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What's the best writing exercise you've ever done?

D. E. Wyatt

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Believe it or not, I think writing fan fiction can be a very good exercise.

First, the only REAL difference between fan fic and licensed fiction is one you get paid for (and honestly I've read some fan fiction that's VASTLY superior to what licensed writers have come up with). However the biggest reason is this: In order to write a good fan fic, you need to have a strong grasp of characterization to keep any characters taken from the source consistent and recognizable, and an eye for detail to be able to properly recreate the setting or aesthetics. All of which are equally important for original fiction.
 
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FlyBird

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I have tried writing 200 words daily, or 1000 words weekly, free writing, all kinds of exercises in a writing class, but none worked very well for me. The problem is that these did not require a Change in how I write. I had a problem of writing flowery prose, and all I did was writing tons and tons more flowery prose. In fact, it probably reinforced and solidified my bad writing style.

I realized Quality always trumps Quantity. A reasoned, deliberate experiment with a new style, a few lines imitating a good writer was more helpful for me. I think writing fan fiction is a good exercise because it forces you to adopt a successful writer’s writing style.

I think Plot and Writing are two different things. I used to think my novel is bad because it has a weak plot, so I focus on coming up with exciting plots. But let’s say I am given the exact same plot of Harry Potter, I would still write a bad novel, no agent will want to touch it. Conversely, if I can give my “weak” plot to one of the masters, they will probably do wonders with it with their captivating writing.

So, what I do now for exercise is to read and study books that I like and write small stories that incorporate the styles I think are strong. Plot is not the focus, writing better by learning from good writers is. I hope I will become a better writer this way.
 

jcavelos

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The best thing I've done in recent years, which definitely changed my relationship with the written word, was to analyze the prologue to Stephen King's novel 11/22/63, looking specifically for emotion, flow, organization, and anticipation. It's short, so it's easy to spend time looking at each sentence and each word. The organization is amazing. It's organized much like an essay, with a thesis, antithesis, synthesis, and topic sentences. He repeats key words and emphasizes the most important parts by lengthening them and describing in more detail. The prologue also has great flow, because each sentence makes you want to know something, and the next sentence tells you that thing you want to know. So we're constantly anticipating what is to come, then having it satisfied, then anticipating the next thing. The protagonist's emotions are stressed and shown in such a way that we form a strong bond with him by the end of the short prologue. This really made me see fiction in a new way, and to see whether it has these qualities or doesn't.
 

Lolly12

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Best writng exercise I do is to write every day. Even if it's only a paragraph of back story of a character or noting down a character quirk or a partial setting description. Or an action/behaviour. Anytihng - just write it down. And it doesn't matter if what you've written is trash. We all have some trash in us and have to get it out to get to the good stuff.
 

LSamDee

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Pretty much the same as Lolly here. Just get the fingers and mind going.
 

Lolly12

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I have tried writing 200 words daily, or 1000 words weekly, free writing, all kinds of exercises in a writing class, but none worked very well for me. The problem is that these did not require a Change in how I write. I had a problem of writing flowery prose, and all I did was writing tons and tons more flowery prose. In fact, it probably reinforced and solidified my bad writing style.

I realized Quality always trumps Quantity. A reasoned, deliberate experiment with a new style, a few lines imitating a good writer was more helpful for me. I think writing fan fiction is a good exercise because it forces you to adopt a successful writer’s writing style.

I think Plot and Writing are two different things. I used to think my novel is bad because it has a weak plot, so I focus on coming up with exciting plots. But let’s say I am given the exact same plot of Harry Potter, I would still write a bad novel, no agent will want to touch it. Conversely, if I can give my “weak” plot to one of the masters, they will probably do wonders with it with their captivating writing.

So, what I do now for exercise is to read and study books that I like and write small stories that incorporate the styles I think are strong. Plot is not the focus, writing better by learning from good writers is. I hope I will become a better writer this way.

Does it matter if you write flowery prose first up? You can always chop it up like a sentence murderer later so it loses the purple stuff.
 

