creative writing about game

43 Creative writing exercises

A selection of fun creative writing exercises that can be completed solo, or with a group. Some are prompts to help inspire you to come up with story ideas, others focus on learning specific writing skills.

I run a  Creative Writing Meetup  for adults and teens in Montpellier or online every week. We start with a 5 to 20 minute exercise, followed by an hour and a half of silent writing, during which each participant focuses on their own project. Every exercise listed below has been run with the group and had any kinks ironed out.  Where the exercises specify a number of people, if you have a larger group, simply split everyone up into smaller groups as appropriate.

The solo exercises are ideal to help stimulate your mind before working on a larger project, to overcome writer’s block, or as stand-alone prompts in their own right. If a solo exercise inspires you and you wish to use it with a larger group, give every member ten minutes to complete the exercise, then ask anyone who wishes to share their work to do so in groups of 3 or 4 afterwards.

Looking for something quick to fire your imagination? Check out these  creative writing prompts for adults .

Writing Retreat in South France

A note on running exercises remotely

While you can enjoy the exercises solo, they are also designed for online writing groups using Zoom, WhatsApp, or Discord.

If you're running a group and follow a ' Shut Up and Write ' structure, I recommend connecting on WhatsApp (for example) first, doing the exercise together, sharing writing samples as needed. Next, write in silence for an hour and a half on your own projects, before reconnecting for a brief informal chat at the end. This works great with small remote groups and is a way to learn new techniques, gain online support, and have a productive session.

If you have a larger online group, it's worth looking into Zoom, as this has a feature called  Breakout Rooms . Breakout Rooms let you split different writers into separate rooms, which is great for group activities. The free version of Zoom has a 40 minute limit, which can be restrictive, but Zoom Pro is well worth it if you're going to use it on a regular basis. In my experience, Zoom has a better connection than Facebook chat or WhatsApp.

A Letter From Your Character To You

Spend ten minutes writing a letter from a character in your novel to  you , the author, explaining why you should write about them. This serves three purposes:

• As you write, it helps you get into the mindset of the character. Ask yourself how they would language this letter and what they would consider important.
• It's motivating to know that your character wants you to write about them.
• If your goal is to publish a complete work of fiction one day, whether it be a novel, a play or a movie script, you will want to contact an agent or publisher. This helps you practice in an easy, safe way.

If you're doing this exercise with a group of teens or adults, and some of the group haven't already started working on their masterpiece, they can instead choose any fictional novel they love. Ask participants to imagine that a character within the book wrote to the author in the first place to ask them to write their story. How did they plead their case?

The Opening Sentence

The opening sentence has to grab the reader's attention and make them want to keep reading. Many authors achieve this by starting with an action scene. In modern literature, it's best to avoid starting with someone waking up, or a description of the weather. In this exercise the task is to write an opening sentence either to a book you're currently writing, or simply for an imaginary piece of literature.  Here are some of my favourite opening sentences to get you going:

It was a bright cold day in April, and the clocks were striking thirteen.

George Orwell , 1984

The Golem's life began in the hold of a steamship.

Helene Wecker , The Golem and the Djinni

All happy families are alike; each unhappy family is unhappy in its own way.

Leo Tolstoy , Anna Karenina

It wasn't a very likely place for disappearances, at least at first glance.

Diana Gabaldon , Outlander

You better not never tell nobody but God.

Alice Walker , The Color Purple

The cage was finished.

Gabriel Garcia Marquez ,  Balthazar’s Marvelous Afternoon

Imagine that you are living your life out of order: Lunch before breakfast, marriage before your first kiss.

Audrey Niffenegger ,  The Time Traveler's Wife

Far out in the uncharted backwaters of the unfashionable end of the western spiral arm of the Galaxy lies a small unregarded yellow sun.

Douglas Adams ,  The Hitchhiker's Guide to the Galaxy

There are a plethora of ways you can start a book, however two ways that help engage the reader immediately are:

• Set the scene in as few words as possible, so the reader immediately knows what's happening and wants to know what happens next.  The scene must be original and create a vivid image in the reader's mind.
• Surprise the reader with an unusual event or usual point of view.

Spend 5 minutes working on your own opening sentence, then share it with the other participants.

Make your protagonist act!

Exercise for 2 writers, or can be done solo.

According to John Gardner:

"Failure to recognise that the central character must act, not simply be acted upon, is the single most common mistake in the fiction of beginners."

Spend 5 minutes writing a scene where the protagonist is passive in a conversation with one other character. It could be that the other character says something dramatic, and the protagonist just listens, or it could be anything else of your choice!

Once the 5 minutes is up, swap papers with another writer. If you're using Zoom, or working online, send it to each other in a private chat. Now the other person spends 8 minutes rewriting the scene to make the protagonist as active as possible. This might include:

Read both scenes together. Which makes you want to keep on reading?

If you're doing this as a solo writing exercise, simply complete both parts yourself.

• Showing the emotion this evokes.
• Getting them to disagree with the other character.
• Showing how they respond physically (whether it's as a physical manifestation of how they feel, or a dramatic gesture to make a point).

Overcoming writer's block

Are you staring at a blank page or stuck for any story ideas? This exercise will help anyone who's experiencing writer's block with a particular piece of writing. If this isn't you, that's great, others will value your input!

If anyone has a particular scene they're stuck with (a pool of blood on the floor they have no explanation for, a reason why the rich lady just walked into a particular pub, etc.) then at the start of the exercise everyone briefly describes their scenes (if working online with a large group, typing it into the chat might be best). Everyone then chooses one scene to use as a writing prompt to write a short story for 10-15 minutes.

Afterwards, split into small groups if necessary, and read out how you completed someone else's writing prompt. As everyone listens to everyone else's ideas, this can be a wonderful source of inspiration and also improves your writing. As an alternative solo exercise, try free writing. With free writing, simply write as quickly as you can on the topic without editing or censoring yourself - just let your creative juices flow. If you're not sure what happens next, brainstorm options on the page, jot down story ideas, or just put, "I don't know what happens next." Keep going and ideas will come.

Writing Character Arcs

There are several different types of character arc in a novel, the 3 most common being:

For this exercise choose either a positive or negative character arc. Spend 8 minutes writing a scene from the start of a novel, then 8 minutes writing a scene towards the end of a novel showing how the character has developed between the two points. Don't worry about including how the character has changed, you can leave that to the imagination.

The point here is to capture the essence of a character, as they will be the same, but show their development.

• Positive  - Where a character develops and grows during the novel. Perhaps they start unhappy or weak and end happy or powerful.
• Negative  - Where a character gets worse during a novel. Perhaps they become ill or give in to evil tendencies as the novel progresses.
• Flat  - In a flat character arc the character themself doesn't change much, however the world around them does. This could be overthrowing a great injustice, for example.

Sewing Seeds in Your Writing

In this exercise, we will look at how to sew seeds. No, not in your garden, but in your story. Seeds are the tiny hints and indicators that something is going on, which influence a reader's perceptions on an often unconscious level. They're important, as if you spring a surprise twist on your readers without any warning, it can seem unbelievable. Sew seeds that lead up to the event, so the twists and turns are still surprising, but make intuitive sense. Groups : Brainstorm major plot twists that might happen towards the end of the novel and share it in a Zoom chat, or on pieces of paper. Choose one twist each. Individuals : Choose one of the following plot twists:   -  Your friend is actually the secret son of the king.   -  Unreliable narrator - the narrator turns out to be villain.   -  The monster turns out to be the missing woman the narrator is seeking.   -  The man she is about to marry happens to already have a wife and three kids.

Write for ten minutes and give subtle hints as to what the plot twist is. This is an exercise in subtlety. Remember, when the twist occurs, it should still come as a surprise.

This is a fun writing activity for a small group. You’ve found a magic potion labelled ‘Cat Chat’ and when you drink it, you turn into whichever animal you’re thinking about; but there’s a problem, it also picks up on the brainwaves of other people near you!

Everyone writes down an animal in secret and then reveals it to the other writers.  The spell will turn you into a creature that combines elements of all the animals.  Each person then spends 5 minutes writing down what happens when they drink the potion.

After the 5 minutes is up, everyone shares their story with the other participants.

If you enjoy this exercise, then you may also want to check out our  Fantasy and Sci-Fi writing prompts  full of world building, magic, and character development prompts..

Joe Brainard wrote a novel called:  I Remember It contains a collection of paragraphs all starting with “I remember”.  This is the inspiration for this exercise, and if you’re stuck for what to write, is a great way to get the mental gears turning.  Simply write “I remember” and continue with the first thing that pops into your head.

Spend 5 minutes writing a short collection of “I remember” stories.

Here are a couple of examples from Joe Brainard’s novel:

“I remember not understanding why people on the other side of the world didn't fall off.”

“I remember waking up somewhere once and there was a horse staring me in the face.”

Giving feedback to authors

If you're running a workshop for more experienced adult authors and have at least an hour, this is a good one to use. This is the longest exercise on this page, but I felt it important enough to include.

Give each author the option to bring a piece of their own work. This should be double spaced and a maximum of 3 pages long. If you're running a workshop where not everyone is likely to bring a manuscript, ask everyone who wants to bring one to print two copies each. If someone forgets but has a laptop with them, the reader can always use their laptop.

Print out a few copies and hand them around to everyone in the workshop of the guide on: 'How to give constructive feedback to writers'

Each author who brought a sample with them then gives them to one other person to review. They write their name on the manuscript in a certain colour pen, then add any comments to it before passing it to a second person who does the same (commenting on the comments if they agree or disagree).

Then allow 5 minutes for everyone to discuss the feedback they've received, ensuring they are giving constructive feedback.

The Five Senses

Painting by Giovanni Battista Manerius -  The Five Senses

Choose a scene and write it for 5 minutes focusing on one sense, NOT sight. Choose between:

Hearing  Taste Smell Touch

This can be internal as well as external (I heard my heartbeat thudding in my ears, or I smelt my own adrenaline).

After the 5 minutes stop and everyone reads it out loud to each other. Now write for another 5 minutes and continue the other person's story, but do NOT use sight OR the sense they used.

You can use any sense to communicate the essentials, just focus on creating emotions and conveying the story with the specific sense(s).

If you need some writing prompts, here are possible scenes that involve several senses:

• Climbing through an exotic jungle
• Having an argument that becomes a fight
• A cat's morning
• Talking to someone you're attracted to

Show don't tell

2 or 3 people

A lot of writing guides will advise you to, "Show, don't tell". What does this actually mean?

If you want to evoke an emotional reaction from your reader, showing them what is happening is a great way to do so.  You can approach this in several ways:

Split up into pairs and each person writes down a short scene from a story where they "tell" it.  After this, pass the description of the scene to your partner and they then have 5 minutes to rewrite it to "show" what happened.  If there are an odd number of participants, make one group of three, with each person passing their scene clockwise, so everyone has a new scene to show.  After the 5 minutes, for small groups everyone reads their new description to everyone else, or for large groups, each person just reads their new scene to their partner.

• Avoid internal dialogue (thinking), instead have your protagonist interact with other people, or have a physical reaction to something that shows how s/he feels.  Does their heart beat faster?  Do they notice the smell of their own adrenaline?  Do they step backwards, or lean forwards?
• Instead of using an adjective like creepy, e.g. "Mary entered the creepy house", show why the house is creepy through description and in the way the protagonist responds - "The light streamed through the filthy skylight, highlighting the decomposing body of a rat resting on top of it.  As Mary stepped inside, she felt a gust of freezing air brush past her. She turned, but there was nothing there..."

World building

World building is the art of conveying the magic of living in a different world, whether it's a spaceship, a medieval castle, a boat, or simply someone's living room. To master world building, it's not necessary to know every intricate detail, rather to convey the experience of what it would be like to live there.

Choose one of the above images as a prompt and spend 10 minutes writing a scene from the perspective of someone who is seeing it for the first time. Now, move your character six months forward and imagine they've spent the last six months living or working there. Write another scene (perhaps with an additional character) using the image as a background, with the events of the scene as the main action.

Click the above image for a close-up.

Gossiping about a character as if they're a friend.

Judy Blume says that she tells her family about her characters as if they’re real people. 

Chris Claremont said, "For me, writing the 'X-Men' was easy - is easy. I know these people, they're my friends." 

Today’s exercise has 2 parts. First, spend 5 minutes jotting down some facts about a character you’ve invented that might come up if you were telling your friends about them. Either choose a character in something you’ve already written, or invent one from scratch now.

Answer the questions:

What are they up to? How are they? What would you say if you were gossiping about them?

Then split up into groups of 4 to 6 writers. 2 volunteers from each group then role-play talking about their character as if they were a friend (perhaps another character in the story).  The other participants will role-play a group of friends gossiping about the character behind their back and ask questions. If you don’t know the answer, invent it!

Degrees of Emotion Game

This is based on an acting game, to help actors understand how to perform with different degrees of emotion.

Ask everyone to write the following 4 emotions:

For groups of 5 or less, write down numbers starting with 1 and going up until everyone has a number, then give them out in order. For groups of 6 or more, divide groups into 3's, 4's or 5's.

Each person has to write a scene where the protagonist is alone and is only allowed to say a single word, e.g. "Banana".  The writer with number 1 should write the scene with a very low level of the emotion (e.g. happiness), number 2 increases the intensity a bit and the highest number writes a scene with the most intense emotion you can possibly imagine.

Once each writer has written about happiness, rotate the numbers one or two spaces, then move onto anger, then fear, then sadness.

It can help to give everyone numbers showing the intensity of the emotions to write about at the start of the exercise, in which case you may wish to print either the Word or PDF file, then use the ones corresponding to 3, 4 or 5 writers.

Everyone shares their scene with the other course participants.

Three birds, one line

The first paragraph of a surprising number of best-selling novels serves multiple purposes. These are to:

• Establish a goal
• Set the scene
• Develop a character

Nearly every chapter in a novel also serves all three purposes. Instead of establishing a goal though, the protagonist either moves towards it, or encounters an obstacle that hinders them from achieving it.

Some books manage to meet all three purposes with their opening lines, for example:  

Mr and Mrs Dursley, of number four, Privet Drive, were proud to say that they were perfectly normal, thank you very much.

J.K. Rowling ,  Harry Potter and the Philosopher's Stone  

A little more than one hundred days into the fortieth year of her confinement, Dajeil Gelian was visited in her lonely tower overlooking the sea by an avatar of the great ship that was her home.

Iain M. Banks ,  Excession  

"We should start back," Gared urged as the woods began to grow dark around them.

George R.R. Martin ,  A Game of Thrones

For this exercise write a sentence or short paragraph that serves all three purposes. If you're already writing a novel, then see if you can do this for the first line in a chapter. If not, choose any combination from the following table:

Blind Date on Valentine's Day (Exercise for Adults)

In pairs one writer spends a minute or two describing a character they're writing about, or alternatively they can describe a celebrity or someone from a work of fiction.  The next writer then describes their character.

The story is that these 2 characters (or in my case, person and alien, as I'm writing a sci-fi) have accidentally ended up on a blind date with each other. Perhaps the waiter seated them in the wrong location, perhaps it's an actual blind date, or perhaps they met in some other fashion the writers can determine.

Now spend 10 minutes discussing what happens next!

A Success (Works best for online groups)

This exercise works best for online groups, via Zoom, for example.  The instructions to give are:

"In a few words describe a success in your life and what it felt like to achieve it. It can be a small victory or a large one."

Share a personal example of your own (mine was watching my homeschooled sons sing in an opera together).

"Once you have one (small or large), write it in the chat.

The writing exercise is then to choose someone else's victory to write about for 10 minutes, as if it was the end of your own book.

If you want to write for longer, imagine how that book would start. Write the first part of the book with the ending in mind."

This is great for reminding people of a success in their lives, and also helps everyone connect and discover something about each other.

Your dream holiday

You’re going on a dream holiday together, but always disagree with each other. To avoid conflict, rather than discuss what you want to do, you’ve decided that each of you will choose a different aspect of the holiday as follows:

• Choose where you’ll be going – your favourite holiday destination.
• Choose what your main fun activity will be on the holiday.
• Decide what mode of travel you’ll use to get there.
• If there’s a 4 th  person, choose what you’ll eat on the holiday and what you’ll be wearing.

