Ten Writing Exercises

I've pinched some ideas for this posting from my a posting called 'Ten Excuses to be Silly' on my other blogsite http://mindwalking-ajournalofdiscovery.blogspot.com to help people get started; but I have adapted some and added a few extras to get you going.

1. Inventing Characters 

In your mind create two characters. One with all your favourite qualities in looks, colour, things it can do (give it special powers if you like) and personality traits. Create the second out of all the things you dislike. Given them names. What do they like and dislike?

These characters can be any person or creature you like, a mix of many real and invented creatures or an entirely new being such as a magical creature or an alien.

Think how they might communicate, get about, react to different things. Describe the lot. Where were they born? How old are they? what does it like eating? When creating a new character it's best to know it very well indeed as it will start to develop a life of its own!

2. Adjective Game

This is an old exercise from my schooldays. Think of setting such as a beach. Now start describing it using lots of adjectives (describing words). It is hot, cold, sandy, rocky, deserted, packed with sunbathers? Where in the world is it? What time of year is it? What time of day? What's the weather like there? Is there any plant life near by? Can you see any wildlife? What are they like? Are there any man made structures about - buildings, boats, cars, planes. How did you get there? What feelings do you have? Is it welcoming, hostile? etc etc

3. Writing Comedy

Make a list of all the things that make you laugh and try and write a joke or funny story or poem. It's not easy, but remembering things that made you laugh can help as a starting point.

How about imagining what else you could go into an office for beside asking for an argument from the Monty Python team... A moan? A queue? A sulk? What else?

Or... what else might be an arrestable offence besides walking down the street in a loud shirt (Not The Nine O'Clock News).

Or... if the term for an electrician who gets fired from their job is delighted, what other ones can you can come up with, de-composed for a musician, de-posed for a fashion model? (Dave Allen) 

4. New words

Start a fictionary dictionary of new words to describe things or new verbs (action words) e.g. if you turn rampant into a verb we get people going out rampanting. Write a definition so you won't forget what was in your mind when you look back and finally give an example of the new word's use. 

Rampant (verb): The act of being flirtatious that goes beyond mere flirting but stops short of full blown seduction; usually done to help alleviate feeling randy. e.g. "I'm off our now for a spot of rampanting!" 

I don't advise you do this for real in case you get arrested or sectioned!

5. Develop your imagination

Imagine doing something in Topsy Turvy Land like laying a lawn by digging a tunnel under the ground and pushing each blade up out of the ground from underneath and painting each blade of grass a different colour. How else do you think Lewis Carroll came up with Alice's Wonderland?

For descriptions try using words that you don't usually associate with things are they really are e.g. a squidgy car or a green sky.

6. Writing a poem

A poem doesn't have to rhyme or rhythm, be loaded up with adjectives or deep meaning. For example, a friend of mine wrote a poem called 'The Hundred Mile An Hour Leaf' about a leaf getting stuck on his windscreen when driving. Poems can be anything you like and as long or as short as you please, such as this one from me which I wrote to counter myths about poetry.

IT MUST BE A POEM

By definition it must be a poem

Because it is short

It may not rhyme

Because of what it says

The lack of an iambic pentameter

Is excused of course

Due to the imagery -

Mud-flat pork pies.

Poems can be thoughts and reflections if you prefer. When I write one, I don't worry about the style of it, what matters is what I'm saying; I only worry about the rhyme afterwards if I want to. 

7. Creating a plot

I heard once that there are only seven basic plots e.g. boy meets girl and they fall in love. What stimulates us is how many variations there are to those plots and what makes them interesting are the characters, the situation and how both develop. 

So as an exercise for devising a plot turn it on it's head and look at it from a different angle. What else could happen? Would the story take on a new feeling if you altered the characters, setting, circumstances? These are all key features to developing an interesting story. Does is have impact? Drama? Highs and lows, like light and dark in a picture? Tragedy works because of it's unfulfilled hope. Comedy by its misfortunes.

The traditional format for a three act play is, Act One, set the situation and introduce the characters; Act Two complicate the situation and Act Three, resolve it. In all cases the audience be they at a theatre, cinema or just reading needs to be taken on a journey.

So, the girl may not like the boy at all to begin with as in Jane Austen's 'Pride and Prejudice'. They may get separated once they fall in love because of various unforeseen factors as in Charlotte Bronte's 'Jane EyreCharles Dicken's 'Great Expectations'. 

8. Dialogue 

Here again, experimenting with the unexpected can often yield interesting results. Eavesdropping on snippets of conversations is often a good starting point for inspiration. I heard one the other day from two lads walking down an alley while I was in the garden and all I caught was, "The girl in the pizza van." 

Instead of imagining a storyline or plot, imagine how that line came into conversation and how it could go on from there. In doing so you automatically start to tell a story. And again, think in terms of situation and characters. What would happen if the lads were old age pensions, or if "The girl in the pizza van." came up as a random remark in a business meeting about sales in dustbins! 

You can even decide who the characters are after you've written the conversation which is all that dialogue is. How many stories can you think of which have animals talking?

9. Mimic other people's styles

This can be done by swapping alternative words into a piece already written. From there you can start to explore writing a new piece in a similar style. Handy if you want to do a pastiche to turn something tragic into something comic, but also a good way of exploring what suits you best to develop your own unique way of writing.

10. Bringing ideas together

Look around you at what you are inspired by already and start to bring those elements together. The Internet can help you research all kinds of things to help you glue all the elements together, from information about foreign lands and cultures to detailed facts on history, lifestyles, costumes or technical gadgetry. 

Be selective of what you do and don't want in your written works when you want to develop ideas further. Never be afraid to change your mind. It is after all your own word. Most of all be true to yourself.

FINAL TIP:

Walk away and let your masterpiece rest. Come back to it with a fresh pair of eyes after you've forgotten it - in the interim write more. Like anything through practice we develop our skills. Even now (and it's true of all my work) there are pieces I still hate, have loved from the word go and many, many others that I continually change my mind about whether I like them or not! Let others  be the judge... if you dare! They will like, loathe and be as ambivalent as you but may surprise you by liking the work that you don't and vice versa.