I'd probably benefit from deliberate practice, as in that I can measure in some way (privately) how well I did. Like, how a piano player practices repeating chords or the same section of a music piece again and again. But I have no idea HOW to practice WRITING because there's almost only advice what to do, no concrete ideas or tips for actual exercises. It's very frustrating. Do you maybe have something in mind if I may ask?
The reason itâs so difficult to find something concrete for practicing writing is because there is no concrete way to measure whether you did well or not. There is no rubric out there or scale to measure âgoodâ vs. âbadâ writing. Success and failure to achieve something in writing is entirely subjective and based both on yourself and how you feel it went, as well as your audienceâs perception of whether you did it well, which is entirely based on each individualâs personal preference. How do you put personal preference on a rubric?
To use your own metaphor, playing an instrument is a much more definable art with a definitive good and badâyou either hit the notes or you donâtâwith a more subjective portion that comes in laterâinfusing feeling into the notes. Writingâs objective portion is simply the grammar and spelling of it. Literally everything else about it is subjective. The practice of a piano player is repetition, and the player can see the improvement as they hit more notes consistently. Writingâs practice is also repetition, but that repetition is found in the literal act of writing itself. By writingâwriting anythingâyou are practicing the craft.
Looking for specific exercises on the internet is tough because of this very reason: the exercises are simply writing. Trying to write, again and again. Trying to capture a feeling or a story or a mood, again and again. Thatâs practice. There are some specific exercises in creative writing textbooks, but for the most part, itâs up to you to choose an aspect of writing that you want to improve, and then write with that aspect in mind, observe what makes that aspect function, and see if you can bring that particular aspect out on the page.
Maybe you choose tone. First you have to know what tone is, and how itâs different than mood. Once you know what makes tone apparent on the page, your job is to sit down and write. Write with the express purpose of showing tone on the page.
Maybe you choose setting. You have to know what aspect of setting you want to focus on. Is it that you want to do a better job of bringing the senses out in your descriptions of settings? Or do you want to practice weaving settings through interspersed details in a scene, rather than info-dump-style descriptions? Or something else? Then sit down, maybe with a prompt to get you started, and write with that focus in mind.
Maybe you choose character development. Decide what part of character development you want to improve. Are you trying to do better at conveying emotion? Are you focusing on how to write romance between characters? Are you interested in improving how you share a characterâs backstory through context clues rather than info-dumps? Sit down and write a scene that allows you to showcase these types of developments in characters and see how you do with it.
These exercises are basically free-writing with little-to-no intention of turning them into full stories. Theyâre drabbles or vignettes where you try to bring out a particular part of writing. The easiest way to see if you succeeded with your objective of showcasing a specific subject of the writing craft is to share it with someone else and see how they react. Otherwise, itâs up to you to read through it again and see whether you like what youâve done. If not, do it again. And again. And again. And then write stories, and write more, and more. The only way to improve is by literally going out and writing.
Mostly, youâre going to find what youâre looking for in creative writing textbooks and help guides like the two Glimmer Train Guide to Writing Fiction books (x, x) and others, but here are some exercises Iâve done to help improve certain things in my own writing:
> Go sit in a public place and listen to a conversation. Transcribe it as exactly as you can. Rewrite the conversation as a scene.     > This exercise focuses on: Observing how ârealistic dialogueâ in narrative differs from actual, real-life conversations.
> Write one side of a conversation. Make sure that the audience understands whatâs being said on the unheard side of the conversation without ever repeating what the other side says.     > This exercise focuses on: How to relay information to an audience through context clues and implication.
> Write a wordless conversation. Consider how people communicate back and forth with each other without ever speaking a word.     > This exercise focuses on: How body language can be used to convey meaning and emotion.
> Write an argument by the end of which it becomes clear the characters are not actually arguing about whatâs on the surface.     > This exercise focuses on: Writing subtext and the human tendency to speak in doubletalk.
> Write a conversation that does not use tags. Focus on making it clear to the audience who is speaking, how many people are a part of the conversation, and an impression of what their life is like. Try not to resort to literal introductions.     > This exercise focuses on: How to bring out the voices and history of various characters through their spoken words.
> A character encounters the most mouthwatering smell theyâve ever had the pleasure of smelling. Describe it.     > This exercise focuses on: How to integrate the often forgotten sense of smell into descriptions and its impact on people.
