8 Creative Writing Exercises to Fire-Up Your Creative Fuels
Creative Writing Exercise 1: Feeling
Creative writing is all about imagination. Imagination begets inspiration, which itself is the child of emotional feelings. And the irony of twenty-first century is that we are too busy to feel. Yes, even the most inventive of us. Around the blogosphere I have repeatedly seen lengthy discussions (tips and techniques) to spur up creativity and the like. Sadly while pursuing so many tips we forget the vital ingredient _ Feeling!
Emotional connectivity with surroundings and happening is the aphrodisiac that sets a writer’s fuels on fire. To evoke ripples in the stagnant pond of mind, we need to constantly throw in pebbles of sensation.
Creative Writing Exercise 2: Observing
Recalling a stanza from William Davies’ Leisure…
No time to turn at Beauty’s glance,
And watch her feet, how they can dance
No time to wait till her mouth can
Enrich that smile her eyes began
Observation is the hand maid of inspiration. Again if you observe with feelings, you get enough creative writing prompts to last you a lifetime. Observing with sentiment in itself is the best creative writing exercise that you can come up with. The key is to be explicit when you take to the pen. The more open and original you are with the word that you write, the more you will gain in quality and novelty.
Even the smallest of observations can set you on the roll; a dew drop, frost on the window pane, a swirling fan, rustling leaves, misty fog and the list is endless.
Creative Writing Exercise 3: Relating
To write creatively, one has to submerge him/herself entirely into the theme that can lead to a creative writing prompt to develop. The more one feels connected to a particular object or scenario the less one feels at a loss of words. I believe searching for words during creative writing process is more of a discovery than an invention. The words are always there, nested somewhere deep in our sub conscious. All we have to do is call the right code to get them moving.
Creative Writing Exercise 4: Meditating
Yoga would never go out of league. But meditation is not all about deep breathing, posture and balance. It is about connecting and exploring one’s own self, in depth. Tapping into the virgin abodes of our potential is better than a treasure hunt. Meditate at your own expanse and like, and discover the buried fortunes. Who knows, some creative writing exercise might do much for a little self development as well.
Creative Writing Exercise 5: Imagining
Creative writing borrows a lot from imagination and fascination. One never knows which heeds whom. Sampling imagination into words and sentences can help a lot in writing up pieces that you can later thread together. Creative imagination also helps to cast off the dull clouds. For more tips, check out the practices for clear and creative thinking.
Creative Writing Exercise 6: Hijacking
There are copyright issues for stealing words and ideas but there is no tab in hijacking inspiration. So feel free to steal inspiration from the works already produced. A story or a film will end yet it might give you a new twist or beginning. Next time, while reading a novel or watching a movie, think and plan about “your own to be continued.”
Creative Writing Exercise 7: Escaping
Escapism is the best course to close off the harsh realities of the world, no doubt. Why not turn a mental diversion into a golden resource. When there are so many means to choose from, then why not pick the one that is the most beneficial one. Art is the child of poverty, hunger, plight, and confiscation. Dark ages lead to the period of Renaissance that was the time-womb of the most celebrated pieces ever produced in all respects of art.
Next time when you are holding onto the strings of mental tribulation, give a thought about churning them into little nuggets.
Creative Writing Exercise 8: Remembering
Déjà vu’!
At times to set the mental butterflies swarming in creative psychedelics, one needs to feel from the past. There are so many moments in everyday life that bring some kind of unknown recall. Capturing the feel and sensation, translating into words, a few tweaks here and there, can lead a writer to produce a rare novelty.
If you have any tip or advice, that has helped you in producing worthy stuff owing to some creative writing exercise that you use, please do share with the rest of us!
July 12th, 2009 at
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July 24th, 2009 at
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July 29th, 2009 at
I love the creative writing exercises! I have a feeling they can be used to springboard the muse almost anywhere!!!
Thanks for sharing them.
July 29th, 2009 at
@Lisa: That’s neat. Hope to see something coming out of it then :)
January 14th, 2010 at
[...] Dyslex presents 8 Creative Writing Exercises to Fire-Up Your Creative Fuels posted at Write a Writing, saying, “creative writing exercising to get you on the [...]