Pumping the Writing Muscle: The Writurbation Exercise
While we don't really need to share in this thread, it could be fun, particularly if we force ourselves to use stranger word combinations.
However, the point of the exercise is to, paraphrasing James MacDonald, work through some of the million odd words we have to write before we begin writing well.
That said, the exercise works like this.
Pick a number of words. 50. 500. 1000. However many you think you have time for.
Take two to five random keywords.
Either have a friend pick the words for you or pull them out of the dictionary with your eyes closed, or find a generator on a website; this exercise works best when you do not know what's coming. Then write a certain number of words based either entirely on those keywords, or on an idea the keywords summoned.
Nine times out of ten you come up with rubbish. One time in ten, you come up with something usable and you water it and let it grow somewhere else.
I'll go first.
50 words
Credit Dinosaur
Oh, dear, well... thats a strange combination. Here goes nothing.
Credisaurus Debtus lived in the Cretaceous period, and is the only known reptilian parasite. The evolutionary forefather to the lawyer, they were, perhaps, one of the most fearsome medium sized dinosaurs. Their peculiar jaw structure, much like a modern snake, allows them to swallow animals several times larger than themselves. This, and the addition of a suction-cup like nose made the Credisaurus truly a combatant to contend with.
Edit:
Oh, god, I didn't just spell excersice with a Z did I? ...
*walks down the hall of grammatical shame*
While we don't really need to share in this thread, it could be fun, particularly if we force ourselves to use stranger word combinations.
However, the point of the exercise is to, paraphrasing James MacDonald, work through some of the million odd words we have to write before we begin writing well.
That said, the exercise works like this.
Pick a number of words. 50. 500. 1000. However many you think you have time for.
Take two to five random keywords.
Either have a friend pick the words for you or pull them out of the dictionary with your eyes closed, or find a generator on a website; this exercise works best when you do not know what's coming. Then write a certain number of words based either entirely on those keywords, or on an idea the keywords summoned.
Nine times out of ten you come up with rubbish. One time in ten, you come up with something usable and you water it and let it grow somewhere else.
I'll go first.
50 words
Credit Dinosaur
Oh, dear, well... thats a strange combination. Here goes nothing.
Credisaurus Debtus lived in the Cretaceous period, and is the only known reptilian parasite. The evolutionary forefather to the lawyer, they were, perhaps, one of the most fearsome medium sized dinosaurs. Their peculiar jaw structure, much like a modern snake, allows them to swallow animals several times larger than themselves. This, and the addition of a suction-cup like nose made the Credisaurus truly a combatant to contend with.
Edit:
Oh, god, I didn't just spell excersice with a Z did I? ...
*walks down the hall of grammatical shame*
Last edited: