Left Brained, Write Brained:
Left Brained, Write Brained: 366 Writing Prompts and Exercises to Free Your Creative Spirit, Awaken Your Muse, and Challenge Your Skills Every Day of the Year
Smashwords Edition
ISBN 978-1-935407-49-2
Copyright 2009 Smoky Trudeau
Vanilla Heart Publishing
www.VanillaHeartBooksAndAuthors.com
Except for review purposes, the reproduction of this book in whole or part, electronically or mechanically, constitutes a copyright violation.
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Introduction
One of the most valuable things you can do as a writer is set aside time every day to write. You don’t always have to be witty. It doesn’t always have to be great prose. The act of writing in and of itself will make you a better writer.
But sometimes it’s hard to know what to write. That’s where writing prompts and exercises come in handy. You don’t have to come up with something to write about; the writing prompt tells you exactly what your subject is for the day.
During my many years as a writing instructor and coach, I’ve created hundreds of writing prompts to motivate my students and clients. The funny thing is, some of the best writing I get back from these students and clients isn’t the stories they’re working on, but rather their answers to my writing prompts!
This book is set up calendar style, beginning with January 1 and ending with December 31, but it’s perfectly fine to start any time of the year. At the beginning of each week (a week being a seven-day period, not necessarily starting on a Sunday), you will be asked to write about your writing goals for the upcoming week. At the end of those seven days, you’ll be asked to reflect back on the week and whether you accomplished your goals. In between, you’ll find exercises on setting, dialogue, grammar, poetry, and just about any other topic you can think of.
Some exercises may seem like they have little to do with writing. In fact, in a few of the exercises, you don’t write at all. This is because exercising your creative muscles in artistic arenas other than writing helps you become a better writer. Carrots are a healthy food, but if you ate only carrots, you wouldn’t stay healthy for long, would you? No … you need a variety of foods to stay healthy. By participating in activities other than writing, you nurture your creative nature and ensure it stays healthy and strong.
Some of the exercises in this book are easy and can be completed in a matter of minutes. Some are more difficult and may take longer. Do the best you can. No one is judging you.
You’ll find some of these prompts deal with serious subjects, encouraging you to explore your feelings about different topics. Others are downright playful, even silly. You’ll find a lot of references to fairy tale and cartoon characters. Just because we call these exercises doesn’t mean they can’t be fun! And when something is fun, it somehow seems less threatening and easier to accomplish.
Let me hear how you’re doing! If you’re particularly proud of your response to a prompt, send it to me at authorsmokytrudeau@gmail.com. I’d be delighted to hear from you. Or, if you come up with a writing prompt of your own that you would like to see included in a future edition of Left Brained, Write Brained, drop me a line and share that, too.
So dig in, have fun, and flex those creative muscles!
— Smoky —
January 1
What are your writing goals for the upcoming year? Perhaps your goal is to start a novel, or to finish one. Maybe you’d like to explore a new writing form, like poetry, or take a writing class. Perhaps this is the year you’ll finally work up the courage to submit your work for publication.
Whatever your goals, write a few paragraphs about what they are and why they are important to you. Try to come up with at least six goals.
In addition to writing about your goals for the year, write about your writing goals for the upcoming week. For example, your goals might be to write the first chapter of your novel, or write 500 words a day. Whatever your goal, make it concrete and attainable.
January 2
Look out the nearest window. Describe in depth one thing you see. It might be a tree, a bird, or a piece of trash stuck in the fence. Describe only one item, not the entire scene outside your window.
January 3
Two people are trapped in a maze . One speaks only English and is blind. The other is deaf and can speak only with sign language. Write a scene describing how they work together to find their way out of the maze.
January 4
Homonyms are words that sound alike but are spelled differently and have different meanings.
Write a list of as many pairs of homonyms as you can think of. Try to come up with at least thirty pairs.
January 5
Write lyrics for a new theme song for your favorite television program.
January 6
Write an internal monologue where a gardener with limited space is debating whether to plant vegetables or flowers.
January 7
Look back over the past week. Did you accomplish your goals for the week? What have you done to achieve your writing goals for the year? Write about it.
January 8
What are your writing goals for the upcoming week? Make them specific and attainable.
January 9
You’ve died and gone to heaven, but Saint Peter can’t find your name on his list. Write a dialogue between you and the good saint persuading him to admit you.
January 10
Yesterday you were at the pearly gates arguing with Saint Peter to let you in. Today, you find yourself at the gates of hell. Convince the devil you’ve been sent to the wrong place.
