Get Fit: A Writer's Guide to Exercising

Many people believe a writer's job is simple. All we have to do is write. This, however, is not the case. Take any other job, for example. A cop must enforce the law. Even though there are those who can make a cop's job a challenge, it actually isn't that hard. The rules are laid out, and cops are often thrust into the difficult situations. They don't sit around trying to decide how to do their job today. They just do it. A bartender's hardest job isn't making the drinks. It is keeping the drinkers in line. A worker in an automobile factory has a list of jobs he or she knows must be done in a certain order. For a lot of professions like these, the ins and outs are laid out for the professionals, and often the main part of the work, the part that defines a certain profession, isn't the hardest. Writing is a task that defines a writer, and yet it is the single most difficult aspect of being a writer.

The first, and probably most obvious, solution to this problem is to hit the books. You should read books that deal with the actual mechanics of writing. The more well-known, and to some the more useful, is The Elements of Style, written by William Strunk and E.B. White. Yes, that E.B. White, the one who wrote Charlotte's Web. He studied under William Strunk, who taught the basic elements of plain English style. White then converted the teachings into a small book, adding his own little bits here and there. If you want something a little more punchy, try Lynne Truss' Eats, Shoots & Leaves. This book deals specifically with punctuation and revolves around a joke about a Panda Bear: A panda walks into a cafe. He orders a sandwich, eats it, then draws a gun and proceeds to fire it at the other patrons. “Why?” asks the confused, surviving waiter, as the panda makes towards the exit. The panda produces a badly punctuated wildlife manual and tosses it over his shoulder. “Well, I'm a panda,” he says, at the door. “Look it up.” The waiter turns to the relevant entry in the manual and, sure enough, finds the explanation. “Panda: Large black and white bear-like mammal, native to China. Eats, shoots, and leaves.” Books are great for learning (or re-learning) the basics of writing, something many people overlook.

Another thing you can do to improve your writing is to play word games. Everyone knows Scrabble, a game that involves creating words out of a set of randomly picked tiles. If you like that idea but don't like the limitations of its rules, check out the more laid back Jargon, where slang and proper nouns are encouraged, or Bananagrams, a fast-paced, Scrabble-like game with no board. Try the game You've Been Sentenced, the object of which is to create sentences out of randomly picked cards. Another great one is Boggle, where you have three minutes to find as many words as you can in a grid of 20 letters. Then there's my personal favorite, Apples to Apples. This is a game of comparisons. The judge, a different person each round, presents a card that has an adjective on it (a descriptive word), and the players then lay their nouns face down in hopes that the judge will pick their card as best described by the adjective. Some pick funniest or weirdest. It all depends on the person.

A third, and very important, source for help with writing is a support group. These come in various forms. You could form a writer's group (or join one already started). Everyone in the group would share what they write, critique each other's writing, and bounce ideas off one another. If you can't find or start one locally, try looking online. There are whole networks of writers online. You can also seek information about writing from established writers. This is where books would come into play again. A prime example is Stephen King's On Writing. It is partly autobiographical, talking about how he came to be a writer, but it also talks about the craft of writing itself. And, of course, for more support you can scour the internet for blogs about writing, such as this one. Just google writing blogs and see what you come up with. Time can also be a support group. Maybe you don't write as much as you used to. This happened to my wife. However, when she started re-reading a book she first read when she was writing a lot, it took her back to that time and place and re-ignited the desire. That day she wrote almost fifteen pages worth of new material.

All of this is good and helpful, but it doesn't have you doing the one thing you really need to be working on: writing. That is where my final bit of advice, what I've been building up to, comes in. In order for you to truly better your craft as a writer, you must write. To put it another way, you must get in shape. Like a person who does physical exercises to improve his or her health, you must do writing exercises. And lucky for you I have a handful for you to try right here. Give these a chance and see if your writing improves:

The Observation Deck
This is a tool kit created by Naomi Epel, a literary escort from San Fransisco. Her job is to make sure authors get where they need to be when in town. She has had the pleasure of meeting many great literary minds. That, along with intelligent research on her part, contributes to the brilliance that is The Observation Deck. This is a deck of 50 cards, and on each card is a word or phrase connected to a chapter in the accompanying book. These explain the exercise to perform. They range from “Zoom In and Out,” advice about closing in on the details of a scene or pulling back to see the big picture, to “Ribe Tuchus,” the idea that you set aside a certain amount of time each day to just sit down and allow yourself to do nothing but write, even if it means doing nothing at all. These are inspiring exercises that give you the choice to either choose what to work on or pick a card at random. I believe The Observation Deck is one of the most useful tools a writer can have. (You can purchase your own copy from http://www.amazon.com/Observation-Deck-Tool-Writers-Present/dp/0811814815/ref=sr_1_1?ie=UTF8&qid=1330145552&sr=8-1).

