WRITING EXERCISE can be as important as physical exercise.

It’s a way for writers to keep their mental muscles toned and taut. And, usually without a lot of perspiration

Una Tiers,  author of Judge vs Nuts, is today’s guest blogger, leads the class.

Writing Exercises

by Una Tiers

Exercises really?

Does this short story make me look fat?

Is handwriting with a black pen more slenderizing than my green sparkle pen?

Writing Exercises to Build Skills

As if there wasn’t enough time in the day to finally understand dangling particles and gerunds, I discovered another avenue to build my writing skills, writing exercises.

A few months back I went to a prompt group writing class, where we were asked to write for 5 minutes to warm up.  Sounds familiar.

Next we wrote sentences with seven words.  This was probably the equivalent of stretching.  Then, there was the no punctuation no capitalization exercise that was maddening.  This resembled the aerobic portion of our workout and we ended with thoughts about other meetings, the cool down.

Reading Aloud, and More

While I wasn’t comfortable reading my work out loud – and don’t plan to return to the group – it was a good learning experience.

Other writing exercises are in classes included:

• Flash Fiction
• Characters
• Plot
• Pace
• Opening Sentences.

The list is as long as your imagination.

Channeling Parker and Grafton

There are writing exercises I do when no one is watching.

I read a real Robert Parker book, and rework  my current WIP (work in progress) to his style of almost all dialogue for ten pages.

Sometimes I rework my work to make Agatha Raisin the protagonist, and once I tried the Sue Grafton style, but had trouble working bougainvilleas’ into the Chicago landscape.

A New Exercise Idea

Yesterday I started a new exercise.

Each day I write for five minutes about a different friend.

The first was my Grandmother. This project will keep me busy for a while.

What are your favorite and most productive exercises? Wrumba? Editing to Elvis?

^^^^^^^

Una Tiers is the author of Judge vs Nuts, a humorcide.

Join protagonist Fiona Gavelle in Judge vs Nuts for a tale about corruption that has been described as hilariously funny.

•  View the book trailer
• Amazon
• Barnes & Noble

Visit or contact Una Tiers through her website or by email at  una@unatiers.com