardener

Setting

A park

A bridge

Beside the sea

A train station

Feeling

Joy

Anxiety

Fear

Amusement

Turning point

Selling/moving/losing house

An unexpected visitor/letter

An encounter with a stranger

A wedding/funeral/christening/retirement party.

Random element

A pair of shoes

A picture

An old saucepan

An expensive phone

What we treasure

This week's task comes from a magazine called The Simple Things. Each month, they ask readers to write 500 words on something that they treasure. So your task is to do just that. 

Here's an example. 

If you decide you'd like to send yours in and have a go (they don't mention payment), the address is: thesimplethings@icebergpress.co.uk

Starting with the end

When writers get together to discuss writing, sooner or later they will start to discuss planning. Some will shudder and say they can't bear to be tied to a plan; others will look anxious and say they have to know exactly what's going to happen before they start.

Many - Philip Pullman is one - will say that they don't know exactly what's going to happen, and it would be boring if they did: but they do need to know how their story will end.

The ending of Casablanca - brilliant, as is everything else about this film:
'Louis, I think this is the beginning of a beautiful friendship.'

So here to help as ever, I'm going to give you a list of endings. (They are real ones.) All you have to do is write the story that leads up to the one you choose. Also as ever, my advice would be to start with a spider chart to help you gather ideas - but that's up to you!

• It had never occurred to him that a dog could be clairvoyant.
• I turned and walked away through the rain.
• It was all right.
• And everything, every smallest detail, would be written on my heart forever.
• I turned the key in the ignition and drove off.
• From hate to love - the journey was only just starting. 
• There should be no need to dig there ever again.
• I put out my hand to stop her getting up and I cross the room to answer the phone.
• 'Now how about another drink? I'm as thirsty as hell.'

(Adapted from an exercise in The Five-Minute Writer, by Margret Geraghty.)