Coffee break exercise: Letters

Let old letters inspire new creative writing in this week's exercise

Set the timer for three minutes. Imagine you – or the main character in your story – has received a letter that, looking at the stamp and the postmark, was written a long time ago. Before you open it, jot down a few details about what the envelope looks like. What colour is the ink? What is the handwriting like?

For the next five minutes, read the letter and make some notes about a) what it says and b) what the character feels about it.

For the remaining time, create the beginning of a story showing how the character reacts to the news contained in the letter.

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