Tag: fun writing exercise

Writing Exercise of the Week: A Matter of Perspective

Posted on by Ian Dawson

A while back, I wrote a post about the different points of view that can be used in a story.  First-person.  Second-person.  Third-person.  Third-person limited.  Omniscient.  All have been used by writers for millennia.  Using one over another can alter how readers perceive the events presented in your narrative.

It’s easy to get comfortable using one POV, so I thought we’d have fun and mix things up a bit today.

Let’s get started!

The Scenario

Write a short story that takes place in one location and involves three characters:

Character One doesn’t like Character Three and wants to leave.  Character Two is trying to get Characters One and Three to resolve their differences, but also has to get somewhere in the next twenty minutes. Character Three believes they are turning into some mythical creature and needs Characters One and Two to be present as long as possible for the transformation to stick.

The Assignment

Using the above scenario, outline a short story between 1000 to 1500 words.  You can place them anywhere; give them names and any additional characteristics you like.  Make sure the story has a beginning, middle, and end.

Now the fun part…

Exercise #1

Write one version from the first-person POV of Character Two.  Why don’t they want to be there?  What’s their issue with Character Three?  How are they kept from leaving as soon as they arrive?  Do they resolve their issues with Character Three with the help of Character Two?  What happens if they don’t?  Give us their side of things and how they view the circumstances they find themselves in.

Exercise #2

Write this version from the third-person POV of Character Two.  What led them to attempt a resolution between Characters One and Three?  Are they hopeful their plan will work?  What other ideas or tactics have they tried in the past?  What is their relationship to the other two characters that has sparked this mediation? And where do they need to be in twenty minutes, and what happens if they don’t arrive on time?  How can you show this urgency to the reader without telling them?

Exercise #3

Write this version from the second-person POV of Character Three.  Just like the classic Choose Your Own Adventure books, put the reader in the driver’s seat.  Make the reader the person who believes they are turning into a mythical creature.  What are they feeling?  What do they believe must happen for the full transformation to occur?  Why do they feel this way?  What was their relationship with Character One, and what caused the fallout?  What mythical creature do they believe they’re turning into?

Exercise #4

It’s time to go Omniscient.  Give us the perspectives of all three characters as they traverse this conflict to its resolution.  Feel free to change things; there’s no need to stick with what you wrote in the previous versions.  

Bonus Exercise #5

Once you’ve picked a location, choose an inanimate object in the space and write the story from that object’s POV.  What does it see?  What does it think is going on?  What are its thoughts on the characters and their conversations?

Wrap-Up

Which POV did you enjoy writing in the most?  The least?  Was there a POV you feel you could become better in with practice?  Experimenting with POV within the same scenario is a fun way to see how a story’s trajectory changes when a different character controls what the reader is witnessing.  

Happy Writing, and I’ll see you next time!

Writing Exercise: A Mundane Task

Posted on by Ian Dawson

As writers, we always look for ways to hook and excite the reader.  We want to engage the audience and keep them intrigued by the story from start to finish.  Whether it’s a murder mystery, an action sequence, or a knitting contest, our goal is to keep our readers turning to the next page.

And while creating excitement, conflict, and tension are built into certain events, I wondered this weekend if mundane, day-to-day activities could be written similarly.

  • Pick a mundane task that everyone does (laundry, dishes, paying bills, getting gas or charging your car, etc.).
  • Write it in the first-person POV.
  • Take some time to write out the steps involved in the task in the order that works best for you.
  • Examine the list.  Are there any places where you can add excitement, conflict, or tension?  Where could a problem occur that might prevent you from completing the task?
  • When you set out to write the scene, be as descriptive as possible, making sure to use all five senses to transport the reader to the location and make them feel they are there with you while you undertake this seemingly tedious task.
  • The task should be completed by you as the character by the end of the scene.
  • See if you can write it in 500-words or less.

By taking day-to-day events and finding creative ways to twist them into a compelling narrative, you can enhance your stories and deliver page-turning narratives to your readers.  

If you are working on a story, are there ways to add moments with your character doing day-to-day things that can give us insight into who they are as a person?  Are there ways you can give this run-of-the-mill task a boost by having the character do it uniquely?

Happy Writing, and I’ll see you next time!

Story Exercise: My Story

Posted on by Ian Dawson

Below is the draft of the story I wrote for this exercise. It’s a little longer than 500 words – I got carried away – but it was fun to write. Please feel free to include yours in ther comments and share them with others!

I put the items, location, and animal I chose in BOLD.

