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Ignite the Creative Writing Process

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Ignite the Creative Writing Process

Most writers at some point will come face to face with their nemesis: the dreaded blank page. The exercises below, which tap memory, observation, and imagination, aim to help you push past that daunting void and get the words flowing.

Recommended Creative Writing 鈥淛ump Start鈥 Exercises

  • 1. Practice awareness of the world around you

    Go to a restaurant or coffee shop (or another busy place) and take notes about it, focusing on sensory details. What are you seeing, smelling, tasting, hearing, and touching? Try to incorporate everything.

  • 2. Dive into a Photograph

    Find a random photo of a person in a magazine or newspaper. Imagine this person鈥檚 life. Create a detailed inventory of what is in this person鈥檚 bedroom, refrigerator, and medicine cabinet. Then, write a personal ad as if you were this person.

  • 3. Look for Odd Stories in the News

    Troll news sites and social media for odd stories. Try writing a scene that involves some aspect of the person, place, or action, inventing the details as you go.

  • 4. Find a story seed in the 鈥淧ersonals鈥 section

    Go to the Personals sections of a newsweekly or Craigslist (the subhead 鈥淢issed Connections鈥 is good). Write a scene or poem based on an encounter/potential encounter, making up the details you need.

  • 5. It鈥檚 about Time: Try a 鈥榮hort鈥 time-bound story

    (贵谤辞尘听What If?聽p. 267; full citation below): Try writing a story that takes place in a short unit of time 鈥 60 seconds, an hour, a day.

    Make a list of things that can be done in a short period (e.g. washing a dog/car/hair, stealing something鈥). Limit the story鈥檚 action to that time frame.

  • 6. Start with a Given First Line

    Here are a few to try (from聽What If?, p. 21-24):

    • Where were you last night?
    • I met him/her on the stairs.
    • The neighbors were at it again.
    • I haven鈥檛 been the same since__________
    • The first time I (or Name) heard SPECIFIC SONG, I (Name) was down/up/over at PLACE and we were doing ACTION.
  • 7. Start with a Title

    Try one of these (or make one up of your own):聽People I鈥檝e Kissed.听The House on Deacon Street.听Sunday.听The Road to Nowhere.听Dinner.听Things to Do in 60 Seconds or Less.

  • 8. Watch a Favorite Film

    Pay attention to notable scenes, or 鈥渕oments of fire,鈥 within the film. Then re-create one of those scenes in writing.

  • 9. Begin with a Space

    Recall a building in which you once lived. Map out this building on a sheet of paper. Consider all of the rooms and spaces and think about the 鈥渉ot spot鈥 鈥 the room that stands out the most to you. Describe that room and/or write a scene that takes place there.

  • 10. Your Start Might Be In the Cards

    Get some color-coded index cards or scraps of paper. On one color, write a random selection of characters (e.g. butcher, baker, candlestick maker). On another color, write a random selection of incidents (e.g. hits dog
    with car, bakes bread for dying friend, sets fire to trashcan.) Mix up the cards and pick a few at random. Then choose which combination appeals the most. Start a scene or poem using those two (or three) elements.

Recommended Resources

Bernays, Anne, and Pamela Painter.听What If? Writing Exercises for Fiction Writers. College Edition. New York: Pearson Longman, 2004.

Kowitt, Steve.听In the Palm of Your Hand: The Poet鈥檚 Portable Workshop. Gardiner: Tilbury, 1995.

Lamott, Anne.聽Bird by Bird: Some Instructions on Writing and Life. New York: Anchor, 1994.

Scofield, Sandra.听The Scene Book: A Primer for the Fiction Writer. New York: Penguin, 2007.

Stern, Jerome.聽Making Shapely Fiction. New York: Laurel, 1991.

Original composed: 06/2008 |聽Adapted and revised for web delivery: 07/2021

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