What if writing exercises pdf

Because you are not obligated to finish these stories, this exercise lowers the emotional stakes and helps to shake up and surprise the imagination. For all I know, writing comes out of a superior devotion to reading. The Exercise : Half-way through a story, ask yourself several questions. What do I care about? What has set in motion that I want to see completed? Where is the writer taking me? Then finish reading the story and see how well the writer met the expectations that she raised for you.

The Objective : To illustrate how the best stories and novels set up situations that are resolved by the time you finish the story or close the book. If you use this book, your writing will definitely improve. There is something in it for everyone. View 1 comment. Jan 24, zane deann rated it did not like it Shelves: reads , one-star , did-not-finish. DNF on account of content. What's wrong here, folks?

How hard is it to write a clean writing exercise book?? Good grief. Sad, too, because some of the exercises were interesting. View all 6 comments. Dec 26, Letitia rated it liked it Shelves: to-read. It was ok, really useful at times. Feels a little dated. Makes a lot of suppositions about sexuality and gender without honoring the creative outlet that exploring those topics and turning them on their head can be. A good tool for someone truly stuck or who thinks they have stories to tell but nowhere to start.

May 29, Vonetta rated it really liked it. Super handy! Glad my writing instructor suggested it. Jun 14, Kaecey McCormick rated it really liked it. This is the kind of book that you like more or less depending on where you are in the writing process, what your goal is in consulting the book, and your state of mind at the time.

This book is useful and provides many exercises which help the reader write, get it down, get it out, and get through a block or obstacle that is preventing words from flowing. The exercises are relatively short and manageable. Some feel uncomfortable, silly, or strange - when I react like that to a writing exercise, This is the kind of book that you like more or less depending on where you are in the writing process, what your goal is in consulting the book, and your state of mind at the time.

Some feel uncomfortable, silly, or strange - when I react like that to a writing exercise, I've come to realize that those are the exercises that might push me and get me outside my comfort zone. Growth is often accompanied by discomfort. The book is also a good reference for teaching writing. I can see using this book in a group setting with my middle and high school writers. Lots of good references and reading suggestions that tie into the exercises.

Aug 14, Bonnie rated it really liked it Shelves: reviewed-books. I have the newest version which I had to order from the states, but I refer to it often. There aren't quite the same exercises as this original, but there are more of them, and the new text includes a good number of short, short stories and short stories, as well.

Mar 13, Lucy S rated it liked it Shelves: books-on-writing. Quite a few brilliant ideas that just get you writing, which is all I could hope for! Dec 01, Sue rated it really liked it Shelves: writing , read Different from most writing books, this is - basically - nothing but writing exercises, intended to help with particular parts of writing. However I didn't feel able to make the time and abandoned it for a while, then recently read the rest of the book, looking at the exercise Different from most writing books, this is - basically - nothing but writing exercises, intended to help with particular parts of writing.

However I didn't feel able to make the time and abandoned it for a while, then recently read the rest of the book, looking at the exercises and thinking that I might get back to them one day. There are lots of good points made in the book to illustrate what the exercises are about. The writing prompts encourage the reader to be creative and without necessarily leading to anything longer.

In many of the sections there examples given of student responses to the exercises, done in writing workshops. The authors are themselves writing coaches as well as writers, and I thought this was an excellent resource, even though I didn't make full use of it.

I hope to return to it, however, and dip into it in the future. Mar 20, Deborah rated it did not like it Shelves: stopped-reading. This book is the most condescending, poorly written book on writing that used to grace my shelves. The authors spoke to their audience like we couldn't write, and their sentences were so wordy that I started removing the excess words.

If you are going to write poorly to inexperienced writers, then you certainly shouldn't condescend to them. I threw this book away. It This book is the most condescending, poorly written book on writing that used to grace my shelves. It is the only book I have ever thrown away. View 2 comments. This was an okay book.

My idea in reading it was that I would do each of the writing exercises as I read them, but most of them I felt would not help me achieve my current goals. I did get some great ideas though and I wouldn't discourage any writer from trying this book out. But I would recommend skimming through the book to find exercises that will help you work through your current kinks, and not to work through the book cover to cover.

