The Exercises in Unlock Your Creativity: 52 Exercises for Writers
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1. Create a ritual.
2. Vary your routine.
3. Appreciate the chaos.
4. Get curious.
5. Use your senses.
6. Get ridiculous.
7. Free associate.
8. Play with words.
9. Observe.
10. Change your environment.
11. Go psychedelic.
12. Think geographically.
13. Recognize opportunity.
14. Immerse yourself in your favorites.
15. Increase awareness.
16. Look around your house or environment.
17. Go to the library.
18. Mix it up with images.
19. Listen to music.
20. Go from micro to macro and back again.
21. Use the news.
22. Ask “What if?”
23. Ask “Why?”
24. Let yourself be embarrassed.
25. Imitate other writers.
26. Shock yourself.
27. Think in symbols.
28. Compare places.
29. Act on it.
30. Monitor your self-talk.
31. Become someone else.
32. Make up stories.
33. Turn your life into a dream.
34. Cross media.
See the world in different art styles.
36. Go deep.
37. Work with a partner.
38. Be a character.
39. Use what you know.
40. Savor the moment.
41. Look for patterns.
42. Contradict.
43. Use your own life.
44. Pick a spot in the dictionary, encyclopedia, or atlas.
45. Be zany.
46. Stretch your ideas.
47. Make connections.
48. Write in crowded as well as solitary places.
49. Picture your life.
50. Test different paths.
51. Cross genres.
52. Get psychological, social, political, and historical.
Introduction
You know it when you see it. A book, a film, a poem, a play, an article jolts you. You can’t get that scene, snippet of dialog, character, idea, or joke out of your head. You find yourself quoting from it, telling your friends, daydreaming about it, and if you’re a writer, wishing you had written it.
How did the writer come up with that so-clever, so-novel, so-startling work? The half-floor in the office building in “Being John Malkovich.” A boy who has scissors for hands in “Edward Scissorhands.” A Mafia don who goes to a psychiatrist in “The Sopranos.” If only I could be creative like that! But I get stuck.
You can be creative like that. Everyone is inherently creative. The secret to producing original, compelling work is unlocking your creativity. That’s something everyone can learn because the basis for creativity is the ability to see the world in new ways. All it takes is a bit of curiosity, a willingness to open your mind, and some practice.
It’s no accident that Apple Computer came up with the slogan “Think different” because that’s what creative and innovative people do. They look deeper at the world around them than others do, making connections that others don’t. Creative people are curious and full of wonder, always asking “Why?” and “What if?” They don’t censor themselves, but let their minds, feelings, and perceptions range free, without judgment, at least for a while. Ideas now; evaluation later.
I want to help you turn the world upside down, inside out, sideways, and backwards, into astonishing new shapes and dimensions. That’s what this book is about: shaking things up…at your own pace. These exercises have grown out of my own experience as a writer, and I can testify that they work! Every time I practice them, I come up with fresh, innovative material, whether it’s fiction, nonfiction, poetry, song lyrics, screenplays, or comedy routines.
The exercises are designed to get you to:
- Cultivate curiosity. There’s no such thing as too many questions, despite what some people’s mothers say.
- Break down mental and emotional barriers. Don’t edit yourself too soon.
- Analyze. Think deeply and from a variety of angles about what you see and feel.
- Practice. Work the techniques over and over again and new ways of seeing and thinking will become habit.
You don’t have to do the exercises in order, nor do you have to do them all. And just like with our Writing Show writing weekends, you don’t have to report to anyone. This is your personal journey. But wherever it leads you, I do hope you’ll refer to my techniques again and again over this life-long journey we call writing.
Purchase the ebook as a PDF at Lulu.com.
Purchase the ebook at the Amazon Kindle store: