Exercises
(This is an excerpt from a University Of Metaphysical Sciences course at www.umsonline.org,
please feel free to visit the school website)
Here are some exercises which will help you to hone your own voice and become a better writer. The secret to good writing is Practice, Practice, Practice. Many professional writers write everyday, come sun, come snow. Even if you only practice for a short period of time, you will see your work improve.
- This exercise was lifted from Browne and King’s Self-Editing For Fiction Writers (1993) and follows a chapter called ”Show And Tell.” As a writer, you must learn to show rather than tell. The following passage tells rather than shows. Rewrite it to show and not tell.
I’d known Uncle Zeb for years, of course, but I didn’t feel like I really knew him until that first time I walked into his shop. All that time I’d thought he was just kind of handy, but looking at his tools—hundreds of them—and what they were and the way they were organized, well, I could see he was a craftsman. - Here’s an exercise on Point of View. Take a sample scene of an eleven year old girl looking out the window of her school and seeing the first snowflakes of winter. Write this scene from the first person and third person points of view. If you would like to tackle more, have her teacher notice and bring in her teacher’s POV for multiple third person viewpoints.
- To use your Voice, write a scene about something that happened to you today using only the view point and exposition. Now feed in dialogue. Play with this scene, taking it from different points of view.
- Since there are a number of frequently used verbs in fiction and writers are told to use “colorful” action verbs, find as many synonyms as you can for the list below. A Thesaurus is a useful tool for this exercise.
- Writing practice that will improve your writing skills include creative writing exercise, writing point of view, exposition writing, and writing dialogue. Self editing will help in finding your voice and personality. As a metaphysical writer, find your writing voice by channeling your inner voice.