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So, since we've got a number of active writers here, and I'm sure more who aspire to write more, I thought it would be fun to host a daily writing exercise thread.

I've got some ideas for repeating themes, like "Talk to Your Characters" and "Trope of the Day," but I figured I'd open it up to suggestions as well. ^_^

I tried something similar several years ago and have revived it several times. but to little success. I used to have something like 

With just one paragraph, write about Pain, in the genre of Sci Fi. or The theme is humor, the genre is modern. etc. it worked sparingly. let me know if you get something else that works. 

nate

I remember something like that, didn't we have people write out things and vote for which ones were best or something?

Like we had people write a short Sci-Fi Horror story or something and post it. Then everybody voted on the best and he moved on to the next round.

yeah, thats what I tried doing fireplay. I tried keeping it short exercises to keep people from feeling overwhelmed. would like to see other takes on this idea. 

nate

I like the idea. Sounds cool. I would definitely participate if it happened again.

A contest like that tends to work only if there is a prize involved.

Maybe we can convince jjj to give out point rewards to the winner.

Or CC? I could do with having some.

That would only work for people who are playing commander. Not everyone on the forums plays it ya know. :)

I know, but I would rather have CC than points. :P

In fact, I would gladly exchange all my points for CC. Don't know what the exchange rate would be, though.

Probably, like, 250 ex for 1 CC. It wouldn't be worth it unless you don't care about the weight of your ratings on peoples games though.

Ah, that's true. I'd forgotten about that.

We seem to be getting a little off-topic. My fault for derailing in the first place. We should probably leave this conversation at this.

if people need a prize just to write something on a WRITING SITE, then maybe they should rethink their daily lives.

nate

True. Okay, so no prizes.

People will write without want of a prize as long as it isn't a contest. A contest implies a prize. It also implies a winner(s), a loser(s), and a judge(s). A contest without a prize of some kind is not really a contest.

 

Writing exercises/prompts for writing improvement versus a contest that uses the writing from writing exercises/prompts are two things that are separate. 

Nice idea for a thread.

I haven't finished any stories yet, but here's my suggestion. How about "Daily Event"? I find that if you focus on a small idea for a particular event that happens somewhere in the universe of your story, a lot of other ideas can come out of it, including new characters, character development, plot development, dialogue, fight scene ideas and, in the case of storygames, choices.

I have quite a few of these in my story notes. One very successful example started off as a vague idea about a fight scene between the protagonist and a certain character, and in particular one action where the protagonist slams this character head first into the ground. While focusing on this one idea and thinking about what else might happen, I wrote notes. Now I have a whole new character plus a pretty good idea of: what causes the fight; what choices you can take to avoid the fight; what other actions both characters will take in the fight; what dialogue there will be; what choices lead you to victory or defeat; and what the outcome and consequences (plot wise) of the fight is if you win.

The event doesn't necessarily have to be something that happens within the story itself. It could be backstory or history which the reader might not get to see.

Interesting! I like the idea of spinning off ideas like that... I'll have to give that some more thought, I feel like there might be more than one exercise in that. Thanks!

I have some favorite types of writing exercises.

There is the sentence starter, where everyone starts the story with the same sentence. It is interesting to see how different stories can be even if they all start with the same sentence. The trick to these sentences is that they are not overly specific and they are interesting. There is a variant of this which in a line of diaogue instead.

There is the beginning and end exercise, where everyone starts with the same sentence and ends with the same sentence. It is basically the previous one only with the ending also the same.

 There is the list of things which at least one of the things must be used in the story. This one lets the writer choose one, some, or all of things in the list to involve somewhere in the story.

 

Some things which may be interesting to try may be..

 create a character you hate, but still make the reader able to empathize with them

 pick a song and use it for inspiration 

write a story from the perspective of a victim, then write a story from the perpetrators' perspective

 

Awesome, thanks! Since these are intended to be quick daily exercises, I may not use the ones that call for writing a whole story, but they still give me something to think about. 

On the subject of prizes, I'd be up for tracking people's points based on number of exercises completed. Whoever has the most at the end of each month could get a prize, if a mod is willing to award it. ^_^

So an example would be:

first sentence is - I pound the ground beneath my paws as I run.

last sentence is - Laying down, I breathe heavily and close my eyes.

Example mini story:

  I pound the ground beneath my paws as I run. I am one with the ground, gliding easily along it. I am one with the bushes as they seem to part before me and urge me towards my prey. Just the thought of getting it, of it's great taste gives me energy to keep going after it.