January 11
Limericks are short poems of five lines with a distinctive rhythm and rhyme scheme. The first, second, and fifth lines rhyme, and the third and forth lines rhyme (rhyme scheme AABBA). Usually light, humorous, and often bawdy, limericks are often scorned as not being a legitimate poetic form. They’ve been around since the fourteenth century, so legitimate or not, they certainly have staying power.
Your assignment today is a lark,
It’s as good as a walk in a park.
Write a limerick so fine,
About drinking red wine,
To recite in the park in the dark.
January 12
It’s your birthday; you are ninety years old. Write yourself a letter to your younger self—the age you are right now—and talk about the things you regret not doing.
January 13
Rewrite the following phrases so they are no longer tired, old clichés:
hard as rocks
happy as a clam
love is blind
hot as hell
bored to tears
you’re one in a million
deaf as a post
strong as an ox
eyes as blue as cornflowers
January 14
Look back over the past week. Did you accomplish your goals for the week? What have you done to achieve your writing goals for the year? Write about it.
January 15
What are your writing goals for the upcoming week? Make them specific and attainable.
January 16
Today is Martin Luther King Jr.’s birthday. Write a paragraph about how the lessons of the Civil Rights Movement are still relevant today
Write a paragraph using only two-syllable words.
CHALLENGE:
Repeat exercise, only this time, use only three-syllable words.
January 18
Write a scene using only dialogue. No tag lines either, but be sure to convey who is talking to whom!
January 19
Write a poem in any style about the month of January.
January 20
Write a complete short story in 100 words exactly—not 99 words, not 101 words—100 words exactly. Oh, and the words Wonder Bread, Italy, and cougar must be four of those words.
January 21
Look back over the past week. Did you accomplish your goals for the week? What have you done to achieve your writing goals for the year? Write about it.
January 22
What are your writing goals for the upcoming week? Make them specific and attainable.
January 23
Write a setting description that includes the following: a waterfall, a lady bug, and a single high-heeled red shoe.
January 24
Write a character sketch of a man who, after working thirty years at the same company, has just lost his job.
January 25
You wake up one morning to discover you’ve turned into the painting of the Mona Lisa. Describe what you see and hear as museum-goers pass by.
January 26
Bugs Bunny has died, and you’ve been asked to deliver the eulogy. Write it. (If you aren’t a Bugs Bunny fan, substitute your favorite cartoon character.)
January 27
A simile is a comparison of two unlike things, often using the word like or as. Write original similes for each of the following:
she had a smile like …
his hair was as dark as …
his car looked like …
language as colorful as …
the dog was shaking like …
the bird was colorful as …
January 28
Look back over the past week. Did you accomplish your goals for the week? What have you done to achieve your writing goals for the year? Write about it.
January 29
What are your writing goals for the upcoming week? Make them specific and attainable.
January 30
Find an article in today’s newspaper (look at an online newspaper if you don’t subscribe to one) and rewrite it like it was a short story rather than a news item.
January 31
Pick up your dictionary and read all the words on page 76. Pick out all the words that are new to you and use them in sentences.
February 1
In my novel, The Cabin, one of my characters travels through time from the 1800s to the 1960s and finds herself baffled by things such as indoor plumbing, refrigerators, and soda pop. Figuring out how to use these items leads to some comical moments.
Suppose you’ve written a time-travel story, and your character has come from the year 1710. Write a scene where your weary traveler arrives in the year 2009 to find a poodle that has been dyed purple, an iPod, and a box of Pop-Tarts (substitute Twinkies if you must).
February 2
Today is Groundhog’s Day. Write a scene that includes a groundhog.
February 3
Your cat has just presented you with a precious gift—a dead mouse. Write the scene, from the cat’s perspective.
February 4
Look back over the past week. Did you accomplish your goals for the week? What have you done to achieve your writing goals for the year? Write about it.
February 5
What are your writing goals for the upcoming week? Make them specific and attainable.
February 6
Write a paragraph where the first word of each sentence begins with the corresponding letter of the word, hyperbole. In other words, the first sentence must begin with the letter h, the second sentence with the letter y, the third with the letter p, and so on.
February 7
You are Romeo. Or, you are Juliet—you choose. Write a scene where you confront your father and tell him you are marrying Juliet (or Romeo), despite your family’s long-term feud with the other family. Just for fun, make sure you use the line, “Get over it, Pops.”
February 8
It’s a little-known fact that most of the poems of Emily Dickinson can be sung to the tune of The Yellow Rose of Texas. For example:
Two butterflies went out at noon
And waltzed above a stream,
Then stepped straight through the firmament
And rested on a beam;
And then together bore away
Upon the shining sea,—
Though never yet, in any port,
Their coming mentioned be.
