Are you finding it difficult to get to know your fictional characters and/or differentiate them from yourself? Try this: Choose a character from your project and let her/him take a walk into a place you know well. Then describe this place from this character’s perspective and ask yourself:
What does (or doesn’t) s/he notice?
How does s/he feel about what she notices?
What thoughts do the things s/he notices trigger in her/him? This can be memories, social critique, enjoyment or disgust etc.
How do your character’s impressions of, and responses to, the place differ from yours?
Select a scene that involves 2-3 characters. Write a paragraph from the point of one character. Now write the same interaction from another character’s point of view. For example: your paragraph could involve the point …
Have you ever read or watched something with an ending that left you unfulfilled, unsatisfied, or frustrated? Now write a proper ending that fixes the story for yourself. Keep in mind the components of a …
This exercise encourages you to write a complete story using very few words, and helps you learn how to avoid overwriting. When undertaking this exercise, it’s essential to edit your work carefully. Strip out anything …
What can be more basic than the simple who, what, why, when and where formula? This common sense plan has proved over and over again that it is not only one of the fastest ways …
Write about a well-known scene from a popular story — but write it from a new perspective. Write about Romeo and Juliet's death from the perspective of the vial they drink from. Write about the …
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