Creative Writing Workbook: 20 Simple Exercises To Unleash Your Creativity (creative writing for beginners, creative writing exercises, thinking skills, writing skills, stop writer's block) (2 page)

If you have someone whose opinion you trust, ask them to read your work and provide critique. This might seem scary, but it would provide you with great insight. Another eye might spot things that you have missed during revision and they would also be able to give you their thoughts on the story you have created.

Did they enjoy reading it? Is it something they would recommend to others? A yes on both is definitely a good sign. However, if they return your work with a few criticisms, don't allow it to discourage you. Take their words and use them to better your work-- without sacrificing your creative vision, of course. Keep experimenting and you'll find the right balance for this. Just remember to keep an open mind and you'll certainly continue to evolve and improve creatively.

You can also opt to get more than 1 person's opinion; this depends entirely upon you. More people also means more input, but there is a downside to this. You might get confused and overwhelmed by the differing opinions which can also reflect in your work. Again, balance is they key word here.

One of the biggest issues that you'll face when it comes to creative writing would be writer's block. Quite a lot of folks tend to think that there's a magic bullet or an instant solution that would boost their motivation or provide them with a shortcut to fixing writer's block. There is a romantic notion that inspiration is something that strikes you like lightning, igniting a spark that would have you writing continuously until you are done with your masterpiece.

However, this is not how things work.

The reality is that you might spend a couple of days writing feverishly, only to lose that motivation at some point. Your ideas dry up and if you don't work for it, this inspiration might never re-ignite again. This is how a lot of good work goes to waste; a lazy writer who keeps waiting for their writer's block to disappear instead of working to break it down.

While it may feel like you're working against the impossible, any effort that you put into getting past it will pay off. It was Ernest Hemingway who once said that sometimes, writing comes easy and on other occasions, it feels like trying to break down a wall with your bare hands. Yes, it will be frustrating and you might feel like trashing the work altogether-- DON'T. There are things you can do to bring back that lost motivation and completely destroy your writer's block.

Here's how:

This means that you should set smaller project goals and start counting words instead of pages. If you push yourself too hard, frustration will begin to mount and it can definitely work against you. Instead of pushing yourself to write 30 to 50 pages of forced soulless writing, why not work on 3000 words on some of your finest instead? Think quality over quantity until your inspiration returns and you're able to churn out chapter after chapter of great storytelling. What matters here is that you're working on your material, despite the block, instead of just letting it sit.

This would also eliminate that feeling of uncertainty when it comes to where and how you ought to begin. For beginners, even this might seem daunting and impossible. Take a step back, take a deep breath and start writing whatever comes to mind. Don't think about how much you're writing, just let it flow.

Practice this daily and you might find that your writer's block has begun to diminish and that you're able to write with a bit more ease.

This is a lot easier to do when you're writing in small amounts at a time. It is easy to get lost in your own story and plot if you're dealing with a behemoth of a story.

Do this after you've completed your work. Step back and read through all that you have written. Does it excite you? Are there confusing parts or spots that are too complicated? If there's a way to simplify things without losing the color of your work, try and see if it fits better.

Next, look at your characters. Do they interest you? Remember, if you're bored with your own writing, then it is likely that your readers would feel the same way too. Evaluate everything with a critical eye and cut out the unnecessary bits. Cutting is your friend when it comes to keeping a tight story. And once you're done, you can begin writing the next part.

Why 3000 words? This number is fairly easy to reach, yet challenging enough to get your mind thinking. Reviewing can be done easily and if you keep working on it daily, it should give you a sizable amount of writing by the time you're done. After all, you cannot use this exercise to slack off on your work.

Consider this is an extension of the previous techniques you've been provided.I
t’
s akin to stopping in the middle of a sentence once yo
u’
re done with writing for the day. To some, it might seem absurd to do thi
s—
why leave it unfinished? Well, nothing is done without purpose and when it comes to this, the act of leaving a sentence unfinished is meant to kick-start your inspiration the next time you sit down to write. Seeing a half-finished sentence will definitely put your mind into work-mode almost immediately and as an added benefit, you might even think of a better sentence compared to the previous one.

Ifyo
u’
re following th
e“
write smalle
r”
method and want to apply this step, all you really need to do is stop writing completely once you reach the 3000 word count and make sure you did
n’
t go past the time limit you have set for yourself. It does
n’
t matter which part of the story yo
u’
re in, once yo
u’
re don
e—
tha
t’
s it. You can write down your ideas separately to avoid forgetting them. Similarly, if the words are
n’
t coming to you, fill the time limit with as much writing as possible. I
t’
s fine if you do
n’
t manage to reach the 3000 word count, but managing at least half of it should be your secondary goal.

Setting a time limit would help you avoid burning out from writing way too muc
h—
so much that your words actually become stale. On the other hand, it could also push your mind to churn out ideas. Some people like working with pressure whileothers, especially those experiencing some form of write
r’
s block, could use it to nudge themselves into action.

