Meredith Sue Willis

Writing Exercises

New: Questions and Answers
Go Directly to Current Exercise

Dear Visitor,
    I am a veteran teacher of writing to everyone from university level to little kids. I offer these writing exercises in the spirit of the Internet as a place for a new kind of community of sharing and exchange. I call them "exercises" rather than "prompts" or "lessons" because I think of them as ways to strengthen the writing muscles that you already have and as ways to expand your range of techniques. The execises are free, but if you want to give something back, please read some of my online fiction or take a look at my books. I also offer suggestions for small and tiny press books that you might want to read or purchase as gifts: see giftbooks. I also teach private classes online as well as public classes at New York University's School of Continuing and Professional Studies, and, finally, I have a free newsletter you can get by sending an e-mail to:  Readerbooks-subscribe@topica.com . You may also read it at Books for Readers .  I appreciate feedback-- which exercises were useful to you? Do have suggestions for me to share with others on this site?

                                    -- Meredith Sue Willis

Current Exercise

Here's something different to try. Can you find the original poem in this wordy version? For prose writers like me, learning to tighten and cut can be one of the great challenges of revision.

For the original poem, a translation from the Japanese, click here.

Hey, sparrow!

It is a beautiful morning
The sun is shining
The sky is blue
At my grandmother’s farm
in the country.
I see a little small tiny
brown and black sparrow
chirping and pecking.
He is in the road
Suddenly I see danger!
Hey, sparrow, I say,
Quick! Quick! Move fast! Hurry!
Move out of the way,
A huge white Horse with big feet
And a long rough mane
Is coming right at you!

Writing Hints & FAQ

The biggest hint of all is to find a time in your life for regular writing. It doesn't matter if it's every day or every week-end or six weeks in the summer-- you need a period of time you can depend on. You may also occasionally get an inspiration that sends you rushing off to your notebook or computer, and that is great, but it is an extra-- a gift from the universe! To edit and revise and continue and finish work, you'll need that regular place and time.

Separate your critical brain from your drafting brain. Try writing at least three paragraphs (or even better, three pages) before you go back and fiddle with the words. If possible, don't read over what you wrote today until tomorrow or at least after lunch. It will be much easier to make changes.

A few questions and the beginnings of answers

Q. What about verb tense? The present tense is so much more dynamic. I am using past tense as in a story telling mode. Which is better in fiction?

A. I use the present tense sometimes, but it isn't my favorite. I like it best for very short pieces. In general, especially for longer works, I prefer the plain old story teller’s past myself. There are plenty of good books and good writers, though, that use the present tense extremely well. So, on the one hand, good writers make anything work. On the other hand, a lot of younger writers use the present tense because it is something of a fad. Take a look at http://www.meredithsuewillis.com/materials.html#presenttense for some thoughts on pros and cons.

Q. What about working on two novels simultaneously?

A. This, like many other things, depends on you. When I get stuck, I go on to a new project, so I often have two or even more books and a couple of stories and articles going at once. I also trust that I'll be able to get back to the things I've left.

Q. I'm writing a novel and having a hard time with technology. Do I include cell phones? IM? Facebook? Twitter?

A. That's a tough one. The clearest way to deal with it in my opinion is to consider every novel a historical novel, even if it is set in 2009. Make sure you have the right technology for the year. There are also lots of tricks-- your character can be the kind of person who always misplaces her cell phone or lets it run down, for example.

Words to avoid

There are certain words and phrases, all perfectly good English, that I avoid in my writing. I find that I have in the past overused them, probably because I actually like them. One word I have sworn off is “shard.” "Shard" sounds like what it is, a broken piece of something, but I’ve come to over-use it. It seemed like every time a glass broke or sun was refracted through a window in my prose, I would call it “shards of glass” or, metaphorically, “shards of light.” I also avoid “smirk” except in really particular circumstances, preferring the more neutral “grin” or “sneer.”“Smirk” has an almost comic book quality for me, so I have to really careful of it. I also avoid certain phrases I used to love as a beginning writer: "visibly shaken" was one I used to look for excuses to use, as in "When she heard him say her name, she was visibly shaken." When I was a child, I adored "gathered up her skirts!" That's got to be what Cinderella did when she fled the Ball, and I was always looking for excuses to have someone gather up her skirts and run away. Do you have such words and phrases on your personal Avoid list?

