3 Writing Exercises of Great Length
Try these writing exercises!
Today, I’d like to share some writing exercises based on an assignment I had to do in college, which has always stuck with me.
Writing a single, 100-word sentence sounds pretty easy, but once you sit down and actually attempt it, you’ll find out just how challenging it is, especially if you want your sentence to be grammatically correct.
You might think you can compose a lengthy sentence in just a few minutes. But you’ll soon find that it takes a little time. When you try to scale a long passage down to just a few words, that will take some time too.
Set aside about thirty minutes to tackle today’s writing exercises and see how long-winded you can be, then see how brief you can be.
All three of today’s writing exercises force you to think about word choice. Is your prose too verbose? Too meager? Could you say the same thing in fewer words?
The Writing Exercises:
1. Write one sentence that is at least one hundred words long. Here are the rules: It has to be a good sentence. You can’t use unnecessary, superfluous adjectives and adverbs. It has to make sense and sound right when read aloud. And it has to be punctuated properly. It can’t be a run-on sentence and it can’t be a series of sentences strung together with commas and semicolons (no splices!). It can be about anything, but it has to meet the word count.
2. Complete the first exercise, then rewrite the sentence in ten words or less.
You have to say the same thing using a fraction of the words. Don’t leave out any important details!
3. Here’s the combo: write two sentences — one must be exactly 70 words long and the other exactly seven words. Oh and they have to comprise a paragraph. Try it with fifty words, then five words. Twenty words, then two.
The challenge here is in contrast. You go from writing an extremely long sentence to a relatively short one, and they have to be connected in some way, so they can exist in the same paragraph.
Give it a Try!
If you decide to tackle these writing exercises, feel free to post your sentences in the comments section. Good luck, and keep writing.
Don’t forget to pick up a copy of 101 Creative Writing Exercises, available in paperback and ebook.
Writing Exercises for Using Metaphors
Writing exercises using metaphors. 
photo credit: franzi ♥ PHOTOS.
A while back, I wrote a post that had nothing to do with food at all. But food became a running metaphor while I was revising. The food metaphor was so delicious (or maybe I was so hungry) that I rewrote the entire post with food on the brain.
The blog posts that I write with metaphors always get a lot of positive feedback and everyone seems to embrace them. So I thought why not make writing exercises out of metaphors?
So, what makes metaphors work?
The most effective metaphors trigger our senses by connecting an otherwise intangible subject to sight, sound, smell, touch, or taste. If you can engage any of these senses through metaphor, your writing will take on new life. Not only will it become more entertaining and more memorable, it will be easier for readers to relate to what you’re saying.
Using metaphors in writing exercises is a great challenge for learning how to use one of the most effective literary devices at our disposal. And using metaphors in our writing helps us engage readers’ senses. It’s also be a lot of fun because tickling the senses is… well… sensual. So let’s try it, shall we?
Exercise #1: Thread the Metaphor
Step One: Choose a Topic
Just about any topic will do, but keep in mind that some topics don’t need the help of a metaphor. Subjects like sex, food, music, and anything else that intrinsically affects the senses might not benefit from a metaphor the way more abstract topics will. Think about subjects you’ve explored recently in your writing. Were there any topics that felt flat or dry? You can revisit those topics and see how a metaphor adds dimension and makes a piece more compelling.
Step Two: Choose a Metaphor
Choose one of the five senses and come up with something that affects that particular sense. Here are some examples:
- Sight: the bold colors of a Picasso painting, anything with motion (traffic, trains, the sea), scenic landscapes
- Touch: the warmth of velvet, the hard cool of steel, or the scratchy texture of wool
- Taste: foods or flavors — sweet, spicy, rich, or tart
- Sound: city sounds, nature (birds tweeting), music, a roaring engine, or absolute quiet
- Scent: spring showers, shampoo and soaps, swimming pools, a wet dog
Also, be on the lookout for metaphors that work and metaphors that don’t. Some metaphors are just tired and have become clichés (stopping to smell the roses comes to mind). Look for unique and original metaphors and notice which ones don’t quite make the grade.
