Micro Exercise 1: Describe one central action, and things that happened in the proximity simultaneously but which are unrelated.
Micro Exercise 2: Make a list of ten items which are yellow. Write a micro piece which uses at least seven of the items you listed.
Micro Exercise 3: Write a micro which uses the items not used in Micro #2, as well as a hole in the ground that is at least three feet deep.
Micro Exercise 4: Pick two interesting words from this Random Word Generator.
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If you'd like some background music to write to, try this waterfall and jungle ambiance video.
For today's writing exercise you will pick one word from each of three groups and write a sentence that includes all of the words, feel free to change tense, pluralize etc. Repeat the process four times using different words. Now write a piece of fiction or poetry that uses at least two of those sentences (or the majority of them).
Word Bank 1:
Jerk
Remove
Swap
Prop
Icicle
Wordbank 2:
Keep
Knee
Whisk
Wisp
Quake
Wordbank 3:
Groove
Leap
Flake
Smirk
Fake
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If you'd like some background music to write to, try this compilation of Spanish guitar music.
For today's exercise we have split paths for fiction and poetry, though I highly recommend that even fiction writers try the poetry exercise. For fiction, write a piece with a repetition of the dialog sentence "Five pounds is my price." For poetry do an erasure or black-out poem from the following selection of H.G. Wells' short story "The Crystal Egg". An Erasure/Blackout is really simple: you take the given text and remove many words to make it your own new piece. One way to go about the erasure that I like to do is to copy the text and paste it twice into your document before you start erasing or blacking out (in MS Word set the text background color to black), that way if you get further into the erasure and decide you want a somewhat different tone or direction, it's easy to go to the unaltered version and make the erasure/black-out piece smoother. Another tip is to look for recurring words, in this example Cave occurs many times and could be a good touchstone for your piece.
Erasure Selection:
The Crystal Egg
There was, until a year ago, a little and very grimy-looking shop near Seven Dials, over which, in weather-worn yellow lettering, the name of “C. Cave, Naturalist and Dealer in Antiquities,” was inscribed. The contents of its window were curiously variegated. They comprised some elephant tusks and an imperfect set of chessmen, beads and weapons, a box of eyes, two skulls of tigers and one human, several moth-eaten stuffed monkeys (one holding a lamp), an old-fashioned cabinet, a fly-blown ostrich egg or so, some fishing-tackle, and an extraordinarily dirty, empty glass fish-tank. There was also, at the moment the story begins, a mass of crystal, worked into the shape of an egg and brilliantly polished. And at that two people who stood outside the window were looking, one of them a tall, thin clergyman, the other a black-bearded young man of dusky complexion and unobtrusive costume. The dusky young man spoke with eager gesticulation, and seemed anxious for his companion to purchase the article.
While they were there, Mr. Cave came into his shop, his beard still wagging with the bread and butter of his tea. When he saw these men and the object of their regard, his countenance fell. He glanced guiltily over his shoulder, and softly shut the door. He was a little old man, with pale face and peculiar watery blue eyes; his hair was a dirty grey, and he wore a shabby blue frock-coat, an ancient silk hat, and carpet slippers very much down at heel. He remained watching the two men as they talked. The clergyman went deep into his trouser pocket, examined a handful of money, and showed his teeth in an agreeable smile. Mr. Cave seemed still more depressed when they came into the shop.
The clergyman, without any ceremony, asked the price of the crystal egg. Mr. Cave glanced nervously towards the door leading into the parlour, and said five pounds. The clergyman protested that the price was high, to his companion as well as to Mr. Cave — it was, indeed, very much more than Mr. Cave had intended to ask when he had stocked the article — and an attempt at bargaining ensued. Mr. Cave stepped to the shop door, and held it open. “Five pounds is my price,” he said, as though he wished to save himself the trouble of unprofitable discussion. As he did so, the upper portion of a woman’s face appeared above the blind in the glass upper panel of the door leading into the parlour, and stared curiously at the two customers. “Five pounds is my price,” said Mr. Cave, with a quiver in his voice.
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If you'd like some background music to write to, try this playlist of the Beastie Boys instrumental album The Mix-Up
For today's writing exercise you will pick one word from each of three groups and write a sentence that includes all of the words, feel free to change tense, pluralize etc. Repeat the process four times using different words. Now write a piece of fiction or poetry that uses at least two of those sentences (or the majority of them).
Word Bank 1:
Escalate
Prove
Swamp
Ferret
Groom
Wordbank 2:
Rust
Error
Spike
Glove
Plate
Wordbank 3:
Peach
Spoon
Clump
Brisk
Inflate
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If you'd like some background music to write to, try this lo-fi hip hop version of the soundtrack of Spirited Away by Joe Hisaishi.
For today's writing exercise you will write a piece of poetry or prose which uses one of the following as its title. For a bonus challenge, try to use as many of the titles in your piece as you can manage organically.
