Try rewriting a piece of your writing, perhaps just a paragraph or so, using different tense: past, present, future.
Playing with tense
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Category Archives: Writing activity
Redundancy
Becoming more effective in your writing can require getting rid of redundant words. Sometimes I describe in a flourish of superfluous language, my characters talk in meandering waffle…and it all gets a little too much. Today I’m taking a piece of writing I did in my blog from 17th February 2013 and am cutting it down, to make it more succinct, more effective. This is an experiment really, to see if my writing is improved by paring it back, being more mindful of what I include and what I remove.
Friends
How do people make friends? School, work and hobbies often form the basis of meeting people – places where you meet regularly or have a shared interest. Small children are much better at making friends than adults, I mean, walking up to someone in the supermarket and saying “Will you be my friend” like a child in the playground, just isn’t appropriate! It can even be difficult within clubs, like sports groups, to form friendships that stretch beyond the group itself.
Mood
Try creating mood through descriptions that have a dual purpose. Does the description create a setting, a mood, an atmosphere? Write your description and consider how it will prompt action, and what sort of action the description suggests. Then write the description and the action will naturally follow.
Character Prompted Writing
Coming back to basics, like character descriptions, can prompt new writing. Today I am using brief character descriptions to prompt writing for my novel. This is useful in times when you have a writing lull…never panic, just go back to a writing exercise to keep writing and keep thinking about your story. This will breathe life, not only into the plot, but into you, the author. In this way, writing exercises can keep you fresh and keep your writing flowing, even on those days when the writing of your actual novel has slowed.
Writing activities to prompt your writing
What writers do is write…I’m sure you’ve heard me say this before, as have many people before me. At times, writing on particular projects can be labored and finding ideas becomes like panning for gold in modern day teen accessory store! When this happens to me, I do some writing activities. Any writing is better than none, plus, in my experience, this is the quickest way of finding hidden gems.
Building interest
Today I am researching again, this time to add richness (and hopefully more content) to my novel. I’m looking at one aspect of the story and researching that to build background knowledge and depth. The focus of my research is the grey wolf. I want to bring detail about the wolf into my writing in some way.
Creating character
I have been creating more characters for my novel and, given the novel has some historical basis, I have been researching too. History is rife with interesting tales. As a writing activity, select a place, breifly research its history, its culture, etc., and write a brief character profile on one of its previous inhabitants – in whatever format you want (dot points, a list of characteristics, a character biography paragraph. As you write, try to find the ‘voice’ of the character. It is a useful exercise to write this for a character who is completely different to you, trying to write in a voice that is not your own, but that belongs fully to the character.
Concept writing activity
Generating a concept for your writing
Novel writing is not a task to be scoffed at or taken lightly. It is a massive undertaking! Having a robust concept can help you keep a strong focus while taking plot deviations, encountering numerous characters and creating multiple twists and turns.
“I hold the world but as the world…
A stage where every man must play a part,”
Shakespeare, The Merchant of Venice
First lines – a writing activity
I collect first lines…from novels and short stories – from anything really. I don’t only select first lines from novels I like and read in their entirety, but aim for a broad range of styles, genre, etc. I like the idea of taking these lines out of the context within which they were written and seeing what I can create around them, seeing what writing they inspire within me, once I have forgotten their original context.