Writing Exercise
Restating Fiction Paragraphs
Anne Bernays and Pamela Painter — What If? Writing Exercise for Fiction Writers prompts The Exercise — Read the following passages to see how the writers convey information while shaping our attitudes and emotions. In Ernest Hemingway's The Sun Also Rises an obscure character is killed by a bull being taken to the bullring in a Spanish town. The first brief sentences deliver the objective facts almost as coolly as a newspaper obit. The final two sentences are longer and have a more complex structure (why?), and the string of ten short prepositional phrases that ends the passage not only mimics the rhythm of the train wheels but creates a poetic, lulling, hypnotic effect, suggestive of a chant. The Objective - To shape sentences to do your bidding. Sentences aren't just snowshoes to get you from the beginning to the end of your story. They are powerful tools with which to carve a story that wasn't there until you decided to create it.
By Denise E Lindquist6 days ago in Writers
How to Choose the Right AI SEO team for Your Business?. AI-Generated.
The first pitch usually sounds convincing. Charts showing traffic curves. Screenshots of dashboards filled with scores and predictions. Promises of faster rankings driven by automation. For many businesses, this is where confusion begins. AI has entered SEO quietly and then all at once, and the line between genuine capability and surface-level tooling has become hard to see.
By Jane Smith7 days ago in Writers
Rereading
I reread my favorite books, over and over again, for a very simple reason: I love the characters and enjoy spending time with them. Maybe I grieve their loss, maybe I bargain with the text: if I read you better this time, maybe Benji won’t die, maybe Manderly won’t burn, and maybe Lenny and George will get that piece of land and have something to call their own.
By Harper Lewis7 days ago in Writers
The Abandoned, part 1
We’ve all heard something about ghost towns and abandoned buildings. You might think it’s a fascinating but rare phenomenon, but you’d be wrong. If you dig deeper, you’d find it’s actually quite common. Disturbingly common, in fact. There’s at least one in every U.S. state, and thousands around the world. When you add in vacant properties, the list probably balloons to millions.
By Gabriel Shames8 days ago in Writers
Daily Yoga Routine for Beginners | Your Complete Guide. Content Warning. AI-Generated.
Why You Need a Daily Yoga Routine Starting a yoga practice can feel overwhelming when you are standing at the beginning of your journey. You have probably scrolled through Instagram, seen people folding themselves into pretzel shapes, and wondered if yoga is really for you. Here is the truth: yoga is not about touching your toes or holding a perfect handstand. It is about showing up on your mat, breathing deeply, and moving your body in ways that make you feel good.
By Theworkouthaven.com8 days ago in Writers
Bringing Abstractions To Life
Anne Bernays and Pamela Painter — What If? Writing Exercise for Fiction Writers prompts The Exercise — Make several of the following abstractions come to life by rendering them in concrete specific details or images. racism, injustice, ambition, growing old, salvation, poverty, growing up, sexual deceit, wealth, evil The Objective - To learn to think, always, in concrete terms. To realize that the concrete is more persuasive than any high-flown rhetoric full of fancy words and abstractions.
By Denise E Lindquist10 days ago in Writers
2026: The Year of Writing and More Writing...
Happy New Year!! 2025 is over, which does have me a little down. It was an exciting year, especially for Jane Austen fans as it was Austen's 250th birthday this past December. I had really wished to do more throughout the year to celebrate this but unfortunately found myself with not much time or energy to do that. And maybe that is why I am very excited for this new year.
By The Austen Shelf12 days ago in Writers
It's Winter . Top Story - January 2026.
Anne Bernays and Pamela Painter — What If? Writing Exercise for Fiction Writers prompts The Exercise —Write a scene involving two characters. Have the point-of-view character presume something entirely different about the situation from what the other character's overt behavior seems to imply. For example, a landlord comes to visit, and the tenant suspects that it isn't a visit but an inspection. Make up several situations in which one character can fantasize or project or suspect or even fear what another character is thinking. The Objective - To show how your characters can use their imaginations to interpret the behavior and dialogue of other characters.
By Denise E Lindquist12 days ago in Writers
