# Collection of Writing Exercizes



## kitreshawn (Jun 3, 2008)

Here are a bunch of writing exercises I have done in the past.  Each one makes you practice different things, and the especially hard ones will make you learn a lot.

-Make a list of things you have done that take a small unit of time (name a pet, wash a car, stealing something, standing in line, throw a party).  Write a story that takes place exclusively for one of those events with a 2-4 page limit.

-Write a story that is exactly 26 sentences in length.  Each sentence begins with a word that starts with one of the letters of the alphabet - in order.  For added difficulty you must use one sentence fragment and one sentence must be 100 words long and grammatically sound.

-Write a story in exactly 55 words.  First sentence should have 10 words, the next 9, and so forth until the last sentence has only 1 word.

-Show two characters that know each other very well in a verbal sparing match.  This should not become a fight, but rather each is arguing their point of view.  Both should be equally competent and the side with the upper hand should change at least 3 times.  

-Take one of your stories that does not seem to be working and cut it apart into separate components of scenes, narrative passages, flashbacks, and such with scissors.  Tape them all to the wall and absorb what is in front of you.  How many scenes are there (too few or many)?  Are too many components the same length?  Does each scene acomplish something or can something be deleted?  Any missing scenes or unexplored territory?  Is material from the past in logical places?  Can the sequence of events be rearranged?  Can you start with the end and use it as a framework for the rest of the story?

-Title a story "Sunday."  You have 550 words.  Go.

-You're alone at home taking a shower and the front door is locked.  You are not expecting anyone.  Then you hear a strange noise you cannot explain outside the door.  You have no more than 2 pages.

-Write about something you have never done before and are fairly sure you will never do.  Be as vivid as possible.

-Look at one of your stories and underline phrases or words you find yourself using more often than you would like.  Write a story without using any of those phrases/words.

-Write a linear story where a strong main character is on a quest for something important and specific.  The objective is a given so do not explain the importance.  The main character acts immediately, encounters an obstacle, and overcomes said problem through magic or supernatural elements that come from outside.  No more than 600 words long.

-Tell a story with an unreliable narrator.  This means that the story teller will tell lies or bend the truth for some reason.  It should be obvious to the reader that the narrator is lying but you must make the narrator sound reasonable and like they themselves believe what they are saying.  5 pages.

-Have two characters interact without speaking.  There should be drama but they will resolve the problem without once saying a word.  4 pages.

-Describe a character not by how they look or what they do, but rather by walking into their bedroom and seeing what is there and how it is laid out.  600 words.

-Write a story in which you only use the words: said, asked, replied, and told.  Try to use these four words as rarely as possible, instead telling the reader who is speaking through other cues.  Never use words such as hissed, trumpeted, growled in this narrative.  6 pages.

-Write a story from the point of view of a Child.  5 pages.

-Tell a story from First Person.  Re-write it in the third person.  Or visa versa.

-Write a story called "My Pet" about an animal you have never had as a pet.  It can be anything, no matter how fantastic.  Describe what the pet looks like, how it acts, and how you care for it.  How does it get along with other animals?  People?

-Choose a dramatic incident in your life.  Use it as the basis of a story.  10 pages maximum.

-Take one of your old stories.  Write 5 pages about what has happened before the first scene in that story.

-Tell a story with only one character.  There are to be no secondary characters or villains.  Bonus points if there is nobody else period.


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## Stratelier (Jun 3, 2008)

> ...one sentence must be 100 words long and grammatically sound.


That by itself is too easy.  Ever hear the one about writing a 100-word sentence that _does not repeat any word_?

Along that lines, here's another:  _Write a short story without using the same verb more than once._

Or, write a story consisting entirely of one-syllable words (character & place names included).


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## Le_DÃ©mon_Sans_Visage (Jun 3, 2008)

Stratadrake said:


> Along that lines, here's another:  _Write a short story without using the same verb more than once._



This is the closest I've come, at 100 words (with some repeated): 

_Perhaps there is a sinister and hostile power which traitorously fixes a thread in our hearts in order that, laying hold of it and drawing us by means of it along a dangerous road to ruin, which otherwise we should not have trod - if there exists such a power, it must assume within us a form like ourselves, nay, it must be ourselves; for only in that way can we believe in it, listen to its dark siren song, and only so understood do we yield to it so far that it is able to accomplish its secret purpose. _

It's from a Sherlockian pastiche, hence the purple prose. 

I always liked these sorts of challenges. I find restrictions force me to be more creative, whereas if I can write anything at all, I stall.


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