Writing Exercises
Études de Plume
“Étude: a piece of music intended to be played to improve a musician’s technical skills. The word comes from the French for study.”
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There are two different parts to these studies – these études. One is free and can be found on this page. The other can be found within the course Pen & Paper.
Études Essentiel
Études Essentiel consists of twenty days worth of writing activities and exercises.
For each day, you will find the following:
Part I: Exercises in Word Production
Part II: Exercises in Word Dissection: Understanding Words on the Page
Part III: Exercises in Word Production: Getting Words on the Page Part II
Part IV: Exercises in Word Worth: Judging Words on the Page
Études Essentiel can be found within the course Pen & Paper. You need to register to access the content.
Études de Plume
Short studies to help you write better fiction.
Studies in writing for composers of words. See below.
Études de Plume: No. 1
Writing Dialogue
When you are writing dialogue it is important to keep things simple. Consider the passage below:
“One credit?” I said. “That’s it?”
“That’s why I’m a year older than everybody else. I lost a whole year of school. A whole year,” he repeated. “Do you know what that’s like? Losing a year of your life?”
“Maybe not a year, but…” I said. I’d lost several weeks of my life in the hospital. That had to count for something.
He shook his head and held up a hand.
“Don’t bother,” he said. “I’ve heard it before.
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It is best to keep things simple by using the word “said”. In the passage, the characters did not utter, blurt, call, cry, exclaim, blab, babble, jabber, or affirm a single word. Primarily, they “said”. Only once did the author choose a different word, and that was done to emphasize a point.
Also, the characters never said anything softly, carefully, sharply, etc. There is no need to qualify “said” with an adverb. It detracts from your writing.
And so remember, when it comes time for your characters to utter achingly poignant prose, don’t let the thesaurus get in your head. Keep things simple and use the word “said”.