> A character walks into not just a spooky house, but an absolutely terrifying one. Make the audience feel the fear.     > This exercise focuses on: Conveying the mood of a setting and how to integrate emotion not only into a story but into the audience.
> Alternatively, the house isnât spooky or terrifying, but it is horrific. What changes about the scene, and how do you convey that difference to the audience?     > This exercise focuses on: Also conveying mood and emotion, but also being specific with the emotions and feeling of a place, and how to differentiate between similar ones.
> A character is overcome with nostalgia. Help the audience understand the nostalgia while also feeling the profound loss or difference between the memory and the reality.      > This exercise focuses on: Integrating character history into description of a place, emotion, a sense of time.
> Write a scene in which a blind character arrives at a new location. Use their senses other than sight to describe whatâs around them and where they might be.      > This exercise focuses on: Using senses other than the typical fall-back of sight.
> Find an old picture in an online archive, but donât read the description. Write a scene about who the people in the photograph are, what led them to this moment, and where theyâre headed next. Whatâs their fate?      > This exercise focuses on: Imagining character through visual input, inferring details about them, and conveying those through story.
> Alternatively, find a portrait or painting and write a scene in which the painter is the main character. What is the person who painted this art like? What were they thinking about when working on this piece? What kind of conflicts may they have been facing at the time of its painting?     > This exercise focuses on: Imagining character by examining their actions/things theyâve made.
> Write a scene from the perspective of an unreliable narrator where what truly happened is quite different than what the narrator tells the audience occurred.     > This exercise focuses on: The use of narration and how it can influence the story and what the audience understands about whatâs going on.
> Write a thank you letter for an unwanted gift; the gift is a work of art. Focus on conveying the character of the person penning the letter. Who are they? How do they handle the situation? What will they do with this gift? What do they think of the person who sent it?     > Step it up: Write another from a character who received the same gift but has an entirely different reaction to it.     > This exercise focuses on: Conveying voice and character by looking at reactions, words, and attitudes.
> Write a scene in which a character reacts to an event in the opposite way one might expect and takes action in an unexpected manner. Focus on how you can convey the characterâs reasons for their actions, pertinent backstory, and motivation without allowing the narrator to outright state anything.     > This exercise focuses on: Character motivations and how they can drastically change what a character is willing to do, how they react to things, and yet can still be in character.
> Find a non-comedic scene in Shakespeare and rewrite it to be comedic.     > This exercise focuses on: Tone and how a writerâs diction can influence how a scene is perceived by the audience.
> Rewrite a poem as prose, focusing on steering the outcome toward something different.     > This exercise focuses on: How syntax and diction can change what something is about, despite using the same or similar words.
> Practice writing first lines that immediately draw audiences in to the story. Focus on how you impart information about the coming story to the audience through situation, setting, characters, potential conflict, point of view, distance, tone, etc.     > This exercise focuses on: Context clues and catching the eye of the audience.
> Write a scene told from a point of view you are uncomfortable with, or from a different psychic distance than you prefer.     > This exercise focuses on: Stretching the writing muscles we let atrophy simply because we donât prefer them, and testing whatâs possible with different tools.
> Write a scene in which a character discovers an Important Item they had been told about, but now they donât recognize it or donât realize its significance.     > This exercise focuses on: Foreshadowing and how context clues can inform the reader without necessarily cluing in the character.
> Write a story at least 350 words long in which you may only use pronouns 3 times.
> Pick a concept or subject you know little about. Explain it in 100 words or less.
> Generate a list of random words by writing the first 10 (or so) words that come to mind. Write a scene or short story using all the listed words.     > Step it up: Use the words in the story in the order they appear on the list.
> A character stands at a crossroad. North is the future, south is the past, east is fear, and west is ambition. Write a scene in which the character sees what awaits them on these paths and contemplates what each means to them.
> Write a dream sequence in which the dream transforms objects. Make the transformations seem entirely normal.     > Step it up: Donât let the audience know itâs a dream.
100+ Creative Writing Exercises for Fiction Authors from reedsy50 Fantastic Creative Writing Exercises from bookfoxWhat If? Writing Exercises for Fiction Writers by Anne Bernays and Pamela PainterCreative Writing Exercises For Dummies by Maggie Hamand
dailybridgerton
romaincrisis
2087
dededos
