In the spirit of Bill James’s Wolves of Memory, here’s a particularly tricky exercise for you today. In my review of that book I said: Bill James fascinates me as an author. He does several things I’m not accustomed to…
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The Quirks of Internal Monologue
Posted in Writing Tagged with: free-writing, internal monologue, point of view, writers, writing, writing prompts
Horrors!
Earlier today I wrote a blog post dealing with the definition of horror fiction. Read it, and then write, outline, or brainstorm a horror story in which not a single drop of blood is shed, and that in no way…
Five Great Ambitions
Here’s an exercise you can either apply to yourself (by journaling on it) or to a character as a way to explore your fictional characters. As quickly as you can (so as to limit careful conscious thought), list out five…
Posted in Writing Tagged with: ambition, free-writing, Journaling, writers, writing, writing prompts
Naughtiness and Creativity
Humour – like romance, like drama, like excitement – needs boundaries. It needs rules, lines, differences, be they social (as in Fawlty Towers), cultural (Borat), gender-based (Tootsie) or moral. As in sex. This, arguably, is a primary purpose of organised…
Posted in Writing Tagged with: creativity, free-writing, humor, morality, naughtiness, taboos, writers, writing, writing prompts
Fad Diets
Today, write an over-the-top ad, article or essay enthusing about a new fad diet. Make up the diet to go with it, and it can be as strange or bizarre as you like. Try to sound as ‘real’ as possible…
Posted in Writing Tagged with: advertising, fad diets, free-writing, writers, writing, writing prompts
Honor and Integrity
Here I shall quote from something my husband once wrote: If you don’t act with integrity all the time, where does it begin and end? Do you start acting honorably when you leave the house in the morning? On the…
Helplessness
Perhaps you’ve heard about today’s crop of helpless youngsters. Free-write for five to fifteen minutes exploring a character based on a prototypical member of this group. Then, drop him or her into a dangerous situation, and see how he or…
Posted in Writing Tagged with: characterization, Characters, fiction, free-writing, Journaling, prompts, writers, writing
Character Questions: Friendships
One of my favorite ways to flesh out a character is to ask him or her one or more questions and see what answers emerge. You can conduct this like an interview in your mind, or you can free-write in…
Posted in Writing Tagged with: characterization, Characters, free-writing, Journaling, prompts, writers, writing
Prompt: World Building in the Twilight Time
This morning I made a blog post titled World Building in the Twilight Time. It was actually a reference to a world building article in a zine called Twilight Time, but the title of the blog post got me thinking.…
Posted in Gaming, Writing Tagged with: fantasy, fiction, free-writing, Journaling, prompts, Science Fiction, World-Building, writers, writing
How to Use Writing Exercises… And How Not to Use Them
The writing community is fairly split on the matter of writing exercises. Some folks swear by them while others swear at them. Why the strong division? Well, there are some great benefits you can get from writers’ exercises, but there…