Write a poem in Dickinson’s style that can be sung to The Yellow Rose of Texas.
February 9
You’ve heard of Book-of-the-Month Club and Fruit-of-the-Month Club. There’s even a Burger of the Month Club in New York City. Create your own of-the-month club, and write a promotional flyer for your new club.
February 10
Your life is being turned into a movie. Write about one event in your life you hope never hits the silver screen.
February 11
Look back over the past week. Did you accomplish your goals for the week? What have you done to achieve your writing goals for the year? Write about it.
February 12
What are your writing goals for the upcoming week? Make them specific and attainable.
February 13
Write a poem in any form about the month of February.
February 14
Today is Valentines Day. Write lyrics for the world’s corniest, mushiest, worst-ever love song.
February 15
Today is Valentine’s Day. Write a love letter—to yourself.
February 16
Congratulations! You’ve been awarded the Nobel Prize in Literature. Write your acceptance speech.
February 17
Bummer! Your arch rival won the Nobel Prize in Literature instead of you. To add insult to injury, you’ve got the same publisher, and the publisher is making you go to Stockholm and accept your rival’s award for her! Write the speech you will give when accepting the award on her behalf.
February 18
Look back over the past week. Did you accomplish your goals for the week? What have you done to achieve your writing goals for the year? Write about it.
February 19
What are your writing goals for the upcoming week? Make them specific and attainable.
February 20
Isaac Asimov once said, “It pays to be obvious, especially if you have a reputation for subtlety.” Write a scene illustrating that quote.
February 21
Write a complete short story in 100 words exactly—not 99 words, not 101 words—100 words exactly. The words dictionary, plantain, and horizon must be three of those words.
February 22
Today is George Washington’s birthday. Legend has it that George once told his father, “I cannot tell a lie. I chopped down the cherry tree.”
Think of a time when you told someone a lie. What was that lie, and what were the consequences?
February 23
Write a setting description that includes the following: two elderly gentlemen playing checkers, a ten-story building, and a dirty sock.
February 24
Write a character sketch of a woman whose goal in life is to become the first astronaut to walk on Mars.
February 25
Look back over the past week. Did you accomplish your goals for the week? What have you done to achieve your writing goals for the year? Write about it.
February 26
What are your writing goals for the upcoming week? Make them specific and attainable.
February 27
Choose a character in one of your favorite songs and write a childhood memory for them.
—— Contributed by Betsy Collum
Read Betsy’s poetry blog at nograysunflowers.xanga.com.)
February 28
Write a memoir about a time you were stuck in an awkward situation you didn’t quite know how to get out of.
February 29
Today is Leap Day. Write an essay expressing how grossly unfair it is to be born on Leap Day and have a birthday only once every four years.
March 1
Think of two diverse characters from two different books—Harry Potter and Scarlet O’Hara, for example, or Captain Ahab and Alice, just recently returned from Wonderland. Pretend the two characters meet and get into a discussion. Write the dialogue.
March 2
If you could go back in time and change an historical event, what would it be and why? How would you change it?
March 3
Write a scene that begins with the following: David awakened to find ______________ had disappeared during the night.
March 4
(NOTE: This week may be a day longer than usual if it is Leap Year and you did the Leap Day exercise)
Look back over the past week. Did you accomplish your goals for the week? What have you done to achieve your writing goals for the year? Write about it.
March 5
What are your writing goals for the upcoming week? Make them specific and attainable.
March 6
A haiku is a three-line Japanese poetry form written in a specific style: the first line is five syllables, the second line is seven syllables, and the third line is five syllables. Haiku normally allude to a season or to nature.
Today’s task: write a haiku that uses the word paramecium.
March 7
Using descriptive writing, rewrite this sentence to make it more vivid: A cat sat in the tree.
March 8
Write a scene based on the following:
All is not well in Snow White’s world. Sneezy has had an allergic reaction to flowers Happy brought home, but when Doc tries to send Grumpy to the pharmacy to fill a prescription for antihistamines, he refuses to go. Meanwhile, Bashful and Sleepy start arguing over which is better—Pepsi or Coke. To top it all off, Snow faints dead away when Dopey picks that precise moment to utter his first words: “I’m moving to Poughkeepsie.”
March 9
Write a 30-second commercial for lute strings.
March 10
Describe your earliest memory of eating corn on the cob.
March 11
Look back over the past week. Did you accomplish your goals for the week? What have you done to achieve your writing goals for the year? Write about it.
March 12
What are your writing goals for the upcoming week? Make them specific and attainable.
March 13
The word is skwoekerluft. No, it’s not a real word—I just made it up. Nonetheless, define it, draw a picture of it, and then use it in a sentence.