Write
r’
s block is something that will affect all writers at some point. Some never truly recover from it, or rather, never really tried to do anything about the problem. As magical as it sounds, subscribing to the notion that inspiration is a rare butterfly that only visits ever so often would get you nowhere. Everybody struggles with getting their words on paper and giving life to the things they create in their heads. It is up to the individual to do something about i
t—
beginners and professionals alike will benefit from it.

So remember, should it happen to you, do
n’
t be lazy and be proactive when it comes to chasing down inspiration and making it work for you.

Ever wonder why writers often carry a notebook and pen with them? This is because inspiration could come from just about anywhere and at any given time. Whileyo
u’
re traveling somewhere, you might find words and sentences popping into your hea
d—
things that can be expanded upon and transformed into a story or something to start it from. You might see sights that inspire you to create a character or a story plot. Write everything down and do
n’
t be worried about form or organizing. Take notes as they occur to you and make sure that you keep your notebook handy for when you do sit down and write. Go through all of the ideas you have listed down, one is bound to jump at you and get you writing nonstop.

Remember, take notes as you go. For many writers, once the moment has passed it becomes difficult to retrieve.

Freewriting is an exercise tha
t’
s useful for whenever yo
u’
re stonewalled and cannot seem to continue what you were working on. It is also something that writers do whenever they feel blocked. What you need to do is sit down for about ten minutes and then proceed to writing everything you can think of about the topic yo
u’
re working on. Write down ideas for your character, the plot of your story, ideas for a different stor
y—
just about anything you can think. If nothing comes to mind, write dow
n“
ideas, ideas, idea
s”
repeatedly until something does occur to you. The goal here is to not stop writing for the whole ten minutes of the exercise. Some people can get inspired within minutes of doing this while others might end the exercise empty-handed. Both are totally fine, you can repeat the exercise as much as you want to until you start to uncover ideas.

This is meant to help nudge your creativity and actually get you writing even if it is
n’
t directly related to what yo
u’
re working on. A lot of the ideas that you write down during freewriting will end up in the bin, but there could be gold in there as well. You can also make use of this exercise as a way of warming yourself up before doing the more serious writing. Say, yo
u’
re writing in the morning and your mind just is
n’
t in the write mental state yet. Freewrite and get it into work mode so yo
u’
ll be able to write more smoothly later on.

Freewriting and brainstorming are very similar to each other,though the former has a bit more direction and a goal compared to the latter. However, brainstorming could be very useful for this purpose as well. This is especially so if you are only getting started with your story and still trying to piece together different ideas. Brainstorming is basically dumping all of the plots, characters, etc. that you have in your head and then sorting through them to find the gems which you might be able to use later on. I
t’
s also great exercise, if yo
u’
re simply trying to get your mind going.

Le
t’
s put it simply, the beginning is always the hardest. It puts the most pressure on the writer and for beginners, something called th
e“
perfect draft syndrom
e”
may actually begin to settle in. This refers to an unnecessary perfectionism which is brought on by th
e“
nee
d”
to create something good from the very start. It was Hemingway, once again, who reminded us that
:“
The first draft of anything is shit
.”
And this is almost always the cas
e—
for even the most seasoned writers.

So how do you get past this? Change things up and do
n’
t start from the beginning. If you have a pretty clear idea of your stor
y’
s outline or at least, how you want things to unfold, then getting started in the middle of it or somewhere a little past the beginning should help you get to actually writing. Once yo
u’
re past those sections, start another one and slowly build your confidence.

Yo
u’
ll know it for yourself if yo
u’
re ready to start the opening of the story itsel
f—
the very first chapter. This might seem unorthodox, but it certainly works. Perhaps you already have a scenario in mind that would fit somewhere later in the stor
y’
s timeline, do
n’
t wait until yo
u’
ve written a beginning to start working on it. Write out the scenario then go back to the beginning. You can smooth out the transitions later on and it would be much easier to do.

I
t’
s not that you ca
n’
t find the right word
s—
sometimes, i
t’
s just that you repeat some of them too much that your work begins to mimic each other. Limited vocabulary can also limit your ability to become more creative and be able to express what you truly want. Now, quite a lot of writers tend to neglect this, thinking that all those years of writing exempts them from it. However, time can certainly take its toll on a perso
n’
s memory and comfort zones can become boxes if left unchecked. The last thing you want is for your work to be considered stale or a copy of the previous one just because you keep re-using the same old words and descriptors.

Ther
e’
s nothing wrong with picking up a dictionary every now and then or looking for alternative ways of saying something. You can even try and learn new dialects or languages as this could help you discover interesting phrases or sayings that you can use in your work. Beginners, take note! Always remember that there is more than one way of saying something.