Whether you want a challenge, a break, or to get back in the groove, here are some writing exercises to get started!
Word Writing Prompts
Write 250-500 words using all five of the words listed. Try timing yourself to see how fast you can bang out a short or flash piece. To add extra challenge, use the words in the same order they’re listed.
peonies, hammer, pillow, hate, found
callback, vase, actor, broken, money
pink, dust, saturated, rust, bleak
dragon, farmer, monster, love, friend
Christmas, fight, jail, lemon, tiger
Write a Letter as Your Character
It can be a brand new character or a character you’re working on and they can be writing it to literally anyone. Use this to find their voice, opinions, personality, explore their life before the story, or just for fun. Below are some ideas of who they could write to.
a parent
their unrequited love
Beyonce
their past self
their future self
their best friend
a childhood crush
a priest
John Mulaney
Write a Flash Fiction Piece
Flash fiction is characterized as being less structured than a short story and more focused on the detail of a moment or collection of moments. It’s much more condensed and tends to be packed with vivid imagery. Shoot for under 500 words. Here are some prompts:
She had never seen a blade so big before.
“Come on!” “I can’t do it!”
A young chef has just realized she’s in the middle of a con.
a chess piece, an unloaded gun, and an attempted murder
Now is a very stressful time and I think we should all be lending more time to self care and listening to ourselves. It can be hard and downright heartbreaking when your writing suffers or makes you feel strained because of everything going on. So I’m here to help all I can.
Remind Yourself That Your Voice Matters
In this beautiful world, we are expanding the voices in literature constantly. Every new voice we gain is part of that expansion. It’s worthwhile to share your stories and nothing should be discouraging that. Even if you feel now isn’t the right time to share, you don’t have to. You can just write for now and share later. There’s no shame in sitting on a draft for a while.
Let Yourself Take a Break
We all need time now and again to recover or refill our creative well so that we can write our best. And it’s okay if you’re needing to take more breaks. They’re there to help you if you let them. You don’t have to be productive in these periods, you can simply be and get back to writing when it feels natural. Don’t put so much pressure on yourself to produce right now.
Motivate Yourself Using Incentives
Sometime you really have to get down and write, no excuses. Maybe you have a deadline or you finally find a burst of energy. To sustain yourself, make physical or mental incentives to reward yourself. Whether you’re measuring time allotted, word count, page count, or another goal, there are plenty of ways to motivate yourself. Use Dollar Store knickknacks, try a fancy food from the store, give yourself stickers. Find the fun in motivation and productivity. And remember that you are not a work horse.
Remember: You are worth more than your productivity!
A lot of the writing advice I’ve heard either assumes you will only work on one project at a time or tells you that you should. However, I have never found this very doable. At any given time, I have three or more writing projects going. My brain just doesn’t let me focus on one for an extended period of time.
And you know what? It does take me longer to finish a project, but I prefer that with the chance to write everyday than going spans where I don’t have the motivation to work on one single project.
So, I’d like to give some advice on how to juggle more than one WIP.
Stagger Them
If you can, stagger when you start them. Or, if you are starting with outlining one and pantsing the other, that works, too. The goal here is that you’re in different phases for each one. If you’re drafting three or outlining four or editing two at the same time, you might drain your creative well with the monotony. Having one in the editing phases, one in drafting, and one in outlining gives you room to bounce between activities.
Diversify Your Mediums
This might not be everyone’s path, especially if you’re already settled on the mediums of your projects, but I like to mix up exactly how I’m formatting them. Full novels, short stories, scripts, poetry, flash fiction, and everything in between and otherwise can be tossed together like a WIP salad. And again, you may be married to working on three full length novels which is fine. But if not, maybe try to switch it up.
Set Your Genre, Aesthetics, Motive, and Themes
My projects all come from different motives. They all have vastly different genres, themes, and aesthetics. You don’t need to have them ALL be WILDLY separate from each other, but it helps if you set their separate identities. When I find inspiration for sci-fi, I work on my sci-fi project. When I find inspiration for my family, I work on my project focused on family. When I watch a Coen Brothers movie, I work on my script that was motivated by their work. So on and so forth. This way, you can funnel the right inspiration and energy into the proper channels of your work.
