There are a lot of things that holds a writer back before he/she manages to sit in front of their computer screen to do some serious writing. Procrastination, lack of inspiration, lack of motivation, low self-confidence, fickle mind frame, too many distractions like internet or music, stress and many many more are the factors that leads to a blank computer screen or page. There are times when for no reason whatsoever, one cant make themselves to write even a single readable sentence. You can call it writer's block, but in many situations it is nothing but lack of practice or mental exercise.
In such a scenario what one needs is a little help to jump-start those creative juices. We have compiled a list of websites that offer interesting, interactive and pretty useful writing exercises, tips, tricks and lets you be a part of a community that grows and learns together.
So if you are facing a blank screen and have no idea where or how to begin writing, then give these websites a try; if nothing else, they will atleast help you practise while you work on your writing.
Language Is A Virus
This website carries features like 'character name generator', 'poetry generator', 'writing prompts', sentence builder', graffiti wall, 'text collage', 'never ending story' etc. They also have helpful articles poetry, writing, creativity and languages. Their collection of writing tools can be of great use to start off your writing. (Link)
National Novel Writing Month
"Seat-of-your-pants approach to novel writing" is how this website describes their concept. National Novel Writing Month is a website conducts an annual event, wherein participant's goal is to write a 50,000 word novel within a month. 1st November of every year writers are invited to take part and come up with a novel by 29th November midnight. "Make no mistake: You will be writing a lot of crap. And that's a good thing. By forcing yourself to write so intensely, you are giving yourself permission to make mistakes." they say. (Link)
Creative Writing Prompts
This website was featured by Writer's Digest as one of the best websites for writers. Thanks to their fascinating writing exercises, it is a great place to draw inspiration from. On the site they have displayed more than 350 numbers, once you hover your mouse on any of these numbers you will see a small box with an exercise. Some of them are simple, while some will make you ponder, but by the end of the day this site will leave you with enough practice and mental exercise. (Link)
Write or Die
This web application is for those who are in the habit of procrastinating and have a tendency to avoid writing. They make you write as long as you can, and once you stop you are given a grace period, after which one has to face certain consequences. Consequences are of three types: "Gentle Mode" which gives you a gentle pop-up, "Normal Mode" that plays the most unpleasant sound until you start writing again, "Kamikaze Mode" in which once you stop writing all your work will unwrite itself. (Write or Die comes in Desktop edition as well)
They believe in negative reinforcement, a principle taught in Psychology, "it strengthens a behavior because a negative condition is stopped or avoided as a consequence of the behavior." (Link)
Write For Ten
They have a simple and straight forward concept, all you need to do is write for 10 minutes about anything you please. They call themselves "writing sketchbook". Their goal is develop the habit of writing by spending 10 minutes on writing whatever comes in your mind first. "The 10-minute constraint frees you up from the shackles of procrastination to editing paralysis to the fear of writing." they say. (Link)
750 Words
For those who want to push themselves a little further and workout their mind for a longer time, then this site is worth a try. All they want you to do is write 750 words (3 pages) consistently, for which writers will be rewarded with extra points. You can log in the site via Google, Facebook or Twitter and start writing on a big screen that auto saves your writings; you can also set up email reminders. All your work is kept private, you can also view stats to analyse your consistency since they track your word count. "Its not blogging, its between you and you" they say. (Link)
Book-In-A-Week
This website follows 'Learning Management System' or 'Moodle' where writers are connected through an online community and encouraged to practice as much writing as they can through a system in which writers are scheduled to write every first week of the month. "No editing, no going back over what's been written. Write, write, write. What is important is getting the words down, creating a first draft." they say. (Link)
One Word
'One word' is a website with one of the simplest writing exercise. "It's not about learning new words. It's not about defining words." they say. In order to kick start you imagination, they give you one word once you hit the 'go' button, and you have to write all you can about that word within 60 seconds. "Don't think. Just write" they say. They encourage spontaneity within writers. (Link)
The Write Prompts
A very interesting blog that has prepared a fun schedule for every day of the week. They encourage their readers to subscribe RSS feeds with them or bookmark this site, provided you are willing to spend about 15 minutes everyday on writing exercises.
They have "Journal Mondays' which focuses on journal writing, "Image Tuesdays" that presents you with an image on which you have to write few words, "Poetry Wednesdays" that will prompt a topic and suggest poetic form, "One Word Thursdays" that gives you a word to draw inspiration from and write about it, "Dirty Dozen Fridays" where you have to set up a timer and write a paragraph from a list of 12 words given to you, "Continue On Saturdays" where you have to come up with a start of a line or a story that you can continue the next week and lastly "Quote Sundays" in which the author publishes interesting quotes for you to read. (Link)
If you know of some more writing exercises or websites that offer such fun and motivating activities for writers, then do share them with us in the comment section below. And let us know which of these websites you found to be most useful for yourself.
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I think your readers will also enjoy the journaling prompts and creative writing prompts and ideas at http://www.creativewriting-prompts.com/creative-writing-prompts.html
Thanks for sharing Debbie. :)
Thanks for sharing Debbie. :)