Write creatively: 16 exercises to get started
Everyone can write creatively! Already the American writer Truman Capote knew: "All humans have the facility to be creatively active, but most never notice it". He is right! Develop your writing skills with these 16 exercises to write creatively:
Write Creative, Tip One: "Do not tell me that the moon is shining ...
... show me his glimmer of light on a piece of broken glass, "Russian dramatist and author Anton Chekov once said," What he meant by that? "If you want to write creatively, it's all about describing" how "instead of" what " Consider how the following sentences are more vivid:
Example:
She gets tired?
Her eyelids are heavy and she winks at him from small eye slits. Yawning, she rubs her eyes.
It is snowing outside. It's getting dark. He is hungry. He has grown old.
body signals
Describe how you feel right now? from head to toe. Close your eyes and listen to your body. Are you hungry, itchy or tickling something, is your mouth dry, have you run into a bladder in your new shoes? Describe how it feels. In this way, you learn to perceive feelings more intensively and to put yourself in the emotional world of your characters.
Write creative, Tip two: "Blind cow"
Open a book and, with your eyes closed, tap a word. Then open your eyes and write the word on a piece of paper. Make it an associogram by growing more and more thought connections based on that word. Do you have a personal connection to the word? Which memories do you wake up? How does the word smell? How does it taste, how does it feel?
Example: Your finger points to the word "heaven". Then you might come up with ideas like clouds, sun, wind, plane, rainbow ....
Finally, take a look at your associogram, pick five words out of it, and figure out a story with this word selection - a great way to start writing creatively.
Write creative, tip three: "short and sweet"
This exercise is especially quick and easy: think of a particular genre first. You have one? Then it goes on with a certain place. And now you think spontaneously of a daytime.
Example: detective story, London, night.
These three words provide the starting point for creative writing: you already know that you want to write a detective story that takes place in London at night. Now construct an action around this basic information.
Creative Writing, Tip Four: "Autopilot"
Just switch to autopilot mode and dare to do so-called automatic writing. Automatic writing means you pick up your pen and do not stop writing creatively? not even for a second. Sit down comfortably, put your feet on the floor, close your eyes and take a deep breath. Concentrate on smells, sounds and thoughts for three minutes. Then open your eyes again and write on it for ten minutes. If you look at your spontaneous, literary outpourings at the end of this exercise, you will be surprised by the result.
Writing creatively, Tip Five: "What if ...?"
Consider "What if ..." scenarios and spin a story out of it.
Example:
What if ... I had never met this one person in my life? What if ... animals could talk? What if ... I learn to write so creatively that I land a bestseller?
Some of the greatest literary successes have emerged from very simple "what if ..." scenarios? for example "Harry Potter" (What if I could do magic?).
Creative Writing, Tip Six: "Super Superlative"
When we think of our past, we usually remember the superlatives: whether "the worst day in my life", "the funniest situation in my life" or "the most surprising moment in my life"? Such stories contain more than enough material for tales. Review your life and think of all the superlatives you have experienced so far. Are you looking for creative writing and making a story out of it? You are welcome to alienate your personal experiences.
Write creative, tip seven: "K (n) write untrodish"
Go to the flea market or an antique shop and rummage around in the junk chests for old buttons. Choose a beautiful button and take it home.Think about: Why did I choose this button? How was he done and what was he made of? What happened to the button and what was he maybe attached to? What could have happened to the wearer of the button? Give the button a voice. Make him come alive for creative writing and write a first-person narrative from his point of view.
Mona Lisa's smile
Pictures can inspire writing. Take for example Take a holiday photo and go back to the beach in Goa, the pub in Ireland, the desert in Namibia. Then write a holiday story? true or invented. The whole thing works well with a baby photo. Are you looking at a picture of yourself as a baby and tell the story of your birth? happy to be imaginative, you do not have to be so careful about the truth. By the way: Such creative exercises do not only work with photos of course, but also paintings invite you to imaginative writing. Working title: "Why is Mona Lisa smiling?"
Zitierwürdig
Choose a known quote, e.g. from a movie, and construct a whole new story around it. Example: "Look into my eyes, little one."
I opened the box and then ...
... yes, what then? What on earth is in the box? A present or an unpleasant surprise? Maybe even a long-kept secret? Open your box and start writing!
Such a stupid thing!
Think of an object, e.g. a hand mixer. Imagine this thing and describe it. Suddenly you get angry. They hate this thing. Shout it. But what is it? Suddenly the thing screams back! Write a dispute.
My soul listens to seeing
Synesthesia is the combination of different areas of perception, e.g. Hearing and seeing. For synesthetes, a perfume smells e.g. blue, i. several sensory impressions, such as color perception and sense of smell, merge with each other. For a literary text synesthetic impressions offer particularly creative and new ways of looking at the world around us. Try these little exercises to get a feel for it.
How does love sound? What is the color of hate? How is envy? What does mourning taste like? Where does sorrow live? What is the color of silence? How does sadness speak?
Sensual experience
Take an orange and experience it with all your senses. What does she look like, what does she feel like, what does she smell of, what can she do with her? How does it change when you peel it, how does it taste, what would a child do with it? Chewing, spitting out, rubbing in the face? everything is allowed. Write down your experiences and learn to re-understand the world around you. From such extraordinary perspectives, a literary text can only benefit.
Explosive
Step 1: Think of a place. Step 2: Invent a character who would normally be in such a place: how old is she? What does it look like, what's its character traits? How does she speak? What does her body language say about her? Step 3: Have your character meet another person and start a conversation with her. Step 4: Now you blow your place up in the air: Maybe a bomb explodes, maybe someone gets a tantrum, maybe someone throws a disk with a stone? You decide. Step 5: How do your characters react? What happens to them?
And finally ...
... keep your eyes open. Interesting words and phrases can be found everywhere. On packaging, in advertising, in magazines .... If you find a fascinating word anywhere, cut it out and collect it in a box. Over time you get such a rich vocabulary. Mix the cutouts and combine them with each other? and so will definitely find incentives for new stories.
