Hello and welcome back to my blog. Today I want to share with you some writing exercises and different ways to "practice" writing.
Over the years, and through many different writing classes I have taken, I have learned lots of different techniques and exercises to practice in writing. I hope to share some of the most helpful ones with you!
1) Okay, to start off with, this first exercise is a good way to meet your word count for the day. It's called word sprints. This is a pretty simple exercise and all you need is some type of timer and a way to write, either a notebook or some type of keyboard. Now pick a time. Some suggestions might be ten minutes, five minutes, or even just one minute. Then set the timer for that amount and start writing! Challenge yourself to write as much as you can in that amount of time without stopping, pausing, or correcting anything. Just write and don't think!
Okay, on to the next one!
2) This exercise is a good way to cure writer's block for sure. Try writing out a bunch of random, crazy, and strange first lines to stories. It could be anything! Just write fast and don't think. Most likely you will find a kernel of inspiration or idea in one of the lines! Here's some examples:
- I wish I could be a cat.
- The room smelled suspiciously like marshmallows.
- It was an avalanche of books.
- Each page was worn and wrinkled.
- "Do I have to eat the whole stick?"
- People are apples and oranges.
- The list was covered in highlighting and colorful writing.
- I climbed to the top of the tree, waiting for the lightning.
- Each flicker of the flames brought her hand closer.
- The shards imbedded themselves into my hand with each swipe.
- The snowman grinned at me even as he melted.
(Don't ask me why the lines are so psychedelic... I just like color!)
Those are some examples of ones I have written for a past project in a writing class I am taking. And in the end, I ended up writing a quite enjoyable little short story from this exercise! But you never know, you might just find some ideas for characters, scenes, stories, or even books!
Alrighty... on to the next!
3) This exercise is VERY helpful in improving your writing in one aspect: DIALOGUE. Now, I won't get into all the details as to why dialogue is so important and why it is hard to write (we'll save that for another discussion) and just go on to explain this exercise!
First, find a notebook, or a portable device that you can write on, and go somewhere. Ideas include: the grocery store, a park, a coffee shop, a restaurant, etc. Go someplace other than your house (or even your house could work as long as there are people around) and then listen. Yup, you heard me right. Listen. Listen to people around you and record what they say! (be careful not to record anything that may be personal information) this regular, perhaps boring, speech will be a good place for you to go back to when trying to think of how someone would say something. You can really learn a lot by just listening to talk about the most mundane things. I promise it will help :)
NEXT:
And last but not least...
4) This one kinda incorporates all the exercises above. Designate a notebook, folder, or file (on a device) to be your WRITING JOURNAL. Then, write in it! Every day write something in your writing journal, whether it be one of the exercises from above, a snippet of a story idea, or even a practice story itself! The point of this journal is just to make sure you write every day, even if what you write is nonsense. That's okay. No one will see the journal but you! I have included some writing exercise websites below that may provide some ideas to include in your writing journal or just to use for inspiration!
Writer's Digest: http://www.writersdigest.com/prompts
Think Written: http://thinkwritten.com/365-creative-writing-prompts/
Writing Forward: https://www.writingforward.com/writing-prompts/creative-writing-prompts/25-creative-writing-prompts
Writing Exercises.co.uk: http://writingexercises.co.uk/index.php
Pinterest Writing Prompts: https://www.pinterest.com/explore/writing-prompts/
The Write Practice: http://thewritepractice.com/writing-practice/
And to finish this post up here's the truth about writing!
JK... (sorta...)
