Creative Writing Exercises

In this section you can find the writing exercises we do in our enrichment.  Feel free to try them out yourself, get inspired and be creative!

Meeting Your Character

Think of something you wish you had the nerve to say but haven’t said. If you’re the sort of person who always says exactly what’s on your mind, imagine a friend who has trouble saying certain things out loud.

Now imagine a character who would have no problem saying you haven’t said but wish you could. Remember, there are no limits to what you can create in fiction. Your character can be anyone or anything at all, from the smallest pixie to the biggest dragon, from a disembodied spirit to a solid six foot tall man, from a time-travelling princess to a slave who belongs to a real period in history.

Give yourself a minute or two and let the character begin to form in your mind. Take your time and don’t force anything. You might see the character in your mind’s eye. You might hear him or her talking in your creative ear. You might simply get a gut feeling for who the character is.

Sometimes it’s helpful to let a character develop gradually over days or weeks. It’s not always an instant process. And sometimes the character will ‘appear’ fully formed.

Your task

When you have a clear idea of who your character is, pretend to interview him or her. You can ask them anything you like. For example, where do you live? How did you grow up? What are your best qualities? What are your flaws? What do you want? What problems are you facing?

Haiku

Create tiny, perfect poems following clear guidelines on form

Haiku is a three-line form of poetry that originated in Japan. Haiku are often ‘noticing’ poems – they act as a tiny record of something seen, often something natural and seasonal. They capture a moment in time.

sunlight through stained glass,

fragrance of oranges

the sound of a bell

the tiny light flashes

a message on the machine

he died last night            

                                Alan Spence

Classic haiku have exactly seventeen syllables in three lines, arranged in the pattern of five, seven, five.

serious error

all shortcuts have disappeared

screen, mind, both are blank

Exercises

·         Look at a photograph of nature or landscape. Write a haiku describing it, sticking to the syllable pattern.

·         Write a haiku about the most memorable thing that has happened to you today.

·         Write a haiku about the weather or season you are experiencing right now.

·         Using the computer poem as an example, try to write a haiku about the most unromantic and un-poetic subject you can think of.

Blurbs

Blurbs are the short summaries on the back cover that let us know what the book we have picked up is all about.

They are meant to make us want to read on.

Generally, fiction blurbs follow a basic premise. They usually introduce the setting and main character(s).  They present a simple plot set up.  The novel’s conflict, or main problem, will also usually be given.

The blurb might also give the reader an idea of the genre of book it is.

All her life Elise Dembowski has been an outsider.

Starting a new school, she dreams of fitting in at last – but when her best attempts at popularity fail, she almost gives up. Then she stumbles upon a secret warehouse party. There, at night, Elise can be a different person, making real friends, falling in love for the first time and finding her true passion – DJing.

But when her real and secret lives collide, she has to make a decision once and for all: just who is the real Elise?

An irresistible novel about hope, heartbreak and the power of music to bring people together.

Can you write an exciting blurb for a story you are writing?

How about writing one for a story that doesn’t exist yet?!

What happens once you have written your blurb? Could you write the story to go with it?

Subtexts

Showing what lies beneath the surface of a conversation

A well-written conversation will nearly always have a subtext, something going on below the surface, something to do with the mood the characters are in, or with the state of the relationship between them. While the actual words of their conversation will say one thing, the subtext might say quite another. The subtext may reveal tensions, desires, fears and so on.

Pick a number from 1 to 4 and a letter from A to D. Write them down. Do the same thing three more times, until you’ve used all the letters and numbers.

Now, read this!

Speech situations

1.    X and Y start chatting while waiting for the bus.
2.      X is a shop assistant in an expensive boutique. Y has come to buy an outfit to wear to a job interview.
3.     Middle-aged X is trying to persuade parent-in-law Y that it is time to move into a care home.
4.      X and Y used to work together. They haven’t seen each other for a while until they meet at another ex-colleague’s birthday party.

