Writer Resources: February 2008 Archives

Part of the fun of packing and moving and unpacking and getting my new office set up is finding the strange and wonderful things I decided were worth saving. In a file marked "articles", between pieces on "Buffy the Vampire Slayer" and Big Bad Voodoo Daddy, I found this article by Elmore Leonard on ten rules for writing. The highlights:

1. Never open a book with weather
2. Avoid prologues
3. Never use a verb other than "said" to carry dialogue
4. Never use an adverb to modify the verb "said"
5. Keep your exclamation points under control
6. Never use the words "suddenly" or "all hell broke loose"
7. Use regional dialect, patois, sparingly
8. Avoid detailed descriptions of characters
9. Don't go into great detail describing places or things
10. Try to leave out the part that readers tend to skip

A writer friend of mine forwarded this delectable link to Daily Monster, where artist Stefan G. Bucher creates a daily drawing of a monster, and invites his blog readers to contribute the creature's backstory. What a great writing exercise! He's up to Monster #152, whom I particularly love for the fabulous spats and shiny black shoes. Bucher has a book coming out with his first 100 monsters, including a DVD, but you can still contribute to his daily site.

Writers are often advised to "write, write, write," so even if you're blocked on your novel, why not set aside some time to write a backstory for a monster? If that's not for you, how well do you work under word constraints? Try 100 Word Stories, which gives you a theme each day and invites you to contribute a short short of just 100 words. Or how about OneWord? This site gives you 30 60 seconds to write as much of a story as you can on a single word -- use it as a theme, as a punchline, or any other way you like.

What other writing exercises do you know of out there? What are your favorites?

EDIT: Seems like OneWord isn't working anymore, which makes me even more eager to hear your ideas for writing exercises!