Blinkk

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I read this advice on this forum some time ago, and I do it every now and again. Pick an author who uses a different voice than your own, and then type or handwrite a few of their passages. It's interesting to write with words and phrases that you wouldn't naturally use. Also being forced to use different sentence structure is wonderful. It's shown me how to organize my writing in a more efficient way.
 

Guy Pierrefeu

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Write a letter to your younger self.
In this exercise, you are writing to yourself at a younger age. It can be your childhood self or yourself just a few years back. You can offer advice, compassion, explanation, forgiveness, or praise. Or you can simply recount an experience you had and how it impacted you as your adult self now.

Try to see this younger self as a real and separate person when you write the letter. This is a great exercise that helps you think about your reader as a real person with emotions — a person who can be moved and inspired by your writing.

Again, try not to overthink this exercise. Spend a few minutes deciding the core message of the letter, and then just start writing without filters.
 

MoonTheLune

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I absolutely agree with Lolly - write trash! Get the trash out! That's lovely. And honestly the more trash I write the more likely I am to pull something really good out of it later.

What works for me: Writing and editing at completely different times, even in different documents, even in different programs. I've also started writing on my phone through a chat app to my laptop, so that when I get stuck I can close the computer, walk away, make a cup of tea, pretend to be somebody who's never seen it before, and contribute... maybe just one more line of dialogue. Then another. Then another...

It's silly, but hey if it works it works, right?
 

chokdee

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Write a letter to your younger self.
In this exercise, you are writing to yourself at a younger age. It can be your childhood self or yourself just a few years back. You can offer advice, compassion, explanation, forgiveness, or praise. Or you can simply recount an experience you had and how it impacted you as your adult self now.

Try to see this younger self as a real and separate person when you write the letter. This is a great exercise that helps you think about your reader as a real person with emotions — a person who can be moved and inspired by your writing.

Again, try not to overthink this exercise. Spend a few minutes deciding the core message of the letter, and then just start writing without filters.

Great Idea, thanks
Chokdee
 

MattD

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I attended a novel writing course in London last year and early on we were asked to select 1,000 words of something we had already written. If the passage was written in 1st person change it to 3rd or vice versa. It sounded simple but was in an incredibly liberating way of making me look at how I write and where I wanted the narrative to go.

Another exercise was to take your first chapter and change genres e.g. if it's set in the present day, rewrite it as a Zane Grey style western. It might sound silly but it can be a great way of standing outside your writing and looking at ways to improve it.
 

Reptile

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One of the most fun was writing stage directions for someones else's stage play (with their permission). I was able to give a completely different emphasis to the work.

It was just an experiment.

I was reading the play and wondering how much scope there was for interpretation.
 

Nitaa

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I think that one of the best writing exercises is writing a diary. I did that from the age of nine and it gave me great writing practice. The diary is more about thoughts, rather than events. I don't write a diary anymore, stopped writing it by the mid twenties. After that writing practice came from work related assignments.
 

Desertphile

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The most intense and educational writing exercise I have completed was to take David Morrell's novel TESTAMENT and decompile it into its individual components and then study what he did, how he did it, and why he did it. This is one way that the writer Raymond Chandler (creator of the hard boiled detective Philip Marlowe) learned the genre. This is also how some of the classics are taught in college and university.
 

PiaSophia

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The best writing exercise for me is to keep a (daily) journal. It gets me started on writing for the day and helps me clear my mind of any negative thoughts keeping me from writing. I recently read a few of my old journals and often they're a little boring (just me talking about my day or feelings or thoughts, mostly irrelevant) and sometimes I find something I feel I could use in a story. And that gets the ball rolling...
 

Sage

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My three favorites from when I was in a writing group. Could just be my faves because they produced the most interesting results.

1. Write a story that focuses on the smells

Scents are actually difficult for a lot of writers, so I think this would be a good exercise for anyone. I wrote from the POV of a ghost who couldn’t smell, but kept being reminded of the way things smelled when he was living.