May 18, Amanda Patterson rated it really liked it. Great motivator for writers. Ask the difficult questions and then write the story. Read What If? Download ebook What If? Writing Exercises for Fiction Writers Online. Writing Exercises for Fiction Writers. Online, Read What If? Download What If?

Writing Exercises for Fiction. Writers Free access, Read What If? Writing Exercises for Fiction Writers by , Download is. Easy What If? Fiction Writers, How to download What If? Writing Exercises for Fiction Writers by. Writing Exercises for Fiction Writers" 3. Choose the book you like when you register 4. The way people look when they come in—hungry, tired, and when they leave, they look fed.

Especially now with that lawyer ruining my day. One of the most dif cult things is the rst paragraph. Ihave spent many months on a rst paragraph and once Iget it, the rest just comes out very easily. In the rst paragraph you solve most of the problems with your book. The theme is de ned, the style, the tone. At least in my case, the rst paragraph is akind of sample of what the rest of the book is going to be.

Every time you write ashort story, you have to begin all over again. The Exercise Collect Ann Landers columns, gossip columns, and stories from Weekly World News or True Confessions that seem to you to form—either partially or wholly—the basis for astory.

Or perhaps the story leads you to ask what is going to happen to that person now. Clip and save four or ve items. Outline astory based on one of them, indicating where the story begins, who the main characters are, what the general tone that is, the emotional timbre of the work will be, and from whose point of view you elect to tell the story.

These articles can be used for shorter, more focused exercises. Or have the person from the article write three letters. The Objective The objective is threefold. One is to look for an article that triggers your imagination and to understand how, when you dramatize the events, the story then becomes your story. And third, to practice deciding how and where to enter astory and where to leave off. In one case, awoman tookherboyfriendtodinnersothatthemovingcompanycouldremoveherpossessions from their apartment without his knowledge.

When Iwent for the job interview, Ifound the owner in agarage-of ce, seated at his desk, which wobbled on three legs and astack of cinder blocks. He was writing in a ledger and stuf ng ajelly doughnut into his mouth between calculations. We sat down on the ripped red vinyl of an old car seat and Jake lit up aMarlboro.

When Iasked what all that was about, he said he wanted people to think his company was some kind of big deal out t. Iwanted the job so Ihumored him. Sometimes Isayjust east of Westboro. Who do you call? One of the great pleasures of writing ction is letting your imagination and fantasies take off anywhere they want to go.

Another fantasy you can play out is doing something the very idea of which terri es you—like parachuting from aplane or sailing across the ocean solo. Be very speci c—the more details you incorporate the more likely it is that your reader will believe you. Include your feelings and reactions. This is what your imagination is for. Let it y. Every day, all over America, guys leave their wives and nothing happens. Mine calls the FBI and reports me as missing.

Her eyes are puffy. Ialready feel like I know her too well. Ihate forests. Imight as well be conspicuous, now that things have been decided. My rst stop is the Store 24, where Ibuy the Boston Herald and ascratch ticket. Ilet the little Pakistani guy behind the counter get areal good look at me. He points to something on the front page and smiles. Iwind up at Mister Donut. She tells me she gets homesick every time it snows because she grew up in Vermont. Isip my coffee but save my jeUy stick for later.

Iwatch her as she mops between the tables. Iwant to confess. Characterization Ilive with the people Icreate and it has made my essential loneliness less keen. Whenever we meet someone for the rst time, we unconsciously, instinctively size them up.

Our senses register the look on their face, their clothes, their general attitude, the way they talk to you and to other people. The more speci c you make these clues, the more immediate your characters will be. You must describe her eyes, her expression, her skin, her self-con dence, etc. Thus, characterization means eshing out the people who inhabit your story or ctional world by providing them with physical characteristics, habits and mannerisms, speech patterns, beliefs and motives, loves and hatreds, desires, apast and apresent and, nally, actions.

This last—how your characters behave in a given situation—will determine their future and shape and give pace to the forward motion and nal resolution of the story or novel. For example, she should know what kind of toothpaste Brad uses, whether or not his father was aforgiving person, what extracurricular things he did in high school, how many pairs of running shoes he owns, etc.

The names you give to your characters tell us agreat deal about how we are meant to feel about him. Now, where fully realized characters come from is another story. One gets started and then, suddenly, one can not remember what toothpaste they use; what are their views on interior decoration, and one is stuck utterly. No, major characters emerge; minor ones may be photographed.