Decide who gets to choose what at random. Each of you then writes down your dream holiday destination/activity/travel/food & clothes in secret.  Next spend 5 minutes discussing your dream holiday and add any other details you’d like to include, particularly if you’re passionate about doing something in real life.

Finally, everyone spends another 5 minutes writing down a description of the holiday, then shares it with the others.

A haiku is a traditional Japanese form of non-rhyming poetry whose short form makes it ideal for a simple writing exercise.

They are traditionally structured in 3 lines, where the first line is 5 syllables, the second line is 7 syllables, and the third line is 5 syllables again. Haiku tend to focus on themes of nature and deep concepts that can be expressed simply.

A couple of examples:

A summer river being crossed how pleasing with sandals in my hands! Yosa Buson , a haiku master poet from the 18 th  Century.

And one of mine:

When night-time arrives Stars come out, breaking the dark You can see the most

Martin Woods

Spend up to 10 minutes writing a haiku.  If you get stuck with the 5-7-5 syllable rule, then don’t worry, the overall concept is more important!

See  How to write a haiku  for more details and examples.

Unlike a haiku, which is profound and sombre, a limerick is a light-hearted, fun rhyming verse.

Here are a couple of examples:

A wonderful bird is the pelican. His bill can hold more than his beli-can He can take in his beak Food enough for a week But I'm damned if I see how the heli-can.

Dixon Lanier Merritt, 1910

There was a young lady named Bright, Whose speed was far faster than light; She started one day In a relative way, And returned on the previous night.

Arthur Henry Reginald Buller in  Punch,  1923

The 1 st , 2 nd  and 5 th  line all rhyme, as do the 3 rd  and 4 th  line.  The overall number of syllables isn’t important, but the 3 rd  and 4 th  lines should be shorter than the others.

Typically, the 1 st  line introduces the character, often with “There was”, or “There once was”. The rest of the verse tells their story.

Spend 10 minutes writing a limerick.

Time Travel - Child, Adult, Senior

Imagine that your future self as an old man/woman travels back in time to meet you, the adult you are today.  Alternatively, you as a child travels forward in time to meet yourself as an adult.  Or perhaps both happen, so the child you, adult you, and senior you are all together at the same time.  In story form write down what happens next.

Participants then share their story with other writers either in small groups, or to the whole group.

Focus on faces

Solo exercise.

One challenge writers face is describing a character. A common mistake is to focus too much on the physical features, e.g. "She had brown eyes, curly brown hair and was five foot six inches tall."

The problem with this is it doesn't reveal anything about the character's personality, or the relationship between your protagonist and the character. Your reader is therefore likely to quickly forget what someone looks like.  When describing characters, it's therefore best to:

• Animate them - it's rare that someone's sitting for a portrait when your protagonist first meets them and whether they're talking or walking, it's likely that they're moving in some way.
• Use metaphors or similes  - comparing physical features to emotionally charged items conjures both an image and a sense of who someone is.
• Involve your protagonist  - if your protagonist is interacting with a character, make it personal.  How does your protagonist view this person?  Incorporate the description as part of the description.
• Only give information your protagonist knows  - they may know if someone is an adult, or a teenager, but they won't know that someone is 37 years old, for example.

Here are three examples of character descriptions that leave no doubt how the protagonist feels.

“If girls could spit venom, it'd be through their eyes.” S.D. Lawendowski,  Snapped

"And Ronan was everything that was left: molten eyes and a smile made for war." Maggie Stiefvater,  The Dream Thieves

"His mouth was such a post office of a mouth that he had a mechanical appearance of smiling." Charles Dickens

Spend 5 minutes writing a character introduction that is animated, uses metaphors or similes and involves your protagonist.

If working with a group, then form small groups of 3 or 4 and share your description with the rest of the group.

Onomatopeai, rhyme and alliteration

Today's session is all about sound.

Several authors recommend reading your writing out loud after you've written it to be sure it sounds natural.   Philip Pullman  even goes as far as to say:

"When I’m writing, I’m more conscious of the sound, actually, than the meaning. I know what the rhythm of the sentence is going to be before I know what the words are going to be in it."

For today's exercise, choose the name of a song and write for 10 minutes as if that's the title for a short story. Focus on how your writing sounds and aim to include at least one onomatopoeia, rhyme or alliteration.  At the end of the 10 minutes, read it out loud to yourself, or to the group.

Alliterations

An alliteration example from Samuel Taylor Coleridge’s “The Rime of the Ancient Mariner”

The fair breeze blew, the white foam flew, The furrow followed free; We were the first that ever burst Into that silent sea.

Onomatopoeias

Buzz, woof, quack, baa, crash, purr, beep, belch,...

The alphabet story - creating a story as a group

This is a novel way to write a story as a group, one word at a time.  The first person starts the story that begins with any word starting with “A”, the next person continues the story with a word starting with “B”, and so on.

Keep going round until you have completed the alphabet.  Ideally it will all be one sentence, but if you get stuck, start a new sentence.  Don’t worry if it doesn’t make complete sense!

It can be tricky to remember the alphabet when under pressure, so you may wish to print it out a couple of times, so the storytellers can see it if they need to, this is particularly helpful if you have dyslexics in the group.

A B C D E F G H I J K L M N O P Q R S T U V W X Y Z

Here’s an example of an alphabet story:

A Band Can Dance Each Friday, Ghostly Hauntings In Jail Kill Lucky Men, Nobody Or Perhaps Quiet Rats, Still That Unifies Villains Who X-Ray Your Zebras.

As I mentioned, it doesn’t need to make sense!

A question or two

Small or large groups

The standard format in our group is a short writing exercise followed by an hour and a half of silent writing on our projects.

At one point I felt like we'd done a lot of small group exercises, and wanted to gain an insight into what everyone was working on, so we did the following exercise instead:

Go round the table and ask everyone to briefly talk about their writing.  Each person then asks one or two yes/no questions.

Everyone responds either by raising their hand for 'yes' or shaking their heads for 'no'. You can also leap up and down to indicate a very strong 'yes'.

Questions can be about anything, and you can use them either to help guide your writing or to help find other people in the group who have similar interests.

Here are some random examples you might ask:

• I want to write a romance novel and am considering setting it in Paris, a traditional romantic setting, or Liverpool which is a less obvious setting. Who thinks Liverpool would be best?
• I need to know more about the life of a farmer. Has anyone got farming experience who I can interview in exchange for a drink?
• My character gets fired and that night goes back to his office and steals 35 computers. Does that sound realistic as the premise of a story?

This works best when you give participants some advance notice, so they have time to think of a question.

Murder Mystery Game

Groups of 3 or 4

This exercise takes 20-30 minutes and allows participants to create a murder mystery outline together.

Phase 1 (3 minutes)

• Split into groups of 3 or 4
• Decide as a group where the murder occurs (e.g. the opera house, a bar, a casino)
• Decide one person who will write the details of the victim and the murder itself.  Everyone else writes the details of one suspect each.
• The ‘victim author’ then invents a few extra details about the scene of the crime, who the victim was (a teenage punk, an adult opera singer, etc.) and the murder weapon and summarises this to the others.

Phase 2 (10 minutes)

Each person then writes a police report as if they are either describing the scene of the crime, or recording the notes from their interview with a single suspect:

Write the following:

• 1 line description of the victim.
• When they were last seen by a group of witnesses (and what they were doing).
• How the murder occurred in more detail based on the evidence available.

Write the following (from the perspective of the investigator):

• 1 line description of the suspect
• What they said during the interview (including what they claim to have doing when the murder occurs).
• A possible motivation (as determined by the police from other witnesses).

Phase 3 (5 minutes)

• Each person reads out their police reports to the other members of their small group
• As a group, decide who the murderer was and what actually happened

See more ideas on  creating murder mystery party games

The obscure movie exercise

Pick a famous movie and spend 5 minutes writing a scene from it from an unusual perspective.  Your aim is to achieve a balance between being too obscure and making it too obvious.  Feel free to add internal dialogue.

At the end of the 5 minutes, everyone reads their movie scene to the others and all the other participants see if they can guess what the movie is.

How to hint at romantic feelings

Write a scene with two people in a group, where you hint that one is romantically interested in the other, but the feelings aren’t reciprocated.

The goal of this exercise is to practice subtlety. Imagine you are setting a scene for the future where the characters feelings will become more important. Choose a situation like a work conference, meeting with a group of friends, etc. How do you indicate how the characters feel without them saying it in words?

Some tips for hinting at romantic feelings:

• Make the characters nervous and shy.
• Your protagonist leans forward.
• Asks deeper questions and listens intently.
• Finds ways to be close together.
• Mirrors their gestures.
• Gives lots of compliments.
• Makes eye contact, then looks away.
• Other people seem invisible to your protagonist.

A novel idea

Take it in turns to tell everyone else about a current project you’re working on (a book, screenplay, short story, etc.)

The other writers then brainstorm ideas for related stories you could write, or directions your project could take.  There are no right or wrong suggestions and the intention is to focus on big concepts, not little details.

This whole exercise takes around 15 minutes.

Creative writing prompts

Exercise for groups of 3-5

If you're in larger group, split up into groups of 3 or 4 people.

Everyone writes the first line of a story in the Zoom chat, or on paper. Other people can then choose this line as a writing prompt.

For this exercise:

• Say who the protagonist is.
• Reveal their motivation.
• Introduce any other characters

Once everyone's written a prompt, each author chooses a prompt (preferably someone eles's, but it can be your own if you feel really inspired by it.)  Then write for 10 minutes using this prompt. See if you can reveal who the protagonist is, what their motivation is (it can be a small motivation for a particular scene, it doesn't have to be a huge life goal), and introduce at least one new character.

Take turns reading out your stories to each other.

• Write in the first person.
• Have the protagonist interacting with an object or something in nature.
• The challenge is to create intrigue that makes the reader want to know more with just a single line.

Creative story cards / dice

Cut up a piece of paper and write one word on each of the pieces of paper, as follows:

Give each participant a couple of pieces of paper at random.  The first person says the first sentence of a story and they must use their first word as part of that sentence.  The second person then continues the story and must include their word in it, and so on.  Go round the group twice to complete the story.

You can also do this creative writing exercise with story dice, your own choice of words, or by asking participants to write random words down themselves, then shuffling all the cards together.

Alternative Christmas Story

Every Christmas adults tell kids stories about Santa Claus. In this exercise you write a Christmas story from an alternative dimension.

What if every Christmas Santa didn't fly around the world delivering presents on his sleigh pulled by reindeer? What if gnomes or aliens delivered the presents? Or perhaps it was the gnomes who are trying to emulate the humans? Or some other Christmas tradition entirely that we humans have never heard of!

Group writing exercise

If you're working with a group, give everyone a couple of minutes to write two possible themes for the new Christmas story. Each theme should be 5 words or less.

Shuffle the paper and distribute them at random. If you're working online, everyone types the themes into the Zoom or group chat. Each writer then spends 10 minutes writing a short story for children based on one of the two themes, or their own theme if they really want to.

If working alone, choose your own theme and spend 15 minutes writing a short story on it. See if you can create the magic of Christmas from another world!

Murder Mystery Mind Map

In a murder mystery story or courtroom drama, there's often conflicting information and lots of links between characters. A mind map is an ideal way to illustrate how everything ties together.

Split into groups of 3 or 4 people each and place a blank piece of A3 paper (double the size of A4) in the middle of each group. Discuss between you who the victim is and write their name in the middle of the piece of paper. Then brainstorm information about the murder, for example:

Feel free to expand out from any of these, e.g. to include more information on the different characters involved.

The idea is that  everyone writes at the same time!   Obviously, you can discuss ideas, but anyone can dive in and write their ideas on the mind map.

• Who was the victim? (job, appearance, hobbies, etc.)
• Who did the victim know?
• What were their possible motivations?
• What was the murder weapon?
• What locations are significant to the plot?

New Year’s resolutions for a fictional character

If you’re writing a piece of fiction, ask yourself how your protagonist would react to an everyday situation. This can help you to gain a deeper insight into who they are.

One way to do this is to imagine what their New Year’s resolutions would be.

If completing this exercise with a group, limit it to 3 to 5 resolutions per person. If some participants are historical fiction or non-fiction writers, they instead pick a celebrity and either write what their resolutions  will  be, or what their resolutions  should  be, their choice.

Verb Noun Fiction Exercise (Inspired by Stephen King)

Stephen King said, "I believe the road to hell is paved with adverbs, and I will shout it from the rooftops."

He also said, "Take any noun, put it with any verb, and you have a sentence. It never fails. Rocks explode. Jane transmits. Mountains float. These are all perfect sentences. Many such thoughts make little rational sense, but even the stranger ones (Plums deify!) have a kind of poetic weight that’s nice."

In this fiction writing exercise, start by brainstorming (either individually or collectively) seven verbs on seven different pieces of paper. Put those aside for later. Now brainstorm seven nouns. Randomly match the nouns and verbs so you have seven pairs. Choose a pair and write a piece of fiction for ten minutes. Avoid using any adverbs.

It’s the end of the world

It’s the end of the world!  For 5 minutes either:

If working as a team, then after the 5 minutes is up each writer reads their description out to the other participants.

• Describe how the world’s going to end, creating evocative images using similes or metaphors as you wish and tell the story from a global perspective, or
• Describe how you spend your final day before the world is destroyed.  Combine emotion and action to engage the reader.

7 Editing Exercises

For use after your first draft

I’ve listened to a lot of masterclasses on writing by successful authors and they all say variants of your first draft won’t be good and that’s fine. Terry Pratchett and Neil Gaiman summarise it the best:

“The first draft is just you telling yourself the story.”  

Terry Pratchett

“For me, it’s always been a process of trying to convince myself that what I’m doing in a first draft isn’t important. One way you get through the wall is by convincing yourself that it doesn’t matter. No one is ever going to see your first draft. Nobody cares about your first draft. And that’s the thing that you may be agonising over, but honestly, whatever you’re doing can be fixed… For now, just get the words out. Get the story down however you can get it down, then fix it.”

Neil Gaiman

Once you’ve written your first draft, it will need editing to develop the plot, enhance the characters, and improve each scene in a myriad of ways – small and large. These seven creative editing exercises are designed to help with this stage of the process.

The First Sentence

Read the first paragraph of the novel, in particular the first sentence. Does it launch the reader straight into the action? According to  On Writing and Worldbuilding  by Timothy Hickson,  “The most persuasive opening lines are succinct, and not superfluous. To do this, it is often effective to limit it to a single central idea… This does not need to be the most important element, but it should be a central element that is interesting.” Ask yourself what element your opening sentence encapsulates and whether it’s the best one to capture your readers’ attention.

Consistency

Consistency is crucial in creative writing, whether it’s in relation to location, objects, or people.

It’s also crucial for personality, emotions and motivation.

Look at scenes where your protagonist makes an important decision. Are their motivations clear? Do any scenes force them to choose between two conflicting morals? If so, do you explore this? Do their emotions fit with what’s happened in previous scenes?

As you edit your manuscript, keep the characters’ personality, emotions and motivation in mind. If their behaviour is inconsistent, either edit it for consistency, or have someone comment on their strange behaviour or be surprised by it. Inconsistent behaviour can reveal that a character is keeping a secret, or is under stress, so characters don’t always need to be consistent. But when they’re not, there has to be a reason.  

Show Don’t Tell One

This exercise is the first in  The Emotional Craft of Fiction  by Donald Maass. It’s a writing guide with a plethora of editing exercises designed to help you reenergize your writing by thinking of what your character is feeling, and giving you the tools to make your reader feel something.  

• Select a moment in your story when your protagonist is moved, unsettled, or disturbed… Write down all the emotions inherent in this moment, both obvious and hidden.
• Next, considering what he is feeling, write down how your protagonist can act out. What is the biggest thing your protagonist can do? What would be explosive, out of bounds, or offensive? What would be symbolic? … Go sideways, underneath, or ahead. How can your protagonist show us a feeling we don’t expect to see?
• Finally, go back and delete all the emotions you wrote down at the beginning of this exercise. Let actions and spoken words do the work. Do they feel too big, dangerous, or over-the-top? Use them anyway. Others will tell you if you’ve gone too far, but more likely, you haven’t gone far enough.

