Idea Seeds! Start your page with any of the following and see where your creative muse takes you:

(more…)

Another back-story exercise for fiction writers today.
Write a report showing your character’s career path to date - from the time he/she left school until the present moment. Does the report show your character to have followed a sound career path, or have they gone from one job to the next with more thought to paying the bills than progressing professionally up any particular career ladder. What aspirations do they have for the future in this area of their life?

Should your main character be a child, consider what professional ambitions the child holds now, and whether or not they are influenced by close family members.

What kinds of crime are clearly visible in the area you live? What crimes are commonly reported in the local newspaper? Do you have some crimes that are so common that no-one - even the police - bothers much about them anymore? Do you live in an area where crime is quite rare, or the kind of area where you always lock your doors and never go out alone at night? Write an opinion piece, as if for your local paper, about the state of crime in your area and how you feel about it.

Your exercise today is to incorporate all of the following words into an article, short story, poem or whatever comes to mind. You must use all of the words (in any order) to complete the exercise, but the context in which they are used is up to you. Think about the words for a few minutes before you start to write and see what pictures come to mind - then see if you can weave them all together into a piece of writing.

(more…)

Take a look outside the window. For today’s exercise describe the sky you see above you. For a slightly more challenging exercise, try to adopt a style with the language you use in your description - for example "romantic" or "pessimistic".

The Friday Seeds are Planted!

(more…)

It’s election time. What issues are closest to your character’s heart? Write a list of things they firmly believe in and then write a letter to the Candidate of their choice asking for clarification of what they intend to do about these things should they be voted into office.

(more…)

Do you have clutter everywhere and dread anyone turning up unannounced? Or are you more or less tidy but have one or two places that are out of bounds to any visitors?

(more…)

Can you use the following 10 words in a single piece of writing? If you find this too easy, how about
taking a more difficult challenge and either a) use them all in a short poem of less than 12 lines, or b) use
them in a single paragraph of under 250 words!
This week’s words are:
Gestation
Shimmer
Dejected
Magnate
Aquamarine
Schedule
Oriental
Robust
Fibre
Dolphin

How are you on waiting around for things? Are you happy to sit in traffic tailbacks? How about being delayed because someone is late for a meeting with you? Suppose you have an appointment with a Dr and they are running behind schedule by more than an hour and you have to sit in the waiting room?

(more…)