One of my favorite ways to get creative writing ideas is to do writing exercises and weed through what I came up with to see if there’s any material I can use afterwards. One of my favorite exercsises is something I like to call the “in the present” exercise.
This exercise is a powerful writing tool because
- It can help home your descriptive writing
- Gives you insight into the world around you
- Alerts you to potential ideas that you may have missed
- Teaches you how to be an effective observer
All of these skills are essential to a writer. Not only that, but the act of writing in a controled and subconscious way is a great tactic to help alleviate the “blank screen syndrome” or “writer’s block”.
How to Do the Exercise
The instructions for doing the exercise are fairly straightforward. Just set your timer for ten or fifteen minutes. Then, all you need to do is write about your environment while paying attention to all of the senses. What do you see, touch, taste, hear, and smell?
If I were to do the exercise now, here is how part of it would look:
The timer ticks relentlessly. My fingers tap on the keys. My water bottle doesn’t have a cap. Where is the cap? Oh I see it, it’s on the other side of the desk. The squirrels are back – I see them from here, skittering on the tightrope.
It doesn’t look like much, but if you do this for ten or fifteen minutes a day, you will find your creative mind awakening. When you do sit down to do creative writing not only will you have plenty of ideas, but the words will flow.
