Writing Exercises

The bad guy is trying to figure out if there are children hiding in the house. The owner of the house knows where they are and so does the reader but is trying to convince the bad guy that he knows nothing.

Three friends are in the room. Two of them are having a conversation about the third. The third person can hear them but does not take part in the conversation.

This exercise is a classic! A woman just found out that her husband has been cheating. The husband comes home and they have a conversation. They don't talk about the cheating. What could they be talking about?

Two men hear the sound of a scared kitten coming from a pit.

Go back to when your character was much younger. Preferably when they were a child, a teenager or in their early twenties taking the first steps in life as an adult.

Your character is in a terrible mood. What could possibly cheer them up?

Write a shopping list for your character. What kind of things would they shop for on a weekly basis?

Your character made it to the front page of the local newspaper!

The Proust Questionnaire has its origins in a parlour game popularized by Marcel Proust, the French essayist and novelist, who believed that, in answering these questions, an individual reveals his or her true nature.