Step Three: Write
Write a short essay about your topic, threading the metaphor throughout the piece. Think about how you can weave the metaphor throughout your writing. For example, if you’re going to use the bold colors of a Picasso painting as your metaphor, you can play off your metaphor by mixing in new metaphors about canvasses, paintbrushes, color, and light. You can even get into museums, history, and just about any other area where art is part of the context.
Metaphors work well in almost any type of writing, so you can use this exercise to draft a blog post, a poem, or even a short story
Exercise #2: Metaphor Refresh
Choose a piece of writing that is finished but not quite polished. Or choose a piece that you’re currently developing. Try going through your journal or files where you store pieces you’ve written and see if there’s anything that could be reworked and made more enticing through the use of a metaphor. Review it with metaphors in mind and look for opportunities where the piece would benefit from a metaphor. For example, metaphors often work well in place of lengthy descriptions. Instead of trying to describe how complicated life is, we can simply say life is a puzzle.
Exercise #3: Metaphor Mashup
Review the first exercise above (“Thread the Metaphor”) and then make a list of 25 things. They can be people, places, objects, and topics for discussion. For each item on the list, come up with a single metaphor that could represent it. Be open-minded as you work through the list. For example, one of your items might be child. If you come up with munchkin as a metaphor, you’ll discover that the child has taken on personality and specific features. Let the items inspire the metaphors, but then let the metaphors influence the items in return.
Use Metaphors Wisely!
If you decide to tackle any of these writing exercises, come back here and tell us all about it!
Have writing exercises like these helped you improve your writing? Have they inspired new ideas? How have metaphors served your writing? Share your thoughts and experiences by leaving a comment.
Are you looking for more writing exercises? Pick up a copy of 101 Creative Writing Exercises, available in paperback and ebook.
3 Fiction Writing Exercises for Story Development
Fiction writing exercises for story development.
Fiction writing exercises can help you discover storytelling techniques and provide ideas and inspiration for your fiction writing projects.
For writers who are young or just starting out with fiction, these exercises provide practice and experience. For more experienced writers, these exercises offer inspiration and can help you see a story from new angles.
Today’s fiction writing exercises are carefully chosen to help you develop some of the most critical components in a story. If you can create a few characters; identify a conflict, climax, and resolution; and choose a theme, you’re well on your way to writing a short story or novel that will resonate with readers.
These exercises are similar to assignments you would complete in a college-level fiction writing class, exercises that push you in the direction of writing material that can be published. You can tackle these exercises separately, but I recommend using them to develop ideas around a single story.
1. Character Exercise: Sketching a Protagonist and an Antagonist
We often think of them as the bad guy and the good guy or the hero and the villain, but those terms are becoming outdated as modern storytelling increasingly embraces protagonists who are highly flawed and antagonists who aren’t 100% evil.
The Exercise: Sketch two characters who are in conflict with each other.
Do not identify a protagonist or antagonist, just create two characters. Both characters should have the potential to be good or evil. Start with physical descriptions, then get inside the characters’ heads to establish their inner landscapes, and finally, work up a bit of backstory for each of them. Remember, these two characters have a fundamental conflict with each other. What is it? The core of this exercise is identifying that conflict.
If you’ve never done a character sketch or have trouble coming up with details for your character, check out this character development worksheet.
2. Plot Exercise: Conflict, Climax, and Resolution
The three-act structure is one of the simplest and most effective way to break down a story. Often, the acts are 1) Setup, 2) Confrontation, and 3) Resolution. I think of the three-act structure as 1) Conflict, 2) Climax, and 3) Resolution because those are the three pinnacles in each of the three acts. In the first part of a story, we learn what the conflict is. The second (and largest portion) of the story builds up to a climax in which the conflict hits boiling point. Finally, the third act resolves the conflict.
