These fiction writing exercises are designed for advanced writers as well as beginning students of creative writing, from older kids and teens to adults.
Novice and seasoned writers both can practice their technical skills and get their creative juices flowing at the same time. Included are exercises that hone a writer's skills in dialogue, description, and that all-important part of any story, the hook.
Dialogue Writing Exercises
To discover creative uses for dialogue, try this writing exercise: write a 500 word exchange using only dialogue, with no speech tags or narration. Start with the opening line, "Something seriously awesome just happened to me."
Writers who require practice using voice in dialogue can begin by writing a passage in which three young brothers are discussing where they'll go for the afternoon. One boy wants to go to see a movie, another boy wants to go on a hike, and the last boy wants to go shopping. Each kid should have a different personality which comes through in what he says and how he says it - in other words, his speech should "sound" like him talking.
An intermediate writing exercise helps writers practice complex dialogue. Write a 500 word argument between two people in which a miscommunication takes place. Start with the opening line: "'I believe that's mine,' said the man on the bus."" Pay attention to the subtleties of word choice and syntax, and remember that even if your characters are confused, the reader shouldn't be!
Did you know dialogue doesn't only occur in speech? In fiction, letter writing can be a form of dialogue as one character "speaks" to another character. This advanced fiction exercise helps writers practice using epistolary form as a break from standard dialogue. Write a fictional email in which one character tells another character that their relationship is over. Start with the first line, "Dear Chris, I almost decided not to send this to you."
Description Writing Exercises
Description is boring unless it does more than describe something or someone. Let it create a mood, move the story along, or characterize somebody. This exercise is designed to help writers use rich description. Describe a meal that a waiter delivers in a restaurant. Boring, right? So make sure that the description comes alive and moves the story along. Start with the opening line: "The waiter set the plate on the table. 'Is there anything else I can get you?'"
Writers can learn creative ways to show what things look like, smell like, taste like, feel like, and sound like in the following exercise: describe a tree in a forest – entirely with dialogue. No narration or speech tags allowed. There must be at least two characters engaged in the dialogue.
An adjective is a word that describes something, like "blue" or "short." Did you know it's possible to describe something without any adjectives at all? This advanced exercise helps writers describe things by showing instead of telling. Describe the contents of a box without using a single adjective. Start with the opening line, "She opened the box and peered inside." Use action and dialogue to try to capture the experience of the box so the reader can imagine he or she is right there.
Hook Writing Exercises
A hook is the beginning of a short story or novel, specifically the first few lines or paragraphs, which are designed to "hook" a reader into keeping reading. If the hook doesn't have enough bang, the reader will put the book down. This exercise is designed to give beginning writers practice with writing engaging hooks. Write a hook no longer than 75 words long. How you begin it is up to you, but the LAST line of the hook should be "It just wasn't his day."
Hooks should convey the tone and mood of the story – funny, suspenseful, mysterious, lazy, gritty, scary, surreal, etc. This exercise helps writers start world building from the very first line. Write a hook that places the reader deeply inside the world from the first sentence. Start with the words, "The purple monster" and take it from there.
Fiction Writing Exercises Beef Up Literary Muscle
Writers can use fiction writing exercises both to get better at writing novels and short stories and to take a break from the usual grind. After completing these exercises, writers may want to show other authors, their teachers, or casual readers their samples and get feedback. Another way to get feedback on fiction writing is through writing critique groups.
Kerry Bakerson - Kerry's fiction has been published by Mundania Press. A former jewelry designer and bookseller, Kerry is now a full-time web content ...
