This is a writing exercise inspired by George Saunders' short story 'The Falls' and his process for writing it, which he explains in his incredible Story Club Substack. I’ve done it in workshops with other writers, and the stories have a way of being deep, lively, escalating, climactic, funny and very personal.
He wrote the characters thinking of the voices and mannerisms of two people he knew from when he was growing up—people he could easily 'ape' or mimic. Then, alternating paragraphs, he wrote using their diction until both characters faced the same crisis. This created a climactic story with two opposing characters dealing with the same situation. Presto—conflict!
The magic is these were two versions of Saunders—sort of a yin-yang, Janus-headed self-portrait: the insecure family-man engineer vs. the delusions-of-grandeur aspirational poet still living with his mom. This made for a hilarious and deep story that is full of conflict. The setup escalates naturally since you have two contrasting characters who end up confronting each other. Saunders goes into escalation at length in his wonderful analysis of Barthelme's 'The School.'
I love Saunders' writing and highly recommend his book 'A Swim in a Pond in the Rain,' which is a masterclass on reading, interpreting, writing, and creating community.
The following exercise is meant to create a quick autobiographical sketch that uses other people we know well as proxies for ourselves. This creates some distance and gives us the ability to 'mimic' a voice and speaking style we know well. I've made some step-by-step instructions to guide you down this lazy river of creative writing. Watch out for the waterfall!
Choose how much time you want to spend on each phase. A timer will tell you how much time you have left on each step: