#literally just google ‘creative writing exercises’ and you’ll find a MILLION

[inkykeiji]

Hello Clari! I'm not sure if you mentioned what you studied in college (or if you are comfortable sharing), but it seems like it was something related to literature/journalism/languages, and I was wondering if you could share (or if you know of) some of the exercises you did for creative writing or resources you know of to get the inspiration juice going and practice and improve your writing! Have an amazing day bb <3

hehehe hello!!! <33

i studied film with an emphasis on both golden age hollywood + screenwriting!!! and then i minored in literature c: ooooh i actually do have a lil exercise to share with you that my screenwriting prof taught me!! okay:

every day, write down three ideas. they don’t need to be fully formed ideas. they can be anything, a character (if you’re writing fanfiction maybe this can be an AU version of a character? or an oc/reader? or you can just skip character completely), a location, one line of dialogue, etc etc etc. it can literally be anything. you do this until you have 50-100 written down. then you pick ten, and write one paragraph for each describing the plot. THEN, you pick THREE of these and write one page summaries of their plots, much more fleshed out and all that. AND THEN, you pick one out of those three and write a script (or, in our case, a fic!)

i say this often, but creativity is a muscle—we all have it, all you have to do is strengthen it. how you strengthen it, how much you strengthen it, and how fast you strengthen it, is entirely up to you, because there’s soooo many different ways to do it, and none of them are the ‘right’ way, because creativity is such a personal thing and what works for one person may not work for another!!

in terms of practice (aka how much/fast you strengthen it) only you know the answer to the right amount of practice for you at this current moment. i write every single day—sometimes it’s only a paragraph or two, sometimes it’s thousands of words, but i’m exercising my creative muscle every day. if you’re new to writing, or you’re new to writing often, every day may be too daunting or too overwhelming (or it may not! only you know <3) and that’s entirely okay. i was saying this a day or two ago but we often have a tendency to jump head first into things and overwhelm ourselves with too much too fast, and then we ‘fail’, and then we get upset at ourselves for ‘failing’ when we were expecting too much of ourselves to begin with.

so with that being said, ease yourself into it. it’s okay if you’re only writing a few lines a day, or a paragraph every other day, or a paragraph a few times a week!!! only you know what’s right for you. be patient with yourself, pick yourself back up when you ‘fail’ and learn from it (failure really is one of our greatest teachers!!! look at it in a positive light! you are growing!!<3). my advice, if you’re having difficulty figuring out what to write for practice, is to try working with prompts!!! there’s a billion and one prompts on the internet, there’s whole tumblr blogs dedicated to prompts (idk any off the top of my head but i KNOW they exist) and there’s thousands on pinterest, too. there’s also different types of prompts; some of them are just a word, or an object, while others have much more detail. try them out and see what works best for you!

inspiration comes from everywhere (literally EVERYWHERE) but i also always say art inspires art, because it does. read books, watch movies, listen to music, go to art galleries, paint even if you’re awful at it, go to shows etc etc etc. look at the people you love in your life, look at the people you dislike in your life, look at your experiences both good and bad, look at the things that impact you the most; there’s inspiration in all of them, i promise you!

the last thing, and i used to discuss this with my profs quite a bit, is that when it comes down to it, there is definitely an element of self discipline in all of this. just like a physical exercise, where you have to push yourself to get through those last few minutes, or seconds, or reps, there will be days where you have to push yourself to exercise your creativity. and, just like with physical exercises, you can also go TOO FAR and strain yourself. this is, again, only a limit YOU know, because of course as you strengthen your creative muscle you’ll be able to push yourself further and further. my point, tho, is that there’s a fine line between pushing yourself and overworking yourself. be very careful of this. rest and rejuvenation are just as important as exercise!!!

aaah anon babie i hope this helps a little bit!!!!! please let me know if anything is unclear or if you have more questions; i love encouraging others to create and i think it’s absolutely something everyone can (and should!) do <3 i hope u have an amazing day too my luv!!!

#i have been VERY interested in languages and linguistics lately though #i’d love to go back to school just to study those for fun #maybe there are a few classes i can audit when i go back idk!!!!! but it’s definitely so so so cool #but anyway #literally just google ‘creative writing exercises’ and you’ll find a MILLION #again only you know which of those will work for you and which of those won’t!!! #the only exercise i personally use is the one i mentioned above from my screenwriting prof!! that and literally just writing every day #but i also have a billion (aka 34) WIPs so i have many things to choose from when doing my daily writing you know??? #but there’s so many wonderful exercises you can find online #and absolutely no shame in trying a few out and deciding they don’t work for you!! through experimentation/trial and error you’ll find #what’s best for you personally you know??? #aaaah good luck on your writing journey!!!! you can do it!!!!!!! i am on the sidelines rooting for you and supporting you!!!!! <33333 #as i said have a fantastic day my sweet anon <333 sending u much love n health!! stay safe!! #inky.bb #clari gets mail #clari gives advice.writing

[somewritingexercises]

15th. Re-husked, attempting un-re-husking, however temporary.

