I think this would help. not much of an exercise but it does help with the bottleneck overflow:
Hey hows it going here. I'm Alison. And I have a tip for all you writers out there weather you have writers block or what I like to call 'bottleneck overflow' which is basically all these ideas for stories from massive epics to basic short stories come surging through your mind like a tidal wave and just when you have your pen put it to paper...there are so many ideas that you can't even put one of them down. Or... the idea vanishes. We've all had that. I've had that.
Well here I have a tip to help you. And it's helped me a lot as well.
First...you start off with none otherthan (shows off notebook and a pen) a pen and paper. Now here's thebest part of this...is that this involves only a pen and paper. Nosmartphone or computer, I mean you can if that's the only thingavailable to you but for now lets start off with a pen...and a paper.
Ok, now that you have step one out of your way here comes step two. And this is the more interesting part...write a sentence. It can be any sentence but I just want you to write a sentence. Anything at all. Here's my example:
My name is Alison.
There, straightforward. This is strictly an example. You could have written about hot dogsfor all I care.
Now step three: writeanother sentence. Again, It doesn't matter if its cohesive or not. The point is to write a sentence after that next sentence. Let melead you off:
My name is Alison. This is a sentence.
Now this sentence should dowith the previous one. But it doesn't have to. You could have onesentence about hot dogs. Your next sentence could be about how youlike chimpanzees. The point is to make another sentence.
Now onto step four: write another sentence. I know that sounds repetitive but hear me out.Write another sentence after the next one. Like I said before it doesn't have to make sense. It doesn't have to be cohesive. The point is that there should be three sentences. One after the other. On your sheet of paper.
For example:
My name is Alison. Thisis a sentence. You should be writing.
Now I had this idea while tutoring. Now that we have our three sentences. One after the other. Here is where things get interesting. We move onto step five. what is step five? It's quite simple: what I want you to do now is put parenthesis before your first sentence and at the end of your last sentence.
“My name is Alison. This is a sentence. You should be writing.”
Now that we have your first opening. Now I want you to fill in the blanks. Who, what, where,when, why, and how of this quote.
Who is saying this? How is he/she saying this? Is it a teacher talking to students? Is it some homeless person rambling on the sidewalk. If it's a teacher are there students? How are the students taking this? When does this take place? Is it the final period or the first period of school? Is it even a school? Is this in a garage or a bombed out shelter? Does this place have chairs? Is this high school or middle school? Does the place reek of axe body spray and teen angst. Is this an adult classroom with people who are just learning how to read and write for the first time. How does this sound to the people around the person speaking? Are they engaged? Or do they ignore him? If they ignore him then why is your character even speaking. He's obviously speaking. Or is he? Maybe he's reading a line in a textbook that doesn't make any sense and he's just trying to figure it out by saying it out loud.
My point being is that youkeep your pen moving forward. Filling in the blanks and painting apicture around your three sentences.
Here's another tip: if your stuck, or think “my god this is a stupid line” LEAVE IT IN! Or MAKE IT STUPIDER. Don't touch it. Work around it. Make it funny. Make it worse. The point is not to edit. The point is to tell a story. The point is to fill in that page.
Observe:
“My name is Alison. This is a sentence. You should be writing.” Mr.Smith said with a flush as he spat the words out like a belch.
Mr.Smith's classroom smelled like cabbages and broccoli as the new kidfarted in the back of the classroom, letting the miasma suffocate theroom. The twenty other students kept focusing on more important thislike Memes and twitter to even care about their mentally handicapEnglish teacher. Who cares about sentences while a man in Denmarkgave cunnilingus a turtle. One of the students, a Mormon boy namedClark was confused by the reference until another classmate explainedit to him. Clark vomited on the floor as the image rushed throughhis head and finally onto the floor. Gary, upon witnessing Clarkunleash yesterdays deliciousness upon the tiled floor, decided it wasupon him to perform the same gesture as he bellowed a concoction ofcola, jin, cotton candy, and anal pudding right into his open desk,spraying his books in the retched stuff. Of course he wasn't much ofa drinker, he was a lightweight to say the least. So when the emptybottle of jin was soaked, he simply decided on ditching it and sayingit wasn't his.
The onlyperson not completely grossed out by the two was the girl at the farcorner of the room who watched with an almost erotic glee as the twostudents lost their lunch. This was also the same reason why all thekids who weren't desperate enough pretended like she didn't existed. No one talked to her. And no one wanted to talk to her. And onceshe opened her mouth, anyone who wasn't into whatever she was intosimply silently backed away and walked the opposite direction towhere she was. This only made things worse as predators tend to playwith their prey before killing them.
And sothe professor decided it was best to simply place down his book andpick up a baseball bat to smite the non believers in front of him. First it had to be Tom because...why not. The polished wood struckhis cranium with a uniformed snapping of gods fingers right besidehis ears. And after Tom was out of the picture, it was time forGlenn's turn. She was a brat. And that was all he needed to know. And it was a one, two, three hit score as she fell down upon herrump, picking up her teeth from the floor. Her father was a dentist,so Mr. Smith payed her sobs no mind. And then came Charles...andCharles to put it in more safer terms...wasn't quite having it.
And withthat the entire class watched in wonder as the age old question of'how far can you shove a baseball bat down a man's throat' wasanswered. After all, Charles thought, anything was possible withWD-40 and a little elbow grease.
And thenthe bell rang. And everyone picked up their bags and left. All wasright with the world.
That was until the gunshot rang out from the hallway...
And thatis how you fill up a page. Then comes the more difficult part,writing another page and another after that. Well, assuming you havea notebook and not just a simple piece of paper on hand, I amassuming that you have at least five blank writable pages and enoughgraphite/ink to continue working. If not, find some.