Show Don’t Tell Two

Search for the following words in your book:

Whenever these words occur, ask yourself if you can demonstrate how your characters feel, rather than simply stating it. For each occasion, can you use physiological descriptors (a racing heart), actions (taking a step backwards) or dialogue to express what’s just happened instead? Will this enhance the scene and engage the reader more?

After The Action

Find a scene where your characters disagree – in particular a scene where your protagonist argues with friends or allies. What happens next?

It can be tempting to wrap up the action with a quick resolution. But what if a resentment lingers and mistrust builds? This creates a more interesting story arc and means a resolution can occur later, giving the character development a real dynamic.

Review how you resolve the action and see if you can stretch out the emotions for a more satisfying read.

Eliminating the Fluff

Ensure that the words used don’t detract from the enormity of the events your character is going through. Can you delete words like, “Quite”, “Little”, or “Rather”? 

Of “Very” Florence King once wrote: “ 'Very' is the most useless word in the English language and can always come out. More than useless, it is treacherous because it invariably weakens what it is intended to strengthen .” Delete it, or replace the word after it with a stronger word, which makes “Very” redundant.

“That,” is another common word used in creative writing which can often be deleted. Read a sentence as is, then reread it as if you deleted, “That”. If the meaning is the same, delete it.

Chapter Endings

When talking about chapter endings, James Patterson said,  “At the end, something has to propel you into the next chapter.”

Read how each of your chapters finish and ask yourself does it either:

• End on a cliff hanger? (R.L. Stine likes to finish every chapter in this method).
• End on a natural pause (for example, you’re changing point of view or location).

Review how you wrap up each of your chapters. Do you end at the best point in your story? Can you add anticipation to cliff hangers? Will you leave your readers wanting more?

How to run the writing exercises

The editing exercises are designed to be completed individually.

With the others, I've always run them as part of a creative writing group, where there's no teacher and we're all equal participants, therefore I keep any 'teaching' aspect to a minimum, preferring them to be prompts to generate ideas before everyone settles down to do the silent writing. We've recently gone online and if you run a group yourself, whether online or in person, you're welcome to use these exercises for free!

The times given are suggestions only and I normally get a feel for how everyone's doing when time's up and if it's obvious that everyone's still in the middle of a discussion, then I give them longer.  Where one group's in the middle of a discussion, but everyone else has finished, I sometimes have a 'soft start' to the silent writing, and say, "We're about to start the hour and a half of silent writing now, but if you're in the middle of a discussion, feel free to finish it first".

This way everyone gets to complete the discussion, but no-one's waiting for ages.  It's also important to emphasise that there's no wrong answers when being creative.

Still looking for more? Check out these creative writing prompts  or our dedicated Sci-Fi and Fantasy creative writing prompts

If you've enjoyed these creative writing exercises, please share them on social media, or link to them from your blog.

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• Writing Games

Interactive Creative Writing Games

Fun interactive writing games to get your creative juices flowing...

• Visual Poetry  : Explore your creativity by drawing word mosaics with your poetry.
• Haiku Madlibs  : Fill out the text fields to generate 16 haikus, madlibs style - using templates from the masters, including: Basho, Buson, Issa, Shiki, Shuson, and Soseki.
• Madlib Poem  : A madlib poem is a fun and creative way to write poems using a fill-in-the-blank format using poem templates from famous poems.
• Electronic Poetry  : Similiar to magnetic poetry. Create poems using the words of your favorite authors or create magnets from your own text. Includes author kits for: Antonin Artaud, Charles Baudelaire, Francesca Lia Block, André Breton, Poppy Z. Brite, Charles Bukowski, William S. Burroughs, Angela Carter, ee cummings, Hilda Doolittle, Brett Easton Ellis, F. Scott Fitzgerald, Allen Ginsberg, Ernest Hemingway, Jack Kerouac, Stephen King, Comte de Lautréamont, The Smiths, Anaïs Nin, Flannery O'Connor, Mary Oliver, Sylvia Plath, Edgar Allan Poe, Marcel Proust, Anne Rice, Arthur Rimbaud, J.D. Salinger, William Shakespeare, Robert Smith, Gertrude Stein, Donna Tartt, Michelle Tea, Tristan Tzara, Oscar Wilde.
• Poem Collage  : Enter your poem and click Generate. Poem Collage will generate your poem as a series of draggable lines. Rearrange the lines to form a new poem.
• Poem Builder  : Flip 3 cards to build a poem - one: the subject of the poem, two: the poetic form you should write the poem in, and three: 10 words you should incorporate into the poem.
• Exquisite Corpse  : A writing game that originated in the Surrealist movement of the early 20th century. The game involves a group of writers who each contribute a sentence or phrase to a collective work without being able to see what the other writers have written. Add a word or line to the exquisite corpse poem - started in 2000!
• Poetry Stamp  : Poetry stamp will randomly generate lines of poetry, which you can then modify by changing or removing words.
• Letter Link Poetry  : When we play Boggle, we then like to use the words we found to write a poem, using each word to start each line of the poem.
• Ring Game [Vowels vs Consonants]  : Use letters to chain together words to write poems.
• Text Collage  : Linguasso - dynamic emotional design linguasso (for lingual and Picasso) creates totally random works of art, composed of text and based on varying emotions.
• Story Dice  : Roll the dice to get 6 different words - a setting, a character, an object, an action, an emotion, and an adjective. Use all of these words as prompts to write a story.
• Never­ending­ Story  : Add a line to the neverending story - started in 2000!
• Tarot Reading Writing Game  : Use a Tarot Reading to flesh out characters, come up with plot twists, and character conflict. Tarot readings can be a powerful tool for writers looking to generate ideas for their creative work. By interpreting the symbolism and meanings of the tarot cards, you can access your subconscious mind and tap into a rich source of inspiration and creativity.
• Fade Out  : Fade Out is a writing game that forces you to be creative with limited word choices.
• Alliterator  : An alliteration text generator that only uses words starting with the same letter.
• Ring Game  : Use letters to chain together words to write poems.
• Graffiti Wall  : Add to or edit the writing on the Graffiti Wall! Yes, your additions may be altered or deleted by someone else and you may change or delete other's additions. That is the game...
• Blind Finish-the-Story  : A modified version of the popular writing game where at least three players take turns adding to a story on numbered index cards, creating a surreal dreamlike tale that can inspire or be used for fun.

Diversifying video games through creative writing

Lisa Blakie Photo: Supplied

Gamers with a passion for creative writing can merge their interests in Aotearoa’s only creative writing paper dedicated to video games.

The University of Otago has this year appointed a Professional Practice Fellow, Lisa Blakie, who’s bringing her real-world experience and expertise to the teaching role. She’s the Narrative Director and Co-Director of Atawhai Interactive, an indie video game studio based in Ōtepoti Dunedin and was previously the Narrative Designer and the Community Director for award-winning developer Runaway Play.

Blakie’s appointment to the role is the beginning of a three-year partnership between the New Zealand Centre of Digital Excellence (CODE) and Otago’s English and Linguistics Programme. 

Along with her experience in the video game industry, Blakie has also written an honours dissertation about indigenous storytelling in video games, and she serves on the NZ Game Developers Association Board.

Creative Writing for Games and Interactive Media is taught in three parts: world building, interactive script writing and software and character creation. Participants are also given the chance to make their own games during the course. 

When you think of video games, most of us may imagine large established worlds with laws and details which can seem overwhelming but Blakie says she encourages the students to start small. 

“Picking one facet of the world building to focus on - the setting, time period or things like politics or even geography. Take that and think about the dialogue you’d want to put into that kind of world.”

The course has drawn in a diverse range of participants. Blakie says there’s a high percentage of female and gender diverse students.

“It’s incredible considering the industry itself doesn’t have particularly good statistics in diversity and gender. It’s largely a cis-male dominated industry, but it’s growing every year which is exciting.”

It’s estimated women make up only 15 percent of the gaming industry.

But for Blakie, women leading has been the norm. 

“I started in the industry at a company called Runaway which is led by women. But also making games with an audience that’s predominantly 50+ year-old women in the US.”

The games are relaxing, centred around nature and mobile-based, making them more accessible. 

“You need diverse voices to make diverse content.”

A keen advocate and participant in the Māori game development community, one of the games taught by Blakie in the course is Guardian Maia . A New-Zealand made game, it’s a third person action-adventure set in 2750 where the world of science fiction and Indigenous Māori culture collide. Gamers journey across Aotearoa fighting ruthless warriors to find the key to saving the people. Blakie says it’s also about subverting expectations.

The paper can be taken online through Zoom workshops giving students the opportunities to talk about video games with other students and one-on-one time with tutors. 

“What students are doing for the assessments is what you would be doing in the game industry.

It’s not just the creative writing, but you’re also making something that would be expected to be shared within a game team”.

Students use software programmes currently used by the industry. 

The gaming industry is a global goliath. The revenue generated by the gaming world is greater than the global revenue of music and films combined. According to Forbes, in 2022, the global gaming industry generated an estimated $305 billion. The global music and movie industry, together generated $86 billion. 

Behind the meteoric and rapid rise of gaming in the entertainment world has been the influence of digital marketing and media platforms. Social media platforms have transformed how gamers interact with their fan bases and communities. Geographical boundaries have been broken down allowing gamers to broadcast their gameplay in real time and engage with loyal fans worldwide. 

This personalised aspect has allowed the industry to become a trove for advertisers. 

As for New Zealand’s place in the world, Blakie says it’s an exciting time to be making games.

The Centre for Digital Excellence has just launched a national funding regime. Anyone can apply to create their own games - ranging from those with no experience to those with prototypes ready to build and expand their game. 

Black Salt Games based in Ōtautahi Christchurch launched a game last year,  Dredge, which has been met with critical acclaim, awards and will now be turned into a film.

“In typical New Zealand fashion, we’re definitely punching above our weight in that regard.”

Toroa: Skycall Photo: Supplied

Outside of teaching, Blakie is also working on her own game called Toroa - where you play as an albatross. It’s a relaxing game based in Te Ao Māori.

Blakie is hoping the game will be launched later this year.

“There’s a huge audience that wants these kinds of games - they’re having their moment. Games that aren’t combat or action focused. They’re more focused on sitting down and having a chill, relaxing or cosy time - rather than getting your adrenaline buzz.”

Lisa Blakie spoke to Culture 101 ’s Perlina Lau.

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Writing Games: Engaging Activities to Boost Creativity

By: Author Paul Jenkins

Posted on October 17, 2023

Categories Creativity , Entertainment , Inspiration , Writing

Writing games are an excellent way to improve and hone your writing skills while having fun at the same time. These games not only enhance your creativity but also help in developing a strong foundation in grammar, punctuation, and storytelling.

From classroom activities to online platforms, there’s a wide variety of writing games available for learners of all ages and expertise levels.

Educational writing games provide an engaging and interactive approach to teaching language skills, making the learning process enjoyable for both students and teachers.

These games often focus on key aspects of writing, such as sentence structure, word choice, and narrative development, adapting to the needs of each individual learner.

Story and letter writing games, in particular, provide a structured yet creative environment for aspiring writers to put their thoughts into words and channel their inner storyteller.

Key Takeaways

• Writing games help improve writing skills in a fun and interactive way
• Educational writing games focus on grammar, punctuation, and storytelling
• A variety of games are available online and in classrooms to suit different skill levels and learning styles

Fun Writing Games

Adjective Games

One fun and engaging way to strengthen your writing skills is through adjective games . These activities help you expand your vocabulary and make your sentences more descriptive. For example, try “Adjective Showdown,” where you take turns with a partner, picking a noun and brainstorming as many adjectives as possible to describe it.

Another game is “Adjective Charades,” where players take turns acting out adjectives, while others try to guess the word.

To make your writing more dynamic and action-packed, try practicing with verb games . “Verb Relay” is an entertaining option where you form two teams and race to list verbs that fit a given category, like “things you do in the kitchen.”

Another game, “Verb Tenses Race,” challenges you to write sentences in different tenses, like past, present, and future, for a selected verb. These games not only enhance your use of verbs but also improve your understanding of grammar rules.

Pictionary Games

Pictionary games are not just fun, but also great for developing your writing skills. Combining drawing and writing, these activities encourage creativity and boost your ability to visualize ideas. One example is “Illustrated Stories,” where you draw a simple doodle or picture, and then write a story inspired by your drawing.

Another option is playing a traditional game of Pictionary focused on literary themes, like characters, settings, or objects from famous books. By transforming your ideas into visual representations, you’ll unlock new perspectives and improve your ability to craft engaging stories.

Educational Writing Games

Noun games are a fun way for children to practice their writing skills while learning about the basic building blocks of sentences.

One great example is the Nouns and Verbs Sort Game , where players categorize words into the correct column. This activity works well in homeschool settings and helps children identify nouns easily. Another interesting option is the “Name It” game, in which the child looks at pictures and writes down the nouns they represent.

Pronoun Games

Teaching pronouns can be engaging and enjoyable with creative games. Your child can practice replacing noun phrases with appropriate pronouns by playing the “Pronoun Swap” game. In this activity, you provide sentences with underlined nouns, and your child replaces them with the correct pronoun, such as he, she, it, or they.

For an online experience, ABCya is an excellent resource for writing games, including those that serve as pronoun exercises.

Grammar Games

Grammar games incorporate various aspects of writing, such as punctuation, capitalization, and conjugation.

Fun Factory is a great example you can use, where children practice adding the correct punctuation or capitalization to sentences. To work on verb tense, try the “Tense Transformation” game, in which sentences are provided in one verb tense, and your child must rewrite them into another tense.

These games are a valuable addition to your homeschool writing curriculum, providing an exciting way for kids to learn and practice grammar.

Story and Letter Writing Games

Storybuilding Games

Engaging in story writing can be a great way to spark creativity and improve literacy skills. To make it fun and interactive, try playing some storybuilding games with your students or kids.

One cool example is Storymaker from ABCya, where young learners can create their own unique tales using a variety of characters, objects, and backgrounds.

Another entertaining game is sentence stretching. This game encourages players to expand short, simple sentences into more detailed and descriptive ones. Simply start with a basic sentence and take turns adding adjectives, adverbs, or other words to make it more interesting.

Letter Composition Games

Letter writing is an essential skill to master, and it can be just as enjoyable as crafting stories.

To liven up the learning process, check out Write a Letter to Santa from ABCya, catered to children in kindergarten to grade 3. This interactive game guides youngsters through the process of composing a letter while covering vital aspects such as addressing, greeting, body, closing, and signatures.

Another fun letter composition game is “Grammar Toss – Sentence Making.” In this activity, players toss a ball or beanbag to each other while they construct sentences. Each person must include a correct grammar element, such as a noun, verb, or punctuation mark. As the players continue tossing the ball, they work together to form a coherent sentence that incorporates the various grammar components.

By incorporating these games into your teaching or parenting approach, you’ll make story and letter writing more enjoyable and engaging. So go ahead, give these games a try, and watch as your young ones become more confident and proficient in their writing skills!

Creative Writing Games

Space-themed Writing

Unleash your inner astronaut and delve into the world of space-themed creative writing games! By focusing on this exciting topic, you can explore endless possibilities and fuel your imagination. Try crafting short stories about intergalactic adventures, alien encounters, or futuristic space technology.

You can even engage in a group activity where each person writes a paragraph, building a collaborative cosmic tale. Remember, there are no limits to where your creativity can take you – all you need to do is let your mind wander through the vast universe.

Character Interview Games

Developing intriguing characters is crucial for successful creative writing, and character interview games are your fun ticket to achieving that.

These games challenge you to think deeply about your character’s traits, backstory, and motives, through a series of interview-style questions. Start by creating a list of questions that your character might be asked, focusing on their personality, life experiences, and relationships.

