We are all a community of writers but I've noticed something very sad. Their is little public work on collaborating, constructively criticising and helping each other write. We have a great deal of threads telling newbies what to avoid in their writing of characters and for good reason. However after they pass the entrance exam we basically only let them improve as they do naturally.
I myself have improved in RP writing since I came here a great deal and I know others have as well for example Raykaystar I don't RP with you much but I've noticed you've grown by leaps and bounds since you first joined. However we are all writers and should struggle to improve not just in the limitations of writing in a Minecraft server but generally as writers.
I believe the focus on this will prove helpful to absolutely every single player on the server in not only their RP but their private lives in the real world. Many of you are students still and an improvement in your ability to write will directly translate to improved grades. Others may find improved writing useful in job applications or for the sheer joy of it. Many of us I know harbor the dream of being a professional writer but unless we actually write something it will remain just that. A dream.
Here is a list of writing exercises. I took the list from here. There are literally thousands of similar resources across the internet this just happened to be handy.
If you'd like to participate I'd recommend you pick from the above put in quotes and write and post for critique. Some of the above mentions what could be personal things or information. If you aren't comfortable with that just make up names no one will know etc.
I will be posting the writing exercise I chose once I type it up its up so folks may critique it and such.
I myself have improved in RP writing since I came here a great deal and I know others have as well for example Raykaystar I don't RP with you much but I've noticed you've grown by leaps and bounds since you first joined. However we are all writers and should struggle to improve not just in the limitations of writing in a Minecraft server but generally as writers.
I believe the focus on this will prove helpful to absolutely every single player on the server in not only their RP but their private lives in the real world. Many of you are students still and an improvement in your ability to write will directly translate to improved grades. Others may find improved writing useful in job applications or for the sheer joy of it. Many of us I know harbor the dream of being a professional writer but unless we actually write something it will remain just that. A dream.
Here is a list of writing exercises. I took the list from here. There are literally thousands of similar resources across the internet this just happened to be handy.
- Pick ten people you know and write a one-sentence description for each of them. Focus on what makes each person unique and noteworthy.
- Record five minutes of a talk radio show. Write down the dialog and add narrative descriptions of the speakers and actions as if you were writing a scene.
- Write a 500-word biography of your life. Think about the moments that were most meaningful to you and that shaped you as a person.
- Write your obituary. List all of your life’s accomplishments. You can write it as if you died today or fifty or more years in the future.
- Write a 300-word description of your bedroom. Think about the items you have or the other elements of your room that give the best clues about who you are or who you want others to think you are.
- Write an interview with yourself, an acquaintance, a famous figure or a fictional character. Do it in the style of an appropriate (or inappropriate) publication such as Time, People, Rolling Stone, HuffingtonPost,Politico, Cosmopolitan, Seventeen or Maxim.
- Read a news site, a newspaper or a supermarket tabloid. Scan the articles until you find something that interests you and use it as the basis for a scene or story.
- Write a diary or a blog of a fictional character. Write something every day for two weeks.
- Rewrite a passage from a book, a favorite or a least favorite, in a different style such as noir, gothic romance, pulp fiction or horror story.
- Pick an author you like though not necessarily your favorite. Make a list of what you admire about the way the author writes. Do this from memory first, without rereading the author’s work. After you’ve made your list, reread some of the author’s work and see if you missed anything or if your answers change. Analyze what elements of that author’s writing style you can add to your own, and what elements you should not or cannot add. Remember that your writing style is your own. Only try to think of ways to add to your style. Never try to mimic someone else for more than an exercise or two.
- Take a piece of your writing that you have written in first person and rewrite it in third person, or vice-versa. You can also try this exercise changing tense, narrators, or other stylistic elements. Don’t do this with an entire book. Stick to shorter works. Once you commit to a style for a book, never look back or you will spend all of your time rewriting instead of writing.
- Try to identify your earliest childhood memory. Write down everything you can remember about it. Rewrite it as a scene. You may choose to do this from your current perspective or from the perspective you had at that age.
- Remember an old argument you had with another person. Write about the argument from the point of view of the other person. Remember that the idea is to see the argument from their perspective, not your own. This is an exercise in voice, not in proving yourself right or wrong.
- Write a 200-word or longer description of a place. You can use any and all sensory descriptions but sight. You can describe what it feels like, sounds like, smells like and even tastes like. Try to write the description in such a way that people will not miss the visual details.
- Sit in a restaurant or a crowded area and write down the snippets of conversation you hear. Listen to the people around you. Listen to how they talk and to what words they use. Once you have done this, you can practice finishing their conversations. Write your version of what comes next in the conversation. Match their style.
If you'd like to participate I'd recommend you pick from the above put in quotes and write and post for critique. Some of the above mentions what could be personal things or information. If you aren't comfortable with that just make up names no one will know etc.
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