 Taking a deep breath, I smell sweet, sweet fear rolling off of the rabbit in front of me in waves. I lope closer with ease, bathing in the new level of terror coming from it. Leaning closer, I nip at it's hindquarters and watch as it runs even faster. Getting bored with it, I pounce and land on its back, killing it instantly.

Inspecting my black colored fur to make sure I didn't make too much of a mess, I spot a small dark streak on my fur. Sighing, I lick at it to clean it up. The elders never make this much of a mess when hunting. Laying down, I breath heavily and close my eyes.

 

 

So it would be something like this?

I think that's the idea, yeah. Also, very nice! ^_^

So, here's the tentative schedule:

Monday: Five First Sentences. Can you hook the reader with a single sentence? Five times?

Bonus: Pick one of your sentences and extend it into a first scene.

Tuesday: Trope of the Day. I'll post a random trope from TV Tropes. Incorporate it into a scene.

Bonus: Write another scene where you subvert the chosen trope.

Wednesday: Worldbuilding! I'll come up with a worldbuilding exercise every week.

Bonus: Varies.

Thursday: Talk to Your Characters. I'll give you three questions to ask one of your characters.

Bonus: Ask them three more questions of your own.

Friday: Endings! Take one of your first sentences from Monday. Write a scene to end that story.

Bonus: Write another ending, as different as possible, for that same beginning.

This sounds like fun! Will it all be in the same thread or will there be a new thread for each day?

Well, I don't want to clutter up the board too much, but I also don't want to make an enormous thread of doooom... so maybe a thread per week?
 

Sounds really good. Would you be able to tag me in these threads? And maybe anybody else who's interested.

Sure! I'm glad to see that there's some interest. ^_^

I would be interested. 

Cool. I'll be starting tomorrow, so keep an eye out! ^_^

I like it. Tag me too please!

Will do! ^_^

Oh shit, right! Tag me please! 

Don't worry, I'll be tagging anyone who has even vaguely expressed an interest, i.e., they've posted to this thread. If people aren't actually interested, they can always ask to be dropped from the tag-list.

Please add me to the tag-list.

Please tag me as well.

'ello. Welcome back to the forums. :)

Thanks, TacocaT! Glad to be back.

Please tag me, too.

So wait, is the schedule days based on where you are, or where the participator is?

Well, I'll be posting in the morning, EST time. People are welcome to complete the exercise any time up until midnight, their time. I realize that gives some people more time than others, but I don't see a better way to do it... unless someone has a better idea?

You can base it off of the time the site is set at. So from midnight site time to midnight site time. Or from 6:00 site time to 6:00 the next day site time. Then it goes straight to the next exercise.

...there's an official site time? Where? o_O

If you pm someone, there is an exact time that it shows. Like this

'Date: 8/17/2014 12:25:00 AM '

You can figure out from that how far ahead/behind of the site time you are and post according to that.

Hmmm. Either site time just happens to be EST, or it's based off of your location after all. Can anyone outside of EST confirm or deny?

It's in EST. I'm in Pacific right now, but the site time is still displayed as 2:45 PM for me right now.

Well, that's convenient. I can totally put up exercises at midnight EST. ^_^

I'm looking forward to this! Please tag me whenever you get around to it :)

'Don't worry, I'll be tagging anyone who has even vaguely expressed an interest, i.e., they've posted to this thread. If people aren't actually interested, they can always ask to be dropped from the tag-list.' - Morgan_R

I want in, Morgan.

@Morgan_R

Also, in addition to the weekdays, I think I'm going to do some sort of weekend thing, where the exercise involves working on an interactive piece, even if it's just a short scene or a bit of back-and-forth dialog. Because interactivity is why we're here and not on some other writing site, right? ^_^

What do you mean by interactive piece?

CYS storygame. Twine. ChoiceScript. Hell, try StoryNexus or Inform 7 if you're feeling experimental. ^_^

Oh, of course.

Will there be a theme or guidelines to follow for the Monday exercise (Five First Sentences)?

Probably not for the first one, but yeah, I think that's a good idea. ^_^

@Morgan_R

The exercise thread looks great! *pumped*

Er, isn't Monday's date 8/18 though?

...dammit. XD

Fixed it to the extent that I can. Thanks for the catch.

I'm reasonably interested in this.

Ooh! Ooh! Me! I wanna do this! Pick me! Pick me!

*Picks somebody else*

Go for it! ^_^

@Morgan_R

I'd like to join in.

I'm in.

Awesome! I'll add you both to the list next time I go through and score.

I'm in too :)