#CreativeWritingExercises

[kids-worldfun]

Tips to Help Students Improve Their Writing Skills. In this article we’ll take a look at how students can improve their writing skills and develop better habits when it comes to communicating with words on paper (or screen). 

[practicalcreativewriting]

Do you remember your dreams?

[booktopiaa-blog]

Hey everyone! So, for my first creative writing exercise, I’m going to be doing this thing called ‘7x7x7′. 

“Find the 7th book from your bookshelf. Open it up to page 7. Look at the 7th sentence on the page. Begin a poem that begins with that sentence and limit the length to  7 lines.”

Now, I’ve never been much of a poet (unless you count the cringe-worthy rhymezone.com powered ‘activist’ rants I posted on Facebook when I was younger). This should be quite interesting. And bad. Very, very bad (I suck at rhyming things). Anyhow, here we go.

So uh, this is a portion of my very tidy bookshelf. From left-to-right, the 7th book is ‘Grimalkin The Witch Assassin’ by Joseph Delaney. I still haven’t read all of this novel because I realized (50 pages in) that it was a sequel and not a stand-alone, or even a first part. I swear, this always happens to me, and it’s so annoying. Why can’t publishers just add ‘PART 1′ or ‘PART 2′ to the front? It would make my life so much easier. Sigh, I’m going off topic again. I grabbed the book, flipped its pages until I read the number seven, and here you go.

“No sooner had he appeared than, with a roar of rage, he snatched my innocent baby boy and lifted him high, ready to dash him to the ground.”

Okay, graphic much? Anyways, I’m going to try as hard as I can to make a poem out of this. Let’s hope it’s not too horrible.

No sooner had he appeared than, with a roar of rage, he snatched my innocent baby boy and lifted him high, ready to dash him to the ground, No sooner had he disappeared than, with trembling hands and feet, I looked down upon my murdered child in distress, No sooner had I woken up in a white bed than, with beeping noises and bizarre scents, I had realized it was not a dream, Nor a nightmare, nor a figment of my imagination; it was He, He who haunted my every living second, every breath, every action, And then it was of great surprise, and very great melancholy, when dawned my realization that ‘He’, could very possibly, actually be ‘me’.

[esther-aria]

The Incendiary Destruction of Cynthia Jameson

AMY MULLINS A woman in her early 30s. Her dark hair is cut into a sleek, fashionable bob. She has an aura of put-togetherness and always appears to be in control of her actions and responses.

MEHGHA RAO Amy’s co-worker.. Slightly younger than Amy, she has wild waves that are almost contained into a low ponytail. Her personality is much more spastic than Amy’s. She is full of an unending energy and is never really able to sit still.

STELLA CONROY A woman in her late 40s. She has a slight Irish accent. Her hair is graying and tied up in a furiously high bun. She has severe spectacles perched on the edge of her nose and appears to be in a constant state of complaint.

SCENE 1

(Lights up on a living room. The room is a simple tri-fold, with a large back wall. There are two doorways which are simply large rectangles cut into the wall, no doors or doorframes. One doorway is along the stage right wall and the other is on the stage left side of the back wall. There is a short couch against the stage left wall and a simple table and two straight-backed chairs along the back wall on stage right. Amy is standing center stage, facing the audience)

AMY

Cynthia Jameson’s job was her entire life. And I do mean that, her entire life. She always kept an extra set of clothes at the office in case she ended up staying the night working. She kept more of her personal items at work than she did at her apartment. We always would joke about the fact that if the office went up in flames, everyone would lose a few personal affects, but Jameson would lose her life. At last year’s Christmas party, some of the secretaries on the third floor got a bit too tipsy and tried getting into her office, you should’ve seen her spitting flames. And what happened to those secretaries. Marion Agyeman is the only one who still has a job here. And that’s because her uncle’s one of the higher-ups and Jameson wouldn’t dare touch her.

There’s not a person in our office without some degree of fear towards Jameson. She blackmails, threatens, ruins lives, all in the name of making our company better. Of protecting the reputation of this firm. Well, she’d screwed with enough lives in my opinion. And I decided it was time for something to be done about it.

SCENE 2

(Lights up on the living room. AMY and MEHGHA are sitting, cross-legged on the floor in center stage playing a game of Yahtzee. They are both in business clothes and a large briefcase lies downstage of AMY.)

