Burnt Socks: An Exercise

The bigger the issue, the smaller you write. Remember that. You don't write about the horrors of war. No. You write about a kid's burnt socks lying on the road. You pick the smallest manageable part of the big thing, and you work off the resonance. —Richard Price

Here's an exercise. Get a number between one and twelve. Look at the list below. This is the small thing you come upon, that begins to tell a larger story. Set the timer for fifteen minutes and write. Don't stop or censor yourself. 

1. A single drop of water

2. A book lying open in the mud

3. The voice of a child, singing

4. Motes of dust lit up by the sun

5. Laundry on a line against the sky

6. A clod of earth on a polished floor

7. A small animal disappearing into the underbrush

8. A helicopter crossing in front of the clouds

9. A bloodstain on a rug

10. A candle that has burned all the way down

11. A table laid for dinner 

12. A shirt hanging from a branch

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