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119 Best Creative Writing Exercises for Authors in 2025

Showing 119 writing exercises curated by Reedsy.

The Food Critic

Writer's Block

Write a review of a restaurant at which you recently ate. Describe the food as much as you can. Feel free to be eviscerating as well.

The Page-Turner

Plot Development

Have you read a book you couldn't put down? A good writer knows how to keep the reader's attention - and the secret of that is pacing. Take a page-turner and analyse how it kept you gripped. Usually it's because each scene introduced something new, which might be a major revelation or a tiny shift in the way the reader perceives a character. Run through the entire book and write down the purpose of every major scene and turning point.

The Impersonator II

Dialogue

This is Part II of an exercise that practices voice. Pick up a book written by an author that you admire. Now try writing a page of their story, but in your own voice.

Answer The W's

Outlining

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 to begin a story, but also an easy creative writing exercise to use when you only have a small chunk of time available.If you want this formula to work for you, then the best way to approach it is to answer those questions quickly. Forget about thinking, analyzing, and worrying until later. For now, let's just start writing. Here's an example to show you how easy it is to start.

  • WHO? Sally _ an eco activist/policewoman
  • WHAT? Having affair with a married politician so she can blackmail and manipulate him.
  • WHEN? Now
  • WHERE? In contemporary Ireland
  • HOW? Recording his every move, generally spying on him in order to destroy him.

Stranger Comes Knocking

Character Development

There's a saying: "Everyone is the hero of his or her own story." For a 10-minute writing exercise, enter your book from another character's eyes. Think about how differently that character would experience your plot and capture that in a short story.

The Next Great Author

Character Development

Develop a character that's an author. Write a short story from the point of view of that author.

In The Eye of the Beholder

Character Development

Our individual perspectives define what we first notice about a person's physical appearance. How do your characters see those around them? Describe one character's physical appearance from the perspectives of three other characters. What does each beholder's description reveal about who they are?

Three Questions

Plot Development

Come up with three thought provoking questions. Such as:

  1. Who is Sara?
  2. Why is she running down the street?
  3. What is she holding?
Or:
  1. Who is knocking at the door?
  2. Do you know them?
  3. What do they want?
Without stopping to think or check on your spelling, answer these questions as fast as you can, with whatever comes to mind.

Stream of Consciousness

Writer's Block

Sometimes in order to get over writer's block, you simply need to put word down after word. Keeping this in mind, set the timer to 15 minutes. Start writing whatever comes to your mind until time's up. Then do it again - but, this time, write stream-of-consciousness from the perspective of your protagonist.

A Day in the Life

Character Development

Write about the hero of your story going on the most mundane errand you can think of. Rely solely on the character to make the story interesting.

RBE | Golden Cat for You | 2025-02

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