Cambridge Writers’ Group: Exercises -

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Thursday January 25, 2007

Take 15 – 20 minutes to complete one of these exercises.

1. Sit quietly for a moment and focus on a sound (this can be the rustling of papers, leaves or even the sound of your own breathing). Start a free write which incorporates that sound in some way.

2. Use the following from Shakespeare's Macbeth as a jumping off point for your writing. This does not mean that you must incorporate it word for word - though you are certainly free to do that - just be creative:

"To-morrow, and to-morrow, and to-morrow,
Creeps in this petty pace from day to day,
To the last syllable of recorded time;
And all our yesterdays have lighted fools
The way to dusty death." (Act 5, Scene 5)

3. Imagine an activity that you do routinely. Write down the first thing that comes to mind when you think of that activity. Then imagine a routine activity for a character that you are currently working on. In the character's voice, write down the first things that would come to the character's mind when thinking of that activity. Using that list, write!

Writers' Group