More

Try not to do just one thing if you can do more than one. Don't give the information that he ate a steak, rather, show both that he ate a steak and that he was angry when he was eating it: "He stabbed his fork into the slab of sirloin and and slashed off a piece with his knife."

After you've written your draft, go through it looking to see if all the essential conflicts have been dramatized. This is an especially good technique if you feel that your dialogue is flat or boring. Put the dramatized conflicts into the dialogue.

Put thinking, contemplation, and dramatized flashback scenes at a point in your story where it would be natural in real life too: riding a train, lying awake at night when the character can’t sleep, etc.

Click here for hints from writers, editors, and agents.

And here for what some writers have to say about writing and literature.

More Free Writing Exercises below and here :

Exercises 1- 20

Exercises 21- 40

Exercses 41 - 60

Exercises 61-80

Exercises 81-100

Exercises 101 - 120

Exercises 121 - 140

Here's something new that looks like fun: Snapfiction.com offers a writing exercise "challenge" every week--give it a try!

Here's something especially for teachers-- a free writing prompt of the month: http://www.unr.edu/educ/nnwp/Mini_Lesson_of_the_Month_Club.htm

Looking for Poetry Writing Exercises? Writenet at Teachers & Writers has some good ones originally planned for young people, but they would make great starters for anyone

For writing exercises for children, click here. Teens can use the ones on this page, or look at my page for teens.

Here's a link to a really interesting haiku exercise from Timothy Russell.

And then there is making fun of writing prompts:McSweeney's has a fairly funny take-off called "Thirteen Writing Prompts" by Dan Wienceck

Rita Marie Keller has a blog called Buried Treasures that is full of writing prompts and links to more writing prompts. " Essays and writing exercises to help you uncover the great writing ideas you already have."

Exercise # 161

Try a description of a real person or a character using the pattern Anthony Trollope (photograph below) used to use in his character sketches. Trollope was a Victorian British writer who wrote wonderfully popular books full of heroic and cruel and hilarious people from all walks of life. For an example, see Mr. Slope, a clergyman:.

Begin by describing something something positive, then undercut it with a negative detail-- or a negative interpretation of the positive one. Perhaps the flowery perfume masks bad teeth and a nasty attitude...

Then, do the same thing but opposite: describe someone who is, on the surface, not very attractive, but as the description goes on, lots of good characteristics are revealed: a kindly smile, delicious treats in the pocket of the old fashioned apron, etc.

Exercise # 162

PIck two people-- two characters-- and have one observe the other. Write in some detail: the person's concrete observations, and their internal musings about the person they are observing..

Then, switch observers. Do the same thing, but have the obseervee become the observer.

Anthony Burgess once said that he always began a novel by drafting sixty pages of dialogue– no “he-saids-she-saids” or other tags, no narrative, no description, just the words said. After his characters had talked for sixty pages, he would, he said, discard the entire sixty pages and start to write. I’ve never been sure I believe that he actually threw away all those pages, but the technique seemed to work for getting him started.

Try this: Do a directed free write with a kitchen timer set for fifteen minutes. Start with some words of conversation you have overheard or participated in. They can be totally ordinary, even boring. But keep writing, and adding more dialogue, maybe more speakers, more drama. But keep them just talking for the full fifteen minutes.

Exercise # 164

It's that vacation time of year. Put yourself in imagination (or the main character in your novel if that's what you're working on, or any character you've considered writing about) in an extremely relaxing position: on the beach, on the back porch, or-- quintessentially! -- in the hammock Let your character or yourself go into a daydream state, a reverie, and write the thoughts. Begin with some physical description of the place, go into the reverie, and then-- follow wherever it leads.

Exercise # 165

Try writing a short scene in the form of some explicit written communication: an exchange of letters or emails (or even tweets). You could also try the transcription of a phone conversation. Later, look over what you wrote. Write it again as fictional dialogue with tags and gestures and descriptions. Which way do you like it best?

Exercise # 166

Write about the weather in a place familar to you, or a setting in your novel. Over-write this a little, maybe describing the Santa Ana winds of Southern California in the fall or the punishing humidity that can settle in the East– something like “dampness like a giant gray chicken settling over us all so that breathing seems slow, movement like walking underwater...” What does this specific weather change? In a novel, might a character be languid and slow to do something important- and miss the chance?

