Thread: Writing Exercises for Generating Ideas

Here are some exercises I use to come up with ideas. I built them by augmenting the advice of writing prompts I've come across into my own unique slant. I find they work well for me. Give them a try, adjust them and make them your own, if you like. Feel free to add your own exercises, too!


Random Word Title Prompt

Grab a book, any book. Flip through the pages and stab your finger in at random points, and jot down the word closest to your finger.

When you have a decent amount of randomly acquired words, (say, a dozen or so), mix and combine them in different combinations.

Try to make a title from them. For example, the words I just got from doing this were:

card, level, his, show, professionally, the, point, classic, think, elements, gathering, about

Possible titles: "The Level Elements", "The Card Show", "Think Point", etc...

Now, aim to write about 1,000 words with this as your title. It doesn't have to be a great title, or even great writing. The purpose is just to write through the prompt. You might surprise yourself and come across an idea you'd like to explore and expand.


Instant Character Chaos

Create a random character. Boy, girl, object, animal. Anything. Give your character a name. Give your character something unique about him/her/it.

Put the character in a vivid setting.

Now, what's the most unexpected thing you can think of to happen to your character at this particular moment? Throw it at your character, and make him or her fight to get out of it.

Maybe gravity suddenly stops working, and your character flies into the air. How on earth is she going to get out of this? Look! There's a hot-air balloon.. maybe if she can steer toward it..

Let your imagination run wild. Don't worry about believability. This is, again, about generating ideas. Besides, readers are used to suspending belief. The number one thing readers enjoy is: worrying about the protagonist. (I mean, come on. Star Wars? Really? Zero believability in that one. There's no such thing as "too far fetched" in my opinion)


Opening Line Hook

Come up with an opening line that really zings. Something compelling and unique, one that leaves a question hanging in the air that begs to be answered. Then, write with it and see where it takes you.

One opening line I came up with in a short was, "The tent, which should have contained a fully grown Norwegian man, was empty."

Where did the Norwegian man go? Why was he supposed to be there in the first place? Unanswered questions encourage writing to explore them.

Intrigue is useful, but your line doesn't have to rely on mystery. It could be anything that spurs your own interest.


Flip Expectations

Most people expect a grizzled, whiskey-drinking cowboy to be rough, tough, and simple-minded. What if he was secretly a mathematical genius? How about a ballerina who excels in brutal hand-to-hand combat?

What if there's a society where war is the opposite of killing? Where societies operate as genocide factories, but to declare "war" on another culture means to go in and rescuse the civilians?

Take expectations, stereotypes, and concepts and see how much you can flip them upside down and on their heads.


Breath-Taking Ending

Write an ending scene that you'd like to read. Maybe two characters are fighting on the top of the world's highest sky scraper. Maybe two lovers finally beat the odds and make it into each other's arms. Maybe your character sacrifices himself to save the world.

Write that amazing ending scene. Then, come up with the story of how it got there.



Your brain is full of blockbuster ideas just waiting to be unleashed. Get to it!

In preparing the class for the adventure that is writing poetry, the first thing my instructor advised was to forget about explosions and aliens and gun-play and gruesome murders and just write about normal life. So many people, he said, think good drama means including the most sensational events, the most bizarre ideas.

The amusing thing is, my breakfast this morning has the potential to say as much about the universe and human nature as these so-called 'big ideas'.

So I don't know about these exercises. Some people are about as sensitive and perceptive as a stone, and are truly hopeless.

I think your ideas are great, Kyle. Do you seriously do that when looking for a title for a story? That's kind of different, and kind of cool at the same time.

And, so what you're saying is to write the ending first? Huh, I guess that does work just as well as writing the beginning first. I guess it doesn't really matter where you start your story, as long as you get it all put together in the end.

And a whiskey-drinkin' cowboy who's secretly a mathematician?! Awesome. Lol. Who needs a horse whisperer?

You always have great ideas, and I think it's nice that you share them for the rest of us to contemplate. ;0)

Oh, goodie. Responding to this thread is another way to avoid for a while the effort of writing.

Clearly there’s a real divide between Kyle and JohnM. Much as I respect Kyle’s ideas about ideas, I’m in the JohnM camp.

If I may, let me tell you just a smidgen of what my presently-bogged down novel is about, and especially about the “way” it’s being written.

It’s set in two eras 150 years apart. In the very recent past, we have a taxi-driver and a disenchanted member of the clergy joining forces to search for a huge swag of gold that went missing after a robbery. In the distant past, we have a transported Irish convict forming a gang and carrying out this robbery.

The “way” it’s being written is creating a story that’s entirely believable. The reader will not be required to suspend disbelief. For example, there’ll be no squinty-eyed descendant of a squinty-eyed member of the robber gang wandering around today revealing secrets behind the cabbie’s back just so that readers will know stuff the cabbie doesn’t know.

Put another way, a story written in that manner doesn’t rely on “ideas” as such. It simply tells of something that might have happened.

And I in my innocence believe that if I ever finish the story, the reading public will lap it up simply because it could have happened just the way it was written.