AMY

Your turn.

MEHGHA

(She rolls the dice)

Dang it! I already got the full house.

AMY

You can try going for 5s, you haven’t done that yet.

(Pause)

So what do you think?

MEHGHA

May as well, right? No point in going for 2s again…

AMY

No! Not that. The other thing.

MEHGHA

(Laughs)

Amy. Please. I’m not nearly drunk enough for us to talk about that.

AMY

We’re not drinking.

MEHGHA

Exactly! Could you remind me why that is again?

AMY

(Grabs the dice and shakes them)

Because, if we decide to torch Jameson’s office, I want the decision to have been made when we’re both completely sober. I would want to remember every glorious detail of it.

MEHGHA

If we torch Jameson’s office—and granted that’s a big if since we haven’t even begun to talk logistics yet—I want to be completely smashed. Out of my mind. Eyes rolling back. Mouth drooling. The whole ugly affair.

AMY

(Rolls)

Well that’s just rotten luck.

(Grabs all of them back to roll again)

MEHGHA

Yeah, once you’ve used up all your straights, it’s just pathetic hopping from one number to the next, you know?

Anyways. Say we’re able to get all the supplies, right? Even get transportation up to the building. Even buy some sick ninja night gear and black paint to smear on our faces. There’s still the matter of getting IN to the office! I think you’re missing the big problem with security here.

AMY

Stella will cover that.

STELLA

(Yelling from off-stage)

Like hell I will! There’s not a bleeding chance in Maine of my helping the two of you with this mad plan you’ve got.

MEHGHA

Oh stuff it, Stella! We know you hate Jameson just as much as we do.

STELLA

(Enters through the doorway on the back wall. Still in her work clothes as well, she’s holding some computer cords in her hands and occasionally waves them around to emphasize her points)

Look here. I hate Cynthia Jameson with every fiber of my being. That woman’s had something coming to her since she stepped off that train from Hicksville, Wyoming. But if you think for a hot second that I’m gonna stick my neck out there to help you, then you have another think coming.

AMY

You’ll help us, Stella.

(Passes the dice to Mehgha who begins to roll)

STELLA

Yes, Miss Amy? And why would that be?

And Mehgha, for goodness sake, don’t go for a large straight! You haven’t a prayer.

MEHGHA

Well then which?

STELLA

Shoot for the threes I guess. They don’t matter a lot in the top count anyways.

MEHGHA

Of course they matter! I got a crappy 10 on my 5s, I need a good 3 to get the bonus!

STELLA

Whatever, lady. It’s your funeral.

Now, Amy. Enlighten me, please, about whatever ethereal force it is that will cause me to help you.

AMY

Steven.

STELLA

(Hard)

Leave him out of this.

MEHGHA

What? What about Steven?

STELLA

It’s none of your business. Either of you.

MEHGHA

Come on! Tell me! It can’t be th—

STELLA

I said it’s none of your business. Look, I just came over here to snag an HDMI cord since I can’t seem to find mine anywhere and, now I’m gonna be on my merry way. It was a mistake coming here in the first place. I should’ve seen through you offering to lend me yours.

AMY

Stella don’t be ridiculous. I didn’t invite you here to trap you into anything.

(STELLA snorts)

I mean it. If you’re not comfortable with this, I don’t want to pressure you into anything. It just… it seemed to me that you had more reason to want to dethrone Jameson than any of us. I know Stev—

STELLA

That’s enoug—

MEHGHA

Please just tell me!

(A beat. The three look at each other, tense)

AMY

I know Steven is important. I know you don’t want to do anything to jeopardize your job or put him at risk. But isn’t what Jameson did… didn’t—wasn’t that worse than anything a backlash from this could cause? I mean, I have a lot less incentive than you do—I mean I only would have lost my job if she’d managed to convince Liu that I’d actually messed up those tax forms—and I can’t bear the thought of sitting here and letting her continue on without any backlash for the things she does!

STELLA

Not going to pressure me, huh?

AMY

You’re right, you’re right. I’m sorry. I just want you to realize that you’re not alone in this. She’s hurt everyone. Me, Mehgha, even Mehgha’s family… I just want—

STELLA

I’ll think about it. I’ll bring you your cord at work tomorrow, yea?

