Creative Writing Exercises

Exercises:

1)Time


1 hour

1 day

1 week

1 year

10 years

50 years

a century

Space

bathroom

closet

roof of house

hospital bed

empty field

submarine

underground parking lot

Pick a time and space from the above list and write a short story ranging from three paragraphs to three pages in length. Take a character and place them in one of the above spaces. Do not let the character physically leave this space for the duration of the story. Remember to allow your character to be affected (their emotions, actions, thoughts, what they see, smell, taste, hear) by the place they are in. Force the timeline of the story to fit into one of the above times. For example: write a story about a person in a closet for a week. Or a dog in a submarine for an hour. Or a skeleton in an empty field for a century.

2) Take a story about your familial history—something about your parents, grandparents, aunts, cousins, etc. and turn it into a fictional short story between three and fifteen pages in length.

An alternative:

Think of a myth or fable (such as Persephone and the seasons, Birbal the Wise, Babe the Blue Ox, or something culturally relevant to you) and "recast" the narrative. Try to mold the general "plot" and "characters" to a contemporary setting—one that is familiar to you.