Writing Exercises, or: If girls are supposed to like beefcakes and boys are supposed to like cheesecakes, then are zombies supposed to like braincakes?
Those of you who regularly read my blog articles have probably figured out that I am a hardcore planner and highly-analytical person by now. I love my meticulous plans that turn into flawless executions. I love rooting through seemingly patternless prose and language to find the mechanisms that make it tick. I love finding the science in the art and the art in the science. Sometimes, though, my brain needs a rest from this part of me, a temporary respite from the endless, conscious exertion that I put it through. However, I don’t want to lose the time that I could be spending working on improving my writing, so I’ve gathered some writing exercises that put my planning brain on hold while allowing my creative brain to play. These exercises also break me out of writer’s block, push me out of writing ruts and fixations, and help me to stumble across new and interesting ideas and phrases that lurk in my unconscious just waiting to emerge. Try them out for yourself to work out your brain-muscle and see if they help you to get past those pesky dry spells (and maybe attract a few charming zombies in the process)!
Constrained Writing:
“I can write anything, Nev, yet I can’t seem to get words on the page! There are just too many options!”
Have you tried limiting your choices? Seriously, this is how we have a lot of the social shorthand that we do today thanks to the puritanical censorship of early books, film, comics, and television. You can even see how the content on talk shows is markedly different when the host has to get around censorship (Stephen Colbert) as opposed to when the host can say whatever they want (John Oliver).
For this exercise, place a limitation on your writing in some form or fashion.
Limit the length of your text. Write a complete story in 100 words, 1000 words, 10000 words, etc..
Limit what words you can use. Write a story without curse words. Write a story without sex words. Write a story without prepositional phrases or word modifiers. Run a word instance counter on your last piece of writing and don’t allow yourself to use the top five or ten.
Require that certain words be used a certain number of times. Write a story using the list of your frequently used words in order or reverse order. Play a game of Scrabble or Bananagrams and use all of the words that got you points or all of the words that your opponent used. Set a minimum or maximum word length that you must use (excluding article words (the, a) and pronouns (I, you, him, her, they, this, she, he, those, who, etc.). Create your own rhyming slang and write a story using that.
Limit the lengths of your sentences. Set the punctuation of your sentences before writing. Pick a book and write a story using the overall length, chapter length, sentence length, and punctuation of that book exactly. Pick a short story and just keep all of the punctuation. Pick a short story and just keep the length. Pick a poem and write your own using the same rhyming pattern and line length. Pick a poem and write using the same number of words. Pick a song and write new words for the same beat.
Write a story about certain characters or events. Write as a girl. Write as a boy. Write as a president. Write as an engineer. Write as a mom. Write as a child. Write as a goat farmer. Write as a secretary. Write as a teacher. Write as a survivor. Write as a manipulator. Write as the good guy. Write as the bad guy. Write a story that contains a triumphant return. Write a story that contains a train wreck. Write a story that contains a break-up. Write a story that contains a death. Write a story that contains a birth.
Write a story where time goes backwards. Write a story where time goes sideways. Write a story where time speeds up, slows down, or skips randomly.
Rewriting Stories:
“Read all the things!” is a common piece of advice given to new writers who ask for tips on how to improve their writing. This exercise takes that idea up a notch by having you rewrite what you read in your own way. I usually do this by picking an old folk tale, listing the events that occur, and writing that story in a different genre. Most modern fairy tales are rewritten and updated versions of their originals. Frozen is the rewritten version of The Snow Queen. The Lion King bears remarkable similarities to Hamlet. Tangled is a rewritten version of Rapunzel. Essentially, find a book, short story, poem, song, comic, or movie you like, distill it down to its basic parts, then rewrite it.
Writing Prompts:
Finding, writing, and presenting writing prompts is its own art form, so a lot of what you will find labeled “writing prompt” won’t be very inspiring or prompt worthy. (Some people will give you their idea for the premise of a story, not an actually prompt meant to let you stretch your imagination.) I tend to browse images that don’t have any explanatory text in order to collect my own writing prompts, and I save the ones I find interesting in a specific folder on my computer. For written prompts, I tend to favor ones that require an elemental inclusion (like the ones listed in the “Constrained Writing” section) or ones that require the description of a specific object, exceptional event (not just another birthday or hospital visit), or person. In a pinch, you can pick a trope from TV Tropes and use that as your writing prompt. (Give yourself a time limit when picking one, though.) You can also grab a name from a generator site and write about that person. Finally, you can put a text through a word frequency counter, then write something using each word as a prompt.
Story Generators:
“This is sounding a lot like the previous three exercises already, Nev.”
I know, but bear with me. This exercise is on its own because the work being done changes. For story generators, instead of doing a bunch of the decision making like in the previous exercises, you are essentially filling in the blanks given to you by a computer. Like a mad lib. This will let you get to the exercise part a lot faster with a lot less preparation. This also exercises your story making skills without exercising your analytical skills (unlike the Rewriting Stories exercise). Unlike the Writing Prompts exercise, the results of this exercise are predictable and limited. Finally, this exercise is different from the Constrained Writing exercise, because it isn’t focused on sharpening word and grammar knowledge. Where all of the others focus on making the puzzle pieces, how they are shaped, or where they go, this exercise is about just putting the puzzle together.
Tangential Fiction:
This exercise involves writing short pieces that lie outside of the story they stem from (like going off on a tangent). Think fanfiction, but with less shipping and sex (unless that is what you are wanting to write). For this exercise, write the stories that didn’t make it into your own, or write the stories that didn’t make it into someone else’s. Write the story of how your main character made friends with that secondary character or got that jacket they wear all the time. Write the obituary of one of your secondary characters written by someone who may or may not be in the main story. Write the story of why Pikachu refuses to stay in their PokéBall. Write the reaction of a character who isn’t in the story cast to what the story cast is doing or has done.
You can also do some world and character building through writing official documents, news articles, letters, journal entries, and announcements that would take place in the same world as your story or that would be written by the same characters that are in your story. Write out the law that would force superheroes to register with the federal government. Write the call for settlers or colonists. Write the letter your main character wrote to the president that one time. Write the article that contains interviews with the inbound ensla… ahem… administrative team. This exercise will give you all the fun of world building while still getting much needed writing practice.
Bonus Round:
Have you done all of these exercises, but still want some more writing practice? Take what you have written and see how many words you can replace with synonyms. For example: “The rain in Spain falls mainly on the plain.” becomes “The precipitation in the Iberian Peninsula usually occurs on the flatlands.” Then, decide which version of the word, sentence, story, etc. you want to keep.
If you aren’t planning on getting what you write through these methods published, feel free to share what you get with the class. I look forward to seeing what you all come up with! It’s back to planning and analysis for me. Happy writing, everyone!
Did it work for you? Do you have questions for me? Is there a topic you would like me to write about? Let me know in the comments! I look forward to hearing from you! I post new articles on Wednesdays. Please remember to upvote, like, subscribe, and/or follow me on other social media if you find these articles useful and want to see more!