Assignments 17-20

17. Map of Life: Draw a stylized map, beginning with your birth and ending with the present. Along the

way, include little labels or diagrams of what you remember as important events, places, and people in your life.
Keep all items in order, but leave enough space between individual items to fill in as you think of additionalinformation. Write small since it must fit on ONE page. You may use branching paths or a legend.

18. A Mysterious Place: Describe in a FULL page some place that seemed mysterious, exotic, or fearful to

you. Concentrate on creating the same impression on your reader by a careful selection of sensory details which
recreate the setting. Help us recognize what was special about this place. Or make up a fantasy place that has
these qualities…just describe it well enough for us to believe in it too.

19. Synectics: Synectics makes the familiar strange and the strange familiar. It is the basis of all metaphor

and involves the process of creative problem-solving. Each of the following sets of questions ask for choices
between unrelated answers — answers which can be logically related somehow — and yet, there is no single

correct answer. BUT correct answers would rephrase the question as part of the answer.

Think carefully about the choices offered, make a choice, and then explain your reasons for choosing as

you have. It is your explanation which proves your answer “right” or “wrong.” Answer at least TEN.

1. Which is wiser? a pen or a pencil?

2. Which is easier to forgive? a street or a sidewalk?

3. Which is smarter? a clock or a calendar?

4. Which is easier to teach? a question or an answer?

5. Which is like a contest? a cloud or a sunset?

6. Which is more fearful? new or old?

7. Which is like a promise? mathematics or science?

8. Which is more difficult? a dream or a nightmare?

9. Which is braver? an hour or a year?

10. Which has more pride? an entrance or an exit?

11. Which is easier to close? a road or a map?

12. Which is like a legend? a mirror or glass?

13. Which is more suspenseful? rain or snow?

14. Which has less charm? a signature or an autograph?

15. Which is more trustworthy? history or literature?

16. Which is more useful? a friend or an enemy?

17. Which is sadder? seek or find?

18. Which costs more? a home or a house?

19. Which is happier? music or art?

20. Which is like a valentine? the truth or a lie?

20. A Day in the Life: Write about a part of your life as if it were a passage from a novel. Refer to yourself

in the THIRD PERSON — not “I woke up” but rather “she woke up.” Exaggerate, elaborate, and prevaricate if
you wish — there’s truth to be found in fiction, too.