March 14
Write a recipe for mud pies—both vegetarian and meat-lovers versions.
March 15
R. Buckminster Fuller once said, “The earth is like a spaceship that didn’t come with an operating manual.” Write a few paragraphs that you think should be in spaceship earth’s operating manual.
March 16
Write a complete short story in 100 words exactly—not 99 words, not 101 words—100 words exactly. The words snow, beach, and yogurt must be three of those words.
March 17
Today is St. Patrick’s Day. Write a scene that includes corned beef and cabbage, a river dyed green, and a crazy person who thinks he’s a leprechaun.
March 18
Look back over the past week. Did you accomplish your goals for the week? What have you done to achieve your writing goals for the year? Write about it.
March 19
What are your writing goals for the upcoming week? Make them specific and attainable.
March 20
Write a poem in any form about the month of March.
March 21
Write a setting description that includes the following: the comics section of a week-old newspaper, a boy on a bicycle, and a yellow daffodil.
March 22
Write a character sketch of your favorite character out of Greek, Roman, or Norse mythology.
March 23
Write a scene that involves a pet tarantula escaping in a college dorm.
March 24
Snow White is having another bad day. (If you missed her first bad day, please read the exercise for March 8 before continuing.) The prince has awakened her from her death-like sleep and taken her back to his castle, where she finds the lout is already married to someone named Sleeping Beauty, a girl, Snow learns, who also was awakened from a deep slumber by the prince’s kiss. Snow and Beauty aren’t about to take the prince’s bigamy lying down, however. Write a scene where the two princesses plot their revenge.
March 25
Look back over the past week. Did you accomplish your goals for the week? What have you done to achieve your writing goals for the year? Write about it.
March 26
What are your writing goals for the upcoming week? Make them specific and attainable.
March 27
What follows is an example of how not to write in a query letter:
Dear Mr. or Ms Publisher,
I have just written a book that is going to be bigger than Harry Potter, and even though I’ve never published a book or anything else for that matter I just know you’ll adore it and want to grab it up and publish it before anyone else do.
My book is about a kid and his pet seahorse that magically transforms so it can live on land. They go on a big adventure together, but I don’t want to tell you what the adventure is or how the book ends because that would spoil it for you. You need to read it for yourself. Therefore, I’m attaching the 347,000-word manuscript for you to read. I hope you can open Microsoft Works documents as I don’t have Word and I don’t know how to change it to Word anyway.
I’ll require at least a $7,000 cash advance, because my parole officer will make me get a real job if you don’t give one to me. Please get back to me in a week, because I don’t want to have to flip burgers at some greasy hole-in-the-wall restaurant.
Sincerely yours,
John T. Wannabe
Soon-to-Be Best Selling Author
Your exercise for the day: Make a list of all the things that John T. Wannabe has done wrong with this letter.
March 28
In Hamlet, the title character holds a human skull in his hand and says, “Alas, poor Yorrick! I knew him, Horatio …” But what if the skull could talk? Write what he might have said back to Hamlet.
March 29
Return to the bad query letter from March 27. Pretend you are John T. Wannabe, and you really have written a book about a child and his/her pet seahorse who go on a big adventure together. Write a query letter that will actually tempt a publisher to take a look at your manuscript.
March 30
(NOTE: Please refer to March 8 and March 24 exercises if you haven’t done them previously.)
Snow White and Sleeping Beauty have gotten their revenge on the prince: they’ve turned him into a frog. Not only that, they took out a full-page ad in the Global Daily News warning every princess in the world to beware of a frog wearing a crown. Write a scene where the frog prince tries to convince a suspicious but gullible young princess from a nearby kingdom to kiss him and turn him back into a man.
March 31
Practicing creative acts other than writing makes a person a better writer, so today’s exercise is meant to expand your creative muscle.
Make a list of ten things you can do with paperclips other than hold papers together. Then, make on of the things on your list.
April 1
Look back over the past week. Did you accomplish your goals for the week? Write about it.
Remember those writing goals for the year you wrote back on the first of January? The year is now a quarter of the way through. How are you doing in terms of accomplishing your goals for the year?
April 2
What are your writing goals for the upcoming week? Make them specific and attainable.
April 3
April Fool’s Day just passed. Think of a time you played a practical joke on someone, or someone played one on you, and write about it.
April 4
You are being held up at gunpoint. All you have in your pocket is your pet rock. Convince the thief to take the rock and not your life.
