IWW
Practice-W Exercise Archives
Exercise: Gifts (Version 2)
These exercises were written
by IWW members
and administrators to provide structured practice opportunities for its
members.
You are welcome to use them for practice as well. Please mention that
you found
them at the Internet Writers Workshop
(http://www.internetwritingwor
kshop.org/).
Prepared by: Ruth Douillette
Posted on: 17 Dec 2006
Reposted, revised on 3 May 2009
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Exercise: In 400 words or less, write a
scene that shows a character receiving a life-changing gift. Make clear
the nature of the change.
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Write a scene that shows how
receiving a particular gift has changed a character's life. The gift
might be a long-awaited store-bought present, a homemade surprise,
breakfast in bed, a compliment, some advice, or any other form of
gift you you might think of.
Show how the character perceives the
gift and why it has an impact on his or her life, for better or
worse. You might show what the character gained or lost from getting
this gift. Maybe relationships changed, or the importance of
something came to light. Does the character grow in any way or learn
something because of receiving this gift?
"The Gift of
the Magi," a short story by O. Henry, gives us a wonderful
example of what two characters learned after giving and receiving
gifts: (http://tinyurl.com/cygfe).
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Exercise: In 400 words or less,
write a
scene that shows a character receiving a life-changing gift. Make clear
the nature of the change.
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In critiquing, comment on how
the change in the character is related to the gift. Is the change
believable? Does the author develop the character from the beginning
so that we can see and understand the change(s) wrought by the gift.
Is the gift giver changed in anyway by the recipient's response?
Web site created by
Rhéal Nadeau and
the administrators of the Internet Writing Workshop.
Modified by Gayle Surrette.
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