Story Writing Exercises 101: Tuesday 21st May

Here are your four story exercises for today. Time yourself for 15 minutes for each one, then either have a break or move on to the next one.

You can do them in any order.

1. Keywords: crack, scrape, cut, hit, whip
2. Random: running for a train
3. Picture: what does this inspire?
4. Tuesday Title: The quality

Have fun, and do paste your writing in the comment boxes below so we can see how you got on!

Story Writing Exercises 100: Monday 20th May

Here are your four story exercises for today. Time yourself for 15 minutes for each one, then either have a break or move on to the next one.

You can do them in any order.

1. Keywords: taste, define, region, true, opponent
2. Random: too much garlic
3. Picture: what does this inspire?
4. Monday Monologue: It’s your character’s birthday but someone’s forgotten

Have fun, and do paste your writing in the comment boxes below so we can see how you got on!

Story Writing Exercises 099: Friday 17th May

Here are your four story exercises for today. Time yourself for 15 minutes for each one, then either have a break or move on to the next one.

You can do them in any order.

1. Keywords: throw, hit, low, enter, blur
2. Random: S/he’s spending Christmas with her/his ex
3. Picture: what does this inspire?
4. One-word prompt: eye

Have fun, and do paste your writing in the comment boxes below so we can see how you got on!

Story Writing Exercises 098: Thursday 16th May

Here are your four story exercises for today. Time yourself for 15 minutes for each one, then either have a break or move on to the next one.

You can do them in any order.

1. Keywords: pump, vein, dark, taste, obey
2. Random: Her/his partner wants a threesome
3. Picture: what does this inspire?
4. Mixed bag: surgeon (character 1), chocolate taster (ch.2), rabbit (object), library (location), phobia of kittens (trait), foot stuck in something (dilemma)

Have fun, and do paste your writing in the comment boxes below so we can see how you got on!

Story Writing Exercises 097: Wednesday 15th May

Here are your four story exercises for today. Time yourself for 15 minutes for each one, then either have a break or move on to the next one.

You can do them in any order.

1. Keywords: gas, fast, tense, deep, reason, trace
2. Random: S/he’s allergic to cats / dogs
3. Picture: what does this inspire?
4. Sentence start: Every time I look at you…

Have fun, and do paste your writing in the comment boxes below so we can see how you got on!

Story Writing Exercises 096: Tuesday 14th May

Here are your four story exercises for today. Time yourself for 15 minutes for each one, then either have a break or move on to the next one.

You can do them in any order.

1. Keywords: strange, not, what, lightning, vein
2. Random: S/he has frequent hiccups
3. Picture: what does this inspire?
4. Tuesday Title: Please forgive me

Have fun, and do paste your writing in the comment boxes below so we can see how you got on!

Story Writing Exercises 095: Monday 13th May

Here are your four story exercises for today. Time yourself for 15 minutes for each one, then either have a break or move on to the next one.

You can do them in any order.

1. Keywords: side, lose, other, act, forgive
2. Random: S/he cries at the slightest thing
3. Picture: what does this inspire?
4. Monday Monologue: It’s her/his first ever visit to…

Have fun, and do paste your writing in the comment boxes below so we can see how you got on!

See below for explanations of the prompts, they do vary…

• Sentence starts = what they say on the tin. You can start the beginning of the story with them or a later sentence but they’re a great way of kicking off.
• Keywords = the words have to appear in the story but can be in any order and can be lengthened (e.g. clap to clapping).
• One-word prompt = sometimes all it takes is one word to spawn an idea. Sometimes it easy, sometimes hard but invariably fun.
• Mixed bag = two characters, an object, a location, a dilemma, a trait. Mix them all together and you have a plot… hopefully.
• First person piece or monologue (a one-sided conversation).
• Dialogue only = this is where you literally just write a conversation between two people. No ‘he said’, ‘she said’ or description, just speech and the reader has to be able to keep up. :)
• Second-person = some of you will know that I champion. The prompt can be in any style but has to be written in second-person viewpoint… oh, what a hardship. :)
• Title: This is the title of your story.
• Picture prompts = nothing other than a picture. What does it conjure up?
• Random = whatever takes my fancy!

Tips

• Don’t forget your five senses: sight, sound, touch, taste, smell
• Show don’t tell: if your character is angry, don’t tell us he is, have him thumping his fist on the table.
• Colours: Include at least one colour in your story. It does add depth.
• Use strong verbs and avoid adverbs: Have a character striding instead of walking confidently.
• Only use repetition to emphasise.
• When you’ve finished the first draft, read the story out loud. It’s surprising how many ‘mistakes’ leap out at you when you read out loud… assuming you have any of course!

Picture above courtesy of morguefile.com

Footer – script

I love to talk about writing so feel free to email me. I’ll be pasting these in this blog’s Facebook Group so you may find some other comments there. If you’d like to submit a story for critique on this site, see Submissions. The other critique writing groups are:

• Morgen’s Online Non-Fiction Writing Group (http://nonfictionwritinggroup.wordpress.com / http://www.facebook.com/groups/335526669896374)
• Morgen’s Online Novel Writing Group (http://novelwritinggroup.wordpress.com / http://www.facebook.com/groups/508696639153189)
• Morgen’s Online Poetry Writing Group (http://poetrywritinggroup.wordpress.com / http://www.facebook.com/groups/388850977875934)
• Morgen’s Online Short Story Writing Group (http://shortstorywritinggroup.wordpress.com / http://www.facebook.com/groups/544072635605445)

Thank you for reading this and we look forward to your comments.