Then, answer these questions as if you were the character, ensuring to write in a friendly, conversational tone. You’ll be surprised how these insightful answers deepen your connection with your character and enhance your overall writing. So go ahead, and enjoy the journey of getting to know your characters better through these entertaining exercises.

Writing Games for Journalists

As a journalist, it’s essential to keep your writing skills sharp and engaging. Writing games can be a fun and interactive way to enhance your abilities. In this section, we will discuss two types of writing games specifically tailored for journalists: Article Drafting Games and Headline Creation Games.

Article Drafting Games

Article drafting games are designed to help you practice crafting well-written and engaging newspaper articles. One idea is to create a communal story, where you and your fellow journalists take turns adding sentences or paragraphs to a shared document. This can be a great way to collaborate on a story and see how different writing styles blend together.

Another useful game involves focusing on the details. Pick a specific event or topic and challenge yourself to write a news article filled with vivid and accurate descriptions. Be sure to include quotes from relevant sources and present the information in a clear, concise manner.

You can also try rewriting the endings of existing articles. Find a newspaper article whose conclusion doesn’t satisfy you and rewrite it in a way that you find more compelling. This will help you practice creating strong, impactful endings for your stories.

Headline Creation Games

Crafting attention-grabbing headlines is a key skill for journalists. One simple game to improve your headline writing skills is to pick a random newspaper article and brainstorm at least five alternative headlines for it. Try to create headlines with varying tones (serious, humorous, or informative) to practice adapting your style to different situations.

Another game is called “Headline Roulette.”

Gather a group of fellow journalists and give each person a stack of cards with intriguing single words written on them. Then, challenge everyone to create a unique headline using the words they’ve received. This exercise is fun and encourages creativity in crafting engaging headlines.

By participating in these writing games, you can hone your journalism skills and ensure that your newspaper articles are always well-written, engaging, and informative. Have fun, and remember that practice makes perfect!

Fun Writing Activities

One exciting method is to participate in creative writing exercises that challenge you to think outside the box, whether you’re writing alone or with a group.

Examples of these exercises include writing prompts or activities that focus on specific writing skills. Giving your imagination free rein will undoubtedly make the writing experience more enjoyable.

Another way to spark your creativity is by creating an Island Story Map. Begin by marking a starting point with a star and an endpoint with a red cross. Then, fill the map with obstacles, challenges, and interesting events for your characters to overcome. This approach allows you to visually explore and engage with your story world, making the writing process more exciting.

Don’t forget writing games that can entertain while improving your literacy skills. These games can be simple to play and easily adapted to suit different age levels. Whether it’s using random words to create a story or starting a sentence that your friends must finish, writing games help you think on your feet and keep your creative mind engaged.

Classroom Applications

As a teacher, you can incorporate various writing games into your classroom to make the learning process more engaging and fun. Writing games are versatile and can be utilized in almost any subject or course.

By integrating these enjoyable activities into your teaching strategy, you are not only making the learning process enjoyable but also helping your students develop their writing skills in a playful manner.

One fantastic tool to check out is BookWidgets , which allows you to create different types of interactive activities and assessments that can be easily assigned to your Google Classroom. This platform brings the convenience of creating and managing all your interactive activities in one place.

A fantastic app to improve your students’ writing skills is the Writing Challenge App . This app is designed as an interactive game that provides prompts to get the students started, and as they write, it supplies new prompts to add ideas, characters, and actions to the plot.

Incorporating this app in your classroom will encourage students to explore their creativity and improve their ability to generate unique ideas.

Another highly recommended app is Story Builder , designed to help students with paragraph formation, integration of ideas, and abstract thinking. It uses audio clips to promote access to writing, making it an engaging tool in the classroom.

Advanced Writing Games

Adverbial Phrase Games

Friendly competition among peers can make learning grammar more enjoyable, and advanced writing games that focus on adverbial phrases are no exception. Here are some interesting and creative games to challenge your writing skills and deepen your understanding of adverbial phrases:

• Adverbial Phrase Challenge : Select an action verb, and then come up with as many appropriate adverbial phrases as you can to modify that verb in a sentence. For example, if “run” is the chosen verb, you could create phrases like “run quickly,” “run gracefully,” or “run at full speed.” Share your ideas with your peers and see who comes up with the most unique and creative combinations. Using a timer can add an extra challenge!
• Adverbial Phrase Stories : Engage in creative writing by starting with a simple sentence, then expand it with adverbial phrases to create a vivid scene. For instance, the sentence “The cat jumped” can become “The cat jumped agilely onto the rusty fence in the moonlight.” You can collaborate with others and build a coherent story by taking turns adding adverbial phrases to each sentence.
• Adverbial Phrase Showdown : Have two players face off in a head-to-head battle where one player must use adverbial phrases to enhance a given sentence, while the other must spot and explain why each adverbial phrase is effective. This game helps both players improve their understanding of adverbial phrases and their potential impact on a sentence’s meaning.

Remember, adverbial phrases add depth and excitement to your writing, making your story or essay more engaging. By incorporating these games into your practice, you’ll not only have fun but also improve your writing skills in no time.

Fundamentals of Writing Games

You might be wondering how to step into the world of writing games. Well, we’re here to help! In this section, we’ll cover the main fundamentals of game writing to give you a strong foundation.

First, let’s talk about your writing skills. It’s important to have solid writing abilities when tackling game narratives. You need to create compelling stories, characters, and dialogues that engage players. Remember, practice makes perfect, so honing your craft by writing daily can make a big difference.

Now, let’s dive into the world of game writing. It is unique from other forms of writing, as you need to integrate the story into the interactive and dynamic nature of video games. A game writer must keep in mind the player’s choices and the non-linear story structure and plan multiple narrative paths accordingly.

With resources like Video Game Writing Essentials available online, getting started shouldn’t be a problem.

When writing for games, you must consider the game’s mechanics and design. This means understanding how gameplay elements, challenges, and environment fit into the story. Collaborating with game designers will help seamlessly weave the story into the gameplay.

During the game development process, it’s essential to be flexible and open to adaptation. Game writing involves a lot of iterations and refining. As the game design evolves, your story may need to change as well. Listen to feedback, stay receptive, and be a team player to create a captivating game.

Tips and Guides

First off, always familiarize yourself with the basics of game writing. You can find inspiration and great examples by looking at the instruction manuals of some of your favorite games. Analyze how they format instructions and take note of any elements you particularly enjoy.

When starting your project, make sure to have a solid plan for your story and characters. A practical guide to game writing can be a valuable resource to help you get started on the right foot. This guide will give you insights into collaborating with design, production, and writing staff during the pre-production and production phases of your game.

Don’t be afraid to experiment with various writing techniques. Sometimes, incorporating things like sentence stretching, rebus writing, or touch-and-tell activities can add excitement and engagement for your players.

To explore more writing games, check out this list of 10 quick and fun writing games to improve students’ literacy skills, which you can adapt to fit your game concept.

Finally, always keep your audience in mind. Write for your target audience and tailor your game to their interests, preferences, and skill levels. Remember, your goal is to create an enjoyable and memorable experience for your players.

Frequently Asked Questions

What are some good writing games for kids?

There are plenty of enjoyable writing games available for children. Some popular options include Five-Word Story, where kids use prompts to create brief stories like these , and Poetry Strips or Word Banks, in which children get inspired by pre-selected words or create word banks themselves. Experiment with different games to find the ones your child enjoys the most!

How can one play writing games with friends?

To play writing games with friends, choose activities that involve collaboration and group participation. One example is Secret Pictionary, where players write a random phrase, pass it along, and the next player attempts to draw it. You can also try Word Association games where friends take turns writing words related to a common theme.

Which writing games help improve skills?

Many writing games can improve various aspects of writing, such as vocabulary, grammar, creativity, and storytelling. Engaging in different writing activities like using themed word banks, creating poetry, or in-depth stories can help children develop and enhance their skills. Keep an eye out for games that target specific areas your child needs to improve.

Which games are suitable for middle school students?

Middle school students can benefit from writing games that encourage creativity, teamwork, and critical thinking. Options like group storywriting, where each participant contributes a sentence or paragraph to form a coherent narrative, can be both engaging and educational. Other activities like collaborative poetry, writing dialogues, and adapting stories into scripts can also be suitable for middle school students.

What are fun writing activities for 4th and 5th graders?

Fun writing activities for 4th and 5th graders can include creative storytelling games, where they use prompts or images as inspiration; poetry creation with various forms like haiku or limericks; and word games that involve making sentences using specific letter combinations. Always encourage them to use their imagination and creativity, as well as focusing on proper grammar and punctuation.

Can you recommend writing games for toddlers?

While writing games might be too advanced for toddlers, you can introduce activities that help develop fine motor skills and a love for storytelling. Encourage them to draw simple pictures depicting stories, dictate stories to you, or engage with letters and numbers through play. As they grow older, you can gradually introduce more complex writing activities.

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5 Enjoyable English Writing Games That Turn Practise Into Playtime

Step into a world of fun while improving your English writing skills. Fun writing games let you practise and learn at your own pace, making studying an enjoyable experience. In this article, discover 5 English writing games that are suitable for all learning levels, so you can improve your English writing skills while having a blast !

How games can help you learn English

Games for learning English are a fun and effective way to improve your language skills. English creative writing games can help learners like you explore different writing styles and experiment with language, ultimately helping to build your confidence.

Games are a great way to help you remember what you learn in English. They are enjoyable, and when you have fun, it’s easier to remember things for a long time.

Game #1: Story Starters

Story Starters is an English creative writing game that works best with a group of players. This game involves taking turns to write a story with each player adding a sentence within a set time limit.

How to play

To play Story Starters, gather a group of friends, some paper, pens, and a timer.

You will start with a pre-written sentence (if you Google “Story Starter sentences” you can find plenty). You must add a sentence to this story within 2 minutes set on the timer. Once you have written your sentence, pass the paper to the next person and let them repeat the process by adding a new sentence of their own.

This is a great game for letting your imagination run wild and getting your creative juices flowing !

Game #2: Scategories

Scategories is a quick and creative game where you think of words that start with a given letter and that fit into specific categories to earn points for answers that are unique.

A group of players is given a list of prompts such as “things babies need”. Then, a letter from the alphabet is picked at random (using a lettered die or an online letter generator). Once the letter has been chosen, the timer is set, and each player must quickly come up with a word starting with the chosen letter to answer each of the prompts.

To make things a bit trickier, you only get a point for your answer if nobody else has put the same answer. Playing this game challenges you to think fast to find the most creative and unique answers.

Game #3: Picture Prompts

Picture Prompts is a fun writing game that involves using pictures to create imaginative stories or descriptions. This game can be played by yourself or with a group of people.

Each player is given a picture or an image. Next, a timer is set for a specific amount of time – 5 to 10 minutes usually works well. The players must then write a creative story or description based on their picture. The goal is to be as imaginative as possible. Once the time is up, players take turns reading their descriptions or stories to the rest of the group.

Game #4: Consequences

In the game of Consequences, players take turns writing words or phrases on a piece of paper, then hiding what they have written to collaboratively create a funny and often silly story.

Each player takes a turn writing a word or phrase on a piece of paper, then folding the paper after each turn to hide what they’ve written. Then, it’s passed on to the next player, who adds their part before folding the paper and passing it on again. This continues until all players have contributed. Finally, unfold the paper and read out the funny story you created together.

Game #5: Rewrite The Ending

In this English writing game, players are encouraged to choose a favourite film or book and then rewrite the ending.

Rewrite The Ending is a game that does what it says on the tin . Quite simply, you get to rewrite the ending of your favourite book or film. You can change the story, add new characters, or create exciting twists. It’s a creative way to practise writing and using your imagination while having fun with stories that are already familiar to you.

Ready to take your English writing skills to the next level?

While games offer a fun and interactive way to practise and improve your writing skills, combining them with structured learning is even more powerful.

If you’re serious about mastering English, check out our English Online courses. Choose between group classes or private, one-to-one tutoring and experience expert-led learning and personalised guidance to help you perfect your English writing skills in no time at all.

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Erin Lafond

Writer, Reviewer, and Mom

Four Creative Writing Games to Get Your Group Started

April 4, 2018 · In: Creativity , Writing

Last updated on March 17th, 2023 at 07:16 am

This article is part four of a series about starting your own creative writing group/club. Part one is here .  Topics will include giving constructive criticism , running a workshop , and writing games / prompts .

I found that the best way to start a group meeting is a fun game.

Here are my general rules for writing games/prompts:

• Encourage everyone to share their writing, but no one ever has to share. This creates an environment where people feel comfortable. The important thing is doing the exercise. If they decide to share, they must read their prompt aloud so everyone knows what it was.
• Set a time limit. I would generally give everyone five to ten minutes per round to write, and then I would open up for sharing. Once everyone had the opportunity to read their work, I would start another round or move on. This also encouraged people to share. After all, no story is good after five minutes.
• No one ever has to keep their prompt. You’ll notice that all of these games include pulling prompts randomly out of a basket. If someone gets something and they don’t like it, they’re allowed to put it back and pick something else.

I created these games for a teen writing group. However, they’re still fun and can easily be played by adults. I encourage you to try them, and tell me how it goes!

The Inanimate Perspective

My teens loved this one. Write down some nouns on slips of paper and put them in a basket for people to randomly pick out. Write a description or a story from the perspective of the inanimate object, and everyone else will try and guess what your noun was. Your goal is to try to trick your listeners but still give them all the information they need in order to guess. Here are some nouns to get you started: rug, clock, ocean, laptop, rubber band, pencil, applesauce, printer, TV, photograph, bookmark, credit card, comic book, water bottle, tape, playing cards, headphones, bed, trash can, shoes, seed, calculator, blender.

Create a Villain

Write down adjectives on slips of paper and put them in a basket for people to randomly pick out. Pick two adjectives and describe or write a story about a villain that matches those adjectives. You can put back your adjectives, but you must put back both and pick two new ones. Here are some adjectives to get you started: pensive, onerous, arrogant, quiet, sneaky, classy, fumbling, disillusioned, determined, mature, chilly, cautious, tough, nervous, meek, grateful, dull, dysfunctional, selfish, proud, smart, ashamed, self-righteous, sulky, squeamish, weary, delicate, discreet, tactful, silent, outgoing, somber, cowardly, ambitious, elitist, whimsical, cheerful, noisy,  lazy.

Occupation Meet Setting

For this game, you’ll need two baskets. One for various occupations and one for various settings. Pick one from each basket to write a story about a person with that occupation in that setting. You can put back your prompts, but you must put back both and pick two new ones. Some occupations and settings to get you started: doctor/nurse, princess/prince, baker/chef, lawyer, journalist, student, tour guide, server, writer, farmer, secretary, homemaker, scientist, musician, photographer, cave, forest, asylum, desert, airport, cemetery, cottage, library, castle, restaurant, boat/yacht, classroom, office, car, hotel, church.

Photo Character

This is my favorite game. Get a bunch of pictures of people from the internet. There are several places to do this . Mix in pictures of people doing everyday things with people wearing bizarre costumes or doing bizarre things. Print them out and put them in a basket for people to randomly pick out. Write a story about the person or one of the people in the photo. It’s an exercise in character development that garners some pretty funny and unique results.

Do you want access to my templates for these games? Check out my resource library !

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10 Fun Classroom Writing Games to Improve Literacy Skills

The best writing games to engage students

A colleague of mine recently shared these ten great writing game ideas to improve literacy skills in the classroom.  They are simple to play and can be applied to nearly all year levels. 

These are some of the best writing games that require minimal or no setup time and are an excellent option for substitute teachers looking to quickly break the ice with students or English teachers just seeking fresh ideas to brighten up their lessons. Enjoy.

Remember that if you are looking for more excellent free resources and structured guides to teaching all aspects of English, especially writing, be sure to visit  literacyideas.com .

Sentence Stretching

Start with a short sentence or group of words.  Pass it around to about 6 people, with the rule that each person must add (a word or a group of words) or change ONE word ( to another word or a group of words) to make the sentence more specific and more enjoyable.

