This week’s exercise comes from Alan Bissett, who will be tutoring two creative writing workshops in Inverness in January. He suggests this exercise as a warm up for a writing session or a quick way to get your brain firing off ideas.
Writing Exercise 10 – Ten Minute Free Write
Set a timer or get someone to keep time for you. Put your pen to paper for ten minutes and keep writing for the entire ten minutes. What you get in the end may be gibberish, but that doesn’t matter. This is a chance for you to clear your brain of whatever thoughts are arising and use it to fuel your creative writing.
Once it is finished, read through and pick out the words, phrases or ideas that you really like. These could spark an idea for a poem, a line of dialogue, a character or a theme you would like to explore. Be kind and have an open mind. You are far cleverer than you think.
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