Craving things hard to name I googled “writing exercise,” found “write a letter to your younger self,” considered it a moment then thought what would I say - “there’s a global pandemic killed millions, it’s been two years now” as if seeing it coming could make some difference. I understand people wanting to be free from the pandemic, so-called return to normal -  who doesn’t want this nightmare to end? - but the idea of ignoring this unfolding catastrophe just doesn’t fit into my mind. It’s a kind of non-thought that shuts my mind off momentarily, like “imagine an object black and white in all the same places at the same times,” not an imagination but a pause in cognitive function. Is it like something to be a covid minimizer? Maybe it’s precisely like not being anything - “don’t worry, it’s just like going to sleep.” The peace sounds nice. I hate the deaths and harms most of course, but lower on the list yet still for being on the list upsetting, I hate the black hole quality of the pandemic, sucking in my whole life and mind, leaving so little else. It’s hard to think or do anything else, so much energy taken by staring in horror. I’ll send this to my younger self, shall I?

Had I to do it over again I’d live my life the same way really, any changes minimal. I like how my life has turned out relative to the hand I was dealt, and I am happy, certainly happy enough - though there is something grotesque stressing one’s own happiness in an avalanche of death, disablement, suffering. Among the minimal changes I would make is less time on bullshit and more time and money on art and activities and gear that facilitate art.

That’s part of the craving, more time and energy for something creative. So far I’m not feeling like I’ve struck gold, as it were, but better to type than not.

Send that to my younger self - keep going, write even when you don’t feel like it, write more when you do feel like it, it won’t get much easier but you’ll get better at it. The resulting pride will feel nice and the products and their reception won’t feel nice enough to justify the time you put in - this is an investment with a poor return literally and in terms of the gratification the product provides - but your impulse to find the time its own reward is correct. You’ll forget that sometimes. If you develop a habit of keeping going even when you don’t think you can, don’t know why you should, it will carry you through those forgetting times. You will sometimes find music - specific songs yes of course but music in general, all songs - a solace and a practice of this skill, a lived commitment and practice of keeping going, from which much else follows, something to do and to live out rather than something to be talked into. Here too trust that impulse that music matters and the ways of life lived in relation to music do as well, this will help you cultivate treating the time as its own reward and soothe you when you don’t great the time so.

And when your hair goes gray at the temples it’ll look good.

[delfiend423]

For Those Who Want to Get Better At Writing And Were Told “Just Write” And Don’t Know What To Do With That Advice

Just like one cannot get better at painting without painting, or sculpting without sculpting, or drawing without drawing, one cannot get better at writing without--you guessed it--writing.

But!

I don’t know about you, but telling someone to “just go write” is too abstract of a command for me to follow. So, here and now, I will break down some very simple very clear very tangible things you can do to become a better writer (in my humble and personal opinion, that is).

1.) Writing is Private. Keep It To Yourself.

Listen, I’m sure I’ll get some backlash from this sentiment, but its honestly what I personally feel to be the healthiest way to write, whether that be at the very start of your writing journey, or very late stage. When you share your writing with someone, one or more of the following is likely to happen:

- you’ll receive criticism from the reader. It could be something you can actually take and use, but more often than not it’ll be something you can’t do much about, such as “Idk I just don’t like this style of writing”. Criticism, especially when given at a stage where you yourself don’t have a lot of confidence in your creation, can be the poison that kills all motivation to improve.

- the reader will never actually get around to reading it. This happens a lot, more so with original works than fanfics. And it doesn’t matter why they never read it, be it deliberate or they just totally forgot: it’ll hurt. And it’ll be disheartening. 

- they will read it, and they’ll love it! They’ll be really into the story! They’ll want more!! And believe me, you won’t be able to deliver. Either you just aren’t writing at a clip of a pace, or the writing you are getting done just doesn’t feel good enough to share. Either way, this will grow guilt onto your writing project and cause you to lose motivation to keep writing

We live in an age of oversharing, where if you do anything interesting of or make something you're proud of, you immediately expect the world to see it and appreciate it at the same level you personally do. Art is not meant for this kind of exposure, be it drawings, paintings, writing, anything. Art and writing are a private venture, an expression of the soul. Sometimes, you’ll produce a piece so exceptional in which you are unshakably proud of in your own right you can share it without expectation of praise nor fear of criticism. For writing, this will be after at least a second draft or seven, never your first time through writing a piece.