Rebus writing

Students write sentences or longer texts and substitute drawings for nouns.

25 Fun Daily Writing Tasks

Quick Write and JOURNAL Activities for ALL TEXT TYPES in DIGITAL & PDF PRINT to engage RELUCTANT WRITERS .

⭐⭐⭐⭐⭐ ( 18 reviews )

It’s in the bag

Place an object in a bag- ensure the students don’t see it. Students feel the object in the bag and use words to describe how it feels. They take it out and add /alter their adjectives.

Touch and tell

An object is passed around a group of students. Each student suggests an adjective to describe it.

Alternative

Students provide an adjectival phrase or clause to describe the object

Students randomly select from a box a picture of an animal, person or object that moves. They brainstorm action verbs for the chosen object.

The students can supply verbs and adverbs

They can supply adjectives or adjectival groups

Read a text ( this case narrative ), and at a particular point, stop and ask students to select a character and suggest, for example:

• What the character is doing, thinking, and feeling ( focus on processes)

Change the meaning- change one word

Students locate and change one word that will alter the sentence’s meaning.

They share their alterations and discuss which part of speech was the most important in changing the meaning .

Locate and classify

Read a text and ask students to write nouns on cards ( red), adjectives (blue), and articles in orange. Rearrange words to create different noun groups. Students can also locate verbs ( green card) and adverbs (yellow). Rearrange all the words to create new sentences.

Students can locate adjectival phrases, clauses, or adverbial phrases and write these on other coloured cards.

Grammar toss- Sentence making

Players must throw a 1 before they can begin. The winner is the first person to make a sentence that includes all of the following:

• A group of words that tell what or who ( singular)
• A group of words that tell when
• A verb in the past tense
• An adverb telling how
• A group of words telling where

They can then rearrange the sentence parts to see how many ways they can make another meaningful sentence. 

Other parts of speech can be used for each number thrown.

Toss and write

Before the activity, a cube is prepared. Upon each face of the cube, a task is written that requires specific grammar knowledge. For example:

Make a sentence

Make a question

Provide two adjectives

Provide two verbs

Create a noun group (e.g. article, adjective/s noun)

Provide a noun and an adverb

Students select a subject ( noun) from a tin. They throw the cube, and whichever side of the cube faces up is the task they must attempt.

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Gamify creative writing.

Storiumedu is a collaborative writing game for youth that builds skill and lasting confidence., start transforming your students into motivated writers., virtual playing cards unlock creativity..

Gameplay revolves around digital “story cards” that represent different aspects of storytelling and character development. Along with vivid art , these cards serve as writing prompts, helping students figure out what to write next at each step of the game and overcoming the dreaded “writer‘s block.”

Characters give students a personal stake.

Each student creates and controls their own unique character . This helps them care about the story that they’re writing and builds strong, lasting motivation and engagement. Characters grow and evolve as the students play and write, just like in a real story.

Students write amazing original stories, together.

Students take turns playing story cards and adding to the story. Paragraph by paragraph, they collaboratively write their own original story simply by playing the game. StoriumEDU’s simple rules motivate even the most reluctant young writers and keep the story moving forward.

Supercharged tools help you encourage young writers.

StoriumEDU tracks your students’ writing speed and progress, giving you insights both into who is excelling and who needs additional attention. Teachers can monitor all student writing, provide feedback, and request revisions.

Endless stories, endless educational uses.

StoriumEDU is a ”Swiss army knife” that supports an impressively wide range of educational goals. You can use story cards and curricular content from our growing library , created by teachers just like you. You can also easily create your own cards to support your own unique classroom needs.

Start your free trial and unlock your students’ creativity.

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“I would recommend StoriumEDU to any creative-minded teacher interested in engaging students in storytelling and collaborative writing. It's an excellent platform to help students creatively explore any number of writing skills.”

“StoriumEDU is unlike any other writing product I have seen. It offers students unique opportunities for learning, fun, and self-discovery, in a way that is manageable, assessable, and enjoyable for teachers to implement.”

Billed annually, or $15 if month-to-month.

Regular price: $10/mo billed annually, or $15/mo if billed month-to-month. Offer expires 9/30.

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18+ Creative Writing Activities To Make Writing Fun

Make writing less boring with these 12 fun creative writing activities for kids. 

When most children think of writing, they think of lined paper with thousands of words written on it, line by line with the occasional spacing for paragraphs. But writing doesn’t need to be that boring and gloomy. Today we bring you12 creative writing activities to make writing fun and colourful!

How to Make Writing Fun

It is important to show your kids that there’s more to writing than just homework and long essays. Writing can be fun and it doesn’t always involve writing thousands of words in a formal structure. It’s time to stop worrying about sentence structure, grammar and spelling mistakes. Instead, encourage your kids to explore their creativity and write down their thoughts as they come in any format they like. Here are 12 fun creative writing activities that will boost your child’s creativity, imagination and encourage them to write for fun.

18+ Fun Creative Writing Activities

Use story maps.

Story maps are a great way to unleash your child’s imagination. You can either create your own or print out one of these free story map templates . To create your own story map, you’ll first need a location. This could be anywhere, a planet , an island , the woods or even your hometown. Don’t worry, you don’t actually need to leave your home to enjoy this activity. 

Next draw out a simple map of the location. The map must have a starting point and an endpoint. Here is an example of our treasure island story map:

You can see that we marked the starting point with a star. And the end point with a red cross. Once this is done, you need to put loads of obstacles, challenges and interesting things on the map for your child to explore and engage with in their imagination. This could be a giant octopus monster, a lava lake, a cunning princess or even some secret symbols or lettering. 

Once you have completed creating your action-packed story map (or printed out one of our free templates) – It’s time for the real adventure to begin. Give the map to your child and together you can pretend that you have landed in a whole new location. 

Start from your bedroom (or your imaginary pirate ship) and make your way through the obstacles to find the secret treasure located in a mysterious cave (or the shed in your backyard). As you go through the map, think about the characters you might encounter, items you might find and even challenges you could face.

After your little adventure, your child will be inspired and ready to write about the adventure they just experienced! Go ahead and check out these free story map templates to get you started:

• Forest Story Map
• Island Story map

Create Some Paper Finger Puppets

Puppets and toys are a great way to stimulate imaginative play. In particular, creating your own paper finger puppets is a brilliant creative activity to boost your child’s imagination and make story-telling more fun. When creating your own finger puppets, your child can create any character they like. If they love football , try creating some famous football players, and if they love Harry Potter , get them to create some wizard themed characters. Whatever your child’s interest, combine it with story-telling, and make storytime extra fun.

To get you started, you can download our free paper finger puppet templates by signing up to Imagine Forest:

Create your own paper characters, props and background. Then let the role-playing begin!

Would You Rather Game

Kids love playing games. The Would You Rather game is a great way to boost logical thinking and communication skills. Print out our free Would You Rather game cards pack, to get a mix of funny, gross and Disney themed questions. Then get at least three players in a team to begin the game. The purpose of the game is to convince the whole team that your answer to the question is the best one and to get other players to agree with you. This game is guaranteed to get your kids laughing and thinking logically about the answers they pick. 

Telephone Pictionary Game

Another brilliant creative writing activity is the Telephone Pictionary Game . The basic idea behind this game is to write a story collaboratively with your team using drawings and phrases. Together as team members take turns to write/draw something down. They’ll be improving skills such as creativity, teamwork and communication skills. And when the game is over, they’ll have a really funny story to read!

Create Some Shape Poetry

Poetry is a quick and short writing activity to get kids engaged in creative writing. But writing a typical haiku or limerick can get boring over time. To add a little more excitement gets your kids to write poems in the shape of something. For example, your child could write a poem about cats , in the shape of a cat:

Not only are these poems great to read, but they also make wonderful pieces of artwork. For more inspirations, check out our Alice in Wonderland inspired shape poetry .

Finish The Story Game

The finish the story game is the simplest creative writing activity in our list. In a team of at least 2 players, each player takes turns completing a story. Start off with a random story starter and then each player takes turns to continue this story. Which way will the story go? No-one knows. And that’s the real beauty of this game. Let your child explore their imagination and come up with wild ideas to keep the story interesting. And by the end of the game, you’ll have a really unique and funny story to read. 

Use Image Prompts

Image prompts are a great source of inspiration. And can be used in a number of ways to encourage your child to write. For instance, you can ask your child to write a quick snappy slogan for a random image or photograph. Alternatively, you could play a whole game centred around a single image, such as the Round Robin Tournament game explained in our post on storytelling games using image prompts .

Story Cubes To Inspire

Inspiration is key in making writing fun for kids. That’s where story cubes come in handy. You either buy ready-made story cubes or make your own story cubes at home. If you’re interested in making your own story cubes, check out these 9 free story cube templates for ideas. Once you have a bunch of story cubes, you can simply roll them like dice and then challenge your kids to write a story based on the images they get. For game ideas using story cubes, check out this post on how to use story cubes . 

Create A Comic Strip

If your kids hate writing but love drawing, then comic strips are a great creative activity to sneak in some minor writing with huge levels of imagination. Pick a topic, any topic you like. This could be related to your child’s interest and then ask them to create a short comic strip about that topic. For example, if you child loves dinosaurs, ask them to create their own comic strip about dinosaurs. For more inspiration and ideas, check out this post on how to create your own comic strip and comic books at home. 

Make Your Own Pop-up Book

Another fun way to get your kids to write more is by creating your own pop-book books. Pop-up books seem really complicated to create, but in reality, they are really easy to make at home. All you need is some paper, scissors and glue. Check out this super easy tutorial on how to create your own pop-book at home for quick step-by-step instructions. Similar to comic strips, pop-up books are a great way of combining drawing with writing to get your kids writing more in a quick and fun way. 

Create Mini Booklets

Turn your child’s story into a real book! You can buy blank books from Amazon or create your own mini paper book, using this easy mini notebook tutorial . With this tutorial you can create a fully customisable book, with your own cover, back page and you can even draw your own illustrations inside! This is a really fun and cute way to gets your kids writing in their spare time.

Write A Letter With a Fun Twist

Forgot ordinary boring letters! Check out our Paper craft animal envelopes to encourage your kids to write letters to their friends, family, heroes, aliens, anyone they like! Inside the child can write any message they like, such as “how were your holidays…” or “We’re having a party this weekend…” And on the outside they can create any animal or creature they like as envelopes. 

Describe a Monster

Ask your child to draw their own monster or character and describe it. – What are its strengths, and weaknesses, where does it live, what does it like doing and so on? This creative writing activity is quick, simple and full of imagination! And you could even take this a step further by creating your own monster flip books !

Use Story Starters

Use story starters to inspire reluctant writers. These can be simple sentences, such as “It was Timmy’s first day at school and he was excited…” and your child can continue writing the rest of the story. Or you could use photos and your child’s drawings to inspire story-writing by asking the child to describe what’s happening in this image. Take a look at this post on 60+ first-line prompts to inspire you or you could view our mega list of over 300 writing prompts for kids .

Create Your Own Greeting Cards

Get your child to create their own Christmas cards , greeting cards or get well cards to send to someone they know. They can write their own personal message inside and draw a picture on the outside. Quick activities like this are a great way to sneak in some writing with some arts and crafts. 

Create Your Own Newspaper

Ask your child to write their own newspaper article or create their own newspaper about the daily events that happen at home or at school. Remember the use of the 5 W’s and 1 H when writing newspaper articles. Our newspaper challenge online activity is great for creating fun newspaper articles.

Make A Shopping List

Get the kids involved in the weekly grocery shopping! Ask them to write the shopping list with drawings. If the grocery shopping list is too boring, then get them to create a wish list of items they dream of owning or even a list of goals they want to accomplish. You can buy some really pretty shopping list pads from Amazon , which could be a great way to encourage your kids to get writing!

Re-tell some fairytales

Fairytales have been around for centuries and by now they need a modern twist. Challenge your child to update an old classic. And you could even use this free ‘Retell a fairy tale pack ’ to help you. Re-telling a fairytale is a lot easier than creating a whole new one – Simply ask your child to change one or two key elements in the story and see how it changes the entire fairytale. For example, what if Cinderella was the villain? Alternatively, you could go wacky and add a whole new character to a classic fairytale, such as Spiderman making an appearance in Jack and the Beanstalk. The possibilities really are endless!

Write Your Own Movie Script

Ask your child to write their own short movie script, they can create a cast list and give all the different characters different things to say. You can find a free script and cast list template here ! Think about the conversation between the characters, what problems would they encounter, who is the villain in this story? We also think these free finger puppets printable could be great for story-telling.

Hand-written Blogs

Ask your child to keep a simple hand-written blog about their hobbies and interests. This can be done in a journal or notebook. Ask them the following questions: What do they like doing in their spare time and why do they enjoy this. Maybe ask them to provide instructions on how someone else can also be good at this hobby. They can update their hand-written blog everyday with new tips and interesting pieces of information on their hobby.

Wanted Posters

Create a ‘Wanted’ poster for famous villains in storybooks, such as Miss Trunchbull from Matilda or Cinderella’s Stepmother. You can find a free blank template here . Alternatively try out the Most Wanted online activity on Imagine Forest, to create your own wanted posters online:

Storyboarding

Writing a whole story down can be cumbersome. That’s why storyboarding can make a really good creative writing activity. Instead of asking a child to write a whole story down, get them to think about the key events in the story and plan it out using a storyboard template . Planning their story out beforehand could even encourage your child to write a complete story down afterwards. The first step is always planning out what you are going to write, and this could give your child the confidence to keep going. 

Know anymore fun writing activities for kids? Tell us your ideas below.

Marty the wizard is the master of Imagine Forest. When he's not reading a ton of books or writing some of his own tales, he loves to be surrounded by the magical creatures that live in Imagine Forest. While living in his tree house he has devoted his time to helping children around the world with their writing skills and creativity.

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Describe That Face: An Interactive Writing Game

• Resources & Preparation
• Instructional Plan
• Related Resources

Students try their hand at creative descriptions of characters, learn new vocabulary words that allow for more precise descriptions, and practice using simile and metaphor. After analyzing sample character descriptions, students choose a picture (from a print or online source) and write a vivid description of its subject. Students engage in peer editing, rewrite their descriptions, and post them on the classroom walls for a matching game. Students read one another's paragraphs, make note of favorite descriptive words and comparisons, and find a matching set (description and picture) to share with the class.

Featured Resources

Peer Edit With Perfection! Tutorial : Familiarize your students with peer editing using this engaging PowerPoint presentation.

From Theory to Practice

• Before students begin writing, they should know whom they are writing for, and respect their readers or listeners enough to make an effort to write well. They need to have a real audience.
• Real writers take time to draft and redraft according to the importance of their audience.
• "Writers need time: time to think, time to rip it all up and start again, time to get it as right as possible for the reader, who's as important as possible."
• "[R]eal literacy only happens in a community of one sort or another, when people need to connect for one reason or another."  Creating community in the classroom encourages students to produce writing that is "genuine and urgent and meaningful and correct."

Common Core Standards

This resource has been aligned to the Common Core State Standards for states in which they have been adopted. If a state does not appear in the drop-down, CCSS alignments are forthcoming.

State Standards

This lesson has been aligned to standards in the following states. If a state does not appear in the drop-down, standard alignments are not currently available for that state.

NCTE/IRA National Standards for the English Language Arts

• 4. Students adjust their use of spoken, written, and visual language (e.g., conventions, style, vocabulary) to communicate effectively with a variety of audiences and for different purposes.
• 5. Students employ a wide range of strategies as they write and use different writing process elements appropriately to communicate with different audiences for a variety of purposes.
• 6. Students apply knowledge of language structure, language conventions (e.g., spelling and punctuation), media techniques, figurative language, and genre to create, critique, and discuss print and nonprint texts.
• 11. Students participate as knowledgeable, reflective, creative, and critical members of a variety of literacy communities.
• 12. Students use spoken, written, and visual language to accomplish their own purposes (e.g., for learning, enjoyment, persuasion, and the exchange of information).

