My friend Carolyn sent me this writing prompt, which she assigns to her students in part to show how much tense and point-of-view affects tone. I am thinking of assigning it to my students during my revision unit, but with excerpts from their personal essays.
Part I:
– Write a childhood memory you don’t know why you remember
– Write a dream that is either recurring or recent/vivid
– Write something you did in the last 24 hours (need not be special)
Part II:
– Rewrite the childhood memory in 2nd person and present tense
– Rewrite the dream in 3rd person, switch all genders, and change all proper nouns, like people, place, and brand names. Still past tense.
– Rewrite the thing in 1st person plural, doesn’t matter what tense
THE CAVEAT: You cannot editorialize (in both parts). You cannot express any thoughts, make any comments or judgements. Just. Report. Action. And. Detail.
amysailer89 