Still Allow Yourself to Relax and Take Breaks
More projects doesn’t and shouldn’t mean that you sacrifice free time. Your pace can remain the same as someone working on one project. And it probably should. You don’t want to strain yourself and lose interest in 4 projects all at once. It’s a marathon and you can take time to relax and wander.
And don’t be afraid or feel bad to pause on project for a while or indefinitely. Just like any other process, sometimes you realize a certain project isn’t meant for right now.
Organize!
Whether you use Docs, paper and pen, or something else or a mix of everything, use your organizational skills! Google Docs, Word, and Pages will all allow you to save your documents to folders specific to a project. Physical folders and files do the same. This way, you can get started quickly and easily without digging through multiple projects-worth of documents or getting distracted by another project.
Have any other tips for managing multiple projects? Drop them below!
“THE BASICS OF STORY PLANNING” is based in a screenwriting seminar by Dany Campos, A writer of cinema and advertising, analyst of scripts for movie producers and also independent producers and finally a scriptwriting teacher in various colleges and on his Youtube channel, and also by a seminar I gave in the writing Discord server “Whisper Of Words”.
“SOMEONE wants something with intensity and finds obstacles to get it.”
The first part of our sentence is “Someone”, the protagonist, the one who the story is about.
One of the problems that can be often found in first drafts or scripts, as Dany Campos says, from people who just began writing is that it isn’t clear who the protagonist of the story is and this is a grave problem.
An important thing to say before we continue, why do we call them PROTAGONISTS instead of HEROES? This is to avoid the moral implication in the word Hero which by definition is:
A person who is admired or idealized for courage, outstanding achievements, or noble qualities.
Contrary to what we called the lead character (The Hero) in our previous post about the Three-Act Theory by Aristotles (and introduction to this series), our protagonists can be more dimensional in the sense that they just won’t be fully “good” or “evil”.
When people read the story, they won’t just be observers, on the contrary, they’ll experiment the story emotionally and involve themselves into it almost as if they were one of the protagonists or characters.
The author needs an instrument that connects the reader with the story that facilitates the spectator’s way through the events and locations.
This is what the protagonist is:
The protagonist is the emotional connection the spectator has with the story.
The protagonist is someone who does things to get things in the story, but it isn’t the only one who does things to accomplish their goals. There can be other characters who take actions for their particular goals. Now, what’s the difference between these characters and the protagonist?
The protagonist is the one who the readers will feel the most identified with or the one they will have the best wishes for.
Another factor that could helps us identify the protagonist is the time the author dedicates them in the story. When there’s no clear protagonist in a story, the experience will be completely different and sometimes poorer.
Now; another interrogant we may have is: the protagonist must be someone with good intentions? No. we don’t have to like their goals, but what’s truly important, in the spectator-author association, is to understand why they do what they do, understand the reason why they are what they are. Now, if they aren’t good people, what makes us identify ourselves in them? That thing is their humanity, the expression of their weaknesses and wishes, to then understand their goals and dreams.
The same thing can happen to protagonists that aren’t human. In the case of fables or movies such as Cars or Wall-E, what makes us identify with them? The human attributes they have; animals are animals but they talk, could walk on two legs. It’s their humanization.
Going back to the initiative, the spectators not rationally but emotionally will feel more attached to characters who impulse action which leads us to the events that take place in the story. The one who proposes and disposes.
In as story in which we may have a wide cast of characters we want to treat as protagonists you may ask yourself: what does it matter if one is the protagonist and the other isn’t and yet the story is the same? Yes, however, as an author, it’s important to know who is the protagonist, since the structure is defined from the protagonist.
In many cases, when there are too many characters the story may become confusing. Some examples of this could be some works such as The Game Of Thrones, but in others, there are characters who stands out from the others. In these cases, the election of the protagonist relies on the author, who chooses to give more time to the Chosen One so it’s a more perceivable protagonist and, in other cases, the author lets the spectators choose who the protagonist is since there are so many characters different from one another that it’s unavoidable for the spectator to feel attached to one than the rest. And finally, there are stories in which there truly are more than one protagonist, two, three or four. It is considered that more than four (4) protagonists is almost unviable in terms to catch the spectator’s attention.
