The thread with all your creativity challenge needs! Just pick one of our fancy-schmancy exercises and put your brain to work! With our non-step program, you can take your mind from blockin' to rockin' in as little as very soon!

Feel free to use this thread as a canvas for your vocabulous excretions.

If you have ideas for exercises, leave a message in The Idea Thread! :D

Here's our fine selection of carefully aged inventivement activities:

One Word
Think of a random word. The most random word that your thinkmuscle can think.

Now write it.

Now think of a story involving that word and write a small summary of that.

GO!

Asking Questions
Take a character, any character at all. It could even be a real person. Now think of something that has nothing (or nearly nothing) to do with that character.

Finally, ask yourself a question that involves both your character, and that thing.

These questions can help provoke thoughts and ideas that can help you to get the brain train achuggin'.

Example:
Character: Pinkie Pie
Something that has nearly nothing to do with her: Dirt
Questions: What if Pinkie baked a cake using dirt instead of flour? How does dirt feel when Pinkie hops on it? Would Pinkie fare well against a giant dirt monster? What kind of prank could Pinkie pull using dirt? What if Pinkie became addicted to snorting dirt? Does Pinkie keep a secret jar of dirt from her old rock farm back home? etc. etc.

Splitting Off
For the next chapter of a fic you are writing, add something that has nothing to do with your story, a new character, and animal, an event, a discovery, whatever.

Then make it an important part of the story, from then on, or as a key moment that changes the story's direction.

This will help you if you don't know what to do with your story, or if you don't know how to continue it. It's also a good exercise in keeping your readers interested by adding new possibilities.

Continuation
Simple. Write a continuation chapter for an incomplete story that isn't yours. Take it where you want to, add some interesting twists, try to match the style.

Post if you see fit.

It works well if you also get to see the official continuation and compare and contrast what happened, what didn't, and what could have been integrated.

This is a good "get my story off my mind" exercise. It can help a lot with planning outside the box of your stories.

Here's an example.

One Sentence Wonder
Write a story in only one sentence. This sentence can be as long as you want it to be (yay run-ons!), the only limit being that you cannot use more than 10 commas/hyphens/colons/semi-colons/etc.

Introduce characters, plot, etc. Make it the best story you can!

It might just become great inspiration.

Random Ramble
Let off some steam in a rant, ramble about something you really enjoy, go on a tirade, or stream random words together. You decide! Just write, write, and write some more! Perhaps something will come out of it.

Crazy Convo
Have a conversation with yourself, in writing. Watch what comes of it. It isn’t all that crazy to talk to yourself. I mean, people do it all the time!… Right?

Who knows what ideas you might have talking things through with yourself? It’s also a great tool for working through difficult problems and brainstorming ideas for things.

Found Poem
Take a small piece of writing that you enjoy, perhaps an old adage, or a short section of a story, and write it in poem form!

This is a great vocabulary and word-use stretching exercise!

Awesome... this will stretch my brain till it wraps around the earth...

Sound's like something a third grade teacher would say.
Get yur brain train achuggin'!
Except it actually makes me feel good about myself.
...and not a helpless three-year-old floating in the space of horrible educational cartoons.
Congrats.

3861208

...and not a helpless three-year-old floating in the space of horrible educational cartoons.

By: Teh Shmexy Writer.

What?

3864586 My point exactly.

3626028 The above comment string plus your user image made me think of Vinyl Scratch teaching 3rd grade.

This is most helpful, and I'm probably going to favorite this entire webpage.

This is not only good for the brain... but good for the soul.