For example, read F. Fiction gives us asecond chance that life denies us. Carefully chosen details can reveal character in fascinating and different ways. Sometimes details tell something about the character described as well as something about the character making the observation. Anna returns to St. Why do his ears look like that? In other cases acharacter reveals more about himself than he suspects. So tall, he seems an unlikely rabbit, but the breadth of white face, the pallor of his blue irises, and anervous utter under his brief nose as he stabs acigarette into his mouth partially explain the nickname, which was given to him when he too was aboy.

Houston writes:. She lifts three-pound dumbbells to warm up, then progresses to atwenty-pound barbell. Standing with her legs apart, she reminds Leroy of Wonder Woman. Then ll in this sentence ve or ten times:. For example: Meyer Wolfsheim is the sort of person who boasts of wearing human molars for cuff links. Then determine which details add esh and blood and heart to your characters.

But use it. Tlie Objective To learn to select revealing concrete details, details that sometimes tell us more than the character would want us to know.

Student Examples Phillip is the sort of person for whom every transaction in life can be enacted with a Post-it Note. Mary is the sort of person who gets cast as atree with two lines, and becomes the most interesting part of the play. Emily was the sort of person who was practical in situations where most people were sentimental: When someone died she arrived with toilet paper, paper cups, and athree- pound can of coffee.

Will Greene is the sort of person who always has to be the better-looking one in a relationship. At fteen,Tonywasthesortofpersonwhoseheartrejectedpremaritalsex,butwhose body was already down at the corner drug store buying condoms. He was the kind of man who vacuumed for his wife after a ght because it was cheaper than buying her owers.

He is the sort of person people came to with their problems because they knew his answer would always be to share ajoint. Shelly Kim was the sort of girl who buttoned all her buttons.

She was the kind of person who never sat down to eat ameal, preferring instead to graze throughout the day like the large land mammal that she was. Icould take abattery ofMMPI and Wonderlic personality tests for each of my people and answer hundreds of questions with as much intimate knowledge as if they were taking the test. Agood writer shouldknowasneareverythingaspossible. Hemingway again speaks to this issue of being familiar with characters;.

The dignity of movement of an iceberg is due to only one-eighth of it being above water. Awriter who omits things because he does not know them only makes hollow pi aces m. The Exercise Work with one of your completed stories that has acharacter who needs eshing out.

Take out asheet of paper and number from one to fty-three. Age Looks. Right- or left-handed; Education. Status and money. Marital status. Family, ethnicity Diction, accent, etc. Places home, of ce, car, etc. Primary mode of transportation Halloween costumes. Recreation, hobbies. Prejudices Politics. Sexual history. Medical history, allergies, etc. Character strengths: Secrets. Taste in books, music, etc. Journal entries. Food preferences Handwriting Astrological sign Talents.

As seen by self Scars. What is kept in purse, wallet, fridge, glove compartment, medicine cabinet, junk drawer calendar, appointment book, rolodex, etc. No doubt you will be able to add to this list. Note: This exercise should be done after you have written your story. It is not a way to conceive acharacter, but rather away to reconceive acharacter. For example, one writer, Samuel R.

Delany, tells his students to knowexactlyhowmuchmoneytheircharactersmakeandhowtheymakeit. Andwhy not apply this list to some of your favorite stories? The Objective To understand how much there is to know about acharacter you have created. All really satisfying stories, Ibelieve, can generally be described as spendthrift. Aspendthrift story has strange way of seeming bigger that the sum of its parts; it is stuffed full; it gives asense of possessing further information that could be divulged if called for.

The particular clothes, furniture, food, pictures, computers, etc. The Exercise Invent acharacter. What kindoflampwouldyouputonthesidetable?

Each item has to perform what words articulate. The Objective To understand the subliminal power of the objects surrounding and on the body of a character. An author who was hyper-aware of this power was Edith Wharton. Medicine cabinet: Ambien, Anacin, mouthwash, condoms, and personal lubricant.

Bedroom: electric shoe polisher, electric pants presser, battery-driven revolving rack of neckties. Framed photo of self and mother, framed photo of self with Dartmouth crew. On the wall aDartmouth class banner. Double bed. Refrigerator: champagne, vodka, pat6, tonic, soda, canned juice. Marcia Mendell NordicTrack machine in bedroom. Single bed. Pile of NY Review of Books at foot of bed. Vegetable juicer. Running shoes in foyer. Pile of manuscripts on desk; glasses, laptop.