Materials and Technology

• Computers with Internet access and printing capability
• Magazines or newspapers, at least one for every two to three students, if students will use print sources to find photos
• Scissors and tape (or other fasteners)
• Peer Edit With Perfection! Tutorial
• Sample Character Descriptions
• Character Description Vocabulary
• Grading Checklist
• Character Descriptions: Peer-Editing Form
• Note-Taking Worksheet
• Teacher's Reference Sheet—Metaphors and Similes

Preparation

Note: If your students need a very basic review before the lesson, Skillswise: Adjectives provides a fun, simple introduction to adjectives.

Student Objectives

Students will

• Write for an audience, as their written character descriptions will be used in a game with their classmates
• Learn and use new vocabulary words to describe characters
• Practice using similes and metaphors in their creative writing
• Employ a structured writing process, including peer editing and rewriting, to create a descriptive paragraph they will be proud to share
• Engage in a literacy community as they mingle with classmates and walk around the classroom to share their classmates' creative writing

Note: If students are not familiar with peer editing, have them watch the Peer Edit With Perfection! Tutorial before beginning this session.

• Challenge students to find vivid character descriptions as they read (in class or outside of school) and share them with the class.
• Conduct a similar activity having students describe a place, an object, an animal, or a plant instead of a person.

Student Assessment / Reflections

• The Grading Checklist , with all associated assignments stapled to it, helps students to clearly understand how their work is evaluated and graded.
• Monitor students as they work and encourage them to use their imaginations, expand their vocabularies, and use figurative language.
• Ask students individually to tell you what new vocabulary words they have learned in this lesson.

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A collaborative creative writing app where stories are built line by line.

Contribute to multiplayer stories, seeing only what the previous author wrote. modeled on the game exquisite corpse, each creation is gloriously unique still curious learn more..

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Stories in need of a line, what is byline.

A multiplayer creative writing experience where a group of authors creates a story, one line at a time.

How does it work?

Loosely based on exquisite corpse, each author writes a line having only seen the line directly before theirs. Once complete, the creator titles the story and shares it with the group.

Is this a game?

Yes! Get started by creating a story and sharing it with friends. Don't know any writers? No problem. Post your story to Byline and you'll meet some!

Who does the writing?

Public stories, private stories.

If you invite individual people (by username, email, or phone number) and make sure Plus others on Byline is deselected then your story becomes private and only those invited can contribute.

What's a breadcrumb?

Breadcrumbs give authors an opportunity to select a key word/phrase from their line that they think is important. Breadcrumbs are visible for the life a the story and can act as clues that offer additional context.

They are optional, but fun to add!

What's a sequel?

Sequels are stories spawned from the last line of other stories. To create a sequel go to the bottom of a finished story and select Write More → Create sequel based on this story .

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10-Minute Writing Games to Play with Your Students

Jen Schneider Blog , Writing writing 1

Want some quick games to share with your students during transitions or as attention-getters. Play these fun games independently or with groups! Here are a few of my favorites 10-minute writing games to play with your students. This post uses some affiliate links. Purchases from these links result in a small commission to help sustain this site.

Word Association Game

Word association games are perfect for 10-minute writing games! Start by giving students a random word and ask them to write down the first word that comes to their mind when they hear it. Then, have them pass their paper to the person next to them and repeat the process with the new word. Set a timer for 10 minutes and see how far around the circle they can go, building off of each other’s words. This game is a blast for generating vocabulary words or words to use in future writing prompts or stories.

Writing Roulette

My students beg to play writing roulette! I give each student five different colored sticky notes (or use this FREE Jamboard template ).

Each sticky note has a different topic. For example, here are the literary elements I use for my students. You can change these up depending on your grade level.

• Yellow: character
• Blue: quotation
• Pink: setting
• Green: conflict
• Orange: theme

Have your students each generate one of the literary elements on each colored sticky note. Make sure they write only one idea per note. Mix up the sticky notes, then give the students five sticky notes (one on each topic) to generate their own story. We LOVE sharing these with the class. As a bonus, expand on the quick stories and create a published, polished piece.

Literary Jenga

Literally playing a game when writing is so much fun! Write creative writing prompts on the sides of Jenga blocks (such as “Write a story in which the main character is an animal” or “Describe a place you’ve never been”) and stack them up. Students take turns pulling a block and then writing for 2-3 minutes based on the prompt they see. The game continues until the tower falls, and then students can read aloud what they’ve written.

Finish the Story Writing Game

This game is also called story or paper pass. I remember playing this writing game in school. I loved it then as much as I love it as a teacher! First, give students the first line of a story and have them write for 2-3 minutes. Then, have them pass their paper to the person next to them and that person continues the story for 2-3 minutes. Continue this process until everyone has contributed, and see how the story turned out in the end.

Random Word Stories

Use this random word generator to pick a fun, unique word. Have your students write a story using that word as a focus. You can have each student select their own word or use a class word.

Descriptive Writing Game

Many ELA curriculums have descriptive writing as an assessment. Why not teach descriptive writing skills with a 10-minute writing game! First, ask students to close their eyes and imagine a scene you describe to them, such as a beach or a forest. Give them 10 minutes to write a detailed description of what they see in their mind’s eye. Encourage them to use sensory language and descriptive adjectives to really paint a picture with their words. Share the stories, and as a bonus, have students illustrate their writing. You can also adapt this and share a picture as a writing prompt starter. Show students a picture or image and give them 10 minutes to write a story or poem based on what they see. Encourage them to be creative and use their imagination to build a story around the picture.

Character Creation Game

Students love creating their own characters! Have students brainstorm a character by answering questions about them, such as their name, age, occupation, likes and dislikes, fears, etc. Then, set a timer for 10 minutes and have them write a short story or scene featuring that character. You can add to the fun by having two characters team up together to create a new story or have a conversation with one another based on their characters’ backgrounds.

Six-Word Stories

Challenge students to write a complete story in just six words, such as “For sale: baby shoes, never worn.” Set a timer for 10 minutes and see how many six-word stories they can create.

Mad Libs Game

The old Mad Libs games are so much fun! I remember having paper Mad Libs books that my siblings and I giggled over with delight. Online Mad Libs games let students work independently to create funny stories. I love using Mad Libs online !

Fan Fiction

My students absolutely love writing fan fiction. This gives them a chance to explore stories on a deeper level, and change the outcomes to what they really wanted to happen in the book! Have students choose a favorite book or movie character and write a short story featuring that character in a new adventure or scenario. Set a timer for 10 minutes and see how well they can capture the voice and personality of the character in their writing.

Story Cubes

Use storytelling dice or story cubes with pictures on each side, and have students roll the dice to create a story. Set a timer for 10 minutes and challenge students to create a story that includes all of the pictures they rolled. Share the stories in small groups or with the full class.

Writing Prompts

Using writing prompts in the classroom is an effective way to encourage a love for writing in students. Here are five ways to inspire and engage middle school students:

Daily writing prompts

Start the day with a short 10-minute writing exercise that covers various genres and themes. Use this list of 25 daily prompts to get started.

Structured writing prompts

Use prompts as a starting point for more structured writing assignments such as essays or research papers. This encourages students to think critically and provides specific guidelines for the writing task. Use this list of 10 structured prompts to get started.

Group brainstorming

Encourage students to work together in small groups to generate their own writing prompts. This fosters collaboration and creativity.

Writing prompt dares

Students can create their own writing prompt dares or use these 15 writing prompt dare examples to get started. These are great for group brainstorming prompts.

Try out this 52 writing prompt workbook . You even get an editable Canva link to add your own unique prompts!

Get ready for 10-minute writing games to use in your classroom! These games can be scaffolded and differentiated for all grade levels. What writing games do you use in your classroom!

Creative writing games: A great way to unleash your creative side @

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Home • Kid • Play And Activities

15 Creative Writing Games And Activities For Kids

Help your children develop their writing skills with the help of games and practice.

Elisa has 17 years of experience in early childhood education as a teacher and a director. With a passion to work with young kids, she did her post graduation in Education and received her online teaching certificate from California State U... read full bio

Harshita is a graduate in commerce and holds a PG Diploma in Patent and Copyrights Law from NALSAR University. She has also pursued CA and has more than three years of internship experience in auditin... read full bio

Deepa Rachel Thomas holds a master’s degree in English from the English and Foreign Languages University, Hyderabad. She has done a certification course in Child Development and worked as a mentor for... read full bio

Nisha Bharatan is a writer with six years of experience. After completing her engineering from Savitribai Phule Pune University, she did content marketing courses to complement her interest in writing... read full bio

Mark Twain said, “Writing is easy. All you have to do is cross out the wrong words.” Although children may not find it that easy and entertaining, you can inculcate the habit through interesting writing games for kids . It is a fun and distinct way of piquing their interest in this skill by letting them enjoy it as they learn. In this post, we have a list of the best games and activities to help you engage your children in writing while having fun.

Fun Writing Games For Kids

Writing games need not be all plain, boring or intense. You can try some creative ways to make writing pleasant and enjoyable. Try these fun games for children to begin their lessons in writing.

1. Secret Pictionary

A game of Pictionary is fun to play when there are more than three players. You can play this game even without the Pictionary cards as all you need is a pencil and a blank paper.

• The first player writes a random phrase and passes it on to the next player.
• The second player has to draw an image based on his/her perception of the phrase written by the first player. Fold the first phrase, and pass it to the next player.
• Now the third player has to understand the drawing by the second player and write a line or a phrase based on the drawing. Fold the paper to cover the first phrase and the first drawing, and pass it on.
• This shall go on with the phrase and drawing alternately until it reaches the last player.
• Unfolding all the pages at the end of the game will reveal a very funny short story.

Charlotte Bismuth, a mother and an author, shares how pictionary brings her family together for a fun after-dinner entertainment. She says, “Last week, my husband and I played Pictionary with our little girls after dinner for three consecutive nights… The first night, I was just so happy we’d played. The second night, I thought it was just a lucky break. By the third night, I was ecstatic —we were on the brink of a family tradition! I couldn’t believe it was possible to anchor in something fun ( ⅰ ).’’

2. Telephone oracle

Image: IStock

Asking your questions to the Oracle is like sitting with a funny magic ball. Come up with wacky questions and gear up for equally wild answers.

• Every player has to write one question each which they want the Oracle to answer, at the top of the page.
• Now every player has to pass their papers to the person on their left.
• Each player has to answer the question according to their perception.
• Now the players have to conceal the question written on the top portion by folding it and then pass on the papers again to their left.
• This step is tricky but interesting. Every player has to write a possible question after reading the previous answer they see in their paper.
• Fold the paper such that only the latest question is visible and pass it to the left side player.
• The same rounds continue till the bottom of the page and end with an answer.
• At the end of the game, all the players unfold their papers to read their original question, the answers they have received, and everything in between. Kah-ray-zee! You will be surprised to see the crazy answers to your original question.

Free Worksheets and Printables for Kids

3. finish the story.

Your search for creative writing games for kids ends here. This is a delightful and engaging storytelling game you can indulge in during playtime.

• The first player writes two lines on a paper and folds the first line so that only the second line is visible to the next player.
• The second player has to guess the first line, read the second line, add another line to the story and fold the paper such that the first two lines are covered and only the last line is visible.
• All the players continue adding their lines to the story.
• The end result will be a very funny tale with no meaning at all.

4. Consequences

Image: Shutterstock

This incredibly enjoyable writing game will keep your child writing on new pages for multiple rounds. You will need a pen, paper, and a minimum of 6 players to play the game.

• The first player has to write the name of a male, on the paper. After writing, conceal the name by folding the paper.
• The second player has to write the name of a female and then fold it again, to conceal it.
• The next player has to write about where they met and fold the paper.
• The fourth player has to write about what he said and fold to conceal it.
• The fifth player writes what she said, and conceals it.
• The last player has to write about what happens in the end.
• Then, unfold the paper to read a very funny story .
• Note that children can write any name, be it their favorite hero or friends in the school, parents or just anybody.

Interesting Writing Activities For Kids

These activities can enhance writing skills and benefit the family’s daily life. Children can tap into their creativity beyond just playing board games and quizzes.

5. Grocery list writing

This is one of the fun writing activities for kids that requires minimal effort and helps them learn the names of many grocery items, such as types of bread, toiletries, and even spices.

• Grab a pen and paper, and head to the kitchen pantry.
• With the assistance of parents, kids have to note down each item and the quantity required.
• You can color code each item to make it easier for them to access.
• Make an elaborate grocery list and head out for shopping.

6. Writing letters

Writing letters is old school but is still relevant. So, why not introduce your kids to the old-world charm with this letter writing activity?

• Decide which form you wish to write — a formal letter or an informal one.
• Accordingly, choose whom to address the letter.
• Keep the letter content crisp if it’s a formal letter and give it an emotional feel if you are writing an informal one.

7. Advertisement writing

This writing activity can keep their creative juices flowing.

• Pick an item to write about. For example, children may choose to write an advertisement for their favorite candy.
• Let them write an entertaining advertisement to sell the product.
• Kids can get innovative and may design brochures, leaflets or even a hoarding style ad.

8. Dialogue writing

Dialogue is a conversation or interaction between two or more people. This activity can also improve their style of conversation. You can begin with simple dialogues.

• Write an introductory line to begin the activity.
• The next player has to reply to the previous line.
• Keep adding dialogues after each line. In the end, you will have your very own record of the conversation.

9. Written debate

This activity is similar to dialogue writing, but will have an argumentative tone. This writing activity will help in enhancing their conversational and presentation skills.

• Pick a subject and write down your first argument on the paper.
• Let your child reply to the argument, putting forth his/her point.
• It goes on like a debate but in a written format.

10. Writing instructions

Learn direct speech through this activity.

• Choose a subject to write instructions about. For example, an experiment on lighting a bulb.
• Kids must write about the tools required and elaborate instructions about how to light a bulb, in detailed steps.
• The style of writing must be communicative and simple to follow.

11. Writing a poem

Poetry knows no boundaries or age limits. Writing poems is a creative pursuit well-suited for children who love writing.

• Select a theme to write about.
• Kids can use rhyming words or just express their emotions in whichever poetic style they like.

12. Writing a message on the envelope

Be it a birthday greeting or a thank you note, this activity will help the child write short messages on cards and envelopes.

• Pick a card or envelope depending on the occasion.
• Write a short crisp paragraph to convey the message.
• Add a salutation, “To” address and a “From” address.
• If your child enjoys crafts, they can also make unique cards with meaningful messages.

13. Newspaper summary writing

This activity is ideal for older kids. It helps in understanding their level of reasoning and perception.

• Assign a newspaper headline for them to read and follow.
• Kids have to go through the entire news article, read and understand it in detail.
• Now the challenge is to write a summary about the same news article in their style.

14. Five lines about their hero

Children will enjoy playing this game for sure as it involves their favorite superhero.

• Find out who your child’s favorite superhero/ idol is.
• Ask them to write any five things about him/her, which they admire.

15. Drawing words

This activity does not involve writing directly but inspires to write and makes learning enjoyable for kids. Make their imagination run wild with this game.

• Choose a word to draw. It can be any word like sun, moon, precious, beautiful, mountain or anything.
• Let the child draw the word in their style. Do not insist on drawing it perfectly. They can create a doodle too if they want.

15. Starting a feelings journal

Children often find it difficult to express how they feel as expressing oneself is a learning process that develops gradually. This activity can serve as an amazing emotional outlet for your child and help you understand them much better.

• Printed journals are available that contain pictorial depictions of various feelings and emotions from which the child can choose daily.
• You may also DIY such a journal from a regular one by printing different pictures of emotions and telling your child to add a few words every day.
• Encourage them to write vivid descriptions of what they feel and the reason behind it for the activity to become more productive.

Frequently Asked Questions

1. How does writing help in the growth of a child?

Writing helps in a child’s growth by promoting language development, improving spelling knowledge, increasing communication skills, enhancing creativity, promoting critical thinking and problem-solving skills, and fostering emotional intelligence. It also helps children develop fine motor skills and self-discipline. Additionally, writing can serve as an outlet for children to express their thoughts and feelings, leading to increased self-awareness and self-esteem.

2. What are the benefits of writing games for kids at home and school?

Writing games for kids offers numerous benefits, such as improving language skills, encouraging creativity, boosting confidence, enhancing critical thinking, and developing fine motor skills. Writing games can help children develop their language skills, including vocabulary, grammar, and sentence structure. These games can also challenge children to think critically and encourage them to be imaginative in their writing, leading to a more positive attitude toward learning.

3. What age range are writing games suitable for?

Writing games vary for children of varying age groups, depending on the game’s complexity. For example, a game of writing a poem can be played by children over six years, while drawing games are ideal for toddlers. As your child grows, expose them to a variety of writing games.

4. Can writing games help children overcome writer’s block?

Writing games enhance critical thinking, improves language skills, and sparks creativity in children, enabling them to overcome writer’s block. Provide different prompts and challenges to your child to promote thinking abilities. Besides, you can invite their friends and organize a collaborative writing activity. Give feedback to everyone so that children can refine their writing.

5. Can writing games help kids develop their storytelling abilities?

Children engaging in writing while playing games boosts their imagination and creativity. They can also express their thoughts and emotions when playing writing games, thereby aiding in developing their storytelling skills. Encourage your child to explore various writing styles and create a unique composition.

6. How can technology be used for writing games for kids?

Technology provides opportunities to choose interactive games and apps containing several engaging learning experiences, capturing children’s attention and promoting creativity and inclusivity. Parents can choose age-appropriate writing activities and receive instant feedback and suggestions that help sharpen their writing skills.

Writing is an integral part of children’s education that helps them express themselves better. It is a life skill that relates to communication and allows children to better understand and remember a particular concept. Writing skills should be developed in children from a young age. However, many children are not enthusiastic about writing because they feel it is a difficult task. In such circumstances, you may introduce writing games for kids. Puzzles and games such as Secret Pictionary or Finish the Story and activities such as Dialogue Writing or Message Writing can help children learn about writing. Anagrams, crosswords, creating secret code puzzles, and the hangman are other good options that will help fine-tune their writing skills. Reading books and journaling are other activities that can help enhance a child’s self expression abilities.

Infographic: Fun Writing Games For Children

Illustration: Momjunction Design Team

Key Pointers

• Pique your children’s interest in writing by introducing Pictionary of secret phrases followed by drawing.
• “Finish the story” will enhance the child’s creativity as they take turns to add sentences to the story.
• Dialogue or advertisement writing, word drawing, etc., for your children as you scroll down.

Image: Stable Diffusion/MomJunction Design Team

Engage your kids in fun pre-writing activities! Learn how to help them develop their writing skills in a creative way.

Personal Experience: Source

MomJunction articles include first-hand experiences to provide you with better insights through real-life narratives. Here are the sources of personal accounts referenced in this article.

• Fact-checker

Elisa Yi Early childhood educator

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Could a video game developer win the Nobel Prize for Literature?

Profesor de Humanidades, IE University

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Andrés Porras Chaves does not work for, consult, own shares in or receive funding from any company or organisation that would benefit from this article, and has disclosed no relevant affiliations beyond their academic appointment.

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In October 2016, the Swedish Academy announced that it was awarding the Nobel prize for Literature to the singer-songwriter Bob Dylan for “having created new poetic expressions within the great American song tradition”. The decision sent out shockwaves: for the first time, a musician had received the most prestigious literary award on the planet. It sparked debate , with many questioning the decision and even sarcastic suggestions that novelists could aspire to winning a Grammy.

The controversy fed into much needed debates on the boundary between poetry and song, but the question of what constitutes literature is much broader. Does it mean the same as it did in 1901, when the first Nobel prize for literature was awarded?

High and low culture

These questions date back far beyond 2016. In the late 1950s, a group of professors from the University of Birmingham founded a new interdisciplinary area of study, called cultural studies , in order to ask new questions: What was the role of TV and other mass media in cultural development? Is there a justification for distinguishing high and low culture? What is the relationship between culture and power?

These questions are all still relevant to current debates around literature. Often, the word “literary” is a status symbol, a seal of approval to distinguish “high” culture from more vulgar or less valuable “low” forms of culture. Comics, for example, were not invited to join the club until recently, thanks in part to a rebranding under the more respectable guise of “graphic novels”.

According to the Merriam-Webster dictionary, literature displays “excellence of form or expression and expressing ideas of permanent or universal interest”. It seems that an artist like Bob Dylan can take home the Nobel prize thanks to literature’s defining feature of “excellence of form or expression”, which is not strictly limited to the written word.

But how do we account for other language-based forms of expression? If performed works such as theatre or songwriting can be considered literature, where is the limit?

Word play: text-based video games

According to data from video game data consultancy Newzoo , more than 3 billion people play video games worldwide – almost half of the world’s population. In Spain alone, 77% of young people play videogames , making them a massively relevant form of culture. But what does this have to do with “excellence of form or expression”? To answer this question we have to look back several decades.

When the first video games were developed in the 1950s, two distinct genres emerged: one was action oriented (such as the pioneering 1958 game Tennis for Two ), and the other more text based. The original written games, known as “ interactive fiction ”, were made up exclusively of text, and the player’s job was to read and make decisions that would determine the game’s outcome using a keyboard.

The inclusion of images in adventure games would not arrive until 1980, when Mystery House became the first “graphic adventure” game. These would reach their heyday in the 1990s: famous examples include the first two Monkey Island games (1990, 1991), Day of the Tentacle (1993), Full Throttle (1995), and Grim Fandango (1998), though there were many others. Despite technological advances, these games inherited several features from interactive fiction, including the predominant role of text.

The experience of playing one of these titles is not so different from that of a book: reading, pauses, the possibility of backtracking, and so on. The player spends most of their time in dialogue with various characters in search of information, stories, or even banter and jokes that are irrelevant to the game’s progress, much like footnotes or subplots.

Several classic adventure games even have direct links to literature: The Abbey of Crime (1987) is a Spanish adaptation of Umberto Eco’s The Name of the Rose , while the legendary insult sword fighting of The Secret of Monkey Island was written by science fiction author Orson Scott Card . In Myst (1993), the gameplay itself revolves around two books.

Literature on the screen: “story-rich” games

In more recent years, a new sub-genre of adventure games – known as “story-rich” games – has become popular thanks to independent creators and producers. In Papers, Please (2013), a border policeman in a fictional dictatorial regime deals with terrible moral dilemmas on a daily basis. In Firewatch (2016), players take the role of a forest ranger who investigates a conspiracy by walkie-talkie. In Return of the Obra Dinn (2018), the player must reconstruct a tragedy on the high seas with the help of an incomplete book and a peculiar compass. In all these cases, gameplay and visuals take a back seat to strong narratives.

A quintessential example is The Stanley Parable (2011), where the player takes the role of a worker in a strangely deserted office. They have to explore several corridors while trying unsuccessfully to interact with their surroundings, accompanied by the voice of an enigmatic narrator. Upon reaching a room with two open doors, the voiceover states that Stanley “entered the door on his left”.

The player can choose to follow the instructions or disobey, provoking the wrath of the narrator much like in the denouement of Miguel de Unamuno’s 1914 novel Fog , where the main character speaks directly to the author.

Each decision then opens up new paths leading to dozens of possible endings, similar to a “choose your own adventure” book. Its fragmentary and disordered story – as well as its playful spirit – is reminiscent of Julio Cortázar’s 1963 novel Hopscotch . The experience of playing the game is marked by postmodern literary features – as described by critics like Mikhail Bakhtin or Linda Hutcheon – including metafiction, intertextuality and parody.

One of its creators – Davey Wreden, a critical studies graduate – also created The Beginner’s Guide (2015), a game in which the player moves through levels of failed video games to learn more about their mysterious creator. In one, the player’s task consists solely of wandering through a virtual cave reading the countless comments left there by other frustrated players.

In recent years, the genre of digital or electronic literature has emerged, including books with QR codes, works that can only be read with virtual reality headsets, poetry collections published as apps, and so on. These works are fundamentally based on language, begging the question of why video games cannot also fit into this category.

This debate takes on added relevance today, as digital formats are having an undeniable impact on our reading habits. Just as today we accept oral cultures or popular music as literature, perhaps one day we will do the same with interactive stories like The Stanley Parable . Writing has always tried to break away from established ideas, and we know that literature is not limited to words on paper. Sometimes it pays to disobey the voice in our heads and walk through the door on the right, the one that leads to new, unexplored possibilities.

This article was originally published in Spanish

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10 Summer Reflection and Goals Writing Prompts

10 summer vacation writing prompts, 10 summer outdoor adventures, 10 summer journal prompts.

Summer is the perfect time for kids to explore creativity and improve their writing skills. With these summer writing prompts , children can reflect on their experiences, imagine new adventures, and set goals for the upcoming school year. Our collection of writing prompts for summer will keep kids engaged and inspired throughout the sunny season. Let’s dive in!

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40 Summer Writing Prompts for Kids

• Write about your favorite memory from the past school year.

This prompt encourages kids to reflect on a positive experience and practice descriptive writing by detailing their memorable moment.

• What are three goals you have for the next school year? How will you achieve them?

This prompt helps kids set specific, achievable goals and think critically about the steps needed to reach them.

• Describe a time you overcame a challenge and what you learned from it.

Encourages kids to reflect on their problem-solving skills and the lessons learned from facing difficulties.

• What new skill would you like to learn over the summer? Why?

Prompts kids to think about personal growth and the reasons behind their interests in new activities.

• Reflect on a book you read this year that had a big impact on you. What did you learn from it?

Encourages kids to analyze and articulate the influence of literature on their thoughts and feelings.

• Write about a person who inspired you this past year and explain why.

This prompt helps kids practice gratitude and recognition of positive role models in their lives.

• Describe a project or assignment you were particularly proud of this year. What made it special?

Encourages kids to take pride in their achievements and articulate what made their work stand out.

• Think about a time you helped someone this year. How did it make you feel?

This prompt fosters empathy and reflection on the positive impact of helping others.

• What is something you want to improve about yourself this summer? How will you work on it?

This is one of the best summer writing ideas to encourage self-awareness and goal-setting for personal development over the summer.

• Imagine it’s the end of next school year. Write a letter to your future self about what you hope to have accomplished.

This creative exercise helps kids envision their future success and the steps needed to achieve their goals.

• Describe your dream summer vacation. Where would you go and what would you do?

This prompt encourages kids to use their imagination and detail the perfect vacation, enhancing their creative writing skills.

• Write a story about a summer vacation that didn’t go as planned.

This prompt helps kids practice narrative writing by imagining unexpected events and solutions during a vacation.

• What are three things you always pack for a vacation? Why are they important to you?

Encourages kids to think about their personal essentials and explain their significance, fostering organizational skills.

• Imagine you are a tour guide in a place you’ve visited. Write a tour for new visitors.

This prompt enhances descriptive writing and creativity as kids detail interesting facts and sights about a place.

• Write a diary entry from the perspective of someone on a vacation in a place you want to visit.

Encourages kids to practice empathy and perspective-taking by imagining a vacation through someone else’s eyes.

• Describe the best summer vacation you’ve ever had. What made it so special?

This prompt allows kids to reflect on past experiences and practice detailed, narrative writing.

• If you could travel anywhere in the world this summer, where would you go and why?

Encourages kids to research and dream about different cultures and places, broadening their geographical knowledge.

• Write a story about a magical vacation where anything can happen.

This prompt sparks creativity and imagination as kids invent a fantastical vacation adventure.

• What would you do if you had a summer vacation on another planet?

Encourages creative thinking and science fiction writing as kids imagine the possibilities of interplanetary travel.

• Imagine you’re visiting a country where you don’t speak the language. How would you communicate and what would you do?

This prompt helps kids think critically about communication and problem-solving in new environments.

• Write about a time you went camping. What did you see, hear, and feel?

This prompt encourages kids to use sensory details to describe their camping experience, enhancing their descriptive writing skills.

• Describe an ideal day spent at the beach. What activities would you do?

Kids can practice creating vivid imagery as they outline their perfect beach day, from building sandcastles to swimming in the ocean.

• Imagine you found a secret path in the woods. Where does it lead and what do you find?

This prompt sparks creativity and adventure as kids invent a mysterious journey through nature.

• Write a story about a treasure hunt with your friends in your backyard or a local park.

Encourages kids to craft an exciting narrative, complete with clues, challenges, and hidden treasures.

• What is your favorite outdoor game or sport to play in the summer? Describe a fun game you played.

This prompt helps kids reflect on their physical activities and practice detailing rules and experiences of their favorite games.

• Describe a nature walk you took. What plants and animals did you encounter?

Enhances observational skills and descriptive writing as kids recount their discoveries on a nature walk.

• Imagine you are an explorer discovering a new island. What do you find and how do you survive?

This prompt encourages imaginative thinking and adventure as kids create a story about exploring an uncharted island.

• Write about a day spent fishing. Did you catch anything? What was the experience like?

Kids can reflect on patience and the joys of fishing, detailing their experience and any catches they made.

• What would you do if you had a treehouse? Describe your perfect treehouse and how you’d spend your time there.

Encourages creative thinking and detailed description as kids design and enjoy their ideal treehouse.

• Describe a summer picnic. What food do you bring, and who do you invite?

This prompt allows kids to plan a fun, social outdoor event, detailing the setting, food, and activities with friends or family.

• Write a daily journal entry for a week during your summer break. What did you do each day?

This prompt encourages kids to practice consistent writing and reflection on their daily activities and experiences.

• Describe your perfect summer day from start to finish.

Kids can use their imagination to detail an ideal day. This is one of the best summer journal topics to practice narrative and descriptive writing.

• Write about a new hobby or activity you tried this summer. How did you feel about it?

Encourages kids to reflect on new experiences, helping them articulate their thoughts and feelings.

• What is your favorite summer tradition with your family? Describe it in detail.

This prompt fosters appreciation for family traditions and helps kids practice descriptive writing.

• Imagine you are a character in your favorite book or movie for a day. Write about your adventures.

Kids can practice creative writing and perspective-taking by immersing themselves in a familiar story world.

• Write a letter to a friend or family member about your summer so far.

Encourages kids to summarize their experiences and practice writing letters, an important communication skill.

• Describe a summer day when the weather was extreme. What did you do to stay cool or warm?

This prompt helps kids practice descriptive writing and think about how they adapt to different weather conditions.

• Imagine you kept a nature journal for the summer. What would you write about and draw?

Encourages kids to observe and document the natural world around them, fostering an appreciation for nature.

• Write a story about finding a mysterious object while playing outside. What happens next?

This prompt sparks creativity and adventure, allowing kids to invent a narrative around a found object.

• Reflect on the best part of your summer so far. Why was it special to you?

This is one of the best summer writing prompts for students that will help them practice reflection and gratitude by identifying and describing their most memorable summer moments.

With these summer writing prompts, kids can enjoy a creative and fun-filled summer. Encourage them to write regularly and watch their imaginations soar. Happy writing!

Frequently Asked Questions (FAQs)

What are some fun camping writing prompts.

Fun camp related summer writing prompts include describing a night under the stars, writing about a campfire story, or imagining an adventure in a hidden forest.

What are some ocean writing prompts?

Ocean writing prompts can include imagining a day as a marine biologist, writing a story about finding a message in a bottle, or describing an underwater adventure with sea creatures.

What are some summer writing prompts for elementary students?

Summer writing prompts for elementary students include reflecting on their favorite summer memory, describing a perfect picnic, or imagining a day at a magical amusement park.

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Creative Writing Program Marks Three Decades of Growth, Diversity

By Luisa A. Igloria

2024: a milestone year which marks the 30 th  anniversary of Old Dominion University’s MFA Creative Writing Program. Its origins can be said to go back to April 1978, when the English Department’s (now Professor Emeritus, retired) Phil Raisor organized the first “Poetry Jam,” in collaboration with Pulitzer prize-winning poet W.D. Snodgrass (then a visiting poet at ODU). Raisor describes this period as “ a heady time .” Not many realize that from 1978 to 1994, ODU was also the home of AWP (the Association of Writers and Writing Programs) until it moved to George Mason University in Fairfax, Virginia.

