The Drawing Room

Exercises

Practice toward a target. The reading follows.

• The Iambic Heartbeat

  Foundation
  Write three sentences whose stresses fall on every other syllable. Read them aloud once you finish.
• Spondaic Weight

  Foundation
  Write three sentences in which most words feel weighted, each stress landing fully. Use short words where you can.
• Plosive Punch

  Foundation
  Write a paragraph about something snapping shut. Lean on B, P, D, T, K, G in your word choices.
• Liquid Flow

  Foundation
  Write a paragraph in which sound moves like water. Reach for L and R sounds.
• Periodic Suspension

  Foundation
  Write a single sentence whose main clause arrives only at the end. Hold the meaning until the close.
• Paratactic Drive

  FoundationPro
  Write a paragraph using only main clauses. Strip qualifiers. Move forward.
• Forte Volume

  FoundationPro
  Write three sentences at full volume. Each one should land at strength without raising the voice.
• Pianissimo Hush

  FoundationPro
  Write a paragraph quiet enough to be overheard. No exclamations. No raised stakes.
• Bright Tonality

  FoundationPro
  Write a paragraph whose colour is light. Open vowels, ascending shapes, warm valence.
• Dark Tonality

  FoundationPro
  Write a paragraph whose colour is closed and heavy. Descending shapes, dark vowels.
• The Percussive Line

  Original
  Write a scene of impact. Something breaks, ends, or arrives.
• The Long Exhale

  Original
  Write a passage where time slows and a character notices something small.
• The Pronouncement

  Original
  Write an opening sentence that sounds like it has always been true.
• The Interior

  Original
  Write from inside a thought that hasn't finished forming yet.
• The Groove

  OriginalPro
  Write a passage where the rhythm carries the meaning.
• The Still Life

  OriginalPro
  Describe a room no one is in.
• The Confession

  OriginalPro
  Write the thing your narrator has been avoiding saying.
• The Distance

  OriginalPro
  Write about grief from very far away.
• The Turn

  OriginalPro
  Write a passage that changes direction in the final sentence.
• The Overture

  OriginalPro
  Write the first paragraph of a story that takes place entirely in one afternoon.
• The Hundred Words

  Play
  Write a complete piece in exactly 100 words. Beginning, middle, end.
• The Single Sentence

  Play
  Write a passage as one continuous sentence. Use any punctuation other than a period.
• The Anaphora

  Play
  Begin every line with the same two-word phrase. Use it as a refrain across at least six lines.
• The List Without Verbs

  PlayPro
  Write a paragraph that contains no verbs. Lean on names of things and qualities.
• The Sound Walk

  PlayPro
  Describe a place using only what you can hear. No sights. No textures. Sound only.
• The One Colour

  PlayPro
  Write a paragraph naming one colour at least three times, each time used differently.
• The No-Adjective

  PlayPro
  Write a paragraph without any adjectives. Use verbs and nouns to do the descriptive work.
• The Three Angles

  PlayPro
  Choose one ordinary object. Describe it three times, from a different angle each time.
• The Fragment Only

  PlayPro
  Write a passage made entirely of sentence fragments. No complete sentences allowed.
• The Erasure

  PlayPro
  Take any paragraph you have written. Remove every fifth word. Read what is left.

Structured forms for when the form is the constraint.

• Haiku
  Three lines. 5-7-5 syllables.
• Sonnet
  Fourteen lines. ABAB CDCD EFEF GG rhyme scheme.
• Villanelle
  Nineteen lines. Two repeating refrains. ABA rhyme scheme.
• Ghazal
  Couplets sharing a radif. The poet appears in the final couplet.
• Free verse
  No rules. The line break is yours.

Write without analysis. No readings here.

Capture it before it disappears.