So don’t share. Keep your writing to yourself. It doesn’t matter if people think it’s “good” or not, because it’s not for them. So write whatever the hell your heart desires! Write something totally weird! Write something that doesn’t make sense! Write trash! Write self-inserts! Write a fictional language without any linguistic basis! You should enjoy what you’re creating, free from the concern over whether it will be enjoyed by anyone else. But that leads me to my next point...

2.) Writing Isn’t Always Sunshine And Rainbows

It’s work. Let me say it again for those in the back: writing. is. work. Because let’s face it, Thomas Eddison hit the nail on the head when he said: “ Genius is one percent inspiration, ninety-nine percent perspiration.” And by genius, he means any sort of pursuit of creation, be it creation of the light bulb, creation of a landscape in acrylic on canvas, or, yes, creation of the a story. If you truly want to be better at writing, you have to write even when it’s no longer a cinch. If you truly want to be happy with the way your writing reads on paper, you have to write even when it’s no longer a cinch. If you want to type up the next novel sensation to sweep the nations, you have to write. even. when. it’s. no. longer. a. cinch.

I am probably the worst offender of this piece of advice. If the words aren’t flowing from my mind to the keyboard keys to the word doc like a river freshly un-dammed, I shut the computer and go eat half the kitchen. Which leads me to point number three:

3.) There’s Writing As Creative Flexing. And Then There’s Writing To Practice.

We all want writing to be this wonderful time of sitting down and crafting beautiful and unique plots and characters and moments from the fabric of our own mindscapes, but it can’t always be if you ever want to climb the steps of improvement. Sometimes, you have to write something that you don’t love, that’s totally been done a million times before, something that gets at nothing and leaves no lasting impression. Let me explain.

When I was in middle school, at a time in my life where writing was this shiny new talent I had discovered, a time where I was convinced writing was what I wanted to do when I grew up, when I was convinced that aside from this super eloquent kid named Joey, I was the best writer to grace the planet, I joined a writing club called Power of the Pen. Power of the Pen was this organized sort of writing competition, where the middle-schoolers would go, they’d receive 3 writing prompts over the course of the competition, and for each prompt they have like 30 minutes (maybe an hour??) to write a complete work that responded to the prompt(s). So, during our weekly meeting after school, us kids in the Power of the Pen club were given a sample prompt by our teacher, were given the 30 minutes to write a piece, and then we shared what we wrote with one another and gave compliments and advice to one another. 

None of these short stories I made were ever anything spectacular or even really that great, but they were a very instrumental in improving my writing. I learned to keep track of my thoughts as they occurred to me and were inked into the page, learned to mind the clock and hit that full beginning middle end in the time allotted to me. The more I wrote, the more I was able to experiment with the voice I used in my writing, and by trial and error learn how to use a multitude of voices in appropriate contexts. 

My point being: not everything you write is going to be your passion project, and it shouldn’t be. Google writing prompts, set a timer, pull out a notebook or open a new document, and get to creating. Not all of them have be complete short stories; a lot of the prompts in practice were meant to make us work on a specific aspect of writing. One prompt I remember was to describe a scene as if we were there with our eyes closed. Another could be to tell a story with nothing but dialogue, the back-and-forth of two or more folks. You could also use these prompts to practice outlining, and come up with a full story--beginning, middle, end, plot twists, etc--without writing the whole thing out. Think of it like an artist filling a sketchbook page with a bunch of hands, so as to get a better grasp of how to draw hands in various ways. This type of writing should be no-strings-attached, it should let you focus on what you need to get better at (and that can be a little bit of everything!). But like the artist and their hand drawings, don’t just create a bunch of identical hands: change it up, try and write with a different tone and voice each time, play around. Write very formally, then write like Chuck Palahniuk, then do something else! 

Just because this type of writing is classified as the grind, as the persperation of your genius, doesn’t mean it can’t be fun! Don’t take yourself too seriously when hashing these out. Or you’ll come to hate it, and you’ll never do as much as you should!

4.) Make Time For Writing. Be Ready At Any Time For Writing

If you’re anything like me, you live and write by the mindset of “when I’m feeling in the mood, I’ll write,” and then you’re hardly ever “in the mood” or at least “in the mood” while you’re not in the middle of the busiest week of your life. While there’s absolutely nothing wrong with writing while you’re inspired to write, if you really want to make some headway in your writing journey, you’re gonna need to write far more often than that. In Suggestion #3, I already talked about how you should take the time to do timed writings to work out your writing muscles and add build up your armory of writing instruments. Both this type of practice writing and working on material and ideas that inspire you are perfectly good uses of your time as a writer, but they have to happen to be of any use to you.

