Writing Exercises

Today has been, wow. Not so good.
So, writing exercises–or nothing at all.

! Use these words in a your piece–use in the first 250 words: pulse, wander, deliver, engage, stop.

Once a famous author told me to start my book stronger. I needed to only get rid of the first line and I had a better beginning. After you’ve written this new bit, look at a way to make the story stronger. Sometimes it’s just a word that needs to go.

@ Finish this in your main character’s voice: “In the beginning . . .”

# In less than 500 words, write the changes your character makes from page one to the end of your novel.

Once I read a book by a not very famous author. At the end of the novel, the main character hadn’t changed at all. Boring! Who wants to spend so many pages with someone who never learns ANYTHING? Okay, there is that ONE famous behemoth, but I’m not talking about THAT because it makes Ann Dee nervous.

$ Write the Who’s Who of your book. Put in every character. Does every one play a part?

Once I read a famous book that most people LOVE and I didn’t like it. Why? Because I felt too much had been thrown into the brew–and the really terrific part of the story got lost in the parts and people the author never tied together.

% Your main character has started biting her nails again. Why? Yes, I’m biting my nails again. And yes, I know why.

^ What is the biggest change in you as you write this novel?

& Use the incident that Kyra wrote about on Friday (the horrible dog story–And she says *I* tell sad/awful/disturbing stories) in your work.

Once, a famous writer (who writes about animals) told me to take a sad animal part out of one of my books. I didn’t. So there.

I got rewriting to go and papers to read, so I’m outta here!