Hi everyone, I hope you’re all well and that you’re all keeping safe. Today’s post is about how you can keep your creative brain active and exercise that there writing muscle because, like with any muscle, the more you use it, the stronger it gets. So, without further preamble, here are:

5 Writing Exercises to Flex your Writing Muscles

1  Timed Writing Session
Set yourself a time limit, say, for ten minutes, and then just write. Write about anything that comes to mind, or if you already have a work in progress, you can work on a section of that. The point is to stop for nothing for the duration of time you have set yourself and certainly don’t stop to edit. A timed writing session can help to focus your mind and if you increase the time you spend writer every day by five minutes, it can helo to build stamina too.

2  Freewrite
Freewriting is a fun way to get your creative juices flowing. Simply put your pen on the page (or your fingers on keys) and write. No time limits, no constraints at all. Just write. Write about whatever comes to mind. No pressure, no deadline – just freedom and creativity and if you find that you can’t think of anything to write about, write about that!

3  Write a Letter to your Past Self
Spend a minute or two thinking about what you would say to your younger self if you were somehow given the opportunity, then write your young self a letter. You could let yourself in on what has happened in your own personal future or give yourself advice that you wished you had received back when you were them. Or if you don’t want to write anything too personal, you could tell your younger self about what the world is like now. You could even write the letter as though you are a stranger sending a letter into the past for ‘whomever’ to find and read. You may even decide to write from a fictionalised version of your own future.

4  Write a Piece of Flash Fiction
Flash fiction is an excellent way to flex your writing muscles because with flash, you have to work to keep things rather concise and you must tell a whole story within a relatively short word count. To find out more about flash fiction, click here.

5  Rewrite an Ending
Rewriting the ending of your favourite story can help to jumpstart your creative brain. Most of the work is done for you after all by someone else (the story’s actual author), all you have to do is change how the story ends. You could, for example, rewrite the last scene in The Wizard of Oz, wherein you might have Dorothy stay with her new friends rather than returning home. Or, you could change the fate of Ebeneezer Scrooge in A Christmas Carol, having him double down on his hatred of Christmas and become even more of a miser than before. You won’t ever use these little rewrites in your own work – the point is to stir the imagination and get your creative juices flowing.

As always, thank you for taking the time to read my words, it really does mean a lot!

Until next time,

George

© 2020 GLT

Categories: Writing Exercises

Tags: creative, Creative Writing, exercises, muscles, write, writing, writing muscles