The two-day celebration that was “Poetry Jam” has evolved into the annual ODU Literary Festival, a week-long affair at the beginning of October bringing writers of local, national, and international reputation to campus. The ODU Literary Festival is among the longest continuously running literary festivals nationwide. It has featured Rita Dove, Maxine Hong Kingston, Susan Sontag, Edward Albee, John McPhee, Tim O’Brien, Joy Harjo, Dorothy Allison, Billy Collins, Naomi Shihab Nye, Sabina Murray, Jane Hirshfield, Brian Turner, S.A. Cosby, Nicole Sealey, Franny Choi, Ross Gay, Adrian Matejka, Aimee Nezhukumatathil, Ilya Kaminsky, Marcelo Hernandez Castillo, Jose Olivarez, and Ocean Vuong, among a roster of other luminaries. MFA alumni who have gone on to publish books have also regularly been invited to read.

From an initial cohort of 12 students and three creative writing professors, ODU’s MFA Creative Writing Program has grown to anywhere between 25 to 33 talented students per year. Currently they work with a five-member core faculty (Kent Wascom, John McManus, and Jane Alberdeston in fiction; and Luisa A. Igloria and Marianne L. Chan in poetry). Award-winning writers who made up part of original teaching faculty along with Raisor (but are now also either retired or relocated) are legends in their own right—Toi Derricotte, Tony Ardizzone, Janet Peery, Scott Cairns, Sheri Reynolds, Tim Seibles, and Michael Pearson. Other faculty that ODU’s MFA Creative Writing Program was privileged to briefly have in its ranks include Molly McCully Brown and Benjamín Naka-Hasebe Kingsley.

"What we’ve also found to be consistently true is how collegial this program is — with a lively and supportive cohort, and friendships that last beyond time spent here." — Luisa A. Igloria, Louis I. Jaffe Endowed Professor & University Professor of English and Creative Writing at Old Dominion University

Our student body is diverse — from all over the country as well as from closer by. Over the last ten years, we’ve also seen an increase in the number of international students who are drawn to what our program has to offer: an exciting three-year curriculum of workshops, literature, literary publishing, and critical studies; as well as opportunities to teach in the classroom, tutor in the University’s Writing Center, coordinate the student reading series and the Writers in Community outreach program, and produce the student-led literary journal  Barely South Review . The third year gives our students more time to immerse themselves in the completion of a book-ready creative thesis. And our students’ successes have been nothing but amazing. They’ve published with some of the best (many while still in the program), won important prizes, moved into tenured academic positions, and been published in global languages. What we’ve also found to be consistently true is how collegial this program is — with a lively and supportive cohort, and friendships that last beyond time spent here.

Our themed studio workshops are now offered as hybrid/cross genre experiences. My colleagues teach workshops in horror, speculative and experimental fiction, poetry of place, poetry and the archive — these give our students so many more options for honing their skills. And we continue to explore ways to collaborate with other programs and units of the university. One of my cornerstone projects during my term as 20 th  Poet Laureate of the Commonwealth was the creation of a Virginia Poets Database, which is not only supported by the University through the Perry Library’s Digital Commons, but also by the MFA Program in the form of an assistantship for one of our students. With the awareness of ODU’s new integration with Eastern Virginia Medical School (EVMS) and its impact on other programs, I was inspired to design and pilot a new 700-level seminar on “Writing the Body Fantastic: Exploring Metaphors of Human Corporeality.” In the fall of 2024, I look forward to a themed graduate workshop on “Writing (in) the Anthropocene,” where my students and I will explore the subject of climate precarity and how we can respond in our own work.

Even as the University and wider community go through shifts and change through time, the MFA program has grown with resilience and grace. Once, during the six years (2009-15) that I directed the MFA Program, a State Council of Higher Education for Virginia (SCHEV) university-wide review amended the guidelines for what kind of graduate student would be allowed to teach classes (only those who had  already  earned 18 or more graduate credits). Thus, two of our first-year MFA students at that time had to be given another assignment for their Teaching Assistantships. I thought of  AWP’s hallmarks of an effective MFA program , which lists the provision of editorial and publishing experience to its students through an affiliated magazine or press — and immediately sought department and upper administration support for creating a literary journal. This is what led to the creation of our biannual  Barely South Review  in 2009.

In 2010,  HuffPost  and  Poets & Writers  listed us among “ The Top 25 Underrated Creative Writing MFA Programs ” (better underrated than overrated, right?) — and while our MFA Creative Writing Program might be smaller than others, we do grow good writers here. When I joined the faculty in 1998, I was excited by the high caliber of both faculty and students. Twenty-five years later, I remain just as if not more excited, and look forward to all the that awaits us in our continued growth.

This essay was originally published in the Spring 2024 edition of Barely South Review , ODU’s student-led literary journal. The University’s growing MFA in Creative Writing program connects students with a seven-member creative writing faculty in fiction, poetry, and nonfiction.

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I tried coding a game with chatgpt, here’s how it went.

Coding a game is a lot of work, but can ChatGPT make it easier? The truth is, you'll still need to know how to code.

Key Takeaways

• Game engines understood by ChatGPT are suitable for coding game prototypes.
• Coding assistance from ChatGPT requires a decent understanding of the game engine being used.
• Expect ChatGPT to provide close, but not exact, solutions to coding problems. You still need to review and revise the code provided by ChatGPT.

AI is the new buzzword that everyone seems to be talking about. Even phones are getting fully implemented AI applications, but there's a lot more you could do with tools like ChatGPT, including coding a game. I've been developing games for almost a decade, and have even released a few projects and participated in a couple of game jams on Itch .

When I discovered ChatGPT, the first thing I wanted to do was see if I could use it in game development. As always, ChatGPT is eager to help and almost feels like the world's most into-it intern.

Can ChatGPT Code a Game for You?

It's quickly apparent that GPT's willingness to teach you to code a game is well-meaning but requires you to understand a bit about what you're doing. As someone who's been an amateur game developer for more than a decade, I know a little bit about coding a game. In using GPT to help me, I was interested in seeing how sophisticated it was for producing a playable game prototype.

It Certainly Understands Game Engines

A game engine is what a developer uses to create a game. Several game engines are available, including Unreal Engine , Godot , and Unity . As someone who knows Unity well, I decided to use this as my development engine. I asked a few general questions (that I know the answer to) to ensure that ChatGPT wouldn't start hallucinating about my game engine.

After sorting out that it at least knew what it was doing, I decided to give the framework for my project, which included:

• Random generation of a scrolling background
• Having a player character controlled by directional buttons, with mouse buttons for firing
• A point system with a leaderboard
• An endless amount of enemies, so players can play casually

ChatGPT was very helpful in offering code solutions for some of the things I would need to create this game. For example, I asked it for some code for a projectile I would fire from the player's position when they hit the "Fire" button, and it gave me this:

Notably, it gave me well-commented code so I could follow along as a beginner programmer. Many places suggest that you could learn to code using AI , and the inclusion of well-commented code is part of that. You won't have to worry if there are errors in your code if you can trace them comment by comment. However, when using GPT to build a game, I encountered several issues that would defeat a newcomer to game development.

ChatGPT Is Far From Perfect

LLMs are only as good (or as bad) as the prompts the user gives them. For example, a user could easily generate anime-type characters with MidJourney by including a few words to clarify the prompt's end result. However, when building a game with ChatGPT, I found that there were times when the engine simply didn't pick up what I was putting down.

In this example, I encountered an issue with spawning my projectiles, with all the "bullets" being deflected when the player moves. While this could create some interesting play patterns, I decided to ask it to fix the problem, and it suggested a fix. Unfortunately, the fix didn't work.

I eventually fixed it myself, but it highlighted a major issue with using ChatGPT to code a game: there are some things it doesn't know.

I eventually put together the game using a few suggestions from GPT about the persistent score as well as the random generation algorithm and scrolling for the game background. You can play the final game here .

Does It Work With Other Game Engines?

I know ChatGPT was very good with Unity once I could sort out some of the issues I ran into above. However, I wondered how coding a game with ChatGPT would work for a less-popular engine like Godot. I'm not exactly an expert in Godot, having used it far less than I did Unity. I decided to ask ChatGPT a few questions:

For those who use Godot regularly, the issue is immediately obvious. ChatGPT stopped learning in 2021 or thereabouts (at least for the free version). The script GPT gave me was based on its knowledge of Godot 2.x, which is a heavily outdated version of the current 4.x version. The glaring problem is the use of KinematicBody2D, which was replaced by CharacterBody2D in later iterations of the language.

How Much Skill Do You Need to Code a Game With ChatGPT?

If you're considering making the next Legend of Zelda: Breath of the Wild using ChatGPT, you should probably temper your expectations. You need to have a decent understanding of the engine you're working in to use ChatGPT as a coding assistant.

Other assistants like Microsoft Copilot might be better with general code and could help to a greater degree. The big issue is that these LLMs are looking at an abstract problem, and they're seeing it without actually seeing it.

In simpler language, you know what the game you're making should look like and how things in it should behave. You can explain it to ChatGPT what you want, and it will give you something close to (but not quite) what your game needs. To make it behave the way you want it to, you'll have to fiddle around with the code that GPT gives you.

Should You Code a Game With ChatGPT?

Game development is a complex field, but thanks to engines like those mentioned above, it is much more approachable for the general public. A skilled developer could spend a few hours putting together a game that works and has all the things they want in it.

This particular project took me a total of 48 hours from start to finish. The more complex the game, the more time and effort it will take. That's not counting the amount of time you'd have to throw into asset sourcing and development. It could get to be a pretty large project.

If you do decide to code a game with ChatGPT assisting, here are a few things to keep in mind:

• ChatGPT can make mistakes in code.
• ChatGPT might give you outdated code, requiring you to spend hours googling for a fix.
• AI can't make game assets as of yet (not good 2D assets, anyway) so you'll have to source assets separately.
• Some of the suggestions ChatGPT gives you won't work and might lead you to a dead end, requiring you to rethink your implementation.

If anyone asked me today if they could learn to code a game with ChatGPT from scratch without any knowledge of the engine, I'd have to tell them no.

Stuart Skinner has created a full-fledged goaltending crisis for the Oilers

EDMONTON — Shielded by the Edmonton Oilers organization postgame, Stuart Skinner ’s goaltending performance in Game 3 and the series at large was left to be addressed solely by his coach.

Kris Knoblauch said the only thing that could really be said considering he had backup Calvin Pickard lead the team onto the ice to start the third period: “We need more saves.”

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Skinner, who allowed four goals on 15 shots through 40 minutes in a 4-3 loss to the Vancouver Canucks , wasn’t made available by the Oilers despite being requested.

He played 11 seconds after Evan Bouchard pulled the Oilers within one thanks to a six-on-five goal 18:44 into the third — a time-stalling tactic so Knoblauch could buy his stars a little more rest. Knoblauch confirmed Skinner isn’t suffering from an injury, so there was nothing preventing him from speaking after the loss.

The way things are trending, there might not be a reason to speak to Skinner postgame for much longer. Knoblauch said he’ll wait until at least Monday before deciding if Skinner will start in Game 4.

For good reason, too. The Oilers have a full-fledged goaltending crisis on their hands.

“Tonight’s one that he’d like to have back,” Knoblauch said. “He’ll see what he’s got in the future, whether that’s Game 4 or Game 5 or whatever it is.”

Look, it’s not like Skinner let in soft goal after soft goal on Sunday. There wasn’t a downright stinker in the bunch.

Elias Lindholm scored twice on the power play, the first of which he tipped in. And then the first of two from Oilers nemesis Brock Boeser came after a terrible turnover by Warren Foegele .

“I should know better,” Foegele said. “Unfortunately, I did that and put our team in a bad spot.”

How the Canucks, Brock Boeser contained Connor McDavid to win Game 3: 5 takeaways

Still, Skinner simply needed to prove his mettle as the starting goalie — at least for now — on a team that fancies itself a Stanley Cup contender. Just make one or two more saves, as Knoblauch desired.

That’s what separates an excellent keeper who helps his team win it all from one who’s below average and gets his team booted from the second round of the playoffs — again.

By the time Knoblauch gave him the hook, Skinner had given up 12 goals on 58 shots in the series — an awful .793 save percentage. That’s simply not going to cut it. What the Oilers would give for that .875 clip he had against Vegas in Round 2 last year.

“Defence, along with goaltending, is very important to winning hockey games — especially in the long term,” Knoblauch said. “It’s got to be better.”

Skinner has been outplayed by the third goaltender on the Canucks’ depth chart in Arturs Silovs . There’s no getting around that, even if the Oilers feel they can do more to make life miserable for Silovs.

“We can certainly do a better job of bearing down and capitalizing on our looks,” Oilers centre-turned-winger Leon Draisaitl said.

That leads us to another thing: It isn’t just Skinner’s puck-stopping — or lack thereof — that has the Oilers in a tizzy.

They failed to score a five-on-five goal in Game 3, even though all lines had their chances. Evander Kane , Derek Ryan and Connor Brown were three of the four players who beat Silovs but not a goalpost. The other was Draisaitl.

What’s most concerning is it appears their coach has little faith beyond the members of the first power-play unit and Mattias Ekholm . Over the last two games, the Oilers have become a six-man team for all intents and purposes.

Bouchard played 31:24 of a 60-minute game after skating for 29:59 in Game 2. Draisaitl got to 29:04 after playing 27:05 on Friday. Connor McDavid came 18 seconds shy of playing half the contest following a 28:12 effort in the overtime win.

“We can’t play them 30 minutes every night,” Knoblauch said, specifically of Nos. 97 and 29. “We can’t be pushing them that much.”

He might have to.

The Oilers are now down 2-1 in the series, and McDavid, Draisaitl and Zach Hyman have easily been their best line.

They dominated in Game 2. The Oilers outscored the Canucks 2-0, outshot them 13-1 and out-attempted them 31-7 in 18:31 at five-on-five, per Natural Stat Trick .

Though Boeser scored the only goal when the McDavid trio was on the ice at five-on-five in Game 3, the Oilers continued to carry the play. Shots were 10-5 and attempts were 20-9.

They were clearly the only grouping Knoblauch believed could score.

He hinted after the morning skate that Draisaitl, who missed some time with an injury in the series opener, could get some shifts at centre. That didn’t happen.

“A lot of it had to do with (the fact) we were chasing. We needed a goal,” Knoblauch said. “That line together has been creating so much offence.”

Despite praising the other lines for their offensive attempts, his usage spoke volumes. Kane had the most ice time among forwards not named McDavid, Draisaitl, Hyman or Ryan Nugent-Hopkins at 14:12. No one else made it to 12 minutes and five players up front didn’t hit double digits.

“Everyone has a role, and you’ve got to do the best (with) your role — (regardless of) how many minutes that is,” said Foegele, who played 8:45. “It’s about winning. The coach can put out who he thinks gives him the best chance to win. Everyone here understands their role. Everyone’s got to execute.”

There are a lot of Oilers players who could — and maybe should — play better. In fairness, most of those in question could use some more opportunity to prove their worth.

That’s certainly not the case for Skinner.

He was the only Oilers goaltender to appear in these playoffs until Pickard skated out to start the third period on Sunday.

Feel free to defend Skinner all you want. Blame some bad bounces. Criticize the work of his teammates in front of him. Suggest he hasn’t surrendered any terrible goals — perhaps notwithstanding Nikita Zadorov ’s sharp-angle marker in Game 2.

But any way you slice it, he hasn’t been good enough. Nowhere close.

The Oilers have little chance of beating the Canucks — let alone claiming the Cup — with this type of netminding. The coach pretty much said it without actually saying it after the game. Skinner didn’t have to.

(Photo of Brock Boeser scoring on Stuart Skinner: Curtis Comeau / Icon Sportswire via Getty Images)

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Daniel Nugent-Bowman is a staff writer who covers the Edmonton Oilers for The Athletic. Daniel has written about hockey for Sportsnet, The Hockey News, Yahoo Canada Sports and the Saskatoon StarPhoenix. Follow Daniel on Twitter @ DNBsports

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