Writing Exercises for Creative Fiction

Writers (Characterization, Prose Style,

and Language)
The debate over whether or not creative fiction writing can ever truly be taught may well
never be resolved. However, after several decades of institutionalized creative writing
pedagogy, its fairly safe to conclude that there are certainly ways to teach the craft if not
the art of creative writing, and although the pedagogy of any art form can be a delicate
undertaking, several methods for the teaching of fiction writing have emerged over time.
By far the most common and traditional way of teaching creative writing is through the
workshop class format ! i.e., where a small class, led by an instructor whose role
generally resembles less a traditional, directive teacher role and more that of a
discussion facilitator, in which students take turns discussing one anothers creative work
in a roundtable"style discussion ! there are also other methods that can be integrated into
the teaching of creative writing, whether in a workshop environment or not. #mong the
most popular of these is the use of writing e$ercises or invitations, which can be used in
both a classroom%group or one"on"one setting. &$ercises%invitations are particularly
useful for beginner%intermediate"level writing students who may not yet have a solid
grasp of one or more of the basic foundations of creative fiction writing. 'n here, we will
e$amine several such writing e$ercises, focusing on those related to characterization,
which is fre(uently the most challenging to beginning creative writers.
)haracterization, the art of developing and realizing fully articulated characters, usually
presents the most significant challenge to ine$perienced writers of fiction, because the
process of interpreting and integrating the techni(ues of characterization from other
literary work that the student has read in the past is a slow and nuanced process* while a
writer may have conceived an interesting and detailed character, it fre(uently takes many
attempts to fully realize that character in all of his%her comple$ity on the page. +rom my
e$perience in both participating in and teaching introductory fiction workshops, 've
noticed three fre(uently recurring traps that beginning writers tend to fall into when
developing characters,
-. The narrator or protagonist of the story will often be a barely veiled version of the
writer himself .in this situation, secondary characters will often also bear a close
resemblance to real"life people from the writers life/. The first problem with this is that
the story tends to become autobiography dressed up as fiction, often featuring with a
highly idealized and unrealistic version of the writer. 0hile there is, of course, nothing
inherently wrong with using a real"life event or series of events as a basis for a work of
fiction, there e$ists a tendency among ine$perienced writers to write about events from
their own lives that may be very emotionally resonant for the writer, but not so for a
reader who is unfamiliar with the writers life. 1imilarly, the writer will often unwittingly
write from a position of familiarity with the real"life inspired characters that a reader will,
of course, not share.
2. The writer will often use (uick and easy shortcuts to characterization, which usually
results in a heavy reliance on clich3d archetypes. +or e$ample, a writer might try to show
that a character is deep merely by making the character a philosophy student at 4ale
instead of showing the comple$ity of the character through his or her actions, thoughts,
and dialogue, or a character in a story .sometimes this can also e$tend to use of ethnic,
racial and other stereotypes/.
5. The writer may be so involved in his%her idea of the chain of events that make up the
narrative that character development falls almost entirely by the wayside altogether, and
the characters are flat and transparent, means to an end rather than realistic
representations of actual people, which, of course, makes the prospect of a reader being
in any sense engaged with the story somewhat unlikely.
Characterization-elated Writing Exercises!
'n the first two e$ercises, the central purpose is to encourage the writer to disambiguate
themselves from their characters, (uite literally in the first one. 'n the second one,
encouraging the writer to write a piece depicting themselves from the third person in
difficult situation forces the writer to consider the hypothetical underlying motivations for
the actions of a person theyre intimately familiar with ! themselves ! with the aim of
encouraging the writer to do the same for the fictional characters they will be working
with in future creative work.
-. )hoose a character from a story you have written or are in the process of writing, then
write a scene or multiple scenes in which that character interacts with you, the author.
6ne way to approach this e$ercise is to write with the assumption that the character
understands that you, as the author, created him or her and are responsible for the
things that happened to them in the course of the story* another is to write as though the
character does not know these things and is simply interacting with the author as 7ust
another person that he or she has met. +or a bigger challenge, do the e$ercise using a
secondary or tertiary character from the story .as opposed to the main protagonist/.
2. Think of a situation in which a long"held fear or an$iety that you have comes true .this
should be a situation which could, but has not yet happened/. 8ow, using the third"person
mode of narration, write a scene ! or a very short story ! describing a fictional version of
yourself dealing with the situation.
The following e$ercises serve the purpose of encouraging the writer to think in less
conventional and stereotypical ways about how fictional characters actions and
motivations are linked ! or not ! to their appearance and cultural backgrounds, with the
overall aim of discouraging the reliance on archetype and stereotype in character
development.
0ith a partner, spend a few minutes people watching in a public place. 9ick a
person you see and write a detailed physical description of that person. Then write
a (uick backstory about that person ! i.e., a (uick synopsis of their background,
their personal and professional lives, etc., and then imagine an interesting
situation that person might find themselves in. :eanwhile, your partner should
do the same for a different person. 0hen youre done, e$change either the
physical descriptions or the backstories and then write a scene or a short story
using the elements that you now have. ;oes your perception of how you might
e$pect a character to behave change as a result of the change in the characters
physical appearance and dress<
6ur preconceptions of our own characters are heavily informed by conventions of
the cultural conte$t, era, time and place, etc. that the story takes place in. =ewrite
a part of a short story you have written .usually one scene/, resetting the narrative
in a different place and%or culture or a different time in the place where it
originally takes place .of course, this will not always be feasible if the original
story is heavily dependent on its own historical%geographical conte$t/, using what
you know about that place or time. How did your perceptions of your characters
change< 0hat did you learn about them< To what e$tent did the original narrative
survive the transposition<
"ther Exercises (Prose Style and Language)!
These e$ercises are geared to encourage the student to think about his or her approach to
prose style and language. The purpose of the first two is to encourage the writer to think
about how the literature that he or she has read influences their own writing, with the
eventual goal of encouraging the writer to develop his or her own aesthetic. The second
two e$ercises encourage the writer to consider his or her use of language in creative
writing and both its limitations and opportunities.
-. )hoose one of your favorite piece of fiction .a short story or novel/ and write a new
ending .the last page or two/ in what you consider your own prose style. How is the
new ending different from the original< 0hat similarities remain<
2. #lternately, select a story you have written as well as a short story or novel you have
read in the past that deals with similar sub7ect matter .the similarities dont have to be
very close/. 8ow, rewrite the ending of your story in the prose style of the short story
youve selected.
5. 0rite a scene of a short story .one or two pages/ without using any ad7ectives. How
does your approach to description change when you are unable to rely on traditional
modes of description< 0hat aesthetic choices does that limitation encourage you to
make<
>. Try to write one sentence .either descriptive or describing an action/ more than three
hundred words in length .without using con7unctions/. 8ow try to write a scene of
similar length using sentences that are no longer than si$ words each. How did your use
of language change as you shifted between these modes of writing<