Best Exercise For Writers

CREDIT : UNSPLASH /Denise Jans

I started writing books about six years ago, and along the way noted some key exercises that not only helps a writer improve his craft but also add to their individual growth. These exercises are Curated knowledge from my journey as a writer.

“Art is the most intense mode of individualism that the world has known.” OSCAR WILD

First we work on The intra-personal element of art which is You, the core.

1. Understanding oneself- First you need to have a complete picture of yourself; so take a piece of paper and find a comfortable and safe spot for yourself and write a Brute and Honest essay on yourself, you can burn the paper later if you want to but be blunt and honest. Start by comprehending your likes, dislikes and prejudices. The strong & weak traits of one’s personality, Why do we lean towards something and not the other. Things that you alway strive to change about yourself, the defence mechanism of your ego, how do you Judge a person when you meet them for the first time?, what kind of personalities traits you fall for?, what are the thoughts that constantly disturb you ?. Once you have put your reality on that paper relax because before taking the next step I want you to remember that none of those traits and qualities completely belong to you, they are a culmination of your DNA , your environment, your circumstances, society, culture, history, education and a bit of luck — the only thing that belongs to you is how you use these traits from now.
2. So The next step, I usually call it ‘rope the block’ for in this you are going to sit and see how many traits of your personality can you link to either your immediate family, close friends, teachers, your culture or even a particular event in your life for knowing where they germinate from not only helps you understand Why do you like something and not the other but also makes it easy for you to separate your personal self from it. Specially our prejudices , because they prohibit you from widening your imagination, grounds your vision and makes it binary.
3. Now start Monitoring your thoughts, you don’t have to feed them, fight them or even understand them just monitor them. Because when you detach yourself form it and observe it as a third person they become more clear and that clarity changes you.
4. An artist needs to know something about everything and everything about something because when you write a story you can incorporate different parts of the universe. So read everything that you can.

Second exercise is for your craft- craft is the subject of art. It is what stems from the work you put in your art.

1. Read as much as you can and the best way to start is to find the genre you like, then find authors who have excelled in it and then start by reading their work from the beginning. That will help you see and understand the growth of the writer and how each artist has its own style of expression and language and finally you will be marvelled to see how we are all recycling the same words to create a different story.
2. Be an observer, every story that has been written or told is around you, you need to indulge your self in the life around because someday when you sit to write, an expression from your past experience will always show up unannounced but that can only happen if you were aware then and are aware now.
3. Write, needles to say it’s the best advice one can give you, pen down each time something comes to you, if your are not writing a book or an article write your emotions about your day or just write about your days or even what were your thoughts for the day . Because no matter how mechanical it may sound repeated reading and writing is the only way that you improve your articulation. And this is not a creative but a scientific approach as when you read about your brain you will know that a faster reflex or the ability by which we are able to do even a complex task so easily is by forming a neural pathway for it and this only happens after you have repeated an action endlessly.

IN THE END JUT REMEMBER TO BE YOURSELF BECAUSE NO ONE ELSE CAN PLAY YOU BETTER THAN YOU.