WPF: Practicing Description and Word Choice

This writing prompt is taken from Fiction Writer's Workshop by Josip Novakovich. I really like this book because each chapter explains a concept, gives examples of it being done well, and then includes several writing exercises at the end of the chapter to help you practice the concept. I have the first edition in hardback which is now out of print, but there's a second edition available in paperback (which I am assuming is just as good).

Prompt: One page. Choose a fantasy figure--Dracula, Narcissus, Santa Claus, or one of your making--and convince us of his physical reality by using mundane details.

Objective: To learn how to "prove" the existence of fantastic characters.

Check: Have you mentioned enough real, daily stuff?--dandruff, toothpaste, a hole in the sock, bad temper, toothache, mosquito bite, bronchitis, whatever. If not, go back and do it.

So why did I pick a prompt dealing with a fantasy character? Should you do this exercise even if you hate fantasy? Yes! Because if you can make a fantasy character seem real to us, you can certainly make a human character seem real too.

If you post your story on your blog, feel free to leave a link in the comments section.

(Fiction Writer's Workshop. Josip Navakovich. Story Press, 1995. p 195)