I’m always on the lookout for writing exercises, crossword puzzles, hidden picture puzzles or any system that will jump start my writing.
Here are a few ideas for filling the page without the pressure of producing a final draft:
- Write a one-sentence description of ten friends or family members.
- Write your obituary in 500 words or less.
- Describe your favorite place to relax in 300 words.
- Select an essay that you wrote and rewrite it in third person.
- Choose a chapter written by you or another author and in third person and rewrite it in first person.
- Sit in a cafe or public place and transcribe a conversation between two people. Now create characters based on the conversation.
- Freewrite for ten minutes, then stop and read what you wrote. Write down the central theme or issue and begin another 10-minute freewrite. Stop and read that freewrite, find the central theme and begin another 10-minute freewrite.
- List ten activities that you love. Now write down the last time you did each activity.
- Take a walk and list every smell or every sound you notice. Use that to write from a dog’s point of view or a cat’s point of view.
- Find a passage from a favorite book and rewrite it in another genre. If the passage is science fiction, try writing it as a romance or a comedy.