Subtexts

• A.      X feels very uncomfortable with Y and is afraid of making Y angry.
• B.      X wants to get the conversation over as quickly as possible without actually seeming rude.
• C.      X is secretly afraid s/he might be suffering from the same illness that killed her/his mother.
• D.     Y is preoccupied with work and not really paying much attention to the conversation.

Now write a scene of conversation between X and Y using the first of your number/letter combinations.  This can be pure dialogue, like a scene in a play or can be part of a story with narration and description around it.

Now write conversations using the other combinations. How might these scenes fir together as part of a wider story? What might have happened first or happen later?

Adjectives and nouns

Let’s make some random combinations to shake loose your imagination!

Juxtapositions – surprising combinations of words you wouldn’t normally put together – can be inspiring.

Collect some random nouns and adjectives. For example:

Adjectives                                           Nouns

Quivering                                            Side

Shameful                                             Diamond

Melted                                                 Clock

Clever                                                  Experience

Doubtful                                              Key

Write them on pieces of card and turn them over.  Pick one adjective and one noun. Now choose one of the options below.

Imagine this is the title of a blockbuster Hollywood film. Write the voiceover for the trailer.

Imagine this is the title for a murder mystery novel. Write the blurb for the back of the book.

Imagine this is the title of a book for very young children. Write the first page of this story.

Imagine this is the title of a romantic novel. Write the last page of the book, in which the hero and heroine finally declare their love for each other.

A Bad Beginning
Writing bad beginnings helps you learn how to write good ones!

The Victorian novelist Edward Bulwer-Lytton wrote one of the most famous opening lines in literature, ‘It was a dark and stormy night.’

But it didn’t stop there.

‘It was a dark and stormy night; the rain fell in torrents – except at occasional intervals, when it was checked by a violent gust of wind which swept up the streets (for it is in London that our scene lies), rattling along the housetops, and fiercely agitating the scanty flame of the lamps that struggled against the darkness.’

What do you think is bad about this beginning?

The annual Bulwer-Lytton first line competition invites participants to make up and send in terrible opening sentences for novels.  The 2011 winner, Sue Fondrie, wrote this: ‘Cheryl’s mind turned like the vanes of a wind-powered turbine, chopping her sparrow-like thoughts into bloody pieces that fell onto a growing pile of forgotten memories.’

These tasks will get you to write your own bad beginnings. Each sentence has to be the possible beginning of a novel or short story. They must be grammatically correct and deliberately terrible.

·         Write a purposely atrocious opening sentence for a thriller or action adventure novel.

·         Create a terrible start for a detective novel.

·         Write the thoroughly awful beginning of a romance.

·         Let rip with a ghastly start for a work of historical fiction.

·         Come up with a bad start to a science fiction story.

Why are we doing this? Because if you can recognise what’s bad, you won’t write rubbish by accident when you’re trying to be good.

Writing a complete short story in four simple steps

·       Write a first paragraph in which the character is going somewhere.

·       Write a second paragraph in which the main character overhears something that grabs their interest or seems important.

·       Write a third paragraph in which the main character reacts to, thinks about, or reflects upon what he/she has heard.

·       Write a fourth paragraph in which the main character has a change of direction or plan.

The key idea here is that something changes. It can be an actual change of travel direction. It can be something more internal – a change of heart, a change of plan, a change in something your main character believes.

Does this little story have the potential to be developed into something bigger?  

Show, don’t tell

Stick to the same basic ideas – an entry, an encounter and a greeting.  Stick to first person and past tense. Change the verbs to show these different emotions and relationships.

I came into the room. I saw Alan. I greeted him and sat down.

·        Rewrite the three sentences to show that the speaker is angry with Alan.

·        Rewrite the three sentences to show that the speaker is afraid of Alan.

·        Rewrite the three sentences to show that the speaker finds Alan very attractive.

