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A Writer's Block Writing Exercise
The 81-Word Story
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 unnecessary and make every word count. Here's how it works:
- Take any novel from your bookshelf
- Turn to page 9
- Take the 9th word from the 9th line on the page
- Use that word to start a story
- Write a story that is exactly 81 words long
- If you're feeling particularly clever, use 9 sentences that are 9 words long
Respond to this exercise
Feel inspired? Share your story below.
Similar exercises
Get your creative juices flowing with these similar writing prompts.
Mad Libs
Close your eyes and write down four adjectives at random. Now write down three nouns. Now write down two verbs. Now write down one adverb. Now open your eyes. Your challenge is to write a 500-word short story based off of these ten words.
Advert
Write an advertisement putting your 12-foot long crocodile on the market. Then write the story behind why you had to sell your pet crocodile in the first place.
Body Language
When writing emotion, it's easy to become stuck on how to express what the point-of-view character is experiencing. An exercise to try is to pull from your own memory if you feel comfortable doing so. Sit back in your chair, take a few calming breaths, and think back to a time where you experienced this same emotion. Carefully draw up the memory, thinking about the situation, the location, the people involved. Remember the sights, sounds, smells, textures, tastes.Now, pay attention to your body. Are you relaxed, or tense? Are your muscles tight? Is it easy to breathe, or do you feel restricted? Is your posture curling up, an attempt to hide, or are you twitchy all over and want to leap out of the chair? Make as many notes as you can, and when you go to write, use what you collected to give life to the character's experience.
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One Word
Open a dictionary, close your eyes, pick a random word, and write about it. Go on, see how much you can write about one word in thirty seconds. It doesn't matter if you think it's great or silly or you think it's a beautiful word that everyone should use in every conversation. Write it!
First Meetings
When you meet new people, how do you react? Tell a story to illustrate this.
