How To Juice Up Your Creative Writing with Creative Writing Exercises

If you’ve found lately that your writing has become a little predictable or stale, or you’ve been struggling to write anything at all, then creative writing exercises are a great option.

Writing exercises provide you with a framework or an idea to take your creative writing in new directions you may not have thought of yourself. Here’s how using writing exercises gives your writing a fresh surge of energy, in 5 steps:

1. You have a starting point. Many times the reason writers feel they can’t get going with anything is because they feel overwhelmed with possible options, and simply don’t know which to choose or where to start. When you use a writing exercise, this starting point is provided for you. You don’t waste time and creative energy struggling to pick a direction; you just get stuck in and write.
2. You’re freed from the pressure of the “end product”. With larger works of writing, it can be easy to feel intimidated by the size of the project and how you’re going to bring it all together. Also, you put more pressure on yourself to produce an amazing “end product” because of the time you’ve invested. Use a few writing exercises to break that anxiety and get back in touch with just writing freely without looming deadlines.
3. You can focus on just enjoying your writing. When is the last time you wrote just for the enjoyment of writing, and not because you feel you should be working on a particular project? You can use creative writing exercises just to reconnect with the feelings of fun and enjoyment that you get from writing, and that nothing else in life can quite provide in the same way.
4. You’re free to experiment. When you’ve been pleased with certain pieces of writing, it can feel like the safe option to write a similar kind of piece the next time. And the next time, and the time after. Before you know it, you’ve become more like a one man factory production line than a creative artist. With creative writing exercises, you’re actively encouraging your creativity to experiment and try new techniques and directions. This attitude of experimentation can only enhance everything else you write.
5. You develop your own new ways of writing. Even if you’re writing a great deal in terms of volume or word count, it can feel uninspiring and more of a chore than a pleasure if you’re not finding new ways to write. Every writer needs to develop and evolve. Use writing exercises regularly and you automatically begin to invent your own new ways of writing, because your creativity is being nurtured and encouraged.

These are just 5 of the ways that using creative writing exercises can juice up YOUR writing.