What would happen if your groups of sentences were about a woman called Alice rather than a man called Alan? How would that change the ways you can show these emotions?

Superheroes!

Imagine a world where there are superheroes.  These incredible people may look ordinary (or not) but they harbour powers that can save the world.  Now imagine that you are one of them!

The world needs you!

Write a descriptive piece about being a real hero. Create a backstory for yourself. A backstory is the background or history to your character.  Ask yourself the following questions:

What is your name?

What is your secret identity?

If you were a hero, what would your super power be?

How would you use it?

Who would benefit from that gift?

Where could you live so that you could save the most people?

What does it take for you to remain strong?

What would you look like?

Where did you grow up?  Are you from another planet?

And finally…..what is the one thing that causes you to become powerless?

Example

Psylocke

Real name:         Elizabeth Braddock

Code Name:       Psylocke

Place of Birth:    Braddock Manor, England

Occupation:        Former charter pilot and supermodel. Secret agent.

Appearance:      As Elizabeth: 5ft 11. Blue eyes, blonde hair.

                          As Psylocke. 5ft 11, purple eyes, dyed black hair.

Powers:             Psylocke is a telekinetic, which means she can move objects with her mind. She can     direct her telekinesis through her fists to strike as if she had superhuman strength; she    is also immune to telepathic probes and attacks. She can create force fields, move         objects with her mind, and generate energy blades.

Abilities:            Psylocke is a skilled martial artist and a trained pilot.

Why not listen to some heroic music to inspire you as you write?  Try the X Men: First Class soundtrack.

Two People in a Room

1.            Describe a person sat in a room.  Keep it simple – what they look like, their age etc.

2.            There is an object on a table in the room. What is it? Describe it.

3.            There is a person stood outside the room. Describe them.

4.            Now the second person comes into the room and sits down.  Write dialogue for a conversation between them in which they discuss the object on the table.

5.            Write how one of them leaves the room with the object.

What if? - prompts to get you thinking. Try coming up with some of your own.

What if the rollercoaster you were on broke down and you were stuck at the top?

What if you woke up one morning and discovered you had super powers?

What if your teacher was a werewolf?

What if you got lost one day on your way to school and ended up in a strange part of town?

What if one of your parents was a spy?

What if one day it started raining and didn’t stop?

What if getting into trouble in school was punishable by death?

What if you

What if you won a holiday to the Caribbean?

What if you were convinced your bedroom was haunted?

What if Prince Charles was assassinated at his Coronation?

What if a six year old ran into your room and threw a Barbie doll at your head?

What if Shrek stalked you?

What if no one could remember you?

What if you were invisible forever?

What if you discovered your parents had kidnapped you when you were a baby?

What if you discovered your parents were planning to kill you?

What if the world froze and no one could move except you?

What if you were an alien?

What if your pets swapped bodies?

What if your dog was a spy and it flew away every time you walked in?

What if you were the last human left on Earth?

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Choose one of the settings below at random:

A christening                                     A boat in the middle of the sea

A dentist’s waiting room                  A ruined temple

A lift                                                 A library

A grand hotel                                    A boarding school

The beach                                          A train                 

A lighthouse                                      An airport

A forest                                             A birthday party

A high-rise block of flats

Now choose an object from the list below:

A rusty key                                                      A photograph

An old doll                                                      A map

A broken kettle                                               A gold watch

A first aid kit                                                  A ruby necklace

A music box                                                    A diary

A book                                                            A letter in a bottle

A knife                                                            A violin

Now, choose an additional piece of information:

It is night time                                                              Today is your character’s birthday

It is early morning                                                        It is Halloween

It is raining                                                                   It is the school holidays

  

It is snowing                                                                 There is a solar eclipse happening

There is a storm coming                                              Your town has been flooded

It is a sunny afternoon                                                   There is a heat wave going on

It is Friday the 13^th

It is Christmas Day

Now - put them all together and write a story involving all these elements.

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