The Exercise: Determine a conflict, climax, and resolution for a story. You can use the two characters you created in the first exercise for this.
Conflict examples: Two people vying for the same job, a natural disaster, people-eating aliens landing on Earth.
Climax examples: In a big showdown, one job candidate smears the other and knocks the opponent out of the race. A natural disaster claims the lives of half of Earth’s population. Humans engage in a final battle with people-eating aliens.
Resolution examples: The job candidate who got smeared makes a comeback and gets the job. Earth’s survivors rebuild after a planet-wide natural disaster. Against all odds, humans win the battle against aliens with superior technology.
3. Theme Exercise: Universal Ideas
Theme is difficult to explain, but Wikipedia does a good job:
A theme is a broad idea, message, or moral of a story. The message may be about life, society, or human nature. Themes often explore timeless and universal ideas and are almost always implied rather than stated explicitly. Along with plot, character, setting, and style, theme is considered one of the fundamental components of fiction.
I usually think of theme as the big questions that a story asks or its underlying philosophies.
The exercise: Choose a theme and write a list of ways in which a theme can be executed through the course of a story.
You can choose a theme for the characters you sketched in the first exercise or for the three-act structure you developed in the second exercise. For example, in a story where two characters are vying for the same job, the theme might be dream fulfillment (if it’s one or both of the characters’ dream job).
As an alternative, try to identify themes in other stories. Think about your favorite books, movies, and TV shows and make lists of some themes you’ve found in storytelling.
Get Busy Writing Fiction
Do you think about character, plot, and theme when you’re working on a story? Do you plan these elements in advance or let them unfold through discovery writing? Who are some of your favorite characters? Can you think of a truly original plot in modern storytelling? What themes in fiction appeal to you the most? And finally, do you use fiction writing exercises and if you do, how have they helped you improve your writing?
Are you looking for more writing exercises? Pick up a copy of 101 Creative Writing Exercises, available in paperback and ebook.
Three Poetry Writing Exercises
Stretch your writing muscles with poetry writing exercises.
If you’re going to exercise, it’s a good idea to warm up first. That way, you’ll get your body geared up to do the heavy lifting, the hard running, and the strenuous workout.
Writing’s no different.
Poetry writing exercises are ideal when you’re feeling uninspired or lazy, or maybe your poetry is getting stale and you need to take it in a fresh direction. Perhaps you’re getting ready to embark on a big, long writing project and want to warm up first.
Today’s poetry writing exercises are good starters and don’t require you to know anything about poetry or have any experience writing poems. In fact, some of these exercises are just that — exercises — no poetry writing required.
Poetry Writing Exercises
These poetry writing exercises are designed to get you thinking about rhythm, language, and imagery in your writing. Let’s jump right in!
1. Alliteration and Assonance Lists
Create a list of word pairs and phrases that are built around alliteration or assonance. Remember, alliteration is when words in close proximity start with (or contain) the same consonant sound (as in pretty picture). Assonance is when words in close proximity echo vowel sounds (bent pen). Try to come up with at least ten of each. The more, the better.
Bonus exercise: Use the words from your lists to write a poem.
2. Metaphors and Similes for Life
Make a list of significant life events: birth, death, graduation, marriage, having children, starting your own business. Next, come up with one metaphor and one simile for each of these events. Remember: a metaphor is when we say one thing is another thing. A simile is when we say one thing is like another thing.
Metaphor: Life is a dance.
Simile: Life is like a box of chocolates (as a metaphor, this would be life is a box of chocolates)
Tip: Choose metaphors that are visually interesting. Metaphors for life as a dance or box of chocolates are both easy for readers to visualize.
Bonus exercise: Write a poem about one of your life events using only the metaphor or simile you have chosen. When it’s done, your poem should be a bit ambiguous; a reader will wonder whether the poem is literally about the metaphor or metaphorically about the life event.