2. Write a scene from 2 different POVs.

Gets into the head of more than one character, can help dig deep into how each is seeing the scene. Especially fun if one has knowledge the other doesn’t.

3. Write a story backwards

Everyone in our group interpreted this one differently. My first attempt was clumsy with a lot of, “& that happened because of [earlier occurrence].” My 2nd attempt switched POVs with each earlier than the first, as the characters tried to one-up each other & the audience constantly discovering how they got into the current situation. It ended up 10,000 words long & inspired books 2 & 3 of a trilogy. So I don’t know how helpful others might find it, but obviously I did.
 

indianroads

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Write every day. A journal is a good tool to use for this. Writing requires perseverance.
 
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dorrismillerrr123

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For me, the best exercise is to write short stories based on the adventures of my friends and acquaintances. I come up with additional tests for them and develop it into a conflict that reaches its limit at the end. Then comes the decision.
 

Nadinarte

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Writing the draft of a novel of 95k words in a language that is not mine! (⊙△⊙✿)
When I started, I completely underestimated the challenge.
It wasn't the grammar or the foreign terms that created traction but the punctuation and the rhythm. The methodic of creating paragraphs, the "breathing" of the language is different. Furthermore, Italian (my mother tongue) is a very wordy language. We love our conspicuous words and running sentences. Example:

L'uomo era magro e glabro, i suoi occhi erano persi nel vuoto come due gocce di pioggia senz'anima e il suo viso, consumato dalla carestia, era bianco come le nuvole dell'uggioso cielo.

Notice how long it took before I reached the period. In Italian this works just fine. If I were to to do it in English:

The man was thin and hairless, his eyes were lost in the void like two soulless raindrops and his face, consumed by famine, was as white as the clouds of the gloomy sky.

Probably, the first comma would have to be changed to a semicolon. Also, we tend to be incredibly poetic and that's not a stereotype. (*≧▽≦)

Anyhow, going off on a tangent as usual. ₍₍ (ง Ŏ౪Ŏ)ว ⁾⁾
You know, at the beginning I thought to write the novel in Italian and then translate it in English but it quickly became really tedious and I had to stop. It has been pretty tough.

Nadia
 

AEMcRoberts

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I've got two exercises that have really improved my writing. I call the first one 'ten ways' I write a scene ten different ways, each time changing the scene dramatically. Sometimes I find one version is exactly what I wanted and go with that. Others I blend several of the versions to create the winner.
The next exercise I use is to take a section, a scene or a chapter from a book I really admire and write it several times. I really dive in-depth to the word choices of the author and decide why they picked that word. Then I rewrite that section using my own voice and word choices. I find that the two apporaches can usually solve any problems I encountered between any given scene.
 

Nerdilydone

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Mary Karr has a great line about writing exercises. Something along the lines of how she never found them helpful, and any kind of prompt would result in her writing "I am Mary, I am sad, the end."

Likewise, I've been in my fair share of workshops, and I've never once done an exercise that has resulted in the production of so much as a finished story. Lord knows it'd be nice if I was able to do that, though.

The only "exercise" I've really found helpful is forcing myself to sit in front of the screen until I have a full page down.

I feel like exercises are good for developing specific skills (forcing brain to improvise, doing better descriptions) rather than actually motivating one to write one's own work.
 

PraiseRao

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The writing exercise that has helped me the most has come out of a book called Writing Better Lyrics. Basically it tells you to use all of your senses to create/recreate a place from memory or imagination. The keys are to do this in the morning when you wake up, first thing. Set a timer for 5 minuets. After you get the place you are going to describe start the timer. Write continuously (even if you have to babble just keep writing) until the timer goes off. This is called diving and you will be able to dive deeper each day to retrieve pearls of writing. It is imperative that you stop the moment the timer goes off. You are likely to be in mid sentence and the rest of your day your writing self awoken up with you in the morning will be itching to complete that sentence.