Creative Writing Exercises To Get You Started

Even writers with the most vibrant imaginations need a little help sometimes. And, the art of writing is somewhat like building a muscle. You have to exercise. This is where creative writing exercises come in handy, whether you think you need them or not. There are exercises for all ages, skill levels and genres of writing. Whether you are a teacher who wants to motivate the creativity of your students or a writer who wants to hone your writing muscle and spark your creativity a good writing exercise can do the trick. Many writers do exercises of this type on a regular basis.

You will be amazed at the plethora of different creative writing activities you can do. Many of them are described in great detail online. One example of such an exercise is descriptive writing. Choose an subject, whether it be a lemon, a dog or the kitchen sink (just a few ideas), then use your descriptive powers to give the reader an experience of the subject as if they were interacting with it themselves. For example, you don't just want to say a lemon is yellow and sour, you want to capture its very essence from peel to fruit. The texture, the aroma, the appearance of the item should be described in depth without boring the reader with a list of details.

Rewriting a piece of your work from another point of view can be a challenging exercise. If you have a novel or short story, take a portion of it and change the POV, or point of view. For example if you are writing in first person (i.e. I, me) switch to third person (she, he) and tell your story. You will see the differences between the two points of view, see which best fits your work and stretch your writing muscles with a challenging activity.

One of the most fun creative writing exercises, group collaboration, can be used in classrooms and writers' groups. Create a story by having each person add a sentence. This allows each person to contribute and can take the story on crazy twists and turns. While young children can enjoy a haphazard story, older students and adults should try to write a collaborative story that makes sense. This particular exercise teaches flexibility as the next person has to build on the sentence created by the writer before them. And, it can be fun to see where the story goes and where it ends. You may want to establish a particular number of sentences for the story.





 



Creative Writing News:

 

Essay Czar 1.0 Raises The Standards For Student Writing Skills - prMac (press release)

Essay Czar 1.0 Raises The Standards For Student Writing Skills
prMac (press release)
[prMac.com] Charlottesville, Virginia - Critical and analytical thinking coupled with sharp writing skills are trademarks of top students. With Essay Czar 1.0, by Niles Technology Group, now any student can develop the skills so highly valued by .

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CALIFORNIAN GO!: Community Events for Feb. 5-11, 2012 - North County Times

CALIFORNIAN GO!: Community Events for Feb. 5-11, 2012
North County Times
Supplies will be provided for registered attendees who will learn the basic skills to create beautiful hand-lettered texts to complement artwork, poetry or any other written document; Sun City Library, 26982 Cherry Hills Blvd., Sun City; 951-679-3534.

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A for Alice, Z for Zia and (maybe) O for Osama!
Pakistani journalist-novelist Mohammad Hanif told Metro about writing, Zia and literary fests during the Calcutta Literary Meet. You are a journalist, you write for a living and you have done a creative writing course. How has all this helped in shaping you as a novelist?..


Students 'ace the case' - Khaleej Times

Students 'ace the case'
Khaleej Times
The first day of the session covered case-writing skills including approach, outlining, ranking of issues and quantitative analysis. At the end of the session, students were also given a brief on presentation skills and group dynamics.

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Poynor offering creative writing and graphic design classes for community
 FLORENCE, SC -- Poynor Adult and Community Education will host courses in creative writing and graphic design during the months of February, March and April that will be open to anyone interested...


German skills shortage spreads across industries - Reuters

German skills shortage spreads across industries
Reuters
* Labour office: vacancies longer, new sectors affected * Vacancies for doctors open for 155 days BERLIN Feb 5 (Reuters) - The skills shortage affecting certain areas of the German economy both worsened and widened in 2011, the labour office told .

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Houston Academy students sharpen writing skills - Dothan Eagle

Houston Academy students sharpen writing skills
Dothan Eagle
Houston Academy students got a few pointers on writing from a pro on Wednesday. Children's author Jennifer Richard Jacobson visited the school to talk to students about her craft and show teachers how to more effectively teach writing.

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Overseas Chinese writers discuss skills with Taipei fans - Focus Taiwan News Channel

Focus Taiwan News Channel

Overseas Chinese writers discuss skills with Taipei fans
Focus Taiwan News Channel
4 (CNA) Overseas-based Chinese writers Ha Jin and Zhang Ling shared their views with fans Saturday on what makes a good novel, at the Taipei International Book Exhibition (TIBE). "The most important things for a novelist are the little things," said .

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