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Posts from the ‘Writing Exercises’ Category

Jan 25

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One writer’s breakthrough and how to look for your true passion with a simple quiz

Have you had any breakthroughs while doing some kind of challenge?

Blogger Christine Bissonnette experienced a breakthrough moment when she went on an artist date as part of a 12-week Artist’s Way Challenge this week. She felt a whole new kind of energy from seeing a movie by herself when she realized the experience wasn’t affected by anyone else’s expectations. That energy comes through in her blog post, Silver Linings: Break-throughs and Paradigm Shifts.

Christine is doing something I aim for and hope you are too. To always be on a quest to live true to yourself. If this is your goal too, look back at the interests you gravitated to and times you were most happy. When I’ve brainstormed with friends about what they want to do with their lives, I tell them to look back to their childhood for clues to their true self  — the time in their lives when they didn’t doubt themselves or set limits.

As we grow older, it can become harder to retain that spirit. But I can’t help but think that striving to hold on to your true self boosts energy, makes you more excited to get up in the morning, and increases your writing flow. Read more

Jan 24

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Generate writing ideas with online photo galleries

In my last post “Overcome writer’s block and generate new ideas with tarot or picture cards,” I wrote about how I stumbled upon the benefits of using tarot cards to inspire my writing.

I’d like to share another great source of inspiration I discovered recently. Sometimes, Carly and I will go to Shutterstock or iStock to find photos for our blog posts. Recently, we purchased a large number of photos, and I helped find pictures for our blog. What I discovered was a plethora of inspiration!  Read more

Jan 21

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Inaugural poet Richard Blanco speaks about his writing process

Poet Richard Blanco, chosen to recite a poem written for today’s second inauguration of President Barack Obama, views writing as a discovery process.

Poets should not take up a pen to write if he or she is completely sure of what the poem is about. In an interview at poets.org, Blanco said, “I’ve learned to recognize that when I sit down to write a poem, I have something to figure out, and I have to do it on the page. And I hope that my inaugural poem will do that, in some ways, for the nation. That it will work towards making sense of—all the din of the day—all that we hear in the news.”

All writing is to some degree an act of discovery. What do you have to discover in your writing?

To learn more about Blanco and his approach to poetry, read the full interview. You’ll also find links to several of his poems. Read more

Jan 14

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How to plot a novel: recommended resources

In my last post, “Plotting a story is like solving a puzzle,” I mentioned that I read several books to help me demystify that four-letter word “plot.”

Below are resources and books I highly recommend adding to your craft collection or checking out at the library:

Blockbuster Plots: Pure & Simple by Martha Alderson. She has another book called The Plot Whisperer: Secrets of Story Structure Any Writer Can Master, which is also very helpful, but Blockbuster Plots really does a great job of breaking it all down. Learn about structure, scenes, character development and everything a good story needs.

I love Alderson’s youtube channel because it’s full of fantastic short clips about the craft of writing and plotting that I play in the background when I’m cooking, doing dishes, or when I need a short break. Read more

Dec 4

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Liberate your writing mind with these prompts

Some people think writing exercises are a waste of time. I heard one writer once say, “just write your story.” But I’ve found that writing prompts can be a doorway for something surprising – an intriguing plot or the birth of a character.

In one writing workshop I attended, participants were instructed to write about the tools they needed to do their job. I didn’t expect anything compelling but found that as I wrote, the words picked up steam, spilling out a very emotional essay about a story I had reported on as a journalist.

Since then, I’ve collected interesting exercises and think of them as warm-ups when I need to flex my writing muscles. As I was doing some reorganizing recently, I ran across a favorite book called The Write-Brain Workbook: 366 Exercises to Liberate Your Writing, by Bonnie Neubauer.

Here are a couple exercises from “The Write-Brain Workbook.”

Exercise 1 – Spoiled Rotten Read more

Nov 21

Develop your inner story god by asking questions

Someone once told me that in our questions lie the answers. As writers, we know the importance of asking questions. We ask ourselves questions about our story, characters, plot, and even point of view.

Yesterday, I was trying to figure out how to integrate 1st and 3rd person points of view in my current manuscript without it feeling forced or artificial. As I sat in the sauna reading Chris Baty’s NaNoWriMo book “No Plot? No Problem!: A Low-Stress, High-Velocity Guide to Writing a Novel in 30 Days,” I asked myself, “What would it take for this combination of different points of view to work and flow organically from my story?”

I played around with a couple scenarios and then an idea came to me. Instead of giving my protagonist the ability I was going to give her, I thought of another ability that would suit the story better and solve my problem—allowing the 1st and 3rd person points of view to grow naturally from the story. This new ability came from my protagonist’s backstory, was nurtured by her profession and was unusual and unexpected enough to pervert my readers’ expectations. Viola! Story problem solved. Read more

Nov 20

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Put on your writer’s cloak: Santa Claus is coming to town

Holidays enchant us with snowmen, gingerbread people, and candy canes. They can also be full of drama: Uncle Ralph and Aunt Sally in a snit at the dining room table or overtired children throwing tantrums in the middle of the mall. And don’t even get me started about the company Christmas party when Roger in Accounting had too much to drink and….well you get the idea.

Anyway, all these scenes are subjects for writers. Opportunities to observe the human condition to see what it can offer our storytelling. Read more

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