Below you will find five writing exercises that aim to use some of the information you've put together as you've worked through the previous chapters. It's up to you whether your responses are written in the same style you plan on writing your book, or if you would rather use them to explore the world and characters of your story, as background information only.
1. Your main character is standing in the middle of your main location. Allowing them to explore the area with their senses, what can they see, hear, smell, touch and taste?
2. Your main character has their first meeting with the villain? What are they thinking? Why are they there? What do they say? What emotions are they feeling? Once you've worked your way through those points, turn the scene on its head, and write it from the perspective of the villain and answer the same questions.
3. Think about how your story opens. Now write a scene, short story, piece of flash fiction, or background piece about something that happens before your story opens. It could be just before your story begins, days before, or even centuries before. How does this tie in with your story? Is it relevant to what is going to happen or is it only an interesting extra?
4. You main character walks through the door to their home, but something is not as it should be. How does your character respond to, and resolve the situation? Pick from the following scenarios and write a short piece inspired by it:
> Something is missing from the room
> Something which doesn't belong in the room is now in it
> Someone is waiting for them in the room.
5. Your main character is looking into a mirror. What do they see? How do they feel about what they see? If they could change anything about what they are seeing, what would it be and why? Follow this up with one of your other characters looking at your main character. What do they see? How does this make them feel towards your main character? Does their past history influence how they currently view them?
YOU ARE READING
Preparing to Write
No Ficción...A Workbook of Prompts and Exercises to help you prepare for writing your story... So you are about to embark on writing your book. Perhaps it's your first book. Perhaps it's your twentieth. Whichever it is, it's always a good idea to create for y...