Write a second time, with different weather– on the East Coast, the humidity lifts. How different does it feel? What happens that is different?

Exercise # 167

I'm writing this on Labor Day week-end. Choose some national (rather than religious) holiday and write a family story or memoir piece in which a family is having a typical enjoyable holiday. Then, bring in some person-- a relative they haven't seen for a long time, an unwelcome boyfriend or girlfriend, a ghost-- and give the piece some conflict.

Exercise # 168

A friend comes to you (or a friend comes to the main character in a novel or story) and over tea or drinks tells you something about herself or himself that changes everything-- how you look at your friend, how you look at your own relationships....

Exercise # 169

Imagine a conversation between two people who used to be close (school mates? neighbors? lovers?) but over time, their views of the world have diverged. Perhaps one is a Zionist, one an anti-Zionist, one has become politically engaged in liberal causes, one in conservative ones. Have the disagreement be something you are personally serious about, but it doesn't have to be political: maybe one person has become a born again Christian, the other hasn't. Write the discovering of the newly discovered gap between them What happens? Try to present both people's point of view favorably.

Exercise # 170

Think about someone at work/school whom you've never spoken to and write about a typical night in his/her life.

-- Thanks to Mandy Kaufman

Exercise # 171

You are sitting in a coffee shop and overhear the argument next door. How did they get there or where will they go?

-- Thanks to Katrina Dudley

Exercise # 172

Write a piece with Halloween in it. This could be a memory of a real Halloween experience, good or bad, or an incident or story in which someone is going about ordinary business (going home from work? a fight with a beloved?) when trick-or-treaters suddenly appear, or the person falls inadvertently into a Halloween parade-- or anything else. Just include Halloween (or All Souls Day or Dia De los Muertos) in the piece somewhere.

Exercise # 173

In a couple of sentences, summarize a time when you or someone you observed suffered an injustice. Childhood is one source of this king of writing-- a child and teacher, a child and a bully-- but any injustice works.

Then, write the scene more fully, with dialogue and description and son on, but do it from the point of view of the person you perceived as doing the wrong.

Exercise # 174

Take a look at an interesting example of flashback by Binnie Kirshenbaum. Read the introduction and the passage, and then write something of your own using the same form: First something that happens repeatedly, almost always the same, perhaps boring, and during the repeated thing or just before it, have a character flash back to some outstanding event.

Exercise # 175

Okay-- here it comes! Put a turkey in some piece of writing you are working on! It can be a Thanksgiving Feast turkey or a wild turkey or a bottle of Wild Turkey-- anything you want to meet the challenge!

Exercise # 176

Write a scene in which music plays a part. It might be internal (what is the favorite music of your main character?). It might be part of a conflict (two characters appreciate different kinds of music).

Exercise # 177

Write an incident in which New Year's Resolutions plays a part. Perhaps you can think of a time when you debated what to resolve, or when you failed to keep your pledge ten minutes after midnight? Can you turn this into a story in which the pledge is important to a plot or a relationship. This might lend itself to humor.

Exercise # 178

Write a passage or scene which begins with someone describing a trip they took to a foreign country. The listener can be thrilled or bored. The speaker can be witty or tedious or giving coded instructions. If you need to do a little research to discover some information about the country being spoken of, do it.

Is the speaker talking about attending a wonderful braai in South Africa? Are they telling of unpleasant experiences in airports? Of the thrill of standing in the Colosseum in Rome? Of the time their watch was ripped off their arm as they were driving in the great foreign metropolis? Let the scene go on from that beginning, if you choose.

Exercise # 179

I often encourage students to dramatize their writing with quoted dialogue. There can also, however, be passages with no quoted dialogue at all--I don't mean narration or summary, but actual dramatized scenes. Look at this sample by the Old Mistress Jane Austen from Chapter Six of Sense and Sensibility.

Conversation, however, was not wanted, for Sir John was very chatty, and Lady Middleton had taken the wise precaution of bringing with her their eldest child, a fine little boy about six years old, by which means there was one subject always to be recurred to by the ladies in case of extremity, for they had to inquire his name and age, admire his beauty, and ask him questions, which his mother answered for him, while he hung about her, and held down his head, to the great surprise of her ladyship, who wondered at his being so shy before company, as he could make noise enough at home. On every formal visit a child ought to be of the party by way of provision for discourse. In the present case it took up ten minutes to determine whether the boy were most like his father or mother, and in what particular he resembled either; for of course everybody differed, and everybody was astonished at the opinion of the others.

