Practice techniques for writing

[mpkirby]

Do others have practice techniques they use to hone the craft? I'm thinking of something like a Kata (Kata - Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia). In martial arts, it is an exercise to master basic forms.

Certainly we can practice by just writing, whatever comes to mind. But I wonder if I would get better with more deliberate exercise.

I'm just curious if others have things they do or recommend.

Thanks,
Mike

 

[ThinkerX]

Do some of the challenge stories.

Iron Pen 4 is starting up.

 

[BWFoster78]

Do others have practice techniques they use to hone the craft? I'm thinking of something like a Kata (Kata - Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia). In martial arts, it is an exercise to master basic forms.

Certainly we can practice by just writing, whatever comes to mind. But I wonder if I would get better with more deliberate exercise.

I'm just curious if others have things they do or recommend.

Thanks,
Mike

My suggestion is to write, get input from a writing group, revise, get input, revise...

 

[CupofJoe]

If a writer's group is not for you or if you want to warm up the grey matter first...
Write a small scene - 200-500 words. Make it something simple [two having a drink together at the end of a long week for example] and nothing to do with any WIPs.
Look at how you wrote it.
Then rewrite it from another point of view – someone listening in at the next table.
Look at how you wrote it. It should feel and sound different.
Then rewrite it as if one of them was telling someone what happened the day after.
How does it look and sound now?
Then rewrite it like your favourite writer or your least favourite.
What have they added or removed?


You can probably think of a dozen different ways to write the scene using a different voice each time. Make it past tense, make it future tense, write it like an Icelandic saga or an epic love story, as SMS messages, in a diary...
Don't worry too much about your writing being good or bad, its the difference in approaches that matter.

It won't get you all the way but it will start you thinking about the "voices" of your stories.

 

[Leif Notae]

I might be a little different here, but much like Musashi suggested in his book, you must learn the methods and then understand the internal void to accomplish what you wish. Every style is different, every form has a standard and a teaching. You must understand them, and then violate them with your own determined actions. It is only through this act that you will understand the vitality of being more than the rules say.

So, if you tell, then show with a passion and never let telling in your work. If you must describe, use only minimal efforts and let the few words put triple or quadruple duty.

Then you can go with writing groups and see what they do. Understand where they are on your level and accept you might have to leave it if it doesn't present a challenge. You must find those who are on your level or better to become better, and you must be willing to find those people in the first place.

 

[Ghost]

Do others have practice techniques they use to hone the craft?

I don't know that anything is being honed, but I do try different techniques–partly for fun and partly to find out where my limitations are (and they're everywhere, apparently). I've tried writing in different PoVs. I like first person plural, but I doubt many people want to read things like that. I'm trying different tenses and moods. I've tried all-dialogue stories and all-exposition stories. Whenever I come across the sentiment, on forums or in articles, that something can't be done, I'm tempted to do it. I haven't remotely reached a competent level, but it's still inspiring to try something new.

Plenty of writing books have exercises in them. Josip Novakovich's Fiction Writer's Workshop has some. I have The 3 A.M. Epiphany by Brian Kiteley and Exercises in Style by Raymond Queneau on my Amazon wishlist, but I don't know if they're any good. I'd consider writing prompts to be exercises, and there are loads of books and websites that feature them. The Challenge forum is a good place to stretch.

I saw a challenge at another forum where a basic premise was given and participants had to provide an emotional tone. So you'd have to write the scene showing fear, anger, romance, whatever. I've considered making a list of emotions and going through them in a similar way. I've tried writing a scene or setting that embodies an art form or a particular atmosphere. It's fun to try writing a town that feels like an M. C. Escher sketch or to make a scene feel like "Bohemian Rhapsody." To work on characters, I think it would be fun to pick extras out of movies and write a story or vignette for them.

I doubt these things are effective, but I treat them more like games than lessons.