Writing Exercises 101

No Adjectives

2007-05-05T11:01:00.000-07:00

Describe something in at least 100 words using no adjectives.

Writing Exercise #3: 100 Words

2007-02-25T00:30:00.000-08:00

Write a story in exactly 100 words -- no more, no less.

Your story must have a beginning, a middle, and an end. It must have two characters: a protagonist and an antagonist. It must have conflict. And in some way, the protagonist's ground situation must be changed by the end of the story.

Due date: Monday, March 19, 2007, 8:00 a.m.

Scene and Sequel

2006-12-09T10:40:00.000-08:00

I was talking with Nate the other day and he expressed some trepidation about writing a "scene." I thought it might be helpful to provide some sense of what a scene actually is.

I found this, which is as succinct an explication of scene and sequel as I've ever read, even if the rest of this person's blog is, well, interesting in a different sense.

I hope this helps. Looking forward to reading everyone's take on this exercise.

Writing Exercise #2: Story Form, Plot, and Structure

2006-12-04T19:37:00.000-08:00

Revised due date: Monday, 12/18/2006, 11:00 p.m.

Here's an exercise from Janet Burroway's book Writing Fiction: A Guide to Narrative Craft (Go), which was our textbook for the first writing class I took at UW:

Write a scene in which a character is in a restaurant and, in going from the table to the restroom, passes his or her old love on a date with a new love.

Writing Exercise #1, Passage Re-Write

2006-11-28T10:19:00.000-08:00

Revised due date. Post submissions as comments.
Due 2006.12.04 8:00am PST

The idea is this: Take the passage below and re-write it substituting words, yet retaining the form in some recognizable fashion. Perhaps the first two sentences might be re-written as such:

"When I was sick, I missed my brother Stevie. It was impossible for him to come into my room without contaminating the air and breaking my immune system defenses down. His letters had some magical..."

The goal is to get a preliminary feel for choosing words and placing them in order without getting too hung up on the subject matter or story. You can interpret this exercise how ever you feel is appropriate.

The passage to play with:

"When I was ten, I feared my sister Megan. It was impossible for her to come into my room without breaking at least one of my favorite toys, usually the favorite of favorites. Her gaze had some magical tape-destroying quality; any poster she looked at seems to fall of the wall only seconds later. Well-loved articles of clothing disappeared from the closet. She didn't take them (at least I don't think so), only made them vanish. I'd usually find that treasured tee-shirt or my favorite Nikes deep under the bed months later, looking sad and abandoned among the dust kitties. When Megan was in my room, stereo speakers blew, window-shades flew up with a bang, and the lamp on my desk usually went dead.

She could be consciously cruel, too. On one occasion, Megan poured orange juice into my cereal. On another, she squirted toothpaste into the toes of my socks while I was taking a shower. And although she never admitted it, I am positive that whenever I fell asleep on the couch during half-time of the Sunday afternoon pro football games on TV, she rubbed boogers in my hair."