2. Begin to write a story from your own experience. For example, dramatize a social get-together. Record conversation, observations, and thoughts in a scene.

3. Start with the same nonevent as in the previous exercise, and evolve another story line that takes off on a tangent. Suppose there was a temptation to do something outrageous [...] Here, you'll be transforming a mundane event from your experience into a somewhat strange one.