10 Most Efficient Exercises to Improve Your Creativity and Writing Skills

Creative writing, one of the talents with a history as old and ancient as humanity, is still a valuable act today. No matter how much the world changes, creating a story never wears out its impact.

Whether you are a young writer eager to write or a professional text or novel writer; Writing ability can always be taken further. That's why it's useful to look at 10 exercises that will keep your brain and pen sharp in creative writing.

1) “7x7x7” Exercise

Get book 7 from your library. Open the 7th page in the book and look at the 7th sentence on the page. Write a 7-line poem that starts with this sentence. Thanks to this exercise, you will learn to use and stretch words within a drawn boundary.

2) Dictionary Exercise

Choose a word you don't know from the dictionary and don't look up its meaning. Try to guess the meaning of this word by writing it. It is not very important whether the meaning you write is correct or incorrect, the main purpose here is to systematize guessing and enrich the vocabulary.

3) Firsts

Describe the experiences you have had in your life that you can say were a first for me (first day of school, your first adventure abroad). Be assured, as memories are put on paper, more beautiful stories than you expect will emerge. Most writers feed mostly on themselves. That's why it's vital for you to be able to easily transfer your feelings and memories to paper.

4) Magazine Puzzle

Collect in one place (you can either digitally or cut them from paper) the words, phrases and pictures you find interesting from a content you read, a magazine or a newspaper. Ask anyone around you to choose two of the materials you have collected. Two of the selected ones will be your keywords and you will write a story that will not exceed 250 words.

5) Observe!

Choose an image you like; It could be a landscape, it could be a person. Simply start with the visual of this item. Describe what you see here: “Where is this place? Why is this kid here? What is this child's story? Get lost in the details within the image. Let this image have a story and add meaning to the image you choose. Writers are excellent observers. Thanks to this exercise, your ability to both describe and observe will gain practicality.

6) Tame the Wild Animal

Try to sell a wild and out-of-home animal to a happy family. The image in this image could be a Bengal tiger or a crocodile. Despite their wild appearance, try to use some of the features of these animals and make them look like a budgie.

7) Hello Future Me

You've come to the future and you need to send yourself a message. What would this message be? Apart from this, you need to guide your past from your current time period. Tell your past one by one the things he should not do and the things he should focus on. In this way, you will both analyze your life more easily and improve in creating dialogue.

8) Combine

Open two advertising posters you see in newspapers or magazines in front of you. Try to write a poem or story using the words used in advertisements.

9) “…I remember “

Write down the earliest memory that sticks in your mind. Try to come to the present day with your memories and let every sentence end with “I remember”.

10) Change Character

Write a first-person story. Be the main character of this story, but from a different country, a different age or a different gender. Try to describe yourself when you are not yourself. In this way, you will understand more easily how to create a character. Apart from this, you can also create a character that is the exact opposite of your own characteristics.

These exercises have been prepared for the purpose of both having a different and enjoyable time with your friends and strengthening your writing skills on your own.

Of course, the real secret to writing is to read a lot in the first place. Before you can be a good writer, you must be a good reader. You can find content about reading habits and benefits here: