mind gypsie asked:
I’m a 21 year old male, i have never have had good grammar. I’m looking into writing as a hobby, i was thinking of doing a writing activity every day or every other day. I was wondering what are some good exercises, as far as working with metaphors and allegories, i was also thinking writing short creative paragraphs on a variety of topics. Any suggestions?
I’m a 21 year old male, i have never have had good grammar. I’m looking into writing as a hobby, i was thinking of doing a writing activity every day or every other day. I was wondering what are some good exercises, as far as working with metaphors and allegories, i was also thinking writing short creative paragraphs on a variety of topics. Any suggestions?
PS- how will writing benefit me in my everyday life
Thank you, i look forward to reading the post
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The best way to become a good writer is to read good authors
It’s funny, because I was thinking about this the other day: that is, if I were to teach someone how to write, how would I go about it?
I am a very systematic person. Because of that, I outline everything I am going to write before I write it. Poetry, stories, essays: you name it, I outline it. This simple act allows me to focus my writing and what I want to say.
Of course, first I need to have something I want to say. The first step in any writing is to brainstorm what you want to say. After that, I use my outline to decide the ways I am going to say it. That’s where the metaphors / allegories / other poetic devices might come in.
For example: I want to say something about how much I **** snow. (Yes, it’s snowing right now.)
I know what I want to say, but how am I going to say it? I need to decide what kind of writing this is going to be. For now, I think I’ll make it a descriptive paragraph.
So I want to say that I **** snow in a descriptive paragraph. I can’t just say how much I **** snow, I need to find ways to represent how much I **** snow. So I decide how many ways I want to describe my **** for snow. Let’s say, I am going to have three main ways describing how I **** snow.
Now that I know my subject, what I am writing, how many ways I want to describe / approach it, I outline:
I **** snow – the way it covers my car.
I **** snow – the shovelling, the salting, the sanding to get rid of it
I **** snow – the cold when it melts and gets in my shoes
Now that I have the three ways that I am going to use to describe my hate, I need to thinking of more creative ways to describe THOSE!
Covering my car – blanket, blindfold, slow collection, creeping invader
The shovelling, etc. – wage war, work, blue lips, bitter cold, sea water melting down the roads, grit, dirt, grime
The cold – piercing, invading, creeping, crawling, sneaking, sliding, inside my jacket, inside my boots, winds blowing
Now that I have a few images I want to use to describe my **** for snow, I can go ahead and incorporate it all into the paragraph. Were I writing a longer work, like a short story, I might use seperate paragraphs to describe each item and have many more descriptive ideas. As it is, I am keeping it short for the paragraph.
Its assault is silent: it takes over the land. A white sheet blindfolds Happy, my forlorn Honda Civic, who is lost somewhere in the driveway. Like drones we emerge from our hives, myself and everyone else on the street, with shovels, brushes and scrapers in tow: we wage war on the unsuspecting enemy. Sand and salt are tossed, caltraps hoping to catch and destroy some of the pale opposing troops. Yet in the end, as with most things, the only thing that will save us is time. Soon all our enemy will be is rivlets of salt and grime creeping down the roads in shame.
Since it was only a paragraph, I didn’t even approach all of the items on my list. I didn’t describe the bitter snow because I was too busy waging war. This isn’t my favorite paragraph, but it’s a good starting point and it would be a favorable opening to a short story about hating snow.
I don’t know if this helped you or not. I hope it did. It works for me.
I agree with carpediem…..the first thing you need to be doing is reading, and reading all sorts of things by good authors. Authors who write the sorts of things you enjoy reading will provide you with a good example for style, mood, and good writing in general.
If you are wanting to write, you probably already enjoy reading, which is a great start.
Is there any chance of taking a class at a local community college or 4-year college? If so, a creative writing class would be a worthwhile idea. The class will get you into a routine of writing, as you will need to produce for the class, and will get feedback from the professor and the class.
How about your local library? Check with them. If there are any writing groups in your town, they will know of their existence, or can put you in touch with someone who might. Or they could encourage you to start one, maybe even help.
Your library could also guide you to good idea starters. Books, websites, etc.
one place you might want to check out online is
See if there is a local author or teacher or friend who is good with English (if there are no other options, mentioned above, available) who would be willing to read your work, proof it for you, mentor you, just be a help and encourager.
now that you are a reader, and you want to write…start writing. Write write write.
As you write, you will get better at it. You will find your voice as you write about things that interest you and that you know about and learn about.
I am a moderator at an Online Writing University (WVU) and your question is one I hear all too often.
Good exercises? Google Creative Writing Prompts and with that page you will discover a heap of creative ideas to get you started.
Maybe enroll in a free writing workshop like F2K Creative Writing Workshop. It is a seven week course, FREE, and you might get a glimpse of your talent. And you might even enjoy the art of writing as more than a hobby!
But most of all, read similar books that you think you might like writing? From the masters you can learn much!
Hope this helps! ~joni