Although this kind of thing may be useful to some, I find it absurd, frankly.

The idea that you can pick a word out of nowhere, add some inane, extraneous details and produce a story, is, of course, completely feasible-- I don't doubt it, though you certainly won't produce anything that has any real clout. Airport material, surely.

My ideas slowly cook, until they're ready to be written. Carefully thought out pieces which draw inspiration from a myriad of sources-- to many to even conceive of. Following such a blueprint for an instant story; I couldn't see it producing anything worthwhile.

Originally Posted by philistine

Although this kind of thing may be useful to some, I find it absurd, frankly.

The idea that you can pick a word out of nowhere, add some inane, extraneous details and produce a story, is, of course, completely feasible-- I don't doubt it, though you certainly won't produce anything that has any real clout. Airport material, surely.

My ideas slowly cook, until they're ready to be written. Carefully thought out pieces which draw inspiration from a myriad of sources-- to many to even conceive of. Following such a blueprint for an instant story; I couldn't see it producing anything worthwhile.

Originally Posted by johnM

In preparing the class for the adventure that is writing poetry, the first thing my instructor advised was to forget about explosions and aliens and gun-play and gruesome murders and just write about normal life. So many people, he said, think good drama means including the most sensational events, the most bizarre ideas.

You got a good poetry teacher, John. It works for fiction as well.

We tend to overlook that the deepest (and most interesting) of dramas takes place every single day--right between our ears.

"Eggs! Dammit, how many days do we have to go without eggs? How hard could it possibly be to remember to pick up a carton of freaking eggs!"

Writers don't need to venture very far beyond the mundane to create good, believable drama. Really good writers can create entire worlds, within which they can portray the local mundane and then squeeze out some believable drama (Ray Bradbury was a master at this).

Originally Posted by philistine

... though you certainly won't produce anything that has any real clout.

I've always found to each their own a pretty good policy.

My novel's original concept came out of a twenty minute prompt I did in a writing class a few years ago. It 'came out of nowhere' in that I didn't cook or mull or stew it, but nothing really comes out of nowhere. The character had a strong voice, and the themes I tend to write about were apparent, because I've been stewing those my whole life. The small thing I wrote in that class hinted at a whole lot of story, and so I pushed, and found there was plenty more.

For some writers the jumping off point and first words could be anything and if they've got the chops, there's nothing to say they couldn't turn it into something great.

Originally Posted by Like a Fox

I've always found to each their own a pretty good policy.

My novel's original concept came out of a twenty minute prompt I did in a writing class a few years ago. It 'came out of nowhere' in that I didn't cook or mull or stew it, but nothing really comes out of nowhere. The character had a strong voice, and the themes I tend to write about were apparent, because I've been stewing those my whole life. The small thing I wrote in that class hinted at a whole lot of story, and so I pushed, and found there was plenty more.

For some writers the jumping off point and first words could be anything and if they've got the chops, there's nothing to say they couldn't turn it into something great.

There are exceptions to everything, of course. I just personally view such an exercise in the same light as a public speaker blurting the first thing that comes into his head. It could be profound and have a great impact, though in all likelihood, it's going to be crap.

There are those who speak very well extemporaneously, because they’re articulate and know the subject matter – or as Fox says, if they have the chops.

Originally Posted by philistine

There are exceptions to everything, of course. I just personally view such an exercise in the same light as a public speaker blurting the first thing that comes into his head. It could be profound and have a great impact, though in all likelihood, it's going to be crap.

Except writers have the luxury of not having to show anyone their writing until/unless they're happy with it. Not a perfect analogy.

Maybe A Staggering Work of Heartbreaking Genius was originally called Think Point. Maybe Jane Austen threw Elizabeth Bennet up in the air and had her swimming towards a hot air balloon before realising that the hot air balloon should maybe be a husband, and she should probably be swimming away from it instead. You don't know.

I don’t really buy all the all the exercises in the OP. On the other hand, it’s silly to assume that a good story – or a great one -- can’t come from an idea that simply pops into an authors head, rather than something they’ve ruminated over or that's been “slowly cooked.” I know some of my better stories have been written following a flash of inspiration – rather than after some protracted stewing period. It really depends.

Originally Posted by Like a Fox

Except writers have the luxury of not having to show anyone their writing until/unless they're happy with it. Not a perfect analogy.

Maybe A Staggering Work of Heartbreaking Genius was originally called Think Point. Maybe Jane Austen threw Elizabeth Bennet up in the air and had her swimming towards a hot air balloon before realising that the hot air balloon should maybe be a husband, and she should probably be swimming away from it instead. You don't know.

It's the same in the sense that there is a spontaneity in the process.

Not really -- because the "spontaneity" is followed by a period of evaluation. Sorry, but it's a lame analogy.

Originally Posted by JosephB

Not really -- because the "spontaneity" is followed by a period of evaluation. Sorry, but it's a lame analogy.

I'm sorry, you can't polish a turd. It makes sense, because it makes sense, because it makes sense.

If that isn't enough to sate you, I'll stick with saying the following: it's a crap method.