AMY

That would be wonderful. Thank you, Stella.

(Stella exits)

MEHGHA

Well I still don’t get it.

AMY

The point is, Mehgha, that Jameson’s office won’t be standing for much longer. Now come on, three more rolls then we’re heading to Lowe’s for supplies.

MEHGHA

Alright, alright. But after that can we buy booze?

(Lights)

SCENE 3

(Dim lighting in the living room, it’s clearly nighttime. The room is empty until we hear a heavy pounding on the door. There’s a pause and then more pounding. Mehgha enters nervously, wearing pajamas, through the backstage door, baseball bat in hand)

MEHGHA

(Quietly. The person pounding clearly would not be able to hear her)

Wh--- who’s there?

(More pounding)

I said who’s there?

(Pound pound)

Who is it!

(Amy enters—also in pajamas--and briskly walks past Mehgha towards the door)

AMY

Don’t be ridiculous, Mehgha. It’s only Stella.

MEHGHA

Huh? How do you—

(The sound of a door opening. Then Amy reenters with Stella behind her. Stella is still in her business clothes from earlier that day, though her hair has fallen out of her bun slightly from hard thinking)

AMY

So you’ve decided? [STELLA nods]  You’re sure about this Stella? I mean it’s a big risk we’re taking.

STELLA

Oh stuff it, Mullins. You knew you’d get me in on this the second you mentioned Steven. So now you’ve won. You’ve got me in. What exactly do you need from me?

AMY

Well mostly just getting us past the security measures, like Mehgha said. I’m hopeless at technology and, well, as head of the technology department I figured you’d be able to handle that.

STELLA

I could figure something out pretty quickly. And Gregor and I had a thing a couple years ago. He showed off a lot of the equipment to me when he found out I was such a tech junkie.

AMY

Perfect. That’s better than anything we could have hoped for. And really, Stella, you don’t have to do any of the actual dirty work. I wouldn’t want to get you any more involved than you need to be.

STELLA

Oh no, don’t try that. I said I’m in and I mean it, I’m all in. All the way down to lighting the match.

MEHGHA

(She’s been standing throughout this entire conversation in the same position, baseball bat raised, mouth slightly open in confusion. She’s attempted entering the conversation several times, unable to get a word in until--)

Now—just—hold on! Wait just a second!

AMY

What?

MEHGHA

Ok, now I understand why Amy is doing this. The Tax Form Incident nearly lost her her career. And I know why I’m doing this. Jameson dug up that information about my family’s citizenship problems a few months ago when we had that disagreement over the Millington Files. She got my aunt and uncle deported. But Stella, you’re Jameson’s right hand. She sneezes and you’re there with a tissue to wipe up the mess. And all the five years I’ve been working here, I’ve never seen an iota of dissent from you. What’s changed? Why now?

AMY

Mehgha, Stella doesn’t need to explain her—

STELLA

No, no. You’re right, Mehgha. I probably owe you something of an explanation.

(Beat. Readying herself)

Steven was not always in a mental hospital. He used to live with me, at home, where he belongs. He was never a threat to anyone… he wouldn’t have hurt a fly even if it’d flown into his eye. But, you know, I couldn’t very well leave him home alone. I hired a nanny for him, but every once in a while I’d give her the day off and bring him into work with me. He’d find something to entertain himself and sit on the couch in my office or watch me work. And we’d take lunch together on the lawn out front. He loved watching the cars go around the roundabout, you know? Tried to make a game of it.

You know Jameson had been there for… maybe a year before you joined the company. [To MEHGHA. MEHGHA starts to interrupt but is silenced by a look from AMY] Well, she—she was set against Steven from the minute she met him. Prejudiced wanker. It was one of the days he was there with me in the office and she came in to meet me… He was just being friendly but he got up real close to her and drooled a bit onto her suit jacket and I pulled him away right away, but, I saw it in her eyes. That disgust.

A few more months went by and, well, she tried so hard to stop me from ever being able to bring him in. Tried telling Liu and a few other higher ups that he was a threat or that it was inappropriate for him to be there or some other crap. They came in to talk with me and I assured them that Steven, well like I said, he’d never hurt a fly. I just liked bringing him in to work every once in awhile to give him a change of scenery. And Liu agreed, said it wasn’t a big deal and—like a fool—I thought that’d be the end of it.

