2 Best Exercises To Boost Your Creative Writing Skills

Have you ever experienced the pleasure of documenting the words that resulted from letting your creativity run wild? If not, believe me, you are missing out on an indescribable feeling! In contrast to other forms of writing, creative writing relies primarily on imagination. 

This type of writing can take many forms, including fiction and nonfiction. A creative writing piece can be an exploration of new ideas and experiences, as well as a chance to connect with our inner feelings and emotions. 

As an art form, creative writing stimulates creativity and imagination, both of which help to stimulate intellectual and physical growth in children, teens, and adults. Creative expression by writers can take many forms, such as poetry, short stories, novels, podcasts, etc.

If you are unsure of where to begin or in search of the best exercises out there that would help you to let your creativity flow, worry not! I have got you covered. These creative writing exercises can be so fun that they are recommended both for newbies and professional writers! 

Here are the 2 Best Exercises to Boost Your Creative Writing Skills!

Exercise 1

Haiku is a traditional Japanese form of poetry. Typically, it is composed of three lines, with the first line containing five syllables, the second line containing seven syllables, and the third line containing five syllables. 

Despite their simplicity, haiku poems can also be very complex and deep, because writing one well requires a lot of skill. Haiku intends to evoke an emotional response from the reader. And therefore, the poet uses imagery, figurative language, and juxtaposition to produce this effect.

One of the best things about haiku poems is how they challenge writers by imposing constraints on their words. All ages can enjoy creating these poems since they are exciting and encourage us to be our most creative selves. As a creative writing exercise, this is one of the most interesting because we can personify almost everything under the sky.

My mentor/friend named a few non-living objects and challenged me to write haiku poems about them. Here are a few haiku poems I wrote then!

Curtain:

We curtains, see things

you don’t want the world to see.

So wash us often.

Bottle:

I shape my tenants.

I live for their protection.

They call me ‘bottle’.

Mask:

When I first met him,

I saw him wearing a mask.

I fell for his eyes.

Carpet:

You leave your imprints.

You stamp on me all the time.

And call me car-pet?

Mouse:

People call me ‘mouse’.

Do I prefer cheese or files?

You will never know.

Exercise 2

This exercise focuses on storytelling with few constraints. Our task is to create a short story about a page long based on a given set of words without changing the order in which they are given to us. This exercise enhances our imagination and writing skills, enabling us to craft powerful stories regardless of any limitations.

As an example, let me share the short story I wrote with the highlighted words given by my friend. 

Beyond the horizon

-Sundaravalli Sneha

The wind howls its way to a mid-air battle with the rain, which in turn displays its ferocious might with torrential downpour under the cover of darkness.

Perhaps we inherited our greed for dominance and power from mother earth. That will be a great excuse, right?

My train of thought gets interrupted when I hear footsteps behind me. As if by instinct, my right-hand reaches for the gun in the bandolier.

“Salam Alaikum, Captain. We will be ready in half an hour to take off. We have supervised our stealth technology to remain undetectable under the Taliban’s radar system. Nevertheless, flying in this weather would be hazardous.”

“Wa-Alaikum-Salaam, Akbar. Even the air we breathe here is laced with peril; let’s just proceed with the mission. I will meet you at the cockpit in a few minutes.”

I am leaving my homeland. I am leaving a part of me.

I am not a man who has colossal desires. I just needed a few things.

One last locomotive train ride chatting with my comrades, to experience the pure joy of visiting my parent's humble hut after a long day at work and to see my wife’s grave covered with roses for one last time.

But none of them became a reality.

As I approached the aircraft carrying hundreds of people fleeing their motherland, I saw kids boarding the plane in amusement and the adults’ mounting tension in the air. The Afghan army has already fallen. We are the few still standing, and my last mission as a fighter pilot is to safely fly my people to the camps stationed outside the country.

It’s almost midnight when we start the aircraft’s engine. We took off successfully after battling the weather, and the plane soon found stability at about 10000 feet. Just as we were about to fly higher, I noticed a guided missile heading straight for us at a tremendous rate of speed. Instantly, I spun the plane on its side, narrowly avoiding the disastrous outcome. 

With terrified screams engulfing the plane, I looked at Akbar and saw his fearless eyes staring back at me. We knew that the missiles wouldn’t stop till we were down. We knew that the odds of us surviving were high. But we will fight till the end; for our people. That’s our signature!

With that let me conclude my list of exercises! Make sure you try them out to discover the real fun of creative writing.

Happy writing!