Marcia MenddVs sister Stuffed animals on bed. Humongous TV in bedroom. Lots of pocketbooks in closet—maybe fourteen pairs of shoes. What makes me feel as though Ibelong here, out in this world, is not the teacher, not the mother, not the love but what goes on in my mind when I am writing. Ican do the traditional things that writers always say they do, which is to make order out of chaos.

Even if you are reproducing the disorder, you are sovereign at that point. The thing that character wants need not be violent or spectacular; it is the intensity of the wanting that counts. She may want only to survive, but if so she must want enormously to survive, and there must be distinct cause to doubt she will succeed. As ayoung man, he had taken part in asuccessful revolution and, afterward, the government had promised him and other of cers travel reimbursement and indemnities. Even though he has hired alawyer, led papers, written endlessly, and seen laws passed, nothing has happened.

The lawyer notes that no of cial has ever taken responsibility. Kate Croy, aLondon woman, knows that her one-time acquaintance Milly Theale, arich and charming American, is dying of amysterious disease.

Sometimes an ostensible want hides or overlays agreater one. But as he waits for the strategic moment, an underlying desire to experi- thelifeofSpainandidentifywiththeSpanishpeopleemergesashisrealwant.

Trumpelman, the Jewish puppet-leader whom the Nazis install as head of the ghetto, wishes to preserve his people from the Holocaust—but he also has adrive to rule, dictate to, and punish them. Interior thinking? Making Heroes Flawed from Douglas Bauer. In Aspects of the Novel, E. Since the ction writer is also ahuman being, there is an af nity between him and his subject matter which is absent in many other forms of art.

Thisbecomesobviouswhen,rememberingForster,wethink ofour ctionalcreationsashuman. Themostvirtuousofhumanbeingsis awed.

So, too, with our protagonist heroes. Think of this exercise as acredit-and-debit sheet. Then make alist of those highlighted qualities: for example, fairness, integrity, charitable impulses, modesty, etc. Next, imagine anot so admirable, offsetting personality trait that your hero has to struggle to control, and match it with the admirable trait.

Finally, mix the good and the bad, so that, in the rst case, you have ahero who is fair in the end, but who occasionally self-servingly makes clear to one and all that he is one who has to suppress the impulse to do so. Maybe the hero is aware of his aws and consciously ghts back their emergence. Inever travel without my diary. You are what you buy, own, eat, wear, collect, read, and create; and you are what you do for aliving and how you live. If somebody broke into your home or apartment while you were away, chances are he could construct agood pro le of who you are.

The Exercise Create asetting for one or more of the following and furnish aplace with his character— you create the character through observation of the setting. The place can be any kind of locale—house, aspeci c room in ahouse, outdoor grounds, an of ce, acell, even a bed. The description must incorporate enough characteristic things so that the reader can visualize the absent dweller accurately.

Try to avoid stereotypes. Ahigh school senior about to unk out Afugitive from the law Asocial climber Acocktail waitress down on her luck Ablind person Aparaplegic Aparanoid person Asupermarket checkout woman who just won the state lottery. The Objective To be able to select details that will create acharacter and furnish the world of that character. Which details indicate emotions, personality, intelligence, character, and outlook on life?

Student Example Jeremy told me that after the accident his mother set up his room like the face of aclock. On the third shelf up, his initials, J. Iclose my eyes and run my ngers over them.

Jeremy made this bookcase ayear ago—about two months before his motorcycle accident on Route 9. Jeremy told his parents to take his books away. His posters of Easy Rider and the Budweiser girl are gone. If not any of these, you have probably worked at one or several jobs and have ajob now.

It really means family, or the blood of ordinary life The story takes place between eight in the morning and eight the next morning with nobody ever leaving the room! And those are the things that our life in this world and in this society and in every other society is really made up of. If people live without working, that is very important. Emperor of the Air, is agood example of work as foreground and background. His characters teach astronomy, biology, and English, coach basketball and baseball, sell movie tickets and run the projector, make prints, or play the horn.

