Yn Nor Workshop

By Vitora

Whenever I’m looking through the Writer’s Digest Book Club catalogue or scrolling through the library’s listing of writer’s books, I’m always a little upset. Not because of a lack of selection—there’s a heck of a lot more out there for writers than you might think—or lack of quality—these books get pretty detailed, and some are even ones I’d consider reading for pleasure—but because of the lack of activity books. Books that detail, step by step, exercises for generating ideas, characters, names, locations, everything.

And while I don’t plan on adding to the few that are out there at any point in the near future, I think I’ll make it a little easier on those who feel the same. Every month, expect a new activity in the Yn Nor Workshop series to help you come up with interesting new scraps for your writing life.

November—Backwards Writing

Start with a sentence. It can be any sentence. Really. Anything. I myself will begin with:

It had taken them three days to hike the ridge, a trio of long and painful days.

Okay, interesting enough, I suppose. Now, I’ve got options here—I can either work on the next sentence (the obvious choice), or I can follow my own instructions and…write the previous sentence. Yup. You do the same.

Andy’s feet felt as limp as a dead fish, and his brain wasn’t in much better condition. It had taken them three days to hike the ridge, a trio of long and painful days.

Maybe it’s going somewhere. Again, I have to write the previous sentence. Go ahead, you write one, too.

Marshall had already made it to the top, and was motioning for the others to hurry. Andy’s feet felt as limp as a dead fish, and his brain wasn’t in much better condition. It had taken them three days to hike the ridge, a trio of long and painful days.

The sentences may be disjointed, but the point of the exercise is this: work backwards. It keeps you motivated—after all, if you know how the piece is going to end, you probably want to know how the characters got there. And, as the author, there’s only one way to find out—that’s write (ah, no pun intended). Even if you don’t end up keeping the material you generate doing this exercise, you’ll at least have a starting point and a basic ending…which can be the hardest part of creative writing for some. Keep messing around with your material, but, as long as it’s what you generated with this exercise, remember: write backwards.

Backwards writin’ gen-yoo-ine (not the best, but at least I did it right…):

“My legs are killing me. Can we stop yet? Just a little water break…please?” This from blond-hair.

“Stop complaining,” the dark, curly-haired young man muttered.

A cloud of dust passed Andy and Emerill as their companion dashed past in a blur; the two boys glanced at each other and groaned.

“Get goin’, you slugs!” Marshall had already made it to the top, and was motioning for the others to hurry. Andy’s feet felt as limp as a dead fish, and his brain wasn’t in much better condition. It had taken them three days to hike the ridge, a trio of long and painful days.