The Game Exercise
If you enjoy playing the word games I mentioned earlier, you are going to love this. After playing a game (whether for just one round or for a whole game), use what you gained as a jumping off point. For example, if you played a round of Boggle and got 13 words, turn the timer back over and use those three minutes to write something utitlizing the 13 words you acquired. Three minutes may not seem like a long time, but that is what really helps. You don't have the time to just sit and think. You economize your time. Maybe you will never use what you write, allowing the exercise to get your creative juices flowing instead. Maybe what you start will be the beginning a new story for you. You never know. You can even come up with your own methods of using games to get you writing, although giving yourself a time-limit is a good idea. Try them out and explore your options.

Event, Effect, Motive
A friend of mine taught this exercise to me, and it was actually very useful. It is best when utilized in a group. Three things must be determined. First, an event of some kind. This could be something small like a homework assignment to something big like political assassination. Second, somebody effected by the event. This can be general, like a dog-owner, or more specific, like Brad Pitt. It can even be a group of people (like PETA). Third, somebody who wants the event to take place. Again, this can be specific or general. The reason this works best in a group is because everyone creates one or two of each of these determiners. They are then put into a hat or box according to their category (event, effect, or motive) and shaken up. Each person then draws one thing from each hat or box, creating a random situation. These may end up being silly or they may become quite serious. The point is, as the writer you now have the authority to decide how much of an impact the event will have (it may not even happen, you may have your character prevent it), how the character will react to the event or the threat of the event, and what motivation the person or persons have who want the event to take place. This exercise puts writers in an active role so they are not passively waiting for ideas to come to them.

First Line/Last Line
I learned this one when in creative writing in high school. Pick up a book, any book, and look at its very first sentence. Now write it down. It doesn't matter how long or short it is, or how broad or narrow. Now do the same with the very last sentence. These are now the first and last sentences of your story. The story can be as long or short as you want, but you must coherently get from the first line to the last in your own words. Don't recreate the book you got them from. Make a brand new story. Some people find that getting started is the hardest thing, while others don't know what to write until they know how it's going to end. If you are either of these types of writer, than this exercise should help you.

Change the Mood (Genre)
This one is pretty simple. All you have to do is to take a familiar story, Romeo and Juliet for instance, and re-write it as a different genre. Shakespeare's play is dramatic and romantic, so you might make it light and silly. Keep the characters, the basic idea of the plot, and if you want, the setting. You then add your own dialogue and narration to make it a different story. This will most likely not turn into a story for publication, but it will get you to look at things in multiple ways so you don't overlook anything. Another variation of this is to use your own story. Maybe your stuck and can't write anymore on a specific piece. Try turning your comedy into a thriller or your mystery into a sappy romance. You might find that genre fits better, or you might just find that a character is not who you thought he or she was. Either way, this is usually a good help.

A Picture's Worth a Thousand Words
This is a familiar exercise. Find a picture, it can be one of yours or someone you know or it can be one in a magazine, and write a story about what is happening in the scene you see. However, I will add a little twist to this. The saying is “A picture is worth a thousand words.” Your story must be around a thousand words. This makes it so that it isn't so short because you didn't have anything else to say, but it also isn't too long, keeping it nice and concise. It doesn't have to be exact, but try to be within 50 either way.

Magnetic Poetry
Even if you don't write poetry, this is a good tool to have. It should be accompanied by a dictionary, though. Magnetic poetry usually has a lot of words most people don't use, and even some that many people didn't even know existed. Find these words, look them up if you need to and incorporate it into a story somehow. If it is a noun, just drop it into the story and see what develops. An adjective can be used for describing a character or town. Find a verb to get the action going. Or you can just grab a handful of words and make a story from that.

Exercising is a very important part of getting in shape as a writer. Try out each of these ideas, or find the one that you feel like you need to focus on the most. You should create a routine, though. If you find that you write better in the morning when you first wake up, put aside an hour or two each day to practice. Perhaps you do much better at night. Tell yourself to get at least two or three exercises in before you go to sleep. Maybe you have a hectic schedule and can't find a specific time to write each day. That's okay. Just make sure that you ARE writing each day, even if it is only for 15 or 20 minutes. If you do this, you will see your writing improve, and on the days you have more time you might find yourself working on a longer story. Hopefully you will get to that place soon, but until you do, remember to stay in shape. Good luck.