Other characters are ahospital orderly, amedical student, agrocery store owner, and aretired auto upholstery salesman. Some of these jobs are central to their stories and others are simply what his characters do for aliving, but each job is given the respect of particularity.

It is agold mine of people talking, explaining, and complaining about their respective jobs. Listen to their talk:. When Iwas rst hired. Isat down with my legs crossed. If tenants came in, you had to stand up quick, stand there like asoldier. You can walk in there and the peace and quiet engulfs you. It is not always pretty. Roses have to have manure put around their roots. So Iget my rubber gloves and there Igo. Today was alittle out of the ordinary. Most of the ointments come already made up.

This doctor was an old-timer. He wanted something with sulphur and two other elements mixed together. So Ihave to weigh it out on the scale. Ordinarily Iwould just have one tube of cream for that. About every ve minutes, you gotta do about two or three swallows. You do this every day. You might walk six, seven horses, which starts building your legs up. We all started this way. He has the old style of the long hold.

It gives me asense of satisfaction that Ican play arole. It requires time, effort, and precision. Before Iput them in place, Imake the patient look at them. An artist can hang his work on the wall and everybody sees it. No one sees mine except me. You have to get around the scales. This is agreat big piece of steel.

You wish for the scale to close and you close your eyes and you go like hell to try to get out of the state. You have afeeling of running ablockade in the twenties with aload of booze. Do research for your stories; talk to people about their jobs. Which isthereasonwhymanmakeshimselfandeverybodyelsesomiserableandunhappy. The Objective To put your characters back to work so we meet them at work—and play.

Student Example The whole thing started when Sparky came unglued in the trunk of my car. Ilike to go there and order something ritzy, like aManhattan, and watch him. His lips are never more than aquarter inch apart. He can drink awhole glass of water and the Colonel keeps jabbering away. Lester says ventrOoquism is going to make acomeback, just like everything. Lester and Ilive together. When he saw Sparky was fading apart, he really blew his top. He asked me to repeat the most important rule aventriloquist must remember.

We worked on Sparky in silence, gluing the bottom half of his mouth again. Igive characters more moral latitude than Igive myself. Nothing and nobody exists in avacuum.

So too do ctional characters drag their histories into relationships. This is like having a ashlight in adark room rather thanfeelingyourwayaround. The Exercise This is based on atrue story. He gets into the car, drives off, forgetting the baby on top of the car. The car seat ies off the roof, does asomersault, and lands on the street, upside down.

The baby is unhurt. Ifthemarriageisokay,theywillact and talk one way; if it was shaky to begin with, they will talk in an entirely different way.

Remember that what is not said is often more effective than what is said. They will have examined their life together before they start breakfast. Is the husband defensive or abject? This exercise allows you to pull together alot of what you know, both about human psychology and about the uses and the possibilities of language.

My electric shaver is on the fritz, Ihad to use agrown-up razor, and, as usual, cut myself. HeU of away to get started! Alison had set his place with abowl of melon chunks, aplate of scrambled eggs and sausages, abuttered English muf n with marmalade, and coffee with hot chocolate mixed in.

Beats corn akes and banana. She is your daughter, you know. How did you sleep? Come to think of it, why are you asking this in the rst place? As for breakfast: You say—T really do appreciate You sound as ifyou were reading from ascript. Besides, how do you think Islept? Ifeel one of your moods coming on. Is that what you want? OK, I made aterrible mistake. She probably needs changing too. You forgot all about Amelia. Do you remember what you said to me last night when we knocked off the merlot you said was such great stuff?

That maybe Amelia ought to put in for frequent- ier miles. Along with something about glide angle and airfoil integrity. No man consciously chooses evil because it is evil; he only mistakes it for the happiness that he seeks. You should be able to assume the voice or, at least, the point of view of achild, an old person, amember of the opposite gender, or someone of another race.

An accomplished writer assumes as many shapes, sizes, colors, etc. How did Joyce know? Iwent in and stood awkwardly in his doorway. He was reading in bed, the lower part of his body covered with asheet, the upper part naked. Here is one of his early school memories:. The girls twirled, seeing how big their skirts became. Ilay on the oor inside the circle of chairs. Above me the skirts volumined like umbrellas. Theanklesockschoppedtheircalvesabovetheankleandgavetheillusion of hooves.