Now try writing a scene of your own in imitation of the Austen paragraph-- not in style, but by writing an active, busy scene with several people and all the dialogue given indirectly.

Exercise # 180

I did an author's visit on Friday to a school in Red Hook, Brooklyn. Even though I lived less than a mile from there for several years, and then in another apartment not much further away in another direction, I never went to Red Hook.

Maybe it was the name.

Think of the name of a place you've never been (and feel free to use Red Hook!). Do a directed free write, beginning with the name of the place. That is, set a timer for ten minutes, and then write steadily, without stopping until the bell rings, beginning with that place name. Imagine what the place is like based on its name alone.

Exercise # 181

I never used to admit that I like to write things related to holidays. Here are a couple of valentine exercises:

What is the daily life of Cupid like? In this case I mean the little Cupid who appears in advertisements and commercials, not the one from mythology.
Write a monologue poem for your Cupid.
Write a personification-- that is, describe an individual or creature called "Love." Try something other than the little chubby toddler above with the wings too small for use, and be sure and include objects Love has, Love's clothes, etc.

Exercise # 182

Hey, sparrow!

Hey, sparrow!
out of the way,
Horse is coming!

By Kobayashi Issa
Translated by Robert Hass

Special Book Deal!

Buy any book by Meredith Sue Willis by mail order and get 10% off your entire order (exclusive of tax, shipping and handling). For information on books (or to order online--no discount), see Commentary. To order by mail with discount, go to Orders.

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New Book for Kids Billie of Fish House Lane From Montemayor Press Read a chapter: Click on Catalogue, Literature for Children

A literary Map of West Virginia!

Some Literary/Book Review Blogs Reading Red Maud Newton Tayari Jones Lit mob My newsletter: Books for Readers

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More Jeremy Osner

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Want some great graphics? http://ann-s-thesia.com/

Music& Mixed Media Websites Peter Sciaino Deep Listening

More Links

Writing Exercises

-- Meredith Sue Willis

Current Exercise

Here's something different to try. Can you find the original poem in this wordy version? For prose writers like me, learning to tighten and cut can be one of the great challenges of revision.

For the original poem, a translation from the Japanese, click here.

Hey, sparrow!

Writing Hints & FAQ

Separate your critical brain from your drafting brain. Try writing at least three paragraphs (or even better, three pages) before you go back and fiddle with the words. If possible, don't read over what you wrote today until tomorrow or at least after lunch. It will be much easier to make changes.

A few questions and the beginnings of answers

Words to avoid

More

Try not to do just one thing if you can do more than one. Don't give the information that he ate a steak, rather, show both that he ate a steak and that he was angry when he was eating it: "He stabbed his fork into the slab of sirloin and and slashed off a piece with his knife."

After you've written your draft, go through it looking to see if all the essential conflicts have been dramatized. This is an especially good technique if you feel that your dialogue is flat or boring. Put the dramatized conflicts into the dialogue.

Put thinking, contemplation, and dramatized flashback scenes at a point in your story where it would be natural in real life too: riding a train, lying awake at night when the character can’t sleep, etc.

Click here for hints from writers, editors, and agents.

And here for what some writers have to say about writing and literature.

More Free Writing Exercises below and here :

Exercises 1- 20

Exercises 21- 40

Exercses 41 - 60

Exercises 61-80

Exercises 81-100

Exercises 101 - 120

Exercises 121 - 140

Here's something new that looks like fun: Snapfiction.com offers a writing exercise "challenge" every week--give it a try!

Here's something especially for teachers-- a free writing prompt of the month: http://www.unr.edu/educ/nnwp/Mini_Lesson_of_the_Month_Club.htm

Looking for Poetry Writing Exercises? Writenet at Teachers & Writers has some good ones originally planned for young people, but they would make great starters for anyone

For writing exercises for children, click here. Teens can use the ones on this page, or look at my page for teens.

Here's a link to a really interesting haiku exercise from Timothy Russell.

And then there is making fun of writing prompts:McSweeney's has a fairly funny take-off called "Thirteen Writing Prompts" by Dan Wienceck

Rita Marie Keller has a blog called Buried Treasures that is full of writing prompts and links to more writing prompts. " Essays and writing exercises to help you uncover the great writing ideas you already have."

