Writing Game W R IT E WHAT YOU KNOW YOU ASAP ER SON Look around you. Make a list of the things around you, all of which say something about your likes and dislikes, about your past and possible future, about your character – as you are, now. Now, look in a mirror, and try looking in your own eyes for no less than ten minutes. If you flinch, make sure you turn back to the mirror when you are comfortable again. Maintain as much direct focus as possible. After awhile, you will begin to notice certain new things about your face and your whole appearance. The way you dress, the way you style your hair these say something about you and the decisions you take about the way you conduct yourself. Make further notes on what you have discovered. After you have done this, look again into the mirror, but try to see yourself as another person, maybe another age even. Draft a poem, a story or a short prose biography, which is about somebody, who is recognisably you, but who has a different past and future. Situate your writing in the present day, using the first person (I, and use as many of the observed details about yourself as possible. Do not make anything up. At this point try placing the piece in the third person (‘he’ or she, changing the verbs and possessive articles accordingly. Once you have finished, put the writing to one side for three weeks, returning to it to complete the project. A I M In Chapter Seven , we will write about what you do: what you know, for example, about work. The focus, here, is yourself and selves. In the same way that a detective itemises objects found on a person or a crime scene, the things around you say a great deal about your character. Your thoughts often tell you not only what you know, but also what you seem to know. How you want to be seen by others is not always how you seem to yourself. This project helps you to get to know several dimensions of yourself, one of which is how others see you. Apply this rigorous perception to how you see not only yourself but also to the several dimensions of the people you meet. You will learn to read people, and their many layers.