Isaw their odd white pants and their atness. They were clean like dolls. They smelled of powder. They ashed and moved. Iturned my face to the hard blond legs of the chairs. In Professor Romeo, Anne Bernays uses the third person to write from the point of view of aman accused of sexual harassment:.

This can be adescription, anarrative, or asegment of autobiography. The main point is to completely lose yourself and become another. She comes in carrying atray covered with foil. Her name is Debby and she works for the state. It must have been ashock for Debby rst time she saw me naked. It was end of July and hot as blazes. Pirjo, Ihope you like them. Hate the sin but love the sinner. By this, he meant that the point of view operates as the eyes, ears, memory, and revelation through which anarrative is sifted and makes its progress.

Threeconceptsseemtobaf ebeginningwriters;HowdoItellthisstory? ShallIuse the rst person, or the third? Should Icontribute authorial comments or leave myself out of it entirely? Occasionally, with luck, you will hit it right the rst time. Finally, there is the omniscient POV, in which the author moves from distant description and scene-setting to getting inside the heads of his characters. The omniscient POV is not used today nearly. When trying to decide which POV to tell the story from, ask yourself whose vision andinsightsarethemostdramaticandeffective.

Sometimesitcanbeaseeminglyminor charactersuchasNickCarrowayinTheGveutGutsby—throughwhoseperspective w e. When you begin astory, you are faced with the immediate decision of point of view, and more often than not you will choose either the rst or third person.

Each of these rst-person narrators has aspecial voice that draws us in to his or her world. The third-person point of view is afamiliar and reliable kind of central intelligence, one that allows the writer greater latitude in terms of distance and the authority to shift point of view. The decision whether to use rst person or third is often adif cult one.

Anne Bernays wrote her novel Growing Up Rich using the third-person point of view, then realized it belonged in the rst person and rewrote it, starting on page one; it took ayear. Write two or three pages. Then begin this same story again using a rst-person. Dothesameinreverse—changing a rst-person narrative into third.

The Objective To understand the limitations and powers inherent in both the rst- and third-person points of view. To make you more aware of the choices available to you as author and storyteller. Fiction is nothing less than the subtlest instruments for self-examination and self-display that mankind has invented yet. John Gardner on Psychic Distance.

It was winter of the year Alarge man stepped out of adoorway. Henry J. Warburton had never much cared for snowstorms. Henry hated snowstorms. God how he hated these damn snowstorms. Under your collar, down inside your shoes, freezing and plugging up your miserable soul. It was during the summer of , in the living room of Mrs. Kopitzky on Central Park West. Then, like acamera zooming in on ascene, in each of the above stories Singer draws the reader closer to his characters and into their thoughts.

At other times Singer begins stories closer in:. Inever learned his name. Asyoucansee,thereisenormouselasticityavailableindistancebutitmustbecarefully controlled—especially since you can change the distance within astory. In general, the distance at which you begin astory or novel is the outer boundary beyond which youcannotgowithinthatstory. The young woman had never known any personally, but Mary knew what she liked. The Exercise First, go back to the list of beginning sentences on pages , and read each sentence to determine its psychic distance from the reader—from 1, the greatest distance, to 5, where the psychic distance almost disappears.

Finally, begin anew story at distance 1or 2and within words gracefully decrease the psychic distance until you have reached distance 4. The Objective To understand how psychic distance works so that you can make conscious decisions about the range of psychic distance to use in each story or novel you write. New writers are often told to use one point of view when telling astory—and for good reason. Also, shifts in point of view must be warranted. He had gone, yes, but not so far.

As usual he was camping just outside the thumping, ridiculous mystery of her wifely heart. Sometimes that stalled-heart dream of his left him heavy like this, dejected. Yet he was quite certain the night had passed without fatality, dreamlessly indeed.

Each section begins with an observation that tells the reader whose point of view we are in. The catches on the windows are those old-fashioned brass ones, butter y locks. No alarm system or fancy security. His back is to her, his right shoulder high, and now his breathing has slowed to asteady pace like some temporarily regulated clock. He knows this by the way she begins to move, adjusting the sheets, almost gaily like apuppet released to live.

Shifts in point of view from paragraph to paragraph, or within the same paragraph, are more dif cult to do and few writers attempt this.