3. Lyrics and Musicality
Choose a catchy song that you enjoy and rewrite the lyrics, but stick to the rhythm and meter. Try to go way off topic from what the original lyrics were about. You can play the song while you work on the exercise or search for the lyrics online and use those as your baseline. The idea is to get your mind on the musicality in your writing.
Have Fun with These Poetry Writing Exercises!
These poetry writing exercises are meant to be helpful and fun. If you tried any of these exercises, feel free to share your thoughts in the comments. Did you learn anything? Did you end up writing a poem?
Do you have any poetry writing exercises to share? Have any special requests for exercises that deal with specific areas of writing? Leave a comment!
Are you looking for more writing exercises? Pick up a copy of 101 Creative Writing Exercises, available in paperback and ebook.
A Writing Exercise in Briefs (Not Underwear)
Writing exercises in brevity.
Brett Legree, who blogs at 6 Weeks explains why blogging for profit is like collecting underpants.
Brett talks about love of craft but he never does ask (or answer) the question that’s on everyone’s mind: boxers or briefs?
Well, I’m here to tell you why some briefs belong on the page and not in your pants.
Boxers or Briefs?
If writing for the web has taught me anything, it’s brevity. I’ve always written short poems. In fact, my poems are so small, I could slide them up my legs and wear them like a bikini. But my other writing tends to be a bit wordy, more like boxers.
And like boxers, wordy writing is long, and that’s no good, especially for online writing.
Sometimes lengthy writing is necessary and it certainly has its place in many different types of writing, like literary novels. However, on the web, most people scan rather than read, so keeping text short and concise is beneficial because your readers will be able to quickly absorb your points without having to stare at the glaring screen for too long. You can also help your readers scan by including sub-headers and breaking up your text into short paragraphs.
But what if you have a tendency to write extremely lengthy prose?
A Writing Exercise in Brevity
Most writing exercises are designed to get creativity flowing. But this writing exercise challenges you to take a long piece and make it short and sweet.
Luckily, it’s easy. With a few well-placed edits, we can turn boxers into briefs in no time.
Here’s an example of some original text I pulled from one of my many unfinished short stories. I have gone through and crossed out parts that can be eliminated without compromising the integrity of the piece:
Saidra turned her head and took a good hard look up the street. Where were the walkers and joggers that usually passed by throughout the day? She looked the other way. Where were the mommies, with strollers and toddlers in tow, walking their young schoolchildren to their classrooms? She stared straight ahead. Every day, the little old lady across the street came out with her coffee, picked up the newspaper and enjoyed both on her front porch, under a basket of pink and lavendar fuscia. After a quick trip inside, Old Rose, as she was known, always spent the first part of her day tending the garden. Today she was nowhere to be found. The entire street was deserted.
Once I trimmed away the excess, I dressed it up a little, just to make sure it still sounds good and makes sense:
Saidra looked up and down the street. Where were the walkers and joggers? Where were the mommies, walking youngsters to the nearby school? She stared straight ahead. Every day, the little old lady across the street picked up her newspaper and enjoyed it with a cup of tea on her front porch. Today she was nowhere to be found. The entire street was deserted.
How do you like that? I took this from 119 words down to just 64, and in less than ten minutes. It’s like a strip show for word lovers! Hey, who says writing exercises can’t be sexy?
Take it Off
Now it’s your turn to tackle this writing exercise. No, you don’t have to take your clothes off. Then again, the weekend’s almost here so maybe you should. You do, however, have to unclothe a piece of your writing.
Pick a poem, story, or blog post that you’ve written. Go through and get rid of words and phrases that aren’t absolutely necessary. Then go through it again, reconnecting everything and rearranging the words that remain so they are compelling. See how short you’re willing to go.
Or, tackle my paragraph and make it even shorter, then show off your skills in the comments section. Come on, I dare you!
If you have any writing exercises to share, feel free to post them in the comments.
