Writing Exercise
Notebook Entries. Top Story - September 2025.
Anne Bernays and Pamela Painter — What if? Writing Exercises for Fiction Writers prompts — The Exercise: Write one page a day. Concentrate on observation and description, not feeling. For example, if you receive a letter, the ordinary reaction is to write in the diary, “I received a letter that made me happy.” (or sad). Instead, describe the size of the envelope, the quality of the paper, and what the stamps looked like. Keep your diary without using the verb to be. Forms of the verb to be don’t create any vivid images. By avoiding its use, you get into the habit of choosing more interesting verbs. You’ll also be more accurate. For example, some people will say “John Smith is a really funny guy,” when what they really mean is “John Smith makes me laugh,” or “I like John Smith’s sense of humor.” Experiment with sentence length. Keep the diary for a week in sentences of ten words or less. Then try writing each day’s account in a single sentence. Avoid use of “and” to connect the long sentence; try out other conjunctions. Switch your diary to third person for a while, so that instead of writing I, you can write about he or she. Then, try mixing the point of view. Start the day in third person and switch into first person to comment on the action. By interspersing first and third-person points of view, you can experiment with stream of consciousness and the interior monologue. Try keeping your diary in an accent — first the accent of somebody who is learning how to write English, then the accent of somebody learning to speak English. Keep it in baby talk; Baby want. Baby hurt. Baby want food. Baby want love. Baby walk. Try making lists for a diary entry — just a record of the nouns of that day: toothbrush, coffee, subway tokens, schoolbooks, gym shoes. The Objective: To enhance your powers of observation and description without having to juggle the demands of characterization and plot.
By Denise E Lindquist7 months ago in Writers
Unforgettable Things to Do in Chicago This Weekend
Chicago this weekend? Oh man, where do I even start. The city has this... buzz. Like, even when it’s freezing and the wind is cutting your face in half, there’s still a pulse under it all. And if you’re lucky enough to be in town, you’ll see it. Feel it.
By Emma Stone 7 months ago in Writers
The 3 A.M. Writer: Why Inspiration Comes at Night
There is something about three in the morning that feels like it belongs to no one but you. The world outside has quieted down. Cars have stopped rushing. Neighbors are finally asleep. Even the air feels different—thicker, slower, more private. And somewhere in that stillness, when most people are tucked beneath their blankets, writers like me find ourselves wide awake, fingers hovering over keyboards or pens scratching furiously across paper.
By Saqib Ullah7 months ago in Writers
Leave No Bird Unstoned
I like to put barbeque sauce in soup broth. Not every single soup, mind you. I prefer adding the tangy flavor to beef stews and hearty vegetable blends. Something about the sweet and smoky taste of barbeque sauce mixes immaculately with a savory liquid base. Even cheese soups are enriched with a dollop of America's finest condiment.
By DJ Nuclear Winter7 months ago in Writers
What If? Writing Exercises for Fiction Writers
Anne Bernays and Pamela Painter — What if? Writing Exercises for Fiction Writers prompts — The Exercise: Choose a central dramatic incident from your life. *Write about it in first person, and then write about it in third person (or try second person!) Write separate versions from the point of view of each character in the incident. *Have it happen to someone ten or twenty years older or younger than yourself. *Stage it in another country or in a radically different setting. *Use the skeleton of the plot for a whole different set of emotional reactions. *Use the visceral emotions from the experience for a whole different storyline. The Objective: To become more fluent in translating emotions and facts from truth to fiction. To help you see the components of a dramatic situation as eminently elastic and capable of transformation. To allow your fiction to take on its own life, to determine what happens and why in an artful way that is organic to the story itself. As Virginia Woolf said, "There must be great freedom from reality."
By Denise E Lindquist7 months ago in Writers
the tree of me. Top Story - August 2025.
Last night, my dreams were encased in a cloak of darkness, and I could not make them out. Yet when I awoke this morning, the sun gleamed beyond my window just the same, and the vicious pounding of my heart was eased by the familiarity of its glow.
By angela hepworth7 months ago in Writers
Zipho Memela Shares why Blogging Still Beats Social Media for Building Real Wealth in 2025. Content Warning. AI-Generated.
Here’s a statistic that caught my attention recently: 600 million active blogs exist today, yet only 14% of bloggers create content longer than 2,000 words. This gap represents a massive opportunity for anyone serious about building sustainable online income.
By Kin Mancook7 months ago in Writers