MEHGHA

I don’t underst—

AMY

Shh!

STELLA

(Plows on)

One day I left Steven in my office for a meeting. We were just wrapping up when Marion came sprinting into the room telling me that security was coming upstairs to escort Steven away. That he’d apparently had some sort of episode and had attacked Jameson when she came into my office to drop off some papers, stabbed her in the arm with some scissors…

The judge took one look at his history and wouldn’t accept a word I said. It was all “Cynthia Jameson attested to this” “His school records say that” “Your neighbor submitted a complaint about this” and nothing about the circumstances! Nothing about me! Nothing about how taking my son away from me would destroy me! Would leave me empty! Would leave me crying myself to sleep at night every day since!

(Heavy silence. The bat hangs limply at Mehgha’s side. Stella has turned away from them, but neither feel like they should approach her, knowing any comfort they offer is superficial)

So, Mehgha, in answer to your question: Nothing has changed. And to the other, well. I guess I’ve finally found people with the desire and ability to repay Jameson for the hell she’s created in our lives.

MEHGHA

Stella, I—

STELLA

Don’t say you’re sorry. If anything, don’t say you’re sorry.

MEHGHA

No. No not sorry. I was going to say—Stella, I think it’s time we sent that demon of a woman straight to the hell she came from.

STELLA

(Beat)

I’d say there’s little else I’d like more in the world.

AMY

Then why don’t you come in for a cup of tea. And let’s find out how much a one way ticket to Hell is going to cost us.

(There’s a moment. The three of them form an impressive tableau and you can feel in that instance that they will accomplish this incendiary destruction. And Mehgha swings the bat over her shoulder and an arm around Stella and they walk through the back doorway into the kitchen. Amy turns to follow them and pauses, and then with a smirk--)

AMY

Yahtzee.

(Lights)

[strangephiti]

Free Writing exercise

Prompt – Eating Out

I have trouble eating out anywhere because I have ‘gluten intolerance’. I can’t even eat food that has been in contact with gluten – cross contamination. With the issues of food avoidance I find that I am not interested in food at all. This is something my ex boyfriend could not understand. He is a taste seeker – he hates bland food. He liked going out to restaurants. But while he would carefully study the menu with glee – I would quickly scan the options (if there were options!) and pick whatever chicken thing was on offer. I never looked forward to the meal. I was simply glad I didn’t have to cook! When we went out with two of his friends it was to a Tapas Bar – lots of little plates of lots of little tastes. I did my best to join in – but looking at the menu meant very little to me. When the food arrived there was a fair bit of ‘have you tried this before? Have a bit, it’s good,’ and ‘are you going to finish that?’ I didn’t try anyone else's food and I barely finished what I ordered. The boys ate the rest. Flavours don’t mean much to me. If something is spicy, I just taste spice. If it’s sweet, I just taste sugar. (I didn’t drink till I was 25 – my brother found it funny when I complained I could ‘taste the alcohol.’) I remember my boyfriend looking at my with his sad little eyes –  his gloomy Eyeore face – completely perplexed by my lack of enjoyment. ‘You didn’t find anything you enjoyed?’ - I answered: ‘It all just tastes like ‘food’ to me.’

[practicalcreativewriting]

So we’re confined to base.

Creativity helps.

Try some creative writing exercises and have some fun.

[practicalcreativewriting]

Make use of your dreams...

[practicalcreativewriting]

How much thought do you put into choosing a theme for your stories? Many writers think about story and characters first and only think about the theme when they are writing their book blurb or marketing plan.

Yet being conscious of the theme can not only improve your work but can also improve your sales.

[practicalcreativewriting]

The fast and easy way to come up with great new ideas for your stories or books. Learn fast - with free creative writing exercises.

[practicalcreativewriting]

Nobody said it was easy to be a writer and sometimes it seems impossible to stay motivated. But, focusing on what we have done, rather than what we haven’t is the key to moving forward. This creative writing tracker is a simple way to keep track of your writing sessions and it’s FREE for writers now. Practical Creative Writing is a SPAM FREE ZONE So download your free tracker now.