Exercise # 166

Exercise # 169

Exercise # 174

Exercise # 181

What is the daily life of Cupid like? In this case I mean the little Cupid who appears in advertisements and commercials, not the one from mythology.

Write a monologue poem for your Cupid.

Write a personification-- that is, describe an individual or creature called "Love." Try something other than the little chubby toddler above with the wings too small for use, and be sure and include objects Love has, Love's clothes, etc.

Hey, sparrow!

Hey, sparrow! out of the way, Horse is coming!

By Kobayashi Issa Translated by Robert Hass

Special Book Deal!

Buy any book by Meredith Sue Willis by mail order and get 10% off your entire order (exclusive of tax, shipping and handling). For information on books (or to order online--no discount), see Commentary. To order by mail with discount, go to Orders.

Photos found on the various pages of this web site may be used by anyone, but please attribute the source when it is specified.

In the Mountains of America (Appalachian Short Stories)

Dwight's House and Other Stories (Short Stories)

Oradell at Sea (Novel)

The City Built of Starships (Science Fiction)

Quilt Pieces (chapbook)

Higher Ground (Novel-- First book of the Blair Morgan Trilogy)

Only Great Changes (Novel-- Second book of the Blair Morgan Trilogy)

Trespassers (Novel-- Final book of the Blair Morgan Trilogy)

A Space Apart (MSW's First Novel-- reprint edition)

Billie of Fish House Lane (Novel for Children )

The Secret Super Powers of Marco (Novel for Children )

Marco's Monster (Novel for Children )

Blazing Pencils (How-to-Write Book for Students )

Personal Fiction Writing (How-to-Write for Teachers & Writers )

Deep Revision (How-to-Write for Teachers & Writers )

2008 Blog
(Blog archives, click here)
Blog Archives 1st half 2006
Blog Archives 2nd half 2006
Blog archives 2005
Blog Archives 2004

New Book for Kids
Billie of Fish House Lane
From Montemayor Press
Read a chapter:
Click on Catalogue,
Literature for Children

A literary Map of
West Virginia!

Some Literary/Book Review Blogs
Reading Red
Maud Newton
Tayari Jones
Lit mob
My newsletter: Books for Readers

Writers' Links
& Resources
Resources for writers

How Artists Get Paid
Int. Women's Writing Guild
New Publishing Paradigm
Quotations from Writers about Writing
Resources for writers
Thunderburst
Edwards Bros. Printers
Things for Writers to Read

Poetry & More
Tool for Finding Poems Online
Americcan Life in Poetry
Poetry Daily
Writers Almanac

Writing by MSW
Online Fiction
Online Nonfiction
Article on Revision
Article on Dialogue
Getting Published
Reviews
Books
Adult Fiction
Books for Children
Books on Writing
Free Newsletter
for Readers

FamilyOriented Websites
Ellen Kahaner's Mural class
Reading and Traveling with Kids

More
Jeremy Osner

Photos and Art
Linda Adato
Tim Barnwell Appalachian Images
Rachel Burgess
Charlie Cowger
In this Light: A Blog of Images and Narrative
Ann Olson
Rochelle Ratner
Kevin Scanlon
Duane Smith
Randi Ward
Ella Yang

Want some great graphics?
http://ann-s-thesia.com/

Music& Mixed Media Websites
Peter Sciaino
Deep Listening

Hey, sparrow!
out of the way,
Horse is coming!

By Kobayashi Issa
Translated by Robert Hass

Dwight's House and Other Stories
(Short Stories)

Oradell at Sea
(Novel)

The City Built of Starships
(Science Fiction)

Higher Ground
(Novel-- First book of the Blair Morgan Trilogy)

Only Great Changes
(Novel-- Second book of the Blair Morgan Trilogy)

Trespassers
(Novel-- Final book of the Blair Morgan Trilogy)

A Space Apart
(MSW's First Novel-- reprint edition)

Billie of Fish
House Lane
(Novel for Children )

The Secret Super
Powers of Marco
(Novel for Children )

Marco's Monster
(Novel for Children )

Blazing Pencils
(How-to-Write
Book for Students )

Personal Fiction Writing
(How-to-Write for Teachers & Writers )

Deep Revision
(How-to-Write for Teachers & Writers )