That’s why I’m suggesting the unthinkable: schedule your writing.

Yes, I know, it’s horrendous. But hear me out! Think of your writing as a workout. For those who aren’t too familiar with workout culture, those who workout regularly usually keep a pretty hard and fast schedule. They usually allocate which days they are going to workout in a week (and at what time), what sort of muscles/sorts of techniques they are going to work out on which days (i.e. leg day, arm day, core day, pull day, push day, etc), and what machines they need to spend time on and for how long. 

So! Let’s apply that mentality, that structure, to our writing! Find time in your week, a day or two at least, where you have a free hour or two (in case the heat picks up, and you need the extra time to carry through with that writing momentum to its fullest potential). Block that time out to write. Now! Get even more structured, like the workout folk! Jot down what kind of writing exercises you are going to do on which days. Timed prompt writing for 30 minutes, then practice outlining for 30 minutes? Work on one of your writing projects for 30 (writing literally anything! See Suggestion #5), then do some 10-minute bursts of writing each focusing on a specific element in the story (i.e. dialogue for 10, descriptive for 10, plot-driven for 10).

Now that I’ve gone and made you ready to write at specific times on specific times when it’snot and convenient for you, I feel obligated to burst this bubble: the urge to write can and will come to you as unpredictably as the wind. And when this happens, you should do whatever you can to entertain the inspiration while its there. If you’re lucky enough to be free, grab a pen and paper or computer and get to it!! If you’re not so lucky, and this urge to write hits you at 3 in the morning, or in the middle of work, or heaven forbid in the midst of midterms or some time comparably as hectic... be prepared! The worst thing you can do is think to yourself: “I’ll remember these thoughts and take to the computer later”. Because you won’t remember them when you get to the computer later, if you even manage to sit your butt down to write at all. If the urge is accompanied by ideas and inspiration, jot those down on whatever scrap of paper you have, or into an email to yourself. Try to include lines of dialogue you hear going through your head, any sort of inkling of context if you have any, the weight/importance of this bit of story to the overall plot, and anything else that might be important to recall later. So even if you don’t get the privilege of working on your writing with these ideas freshly hatched, you won’t lose the ideas for when you have the time to sit down and get the writing you’ve scheduled in advance. 

5.) Leave Perfection, Chronological Order, and Omniscience At The Door. You Don’t Need Them Now

Listen. I violate every one of my suggestions, but this one I violate the worst. I want to write my stories from start to finish, filling in every gap as I reach them, and I want my writing to be publishing-ready the first time through. All these things are impossible expectations. Let me repeat, so it sinks in: these things are impossible expectations to have for yourself. Stephen King said something to the effect of this: the first draft you write for yourself, the second draft you write now knowing what the story is you are trying to tell. Ergo, when you write a story, it’s experimental, it’s a project of discovery. You may not know everything single scene that will occur from the start to the finish. You may not know how it will end, or perhaps how it will start. Maybe you won’t know the plot twists, or really know the characters to the full depth they’ll come to embody. 

But don’t sweat it! You’re not supposed to know! The point of writing is to bring a whole universe from out of your mindscape, piece by piece like a puzzle. Sometimes, you’ll have a sequence of pieces that all fit together nicely. Sometimes, it will be a scattering of bits from across the big picture that for now have no relation to one another. You’ll need to do a lot of writing before you’ll excavate enough pieces to realize what all the pieces are making together, realize the whole, and from there you can rewrite and revise and write anew to better tell the story that eventually came together.

So! My point being: when you sit down to write, don’t be confined by any the principles above. You’re writing need not even be prose if it doesn’t want to be at the moment, which is especially doable considering we’re not showing your writing to anyone other than yourself (Suggestion #1). It need not be final draft quality writing; the sentences can be choppy, the dialogue can be all back and forth like a screenplay with no spice whatsoever, heck you don’t even have to write a scene if its not coming to you, but instead insert a block that plain and simple hashes out what happens in this space of writing you have yet to craft. Don’t feel like picking up where you left off, then don’t! Write a random disjointed scene that you’re more inspired to create, write the death of one of your characters, write whatever whenever its to happen in the story! Don’t know what’s going to happen? Don’t sweat it! Make anything happen, because you can always just cut that chunk out if you don’t like the direction later on. No one will know your characters had a 20-page  shopping spree if you don’t tell them that was the original direction! 

These 5 Suggestions should help get all you folks looking to write more or write for the first time off the ground! Feel free to add your own suggestions in the reblogs and all that jazz!! I might add more later, myself. 

Happy Writing Everyone!!!

#writing #writing advice #writing for myself #writing tips #writing things #yatta yatta #writing goals #2018 resolutions #how to write