Assignment: Lies

This was an assignment I gave to my 'DD masterclass' here in Berlin this weekend. It is also one of Deena Metzger's amazing suggestions:

“Writing Lies”

Write a piece that is a complete lie. It could be an event, a person - you or someone else, a belief or value, preference, something that happened (i.e. did not happen) to you or to someone you know, a world situation, whatever.

Write against patterns, write the opposite of what you always write, think, speak. Indulge in what you don't like. Validate what you don't validate.

For example: say you have a mentally insane mother. Write about a perfectly sane mother. You hate living in the city. Write a piece showing how much you (or an -I- character) loves living in the city. A friend has been disloyal. Write a scene about how much integrity this person has, how loyal they are.  You think Bush is a maniac. Write a piece that shows how 'right' he is.

What do you believe in? Write the opposite belief as if *that* is your true belief.

Write for 20 minutes, no editing, going 'fearward', giving all the details. Climb into the lie so deeply it does not feel like a 'lie'.

Post the piece up the Responses to Assignments board. If you want the work to be anonymous, send it for posting to one of the moderators.

In commenting on the pieces, please remember the guidelines - comment on the writing, not the author.

We will talk about 'writing lies' after a few responses, it's a very interesting & inspiring subject… far 'deeper' than you might think.