Category Archives: Writing tools

Address these questions: How do your characters act in the face of opposition/desires that contrast with their own? Do they plan, try to persuade, take physical action, for example? Describe three events that your central character remembers and that influence … Continue reading →

I found this exercise useful when trying to create characters. From Alice LaPlante’s Method and Madness, here is the PDF.

Look at this view of Cinderella, from Janet Burroway’s Writing Fiction. Consider also these contrasting views of conflict and connection when plotting/characterizing, which are also from Burroway’s book.

“So it’s always critical to keep in mind that there are no rules in fiction, only conventions that have been built up over the years based on the way that writers have crafted their stories. (A convention is ‘an established … Continue reading →

An exercise by Donald Barthelme Assignment: Write a sentence with some attention to the notes below. What can we reasonable expect, or even demand, of the sentences in fiction? The first thing I want a sentence to do is surprise … Continue reading →

This sample of revision exemplifies the improvements paragraph-level changes make possible. Obviously, sentence-level problems remain, but the second draft has clearly improved. I’m guessing the genre is urban fantasy?

The Oulipo Group uses mathematical principles to generate experimental texts. Larding is one of the exercises they suggest.

Do at least one of the following Read the draft in one sitting without changing anything. Make an outline of what you’ve already written. Try the “shrunken draft” exercise. Then freewrite answers to these questions: What do I need to … Continue reading →

Consider Janet Burroway’s discussion of theme.