            This was it.  Leila stood looking out at the night sky, a blanket of stars before her, emptiness below her in the darkness.  She didn’t want to do it; but she knew she had no other choice.  An icy wind whipped through her body and she felt her fingers and toes grow numb.  There was only one way out of this situation.  For too long she had waited.  Agonized. Suffered.  

            And now it came down to this.

            Her phone buzzed to life in her pocket, which startled her.  She fumbled with her numbed fingers to grasp the phone in her jacket pocket.  She saw the name on the screen, closed her eyes, then answered.

            “Hello,” she said as her teeth chattered.

            “Are you coming down the slope soon?” the voice on the other end began.  “We’d like to go get food sometime tonight.”

            “Okay, okay,” Leila said with frustration.  She looked down the snowy hillside of the ski slope.  She was alone and the ski lift had come to a halt.  It was just her.  

            At the edge of a double-black diamond ski slope!

            Why did I think I could do this? she thought to herself.  To impress your sister, duh!

            Her sister who was not impatiently waiting for her with the rest of the group at the bottom of the run.  Her sister who was now calling her to get her to come down.  

            “On my way,” Leila said as she disconnected and put the phone back in her pocket.  “Hope they have good food in the hospital cafeteria,” she said to herself.  “Because this isn’t gonna end well!” 

            She heard a growl.  Was it her stomach?  No, she would have felt that, too.  She looked to her right.  Nothing there.  She heard the growl again.  To her left. She swallowed and looked to her left. A coyotecrept toward her.  It’s mouth in a snarl.

            Leila did her best to stay calm, and reached into a pocket on her ski pants and pulled out a half-eaten candy bar.  “I know chocolate is bad for dogs,” she said, “but I think you can handle this.”  She tossed the candy bar in the coyote’s direction. It looked at the sugary bribe, then back at her.

            “Darn!” she said, then looked down the slope.  “And down we go,” she said in a low voice, hoping the animal eyeing her would stay put.

Leila leaned forward quickly, her skissliding inch-by-inch toward the edge.  She gripped the poles tight, took a deep breath, and felt her body descend.  

The powder churning up around her skis was a comforting sight; she had been terrified it was ice all the way down.  

            Leila felt herself picking up speed.  She wavered a bit, but maintained her balance…at least for the moment.

            Then the ice came.  Her once seemingly sensible speed went from manageable to uncontrollable. The wind whipped through her hair and around her goggles.  Her blue beanie was ripped from her head as she careened faster and faster down the slope.

            With all her might she attempted to form a wedge with the front of her skis to slow herself down, but she hit a bump in the icy terrain that sent her sprawling off balance.  She felt herself launch into the air, her body like a wayward missile with no clear target.

            And she landed on her side, but continued to slide downward.  Pain radiated from her side and the arm she landed on, but she was grateful her phone was in the opposite pocket.  However, she had her sister’s “lucky charm” in her other pocket…of the side she landed on. She shifted as she slid and pulled the lucky charm out to look at it: a small Funko Pop! of Wonder Woman.  

            She chucked it up the slope only to see the coyote making its own slip-sliding way down toward her.  

            Leila’s legs were heavy from her ski boots; her skis were on two separate solo runs down the hill, and from her viewpoint it looked like they would arrive at the bottom before she did!

            Not wanting to wait around for her new friend, Leila shifted head-first down the slope and “swam” the rest of the way down the mountain.

            As she arrived at the bottom of the hill – still on her side – her sister stood over her.  “You couldn’t have done thattwo hours ago?”  her sister said.

            “If I knew it would be that easy,” Leila replied, “I would have!”

            “Where’s my lucky charm?” her sister asked.

            “On the mountain,” Leila said as she awkwardly stood. “But I think the coyote up there will try and get it first.”

            Her sister considered the news.  “I’m good,” Leila’s sister said.  “Dinner?”

            “Yes!” Leila said.

I look forward to reading yours! Have a great weekend!

Short Story Exercise…

Posted on by Ian Dawson

I did the following writing exercise in one of my creative writing classes and I thought I would share it with all of you:

  • Write down three random objects
  • Write down an animal
  • Write down a location

Using those items, animal, and location, create a short story (~500 words) that incorporates all the things you have listed.  It can be in any genre you want, any POV you want, and time period you want, the key is to utilize the items you have written down in a creative and fun way.

I will post mine by Friday. 

Feel free to post yours in the comments on this post or on my story when it’s up later this week!

Happy Writing!