Every writer has good days and bad days. On a good day, you feel like you can go on for hours, and even stay up all night, just writing, or plotting, or doing both at the same time. Your muse has granted you an idea, and the gears in your mind are working nonstop, and the more you write, the better it flows. But, there are bad days, when no matter how hard you try, you either cannot write, or what you do write feels wrong, bad, and all you want to do is stop. It’s normal to have bad writing days, when you cannot work on your story, or you cannot even come up with one. However, this doesn’t mean that you should sit back and let it happen. This is why we’ve gathered a few writing exercises that will help you get a creativity boost, and you can use these on your “bad writing days” to get the attention of your muse.
1. Write from a song
Most songs tell stories, and if you listen carefully, you can discover them. However, the idea behind this exercise isn’t to discover that story. Choose a song, any song: it can be your favorite song, or the first song you hear on the radio, or on your own playlist. Or, and this will yield the best result: a song that speaks to you. Now, after you’ve chosen the song, use the title and write a short story about it. The one rule: you have to write a very short story, and write it in one day, maybe even in one sitting. The next day, repeat the exercise with another song. This exercise will get your mind to think creatively, like a warm up for a marathon.
2. Write from a different point of view
Secondary characters come and go in a story. They are there because they are needed: as the protagonist’s friends, enemies, helpers or teachers, or simply to say a few lines. This is why they might feel bland and blend in with each other. If you’re at a stalemate in your story, try getting inside the head of a secondary character. For example, begin writing the moment they interact with the protagonist. Write this scene from their point of view, and then follow them as they leave. Where do they go? What do they do? What is their opinion about the people they meet? No, you don’t have to include this in your story, but this exercise will help you find their voice, and maybe discover how they become important in your story.
3. Write about strangers
This is a fairly easy one: it’s pure guesswork at the beginning, but the more you do it, the better you’ll become at it. Get a notebook, and go to a café, a park, or ride the train or the bus. It doesn’t matter, as long as you’re able to people-watch. The idea is to deduce things about them and write this down as if those people are a part of your story. Imagine that you’re the protagonist, and what you write down are the observations he/she makes about people around him/her.
4. Free write in the morning
As you drink your coffee in the morning, get your notebook and a pen and simply write whatever comes to mind. You can write plans about your day, to things that have happened to you that have made an impact. The one rule is that you don’t do this in front of your computer, but in your notebook. Writing on a computer usually means writing something significant: a story, a blog post, a novel, a plot, so if you are free writing in the morning on the computer, it might make you feel like you’re working. That isn’t the idea behind this exercise. The goal here is the same: boost your creativity, and enjoy the freedom of writing about anything.
5. Write “what if” scenarios
If you’ve found yourself at a standstill in your novel or your story, a place where you just simply cannot come up with a way to continue forward, then you should try the following exercise: set the timer for 10-15 minutes. Use your notebook to write “what if” scenarios about how the story continues. Don’t write excessively about one idea; instead, write down as many as you can. When the time is up, you can start analyzing the ideas, and then you can choose one of them and use it to continue your story. Or, if you believe that none of them are good, then you can repeat the exercise.
Image credit: Amanda Hirsch on flickr and reproduced under Creative Commons 2.0
Georgina Roy wants to live in a world filled with magic. As an art student, she’s moonlighting as a writer and is content to fill notebooks and sketchbooks with magical creatures and amazing new worlds. When she is not at school, or scribbling away in a notebook, you can usually find her curled up, reading a good urban fantasy novel, or writing on her laptop, trying to create her own.