Titles:
Dropped in the Middle of Another Argument
[Expletive deleted] Again
Within Reason
Zipping out of Sight
The Smell of Oranges and Dirt
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If you'd like some background music to write to, try the background music from Disneyland's Tomorrowland.
You can write this from either the perspective of the boy or the insect, or someone observing the scene even. Is that a look of unease or wonder? Why is this image important? You tell me.
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If you would like some music to write to, try Jamiroquai's album "Travelling Without Moving"
For today's writing exercise you will go forth from a first line of my choosing. Where you go after that is up to you, but I'll add a couple other optional things to include if you would like a little more to work from.
Photo by Bluntvayne
First Line: Three people and five dogs tread toward me.
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Optional Items to Include: A Plastic Bag, A Shovel, A Newspaper.
Optional Words to Include: Rush, Withered, Entangle
Optional Restrictions: Under 300 words for fiction or 25 lines for poetry, Begin at least five lines or sentences with the word "From", Include at least three sentences that are three words or fewer.
Hard Mode: Write your poem as a sonnet or your story must end three paragraphs with the sentence/phrase "So they kept waiting."
For today, June third's writing exercise, or writing prompt if you sill, will be celebrating the number Three. I will provide three titles, you have a number of ways you can use them:
A) Pick one title and write a piece that fits that title.
B) Pick one title and work the other titles into the piece.
C) Write three short (or long) pieces that are completely separate (or roughly linked).
D) Write one piece in three sections, using the titles for each section.
E) Mash up the titles and use two or all three as the title for a fitting piece.
F) Whatever you want.
Titles:
Not Entirely Unbroken
Shrinking Jawbreakers
An Hour Before the Fair Closed
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If you want some background writing music and don't mind it having lyrics, try this: The Specials Self Titled Album.
For today, we're going to write a poem or prose piece inspired by another piece of art or an ekphrastic piece. The piece of art in question is this gif from the amazing movie The Wind Rises:
Whether you're writing a lyric poem about what the man is thinking in this moment, the lead up story to this climactic event (who is the man and how did he get to that place and time of raining flaming airplanes?), or if this is the impetus for a greater story, or someone flying a plane that is falling or whatever caused the destruction. There's a ton of possibilities.
Here is the Wind Rises soundtrack if you'd like background writing music.
For today, June's first writing exercise we will write pieces which include three things that must be integral to the story, as in don't have a line of throwaway dialog that uses the words to get them out of the way. If you plan on doing that, just write what you're going to write anyway and come back to this later when you don't have an idea to work from.
Place: Kitchen. Thing: Potting soil. Writing aspect: Use at least 8 words that include the "ch" sound.
Optional element: Mr. T (bonus if Mr. T is also in the title).
If you like background music, here's a good album to listen to while writing. Warning, there may be some swearing in the lyrics.
I believe strongly that keeping a notebook of snippets and interesting tidbits of information, dialogue, quotes, observations etc. is of great use to a writer. For one, I think the act of writing it down strengthens your memory of the thing you thought might be memorable enough to write, despite the inability to sit down at the given time to write an entire piece. It also serves as a reservoir of fragments to draw from when you are writing. David Kirby spoke well to the idea of a writer's notebook in an interview with Stephen Reichert of Smartish Pace when he said:
I’d have the young poets maintain a stockpile of linguistic bits: stories, weird words, snatches of conversation they’d overheard, lines from movies they’d seen or books they’d read. Most young poets will say something like, “Well, I have to write a poem now. Let’s see; what can I write about?” And then they end up writing about their own experiences, and, let’s face it, we all have the same experiences. So what all poets need is a savings account they can raid from time to time
This site is both a general writing blog, and one to help spark the writer's mind for ten to thirty minutes a day with short exercises which may not be full stories or poems, but will hopefully serve as a reservoir for future works.
I'm a writer living and teaching in San Diego. I received my BA from California State University, Long Beach, and my MFA from The University of Washington where I was the coordinating editor at The Seattle Review as it transitioned into its current "Long View" form. My writing has appeared in The Southern Review, The North American Review, The New York Quarterly, Permafrost, Bayou, 5AM, The California Quarterly, The Evansville Review, The Georgetown Review, Dark Matter, Cutthroat, Cairn, Miller's Pond, Pearl and The Lullwater Review among others and is forthcoming in ONTHEBUS's long awaited double issue, The Cape Rock and Exit 7. I've been once nominated for a Pushcart Prize and once did not receive a Pushcart Prize. I'm giving facial hair a go now too. Go figure.
If you have a piece that you really need another's opinion on, I may be able to help. Email zebulonworkshops@gmail.com if you would like to begin a correspondence. Critiques begin at $39 for 2 rounds of edits on a single poem and publishing advice.
