Fiction Writing Exercises That are Effective

Tap to Read ➤ Aastha Dogra

Fiction writing requires more efforts because it involves imagination and story-telling skills. Here are some exercises that can be undertaken to improve upon the same.

Writing is a talent that can be developed and worked upon with practice. In fiction writing classes, teachers undertake various kinds of exercises and activities to help new writers develop their skills. Here are some writing exercises which can also be undertaken at home.

Read

Read newspapers and magazines, and also the classics and contemporary fiction books. Try to grasp the writing styles of different authors. This will help in improving your vocabulary and develop and enhance your own writing style.

Use Prompts

A prompt can be a few sentences around which a story is built. Some commonly used prompts are - "Things I lost", or plots like "You are a ten year old who has just discovered that your parents are actually thieves. What do you do?"

Use a Dictionary

Take a dictionary and open any page. Write down the first word you see. Do this three more times, so that you have four selected words. Write for fifteen minutes without taking a break. Ensure that you use all the four words in it.

Once you are done, go through what you have written and see whether there is any story or idea in there. Even if there is none, it is still a practice in writing. However, make sure that while free writing, you do not get repetitive. You should try to come up with new and different words, sentences, and ideas every time.

Keep a Journal

Keeping a journal and writing in it on a regular basis will help you analyze how much you have improved as a writer. Writing a diary everyday is a practice in itself which will help you with your writing considerably.

Write About Characters

Think about someone you know closely and describe that person to others through your writing. The trick is to write about the person in such a way that the readers can relate to him or her. This is a good creative writing exercise.

Write a Story from End to Start

You should write a story in such a way that the readers can flow back in time through your writing. This will help you in linking the various ideas of the story together to form a coherent whole.

These exercises, if undertaken regularly, will improve your writing skills. However, it finally depends on practice. The more you practice, the better your writing will become.