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A Writer's Block Writing Exercise
Stream of Consciousness
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.
Respond to this exercise
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Similar exercises
Get your creative juices flowing with these similar writing prompts.
Positive Reinforcement
Make a list of the things that make you feel guilty about your writing. (For example: "I haven't written in 10 days even though I could have made the time.") Call yourself out. Then, go through each point and write a goal or accomplishment to challenge that guilt. (For example: "I have already written more than I did last month", or "I will set aside 30 minutes to write today.")
Now I'm Free, Free Writin'
Take 5-10 minutes to free-write about your project in new or strange way. Scrawl your thoughts on construction paper in purple marker, close your eyes and write outside the lines - or draw your plot in pictograms. When you're done, choose the bits that stand out most to you or were the most fun to jot down, and make them the central points of your outline or story.
Love Letters
If you're feeling stuck or intimidated about how to start writing, take five minutes before you jump into your writing project to pen a love letter (or hate letter) to the blank page in front of you. It's surprising where words - any words - will lead you once you put them down.
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The Power of Words
Write a list of random, free-association words. For creative writing, list ten words across ten columns. Then go to each column and add nine more words so that the result is ten columns and ten rows, a total of one hundred words. Just reading the list and noticing the creative leaps your mind has made may surprise you. If you like, continue the exercise by using all one hundred words in a short fiction piece. For poetry, select the words that suggest a common theme.
Pick-Up Line
Cheesy pick-up lines are the worst...but sometimes (when they work), they're the best conversation starters out there. Pick one of the pick-up lines from below and write down a conversation that you can imagine following afterward.
- "Your smile is like Expelliarmus. Simple but disarming."
- "Did it hurt? When you fell from heaven?"
- "Are you a parking ticket? You've got fine written all over you."
- "Are you from Tennessee? Because you're the only ten I see."
- "If I could rearrange the alphabet, I'd put U and I together."