The larger the number of protagonists, the larger the risk of diluting the attention.
This produces some detachment from the story. A strategy that can be used in a way to “solve this problem” can be one of separate stories with their respective protagonists in which their characters hardly interact from one story to the other.
This can be seen by Shungiku Nakamura, author of Junjou Romantica and Sekaiichi Hatsukoii, who can be seen commonly using this strategy as they have three different stories with their respective protagonists and conflict and every now and then the stories interact but will never merge as one, keeping them separate on the same timeline. Even though the stories are different, they share common elements.
In Sekaiichi Hatsukoii, the three storylines develop in the same work environment: Marukawa Publishing. Between the three storylines, The Case of Onodera Ritsu is considered as the main story while the other two, The Case of Shouta Kisa and The Case of Chiaki Yoshino may be perceived as complementary. Other cases appeared as the story developed further, but these three are the most important.
It is important to remark the fact that just because the stories do not merge into one, it doesn’t mean that the characters of one story couldn’t have a minor or secondary role in another storyline.
To conclude, the protagonist, who can be more than one, is who the spectator will follow through the whole story and cherish an will be the device that will let you develop your story accordingly, letting you connect the audience to your writing in an emotional level.
“THE BASICS OF STORY PLANNING” is based in a screenwriting seminar by Dany Campo, A writer of cinema and advertising, analyst of scripts for movie producers and also independent producers and finally a scriptwriting teacher in various colleges and on his Youtube channel, and also by a seminar I gave in the writing Discord server “Whisper Of Words”.
This seminar will focus on the basics of story planning and the elements that conforms it.
Now, how can this help you improve your writing? Aren’t these too obvious? Well, it’s no secret that these things are known to most but not for everyone, and it’s so easy to make a mistake in one of the essential elements that can it make your work hard to understand or less attractive to spectators in search of a juicy story. Which is why I believe it’s important to master the basic knowledge to understand your work, since these elements are what your story is trulyabout
Two thousand years ago, there was a man called Aristotle, whom you’ve probably already heard of, who asked himself some the questions we are making ourselves today: Why are there stories that endure time and others that are forgotten? Why are people attracted to these that are still remembered today?
To find the answers to these questions, he did a field research, studying the stories that had endured time until then, two thousand years ago. THE POETICS was product of this investigation, one of the first essays about narrative. He discovered that many of these stories had a series of common elements that can be resumed in the following.
There was a character, whom he called hero, with a goal and a dream.
The hero does things to reach his dream.
And on the way to achieve his goal, difficulties, obstacles appear which then created a conflict for the hero and the spectator. This conflict was what defined the center of the story.
To briefly explain this theory, the first act serves to understand the protagonist and the goals he wanted to accomplish, the second act has to do with what they do to face the obstacles that’s on their way and finally, the third act in which they overcomes the obstacles, the protagonist goes towards the culmination of his journey and the “achievement” of their goal.
A clear division of the story. The approach/statement, the development and the outcome. A clue to this theory in proportion is that the second act is the double of the first and the last. It means that while the 1st and 3rd act could be 25%, the middle act will be 50%. It is important to note that these measurements will not be always exact as they just are a reference.
Now, other forms to tell a story have appeared throughout history such as the Dramatica Act Structure, Michael Hauge’s “Six Stage Plot Structure”, John Truby’s “Twenty-two Building Blocks” and Freytag’s Pyramid “Five-Act Structure”; but so far, this has been the most rentable and effective way to tell a story as it has been demonstrated for thousands of years and is still being used today. But of course, it also depends on the writer rather than just the theory alone.
The three-act theory was constantly reformulated as the time went on, especially when the industry of cinema came to be, and it ended in a quote which will help us to build everything and the most important of this seminar.
Do not forget it.
Someone wants something with intensity and finds obstacles to get it.
This quote alone resumes the core of a story and its respective elements that facilitates story planning for both plotters and pantsers. To have a better understanding of the key sentence of this seminar, it could be explained like the following:
A protagonist is someone who does things to achieve his goal for a reason; the conflict is when we face two options: a bad one and a worst one. And finally, once the conflict is overcomed and a solution is found, it must be put on practice and achieve the goal, leading to the conclusion of the story.
