Recently, suffering from bouts of writer’s block, I’ve searched for ways to surprise myself into writing things I didn’t expect. Editing too early or over-editing can strip away confidence. Focusing on technique can hinder the excitement that comes from knowing your characters or playing with language. So, for the past few years, my creative writing classed have focused more on exercises that allow the writer to surprise themselves. This is especially important with writers who have high expectations mixed with low confidence.
Exercise 1: ‘Look up and see’
Choose one or more of the following sentence openings as the basis for a story or poem. Close your eyes and relax, repeating the phrase until the words start to flow by themselves.
NB: This may work even better if you print each prompt on separate slip of paper and allow participants to draw them out of a hat.
I looked up and saw…
I never expected…
I had always thought…
Once, I believed…
I used to want…
Because I was ready…
If I had known…
I didn’t wish…
I may have been…
I wanted to know…
I would have asked…
It might have been better if I…
Perhaps I should have foreseen…
Although I meant…
What was I…?
I would not…
I remember, I remember…