I hated doing writing exercises in class. I was never good at rushing out good metaphors and first drafts.
“Who wants to read theirs?” No thanks. Can I edit and get back to you?
But there’s a difference in writing exercises. The most common kind is the kind that you do in writing classes. “Write a few paragraphs exploring a certain metaphor,” or “Write a few paragraphs while intently focusing on description,” – these suck. You’re mostly writing down the first thing to come to mind…and if I’ve learned anything in writing it’s the first idea is very rarely the best or even remotely good.
I’ve found some writing exercises to be helpful, but these are narrowed in on one thing. Like, a sentence.
Write a sentence. Now, rewrite that sentence using different verbs, nouns, adjectives, etc. Flip it. Shorten it.
This is a exercise that actually helps mold the writing mind (and if you’re like me, makes the editing experience a bit more fun.)
If you want to practice description, why write a whole page? Write a sentence or two and then rewrite them until you see you’re own progress.
And progress is easier to see in small increments. It’s also less frustrating because it’s easier to look at one sentence than a whole page.
This is more my opinion then anything and what I’ve found works best for me. Maybe the first choice does work for you, but if it doesn’t try to narrow in on one thing, one sentence and build from there.
Memoir of a Writer 
Very interesting technique. I’ll try this and see how it works! Thanks for sharing your thoughts on “writing exercises.” I get what you mean about first ideas, haha.
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Haha, definitely know plenty of people of the same opinion!
I actually find I’m relatively good at some writing exercises – specifically, of the writing prompt sort. Ones that give you a theme or a starting sentence or whatever, and tell you to elaborate from there.
Of course, they aren’t masterpieces, but I’ve whipped up some whimsical and vaguely entertaining half-formed stories / scenes from them.
I never do anything with them, but they certainly work for putting me in the headspace (at least some of the time haha).
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That’s awesome. I wish they worked for me, but I always feel more frustrated doing them then anything.
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I found this useful:
http://writingexercises.co.uk/create-a-setting.php
I periodically use it when I’ve the itch, but scratching what’s there will only scrap the scab and bleed the sheets.
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I tend to strive so hard to get a sentence just right, that to rewrite it would destroy it — even in exercises. I envision an arrow, shot from space, falling like a firebrand to plunge into the exquisite heart of a cherry pit splitting it to mirrored halves. Were I to write a sentence like that I would find that it must exist without change, forever.
To split the cyanide laced pit of a peach, with a spinning chromed ax blade launched by a slingshot up through the mouth of a dormant volcano… Well, that would be a different sentence.
Perhaps that’s what you were referring to. Write a sentence, a perfect sentence, and then change it to mean something slightly, or entirely, different.
On descriptions, yes, more than a few lines of description, to me, is a bad habit. Description is like salt in your food: it needs to be there, in just the right amount, too much and you notice it, too little and you notice its absence, but preferably, sprinkled throughout enhancing every bite.
To read a block of description is to taste the author’s hand in the pot. An author must be forgotten while reading. That to me is my job. Write in such a way as to remove myself from my story.
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Wow, you must have an extremely hard time editing! Haha I find I try too much when I make my sentences, which makes them say way to much or I’m the only one that thinks they say what I wanted them to.
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Well, they rarely arrive perfect. But as skill increases more and more do. I rather hate editing so I tend to take my time with structure, cadence, word selection and fit within the work.
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I’m teaching myself to do that. I hate editing, so I’ve forced myself to slow down while writing to edit as I go.
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