Before a run or a workout, you need to warm up. You stretch or activate the muscles before you expect your body to perform, right? Well, it’s the same for writing! If we want our minds to perform, we need to warm them up. Stretch it, ease it in, get the cogs turning. If you want to be someone who can get writing with ease each session, then these tips may be for you.
Here are some warm up exercises for writers:
Pinterest Board
I don’t know about you, but one of the first things I do when I have I story idea is create a Pinterest board! I have one for old and news ideas, even ones I’ve since scraped. What I don’t remember to do enough though is look at them before writing!
I created them for a reason: inspiration. To be able to visualise my story or characters. As a warmup exercise then, we can look over and maybe even add to our Pinterest boards for our stories. That way, we are visually immersing ourselves in the place we’re hoping to write.
Read the last thing you wrote
Another great tactic that I rarely do, but really should, is reading one the last thing you wrote. This helps you to remember where you left off and slip back into the voice of your narration. Sometimes we forget and we definitely forget the small details of what we wrote, so it’s important to go back and review.
Check over your notes
Again, guilty! I write SO MANY notes on my phone, in notebooks, various different apps etc and then forget to look back on them. A few times I’ve got angry over a problem I’m having only to realise I had the answer in my notes already!
In order to warm up then, we could take some time to read over our notes, ensure we’re on track, and remember any little tidbits we may have noted down at 3am when inspiration struck!
Idea dump/stream of consciousness
It can be good to warm up the creative muscles by writing ideas down without any worry about form or getting it right. Just set a timer for 5 minutes and dump all thoughts about the story, characters, world, themes etc. It can be things you’ve already included in the draft, whatever. Just clear the cobwebs and remind your brain it’s time to write and be creative.
Music / vibe setting
Some people create playlists for their stories. I’ve tried it a few times to varying success! Sometimes, the right song or set of songs is all you need to visualise a scene or place perfectly. I remember replaying a song from Arcane on a loop while I write an epic scene from one of my drafts!
You can also set the writing vibe with a setup routine like candles, cleaning the desk, physically stretching out the body before sitting down, getting your fave beverage or cardigan, whatever words to signal to your brain that it’s time to write.
Practice paragraph
And lastly, giving yourself permission to write a rubbish first few paragraphs. Just like a long distance runner warming up with a slower pace, we can warmup with a scrappy paragraph. You could write about something random or rewrite the paragraph above or practice writing the part you’re on but knowing you’re going to delete it. It’s freeing and as I said before, clears the cobwebs!
I’m going to be trying these out as I haven’t written anything lately or edited my drafts. I’d like to get back to it so it seems like these are great tools to help me do that.
Sincerely,
S. Xx
S. R. Crawford 