Most of what I talked about centered on the techniques and games Surrealist writers in the '20s used, although I couldn't help including Pinckney Benedict's advice on "the Unfiltered Dream" and the "Impossible Probable."
Here are a couple for you: Critical Paranoia and Exquisite Corpse.
You know Critical Paranoia, the attempt to force a waking dream on yourself by staring at ink blots, clouds, optical illusions, scribble drawings, checkerboards, anything that will momentarily hypnotize you, make you forget where you are and move you into your imagination. Try it the next time you've got a few minutes to spare, standing in line or sitting at Starbucks. See if some critical part of your story or poem will offer itself up to you there in plain sight of the whole world. No one will even know.
Or try this one that Henry Miller liked, Exquisite Corpse. Write one sentence on a sheet of paper; then fold it down and pass it to another writer who will do likewise, back and forth until the whole page is filled. Open the page and see what the two of you have created. You've probably done this in class at some point. Check out the "Synesthesia" festival at www.electricpear.org when you get a chance, too, for the same idea applied to art across all mediums. Very cool stuff here. Look closely and you'll see Benjamin Percy in the mix. Go, Ben!