Are you looking for more writing exercises? Pick up a copy of 101 Creative Writing Exercises, available in paperback and ebook.
Writing Exercises for Stepping Out of Your Comfort Zone
Step out of your comfort zone with these writing exercises.
How comfortable are you with your writing?
Many writers specialize in a genre or niche. Creative writers are focused on fiction or poetry, copywriters specialize in web writing or marketing, and technical writers are bound by jargon and code that other writers might find impossible to decipher.
Sure, some of us explore various types of writing, but how deeply are we willing to immerse ourselves in unknown waters?
A novelist might dip her toes in web writing. A copywriter might wade in children’s literature. Have you ever wondered what it would be like to dive into a completely new form of writing or what it would be like to deeply explore a form you’ve only tested? Today’s writing exercises will challenge you to do just that.
Do more than test the waters
I’m often proud of the fact that I’ve tried my hand at so many different types of writing. I am an experienced poet and blogger. I get paid to write articles, website copy, and press releases. I’ve written some fiction. And here’s where I always stop and hold my breath: right when I get to the F-word, fiction.
Sometimes I say poetry is my first love because that’s what I started writing. But the truth is, my first love was fiction, because that’s what I read and what I’ve been reading for longer than I can remember. It stands to reason, then, that as a writer, one of my goals is to write a novel or get some short stories published.
But fiction seems to elude me, which is odd, considering I’ve read more fiction than anything else. It should be a breeze but I’ve always struggled with it. It’s not like I can’t do it. I can and I have, and usually, whatever I write is somewhat decent. But I have a hard time finishing a piece of fiction. I’m great at character development (you wouldn’t believe how many character files I’ve got). I’m not so great at coming up with villains though. And plots — forget about it. Every time I come up with a plot, I scratch it out because I feel like it’s already been done.
Setting Goals
Over the past few years, my apparent inability to complete a piece of fiction (even a short story) has created a huge barrier for me. It’s almost like the fact that I haven’t been able to master fiction has made me want to avoid it or just put it off for an unknown length of time.
This is a problem since I really, really want to write a novel.
One of my goals for this year is to step out of my comfort zone and get real cozy with fiction writing. I’ve spent time thinking about my strengths and weaknesses in this area and I’ve promised myself that I will participate in NaNoWriMo this November and attempt to produce a 50-thousand word manuscript, complete with plot and villain.
Writing Exercises
For this week’s writing exercises, your objective is to explore unfamiliar territory. Are you one of those people who only get in the pool if it’s more than 80 degrees (Fahrenheit)? Then get yourself into the freezing waters of the northern Pacific Ocean! Choose some type of writing that you’ve never attempted before or choose something that you’ve only toyed with. Or, choose a writing style that you’ve struggled with in the past. Just pick something that you have not mastered and then set yourself the goal of developing your weaknesses in that type of writing.
It doesn’t take long:
- Write a piece of flash fiction under 1000 words
- Write a 250-word poem
- Write a brief, 2000-word essay
- Compose a newspaper column
- Write a page of a script
If you turn off the TV, unplug your video games, and close your web browser, you could probably do all of these writing exercises in a single weekend.
What are you waiting for? You’ve got your writing exercises. Now go start writing!
If you have any writing exercises to share, feel free to post them in the comments.
Are you looking for more writing exercises? Pick up a copy of 101 Creative Writing Exercises, available in paperback and ebook.
Writing Exercises: Writer, Know Thyself
Writing exercises: Writer, know thyself.
Most writing exercises are designed to give you new writing ideas or hone your writing skills. This one asks you to look in the mirror and ask yourself a critical question:
Why Do I Write?
Every now and then, I review all my projects and goals and spend some time determining which ones should be set aside and which are worthy of further pursuit. Inevitably, this always leads me to ask: What do I want to write? Am I a poet or a novelist? A copywriter or an essayist? A blogger or a journalist?
Why do I write anyway?
