
Storytelling Exercise: Character Choices
Today’s storytelling exercise is an excerpt from my book, Story Drills: Fiction Writing Exercises, which helps beginning to intermediate storytellers develop skills in the craft of fiction writing. This exercise explores one of the most important elements of any story: the characters. It’s called “Character Choices.” Enjoy! Character Choices We get to wherever we are…Read More

Storytelling Exercise: Plot Analysis
Today’s storytelling exercise is an excerpt from my book, Story Drills: Fiction Writing Exercises, which helps beginning to intermediate storytellers develop skills in the craft of fiction writing. This exercise explores one of the most important elements of any story: plot. It’s called “Plot Analysis.” Enjoy! Plot Analysis Some readers think analyzing a plot takes…Read More

Storytelling Exercise: Managing Our Ideas
Today’s storytelling exercise is an excerpt from my book, Story Drills: Fiction Writing Exercises, which helps beginning to intermediate storytellers develop skills in the craft of fiction writing. This exercise is designed to help you manage your writing ideas (or lack thereof). It’s called “Managing Our Ideas.” Enjoy! All the storytelling skills in the world…Read More

Storytelling Exercise: Time Lapse
Today’s post is an excerpt from my book, Story Drills: Fiction Writing Exercises. This is from a chapter called “Time Lapse,” which looks at how a story moves through time in a way that isn’t jarring to the reader. Enjoy! Stories don’t take readers through every minute of the characters’ lives. Scenes jump around in…Read More

Storytelling Exercise: Tone and Mood
Today I’d like to share an excerpt from Story Drills: Fiction Writing Exercises, which helps beginning to intermediate storytellers develop fiction writing skills. This exercise is from chapter sixty, and it’s called “Tone and Mood.” Enjoy! Tone and Mood Tone and mood give a story a sense of atmosphere—how a story feels—its emotional sensibility. Atmosphere is…Read More

Storytelling Exercise: Three Acts
Today’s storytelling exercise is an excerpt from my book, Story Drills, which is filled with fiction-writing exercises that impart basic techniques of storytelling. Today’s exercise is from chapter forty-five. It’s called “Three Acts.” Enjoy! The three-act structure is one of the simplest and most effective ways to outline or analyze a story and its structure….Read More

From 101 Creative Writing Exercises: What’s Your Superpower?
Today, I’d like to share a fun exercise from my book 101 Creative Writing Exercises (aff link), which is packed with writing exercises that encourage you to explore different forms and genres while you discover useful writing techniques. You’ll find plenty of inspiration throughout the book with ideas for projects you can eventually publish. Today’s exercise…Read More

From 101 Creative Writing Exercises: Couplets and Quatrains
Today’s writing exercise comes from 101 Creative Writing Exercises, which takes writers on an adventure through different forms and genres while offering tools, techniques, and inspiration for writing. Each chapter focuses on a different form or writing concept: freewriting, journaling, memoirs, fiction, storytelling, form poetry, free verse, characters, dialogue, creativity, and article and blog writing are…Read More

From 101 Creative Writing Exercises: Body Language
101 Creative Writing Exercises is a collection of creative writing exercises that takes writers on a journey through different forms and genres while providing writing techniques, practice, and inspiration. Each exercise teaches a specific concept, and each chapter focuses on a different subject or form of writing: journaling, storytelling, fiction, poetry, article writing, and more. Every exercise…Read More

Poetry Writing Exercises: Alliteration and Assonance
Today I’d like to share an excerpt from 101 Creative Writing Exercises, a book that encourages you to experiment with different forms and genres of writing while providing inspiration for publishable projects and imparting useful writing techniques that make your writing more robust. This exercise is from “Chapter 8: Free Verse.” It’s titled “Alliteration and…Read More