It's Important to Work Out: Five Fave Exercises for Writers

 Hello Readers! 

*drys off*

We hope all our SoCal readers weathered the extreme rain without too much damage. We got lucky and had no problems at all. 

But goodness, that was a lot of water!

After our blog last week about different routines and exercises you can do to spark creativity, we got interested in writing exercises. We haven't used them too often in our process, but reading about them inspired us to try some out, and we found some gems that we wanted to share with you. 

So, if you're looking for some interesting prompts and exercises to get your writing flowing, check out our favorite new (to us) writing prompts below:

See, exercise is fun!

1) Opposite - opposite

Pick a pic that conjures a specific feeling in you. This image can be beautiful or terrifying or anything else, as long as it makes you feel something. Then, write a short story about that image. BUT, the short story flips the image on its head. If it's a gorgeous picture, make the reader feel the opposite about it. The sun-drenched meadow of wildflowers contains corpses of children. That sort of thing. Overthrow the reader's feelings and turn them into the opposite feelings. That's a great skill to hone.

2) The inanimate stream

Find a nice quiet place where you live, pick an inanimate object, and write freely from that object's point of view. Just stream of consciousness, let it flow. But tell me what that rug is feeling and all that it's seen and what it's longing for. 

3) Kennings

This is a quick, fun one. Pick any noun and write as many kennings as you can. Kennings are two+ word combos to describe something. We're gonna pick "cat":

body-licker, snooty-eater, twitchy-dreamer, razor-wielder, lap-commander, face-sniffer, kiss-giver, scratch-demander, belly-protector, tail-thwacker, nocturnal-yowler--you get the gist. 

It's fun, give it a try!

4) Text messages

Ever find yourself poking around on your phone instead of writing? Try this exercise: Pull up the last text message you received, set a timer, and write a short story based on that text. Maybe it's as simple as "On my way", or "We need milk", but it could be a little out there too. A quick look at our texts has one that says, "You could pour her a nice glass of tequila". That could be an engaging start to a little short story. 

5) What if?

Take a look at your own life. Think about a big life decision or event that happened at some point, and then write the what if--if you had done the opposite, or if the event had or hadn't happened. Write that short story. Alternatively, you can do this with the what if your biggest fear or dream had come true. 

We've had fun with these, and it's great as a warmup or to get unstuck. It can also help you come up with ideas that you can incorporate into whatever story you're currently working on. 

Give 'em a try and let us know what you think!

Until next time, 

~2authors