Writing exercises

Sometimes when you’re at a loss for ideas, basic writing exercises can help get the creative juices flowing. Here are two of my favorites.

The following are a few kick-off sentences. Write what happens next.

1) She had run as far as she could go. The door at the end of the hall was locked.
2) She had never jumped out of a moving car before, but there was a first time for everything.
3) The child’s eyes widened as he approached the coffee table where his father’s matchbox sat unobserved.
4) It wasn’t as though he didn’t know these woods, but they had never seemed darker than they did right now.
5) Whatever came next didn’t matter. She just needed to wash the blood off her hands.

Another one of my favorite tools is a character interview. For both developing characters and characters you know well, interviews allow you to get inside the head of your creation or help them form views, beliefs, and opinions. Here are a few sites with form interviews. If you're anything like me, your characters will take the interview out for a spin and not bother returning.

http://hubpages.com/hub/The-Character-Interview-as-a-Writing-Tool
http://caradavies.com/images/character_interview.pdf
http://www.therthdimension.org/FictionWriting/Char_Profile/char_profile.htm
http://www.suspense.net/profile.htm
http://www.biohunterhq.com/wiki/index.php/Ultimate_Character_Profile_Sheet