April 5
Rewrite a nursery rhyme using synonyms. For example: “Row, row, row your boat / gently down the stream / merrily, merrily, merrily, merrily / life is but a dream” becomes “Propel, propel, propel your watercraft / easily down the flowing solution / happily, happily, happily, happily / existence is but an illusion.”
April 6
You’ve just returned from your dream vacation. Write an essay with the title What I Did On My Dream Vacation.
April 7
You’ve just returned from a disastrous vacation where nothing seemed to go right. Write an essay with the title What I Did On My Vacation From Hell.
April 8
Look back over the past week. Did you accomplish your goals for the week? What have you done to achieve your writing goals for the year? Write about it.
April 9
What are your writing goals for the upcoming week? Make them specific and attainable.
April 10
Write a three-paragraph synopsis for either Gone With the Wind or Moby Dick. If you’re really looking for a challenge and have read the book, write one for War and Peace.
April 11
The following poem from Elizabeth Barrett Browning’s Sonnets From the Portuguese, is arguably one of the most famous love sonnets ever composed. Write your own love sonnet, using the first line of Browning’s poem, but rewriting everything from line two on:
How do I love thee? Let me count the
ways.
I love thee to the depth and breadth and height
My soul
can reach, when feeling out of sight
For the ends of Being and
ideal Grace.
I love thee to the level of everyday's
Most
quiet need, by sun and candlelight.
I love thee freely, as men
might strive for Right;
I love thee purely, as they turn from
Praise.
I love thee with the passion put to use
In my old
griefs, and with my childhood's faith.
I love thee with a love I
seemed to lose
With my lost saints,–I love thee with the
breath,
Smiles, tears, of all my life!–and, if God choose,
I shall but love thee better after death.
April 12
Today is my mother’s birthday. Write a letter to your own mother and thank her for something special she did for you. If she is still living, mail her the letter.
April 13
Write a scene where a character is walking a dog. Write it from the dog’s perspective.
April 14
(NOTE: Please refer to March 8, March 24, and March 30 exercises if you haven’t done them previously.)
The frog prince has been unsuccessful in getting a princess to kiss him and return him to human form. He realizes the error of his ways, and wants beg for mercy from Snow and Beauty. He decides to write them a letter, asking forgiveness. Write that letter.
April 15
Look back over the past week. Did you accomplish your goals for the week? What have you done to achieve your writing goals for the year? Write about it.
April 16
What are your writing goals for the upcoming week? Make them specific and attainable.
April 17
Bill Cosby once said, “A word to the wise ain’t necessary—it’s the stupid ones who need the advice.” What is the best piece of advice you’ve ever received, and how did it help you through a difficult situation or change your life? Or, what was the worst piece of advice you were ever given, and how did it affect you?
April 18
Write a complete short story in 100 words exactly—not 99 words, not 101 words—100 words exactly. The words, cola, aircraft, and python must be three of those words.
April 19
Write a poem in any form about the month of April.
April 20
Write a setting description that includes the following: a couple having a loud lover’s quarrel, a kite, and a rusty beer can.
April 21
Write a character sketch of your grandmother.
April 22
Look back over the past week. Did you accomplish your goals for the week? What have you done to achieve your writing goals for the year? Write about it.
April 23
What are your writing goals for the upcoming week? Make them specific and attainable.
April 24
Earth Day just passed. Go for a walk and pick up trash along your route. Then go home and write about how that made you feel.
April 25
Divide a page into two columns. In the first column, using an 8-point font, make a list of five excuses you’ve used to avoid writing. In the second column, using a 14-point font, make another list of five reasons you should write. Print the list and stick it on your bulletin board or refrigerator, where you will see it every day.
April 26
Write a sex scene (come on, you know you’ve always wanted to). If you aren’t comfortable with this exercise, write about why it makes you uncomfortable.
April 27
Write a travel journal entry about your day trip to visit the canals on Mars.
April 28
Write a letter to Congress explaining why they should make your birthday a national holiday.
April 29
Look back over the past week. Did you accomplish your goals for the week? What have you done to achieve your writing goals for the year? Write about it.
April 30
What are your writing goals for the upcoming week? Make them specific and attainable.
May 1
(NOTE: Please refer to March 8, March 24, March 30, and April 14 exercises if you haven’t done them previously.)
Should Snow White and Sleeping Beauty forgive the prince? Once says yes, the other says no. Write a scene where they debate the issue.
May 2
Think of a time when someone has done something nice for you. It can be something recent, or something that happened years ago. Write the person a thank-you letter—snail mail, not e-mail—and send it to them.
May 3
Enter a writing contest. Use caution here: some vanity presses run sham contests as a way to lure unwary poets and authors into buying expensive anthologies. Do your homework first and research contests thoroughly.
May 4