As I established previously, there are other methods to plan a story but this is one of the most basic and known ways to do so, and thus, you are not obliged to strictly follow a certain method.
“It depends on the storyteller who needs to know how to apply the knowledge they have acquired rather than just the theory itself.”
The upcoming posts will explain in detail all the elements contained in the quote: the protagonist, the goal, the motivation, the conflict and the ending; the 5 basic elements in story planning.
I hated rewriting after a first draft. I would read thru my piece, see something wrong in this sentence, this word, this flow. And then wrote in the margins: Fix this!
Howwas the bigger question.
Naturally, when I beta read, I don’t want to leave my client hanging like that, with that judgmental snare staring at them. So I go through these steps:
Point out the issue - Specifics
Instead, I explain specifically what’s not working or confusing, or else they’ll come back to me saying, butwhat about it is confusing?
Why is it an issue?
I explain whyit’s confusing. Either some grammar norm readers are used to, or how I was imagining something different than the writer was describing. (Passive language, or I thought she was standing the whole time, or that’s not how I pictured that character would react.)
What can I do about it? - The How
Then I give suggestions. Not that that’s completely the job of a beta reader, more like a writing coach thing or editor, but I feel for the author who has critiques and no ‘how’ planned. So I give them suggestions, but ultimately, I can’t imitate the author’s unique style perfectly.
Overall Patterns to Upgrade the Whole Piece
Then I’ll drop the patternsthat keep occurring. (Try replacing 'was’ with more active verbs in the piece, not all of them but some. Use a grammar check for passive language. Stretch moments of tension with more detail and description, etc.)
And here I was at a loss for what I should do for my own rewrites! First, I need direction like what I’m giving out. (Check out my pinned post for my Fiverr. ;) ) It’s awesome that in my breaking down and just defending my natural inclination to scope out the clunky, trippy and confusing things, I’ve found a road map finally!
You can either use this as listening in on an author’s ruminations on skill development, advice for your own drafting, or details on why my beta reading is different and worth the money.
Writers often dabble in the surreal, especially when writing fantasy or science fiction. We asked a few writers to share how they approach creating magical worlds. Today, K.M. Vanderbilt shares her three rules of thumb for creating a believable world:
When dealing with surrealism, writers often struggle with believability. It isn’t always easy for readers to embrace your vision. Here are a few handy tricks:
First:Consistency.
Apply rules, world-build until your calluses are thick, and stay consistent within the bounds of your universe.
Guess who’s back? Sort of? Me! @talesofsorrowandofruin tagged me today and I’m self-quarantined so! I have Time. Here’s a few lines from the scene I wrote today, set in the forest of Pher, the place where [redacted] killed [redacted] which left behind a perpetual layer of resentment and turned all the living things growing there white (as in, colour-less).
“Oh, it’s gone,” she breathed, with such vivid relief it gave her nausea. “It’s gone.”
The jar was full. They had succeeded.
Naeth coughed and sputtered behind her. “Yeah,” he huffed. “Didn’t I tell you it would work?” His lips had gone pale but he smiled brightly nonetheless.
You didn’t, Ny’ra thought. “You’re bleeding,” was what she told him instead. His mouth, his chin, his neck and his tunic shone wet and crimson, and when he brought his hands up to his nose they came out just as red. “Are you in pain? Is it the curse?”
“It’s fine,” Naeth said dismissively. He tore a strip out of his green shirt and bunched it up to stop the blood flow; then he clicked his tongue, waved a finger and vanished the mess. “It’s just the effort.”
What is Naeth up to? What’s in the jar? It’s a secret.
I’m Robert Hewitt Wolfe, writer of things like #Elementary #StarTrek #DS9 #Andromeda, etc etc, and author of the BILLY SMITH AND THE GOBLINS books.
I may end up moving here from Twitter if Grimes’ Baby Daddy lets the Orange Menace back onto Twitter. Because eff that noise. I’m not providing content to support that nonsense.
If you have questions about #TVWriting #NovelWriting or any of that kind of thing, feel free to ask and I’ll answer (assuming that’s even a thing on Tumblr).
I also talk about geek culture in general. Comic books, TTRPGs, all that kind of thing.
This has been a test of the Emergency Twitter Escapee Broadcasting Network.