I recently mentioned that one of my goals is to write for change. Imagine reaching out and having a real impact on the world! Comics write jokes and then give the gift of laughter. Poets use words to captivate our imaginations, tickle our senses, and trigger emotions. Writing has the power to change thoughts, feelings, and the world.
The Force That Drives
There are many forces that drive writers to the page. Some do it for love, for creative expression, or because writing is simply something they must do, a compulsion. Others do it for money, fame, or simply to make a living.
But it’s not easy to succeed as a writer. Wendi Kelly of Life’s Little Inspirations recently talked about writing a book, and she put it succinctly: “This is where self-discipline comes in I guess.”
On top of self-discipline, writers are competing in a field that’s saturated with dreamers and overrun with talent. Creativity is fleeting, gigs are scarce, and far too many novels end up half-finished and buried in the bottom drawer.
Intent to Succeed
For those of us who intend to succeed, to finish that novel, get that poem published, or earn a living wage as a freelancer, it’s imperative that we stay focused. Writing is also one of those endeavors that lends itself exceptionally well to distraction.
One trick for staying focused is to keep your eye on the ball.
Always know where you are in relation to your goals, but more importantly, always remember why you are on the field. Sometimes we have to remind ourselves what our real goals are. Other times, we have to remember why we set those goals in the first place.
Writing Exercises
Today’s writing exercises ask you to contemplate your goals as a writer and to explore why you are a writer. The exercises are simple: just answer the questions.
- Why do you write?
- What have you written in the past year?
- What are you top three goals as a writer?
- Why are each of these three goals important to you?
- What are your writing goals for the next five to ten years?
- What can you do over the next year to move closer to your top three goals and your five-year goals?
- What can you do today?
- What do you plan on writing tomorrow?
Good luck with these writing exercises. Keep writing!
If you have any writing exercises to share, feel free to post them in the comments.
Are you looking for more writing exercises? Pick up a copy of 101 Creative Writing Exercises, available in paperback and ebook.
Writing Exercises: Freewriting
FREE writing exercises (literally).
One of the most valuable writing exercises I learned in college was freewriting.
When you sit down with a pen and paper and let words flow freely, amazing things can happen.
At first, freewriting is a bit of a struggle, but if you stick with it, you will produce some gems. The trick is to get out of the way, and let your subconscious take over. Most writing exercises ask you to think. This one requires you do anything but that.
This is not like other writing exercises because freewriting is also a tool that you can use to generate written material for a variety of projects. It will also help you clear your head or tap into your deeper thoughts.
Writing Exercises and Train of Thought
The first few times I tried freewriting, I botched it. I would describe everything I’d done that day or jot down my thoughts on a particular subject in a random, messy way. Finally, in one of my creative writing classes, I got to hear some examples of freewriting and something clicked. Freewriting is not about train of thought, it’s about stream of consciousness, and there’s a big difference.
Here is an example of one of my early attempts at freewriting, from January, 1999. This was just one of the many writing exercises I did in college under the creative writing program:
I set the microwave timer for 30 minutes so that I wouldn’t write for too long – although I’m sure it wouldn’t hurt if I did. Usually I do freewrites in a journal. I have a tendency to reflect on the current events of my personal life during a freewrite.
Train-of-thought writing exercises are pretty coherent. For the most part, it makes sense, as you can see in the example above. The technique involves writing on a particular subject, or working with a concrete topic. This can be useful in many ways, but it won’t tap into your deeper creativity the way freewriting will.
I use train-of-thought writing for clearing my mind or to prepare for writing a nonfiction piece as a brainstorming method to churn out all the information I have in my head. But when I’m looking for poetic images or vivid characters, freewriting does a much better job.
