writing exercises

The Benefits of Writing Exercises

March 7, 2025 By Allison Symes Leave a Comment

Image Credit: Images created in Book Brush using Pixabay photos. Screenshots were taken by me, Allison Symes.

I’m regularly on both sides of the writing exercise equation as I do them often and set them too. I run a monthly flash fiction group on Zoom for the Association of Christian Writers which is great fun and I set exercises as part of the topic for the evening.

I also have been to many workshops and courses and continue to do so (especially The Writers’ Summer School, Swanwick, which I’m looking forward to going to again this year). Inevitably writing exercises are set in these things.

There is a huge variety of writing exercises to try. I’ve developed some firm favourites which I often use to inspire ideas for stories I submit to places such as Friday Flash Fiction, where I have a 100 word story published most weeks.

Tags: am writing, building a writing track record, creative writing, developing as a writer, fiction, flash fiction, short stories, writing exercises

Having a Superpower

June 14, 2024 By Allison Symes Leave a Comment

Image Credit: Images created in Book Brush using Pixabay photos.

I run a monthly Zoom workshop on flash fiction writing for the Association of Christian Writers. It is great fun to do and the online aspect helps so much as the members live several hundreds of miles apart so we could never get together in person.

I usually set a monthly theme and then set exercises based on that. Sometimes I will prepare an answer to an exercise to show as an example but most of the time I will write on the night of the meeting with the other members.

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Tags: am reading, am writing, Association of Christian Writers Flash Fiction group, creative writing, limiting character powers and why, live writing, problems with fictional superpowers, setting writing exercises, superpowers, writing exercises

My Top Five Writing Exercises

April 26, 2024 By Allison Symes Leave a Comment

Image Credits: Images were created in Book Brush using Pixabay photos. Screenshots were taken by me, Allison Symes.

I love writing exercises as I’ve shared before in previous posts (see Related Posts below). Writing exercises encourage lateral thinking. I’ve had far more story ideas thanks to using these.

You can get used to thinking in certain ways for your next idea (especially for short form writing where you need to constantly invent things) so it can be easy to become “bored” or to run out of inspiration. You don’t want it to be a case of same old, same old here.

So mixing up how you approach writing stories is a good idea. It keeps you on your creative toes as well which is never a bad thing.

Tags: am writing, creative writing, writing advice, writing exercises

The Task of the Opening Lines

March 8, 2024 By Allison Symes Leave a Comment

Image Credit: Images created in Book Brush using Pixabay photos.

Every part of a story or article, of whatever length, has its role to play but the most important is the opening line. Unless readers get past that, the rest won’t be read. So what does any opening line need to do to encourage people to keep reading?

Tags: am writing, changing opening lines, creative writing, fiction, hooks, impact of opening lines, intriguing the reader, non-fiction, opening lines, opening lines as writing exercises, questions, writing advice, writing exercises

Author Interview: Jennifer C Wilson – The Joy of Writing Groups and Workshops

October 20, 2023 By Allison Symes Leave a Comment

Image Credits:-

Many thanks to Jennifer C Wilson for author/book/writing circle pictures. Other images created in Book Brush using Pixabay photos. Screenshots and images from The Writers’ Summer School, Swanwick taken by me, Allison Symes.

It is with great pleasure I welcome back Jennifer C Wilson to Chandler’s Ford Today. Jennifer is the writer of the Kindred Spirits series which crosses history with ghost stories. She also writes historical and romantic fiction (The Warrior’s Prize, The Last Plantagenet amongst others) and has written non-fiction book too (A Novel Approach). She has also contributed to many anthologies.

Jennifer also runs a writing group – the North Tyneside Writers’ Circle (NTWC) – so for this post, we will look at the joys and hard work behind doing that and why groups can be so beneficial to writers, regardless of where they are “at” in their writing journey. There is also a National Association of Writers’ Groups – individuals as well as groups can join. I share the link further down.

Tags: am reading, am writing, Black Coals White Sand, contributing to a writing group, creative writing, Jennifer C Wilson, Kindred Spirits, making the most of a writing group, North Tyneside Writers' Circle, workshop preparation, workshops, writing development, writing exercises, writing group anthologies, writing groups, writing support

Writing Exercises

August 25, 2023 By Allison Symes Leave a Comment

Image Credit: Images created in Book Brush using Pixabay photos.

I set writing exercises for a flash fiction group I lead online for the Association of Christian Writers. I base these on topic. For example, I have led a session on titles so the exercises there were to brainstorm title ideas, following tips I shared on how to do that.

I am often set writing exercises in workshops I go to as a delegate.

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Tags: am reading, am writing, creative writing, fiction, writing craft, writing exercises

Using Time For Fiction

April 14, 2023 By Allison Symes 2 Comments

Image Credit: Images created in Book Brush using Pixabay photos.

I’ve often used time in fiction. I’ve sometimes used Time as a character. I sometimes have a story where a character has a certain amount of time in which to achieve their objective. I’ve also written from the viewpoint of time travelling aliens (as you do!). I’ve written the odd story as a diary format and even timed the entries written by the narrator. I’ve also written historical flash fiction where the setting is back in time. All great fun to do.

Tags: am writing, blogging, creative writing, deadlines, planning writing time, productivity, spontaneous writing, taking your writing seriously, Time as a character, using time in fiction, writing exercises, Zoom workshops

Favourite Writing Exercises and Why They’re Beneficial

January 8, 2021 By Allison Symes 4 Comments

I use a variety of writing exercises to help trigger ideas for stories though a lot of these are also useful for generating thoughts for articles.

Feature Image – Favourite Writing Exercises. Image created by Allison Symes using Book Brush (images there are from Pixabay).

Tags: creative writing, fiction, non-fiction, thinking outside of the box, writing exercises

writing exercises

Image Credit: Images created in Book Brush using Pixabay photos. Screenshots were taken by me, Allison Symes.

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Image Credits:-

Many thanks to Jennifer C Wilson for author/book/writing circle pictures. Other images created in Book Brush using Pixabay photos. Screenshots and images from The Writers’ Summer School, Swanwick taken by me, Allison Symes.

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Image Credit: Images created in Book Brush using Pixabay photos.

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