Here are 11 creative writing exercises

to get you started:

1. Answer 3 questions.
In this exercise, you’ll use three questions to stimulate creative
thought. You can write these questions yourself, but I’ll give you
some examples to show you what to do.

You want to answer the questions as quickly as you can, with

whatever ideas pop into your mind.

Write as much or as little as you wish, but just allow the words to flow
without pondering too much what you want to say.

Example 1:
1. Who just snuck out the back window?
2. What were they carrying?
3. Where were they going?
Example 2:
1. Who is Ethan?
2. Why is he crying?
3. What is he going to do about it?
Example 3:
1. Whose house is Julia leaving?
2. Why was she there?
3. Where is she going now?
2. Write a letter to your younger self.
In this exercise, you are writing to yourself at a younger age. It can
be your childhood self or yourself just a few years back.

You can offer advice, compassion, explanation, forgiveness, or praise.

Or you can simply recount an experience you had and how it

impacted you as your adult self now.

Try to see this younger self as a real and separate person when you
write the letter. This exercise helps you think about your reader as a
real person with emotions — a person who can be moved and inspired
by your writing.

Again, try not to overthink this exercise. Spend a few minutes

deciding the core message of the letter, and then just start writing
without filters.
3. Use writing prompts.
A writing prompt is an idea that jumpstarts the writing process.
The prompt can be a short sentence, a paragraph, or even a picture,
but the purpose is the same — to ignite your creativity so you’ll begin
writing.

Writing prompts can help you when you feel stuck while writing your
book.

If you take ten minutes to work on a writing prompt, you can go back
to your book writing primed to get down to business. It stimulates
ideas for a writer and releases the creative process.

Here are a few prompts you can use:

You wake up on a beautiful Sunday morning, feeling happy and ready

to take on the day. Then you remember. A wave of anxiety washes
over you, and the beautiful day turns foreboding in an instant. Who
are you? Where are you? What has happened to make you feel
anxious and ruin your day?
You’re taking a walk on the beach early in the morning. The beach is
nearly deserted. You notice something half buried in the sand, and
when you examine it you see it’s an old, rusted metal box. You open
the box. What’s inside the box? How does it make you feel? What are
you going to do about it?
You’re sitting on the couch watching TV when you notice a receipt on
your coffee table. You know you didn’t leave a receipt there, and you
live alone. What is the receipt for? How did it get on your coffee
table?
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4. Write about your expertise. 
Think about something you know how to do well. It can be anything
from washing the dishes to selling stocks.

Write a few paragraphs (or more if you wish) explaining some aspect
of how to do what you do.

Assume your reader is completely ignorant about the subject.

This writing shouldn’t sound like a dry instruction manual. Try to write

in a conversational style, as though you’re verbally explaining the
process.

Break down the steps in a way that makes the reader understand
exactly what to do, without using business jargon or buzzwords.

5. Write a stream of consciousness page.

This is an easy and fun exercise. You want to write it in longhand
rather than typing on your computer, as handwriting slows down the
process and allows more time for your creative brain to do its work.

Grab a pen and blank pad and simply start writing. Write down
whatever comes into your brain, no matter how nonsensical or
disjointed.
In her book, The Artist’s Way, author Julia Cameron calls this free
writing, “Morning Pages.” She asks the reader to write three pages of
stream of consciousness writing every morning. Here’s what she says
about Morning Pages:
There is no wrong way to do Morning Pages — they are not high art.
They are not even “writing.” They are about anything and everything
that crosses your mind– and they are for your eyes only. Morning Pages
provoke, clarify, comfort, cajole, prioritize and synchronize the day at
hand. Do not over-think Morning Pages: just put three pages of
anything on the page…and then do three more pages tomorrow.
6. Write a story told to you.
In this exercise, you want to recount a story told to you by another
person.

It can be a story one of your parents or grandparents shared about

something that happened many years ago, or it can be a more recent
event a friend or family member recounted.

Or you can tell a story you learned in school or through reading about
a well-known person or event.

The story can be funny, sad, or educational — but it should be

interesting, entertaining, or engaging in some way.

Whether your book is fiction or non-fiction, readers love

stories. They enjoy relating to the lives and experiences of other
people.
When you share stories in your writing, you humanize your
writing and take your readers on a small journey.

7. Pretend to be someone else. 

In this exercise, you’ll practice writing from another person’s
perspective. You can choose a person you know well, or you can write
from the point of view of an imagined character.

Put yourself in this person’s shoes, see things through their

eyes, and react the way they would react.

Choose one situation, encounter, or setting, and write what you see,
hear, think, and feel about the scenario. Get inside of this person’s
brain, and try to be as descriptive as possible.
8. Write about something or someone who changed
your life.
In this exercise, rather than telling the story of someone else or
pretending to be another person, you want to share your story from
your perspective.

Write about a person or event that has profoundly impacted you and
changed your life.

Rather than simply recounting the situation, talk about how it made
you feel, what your reactions were, and how you were changed on
the inside as well as the outside.

Pour your heart into this writing. Remember, you don’t have to show
it to anyone, so be completely vulnerable and real in this exercise.

9. Describe your surroundings.

Simply write a paragraph or two about your surroundings.

You can write in first person (“I am sitting at my desk, which is

littered with papers and old coffee cups.”), or write in third person,
simply describing what you see (“The room is bleak and empty except
for one old wooden chair.”).

Challenge yourself to use descriptive language to set the scene.

Rather than saying, “The light is shining through the window,” you
might say, “The morning sun is streaming through the window,
spotlighting a million dancing dust particles and creating mottled
shadows on my desk.”
Whether you write fiction or non-fiction, you want to write intriguing
descriptions that invite the reader into the setting so they can “see”
what you see.

10. Pick a number.

Even numbers can serve to inspire writing. This exercise combines
numbers with something else you probably have at your disposal.

Pick a random number between 1 and 30. We’ll call it number n. Then
look to your bookshelf (real or virtual) and choose the nth book.

(Note: If you have more than 30 books on your shelf, you can choose
a bigger number).
Then you’d open that book to the nth page and go to the nth
sentence on that page.

Write that sentence down and make it the first sentence of a new
freewriting exercise. Just write whatever comes to mind for the next
sentence and the one after that, and so on.
Write at least as many sentences as the number you chose.

11. Describe a dream of yours — or the life of your

dreams.
Think of a dream you remember and describe it in as much detail as
you can recall.

From there, you can take that dream and turn it into a story or play
with possible interpretations — serious or just for fun.

Or you can write about the life you dream of living. Describe a perfect
day in that life, from the time you wake up to the time you lie back
down.

Describe the home in which you live or the places you want to go.
Imagine you’re living there in the locale of your choice for as long as
you wish.

Don’t bother trying to make it sound realistic.

Just let the words flow, and enjoy the ride. Part of the fun of learning
how to practice writing fiction is letting your imagination take over —
without any heckling from your inner editor.

No matter how experienced you are as a writer, you can always

improve and tap deeper into the wellspring of your own creativity.
You can always learn new ways to express yourself and delight your
reader.

View these writing exercises as a means to opening doors of insight

and imagination and enjoy the process of becoming a better writer.