Writing Exercises and Stream of Consciousness
By February, 1999, I had a much better grasp on freewriting:
in moonshine eyelet lace a rhapsody of liquors dancing off light reflected in the cut glass spoons stirring iced candy meltdown of hopes washed out memories of faded photographs and standing in line at a supermarket eyeing the magazines their eyes watching you like cats high up in trees crying for freedom but afraid to come down
The key to stream-of-consciousness writing is to relax your thinking mind and let the images of your subconscious take over. For some people, it takes a little practice but once you get it down, it becomes a neat trick. So what can you do with it?
Applications for Freewriting
Once you’ve built up a nice collection of freewrites, you have created a repository of images and lines, sentences, and paragraphs. You can now go through and harvest the material for your various writing projects. As you can imagine, the fruits of freewriting lend themselves particularly well to poetry.
When I’m writing poetry, I often go through my freewrites with a highlighter, marking words and phrases that pop or strike me as especially meaningful or aesthetically pleasing. Then, I pull these from the freewrite and use them to compose a poem.
Freewrites can also be used to bring creative, colorful language into prose. Strong images and rich language generates work that is more literary in nature and if done well, it’s a lot more fun to read. It will help you generate words that show rather than tell and make your story or essay come alive more easily in a reader’s mind.
Have you ever tried freewriting? Do you tend toward train-of-thought or stream-of-consciousness writing? Are there any other writing exercises you recommend for creating more vivid prose or poetry?
If you have any writing exercises to share, feel free to post them in the comments.
Are you looking for more writing exercises? Pick up a copy of 101 Creative Writing Exercises, available in paperback and ebook.
The Free-Lance Muse and Other Writing Exercises
Practice the craft with these writing exercises.
I’ve already suggested you aspiring poets secure a copy of The Practice of Poetry
These writing exercises are designed as much for generating creativity as they are for helping writers craft poetry.
One of the pillars of creative writing is the exploration of different styles and genres. Die-hard poets should take a stab at fiction and short story writers should dabble in a little bit of poetry. Experimenting with different forms is fun and it will make your writing sparkle even more.
Today, I thought I’d choose an exercise from the book and share it with you.
Hopefully the authors, editors, and publishers don’t mind. Since I’m rallying sales for them, I doubt they will, so without further ado, I bring you “The Free-Lance Muse,” a creative writing exercise by Ann Lauterbach.
The Exercise
Imagine you are a free-lance muse, looking for work. In recent years you have had to supplement your life with various odd jobs — inspiring an ad executive at Nissan in Japan, writing political manifestos for East German dissidents, and typing numerous grant proposals. You’re tired and sad, and want a real poet. Write a job description for the poet you want to inspire.
Now, let me discuss why this exercise lends itself equally to poets, fiction writers, and copywriters. In fact, let me show you. I will tackle this exercise thrice for all the world to see:
Poem
Oh weary poet
I need you once more.
These writings have made me
A capitalist whore.
Fiction
The muse scrawled her ad in haste and sent it off to the printer. Those damn poets! Cheating on her with that digital network of nothingness they call the blogosphere. How dare they abandon her and leave her to sling her tweets at auto manufacturers and political wannabes? A muse typing! Whoever heard of such nonsense?
Freelancing
Feed the freelancer
ten cents a word
Putting the Creative into Writing Exercises
Now, I realize I didn’t totally adhere to the exercise. What makes writing exercises like these fun is letting them trigger your creativity. In another time and place, I might follow the guidelines more closely but I wanted to show how flexible writing exercises can be if you approach them with an open mind.
The interesting aspect of this exercise is that it pulls us into advertising, something all writers must become familiar with in order to get their work to a reading public. Of this exercise, Ann Lauterbach said that it allowed students “to begin to think about and examine what the role of the poet (and of poetry) might be in a consumer-driven economy.”
Care to give it a shot? Take any twist you like on this writing exercise and let’s see what you’ve got. In the comments. Virtual drinks are on me. Have a chipper weekend. Cheerio!
If you have any writing exercises to share, feel free to post them in the comments.
Are you looking for more writing exercises? Pick up a copy of 101 Creative Writing Exercises, available in paperback and ebook.
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