5 Exercises to Improve Your Writing
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If you have any training in creative writing, you'll be familiar with exercises. But if you don't, it might not be clear how these exercises help or when to do them. You can use exercises to get into the right frame of mind or to work on a weaker aspect of your writing. In this post I'll share 5 exercises that each address a separate part of writing.
Warming up: just write. Set a timer for 5 minutes and just write whatever comes to mind. If you get stuck, write the same word until you can keep going. This exercise can help you get into a better frame of mind to write, and you might be surprised by what you come up with.
Sentence Length: write one sentence that is 5 words long, one that is 20 words long and repeat the pattern 4 more times. This exercise focuses on how to construct your sentences and vary their length. Varied sentences and paragraphs are more interesting to read, and this exercise focuses on length to get you thinking about how you can construct your sentences differently.
Use a prompt. If you are looking to work on a new project but don't have any ideas or just need a break from your current one, try a writing prompt. You can use a generator like this one where you can pick a genre, or a totally random one like this.
Point of view: rewrite a story from a different point of view. You can choose a story you've written, a fairy tale, or something else.
Characterization: take your main character and put them into a different world or story. Think about how they would respond to being thrust into a different place, what they would do, and how it would impact their motivation and goal.