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Hands: A Creative Writing Exercise in 5 Steps

By Ginny Wiehardt, About.com

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Hands: A Creative Writing Exercise in 5 Steps

When I've used this creative writing exercise in a class, it's consistently resulted in the most interesting work. Begin by thinking of someone for whom you have strong feelings, and then complete each of the five steps.

You'll notice that each brief instruction is on a separate page. This was done to prevent you from looking ahead. The exercise works best, and is easiest to do, if you really take one step at a time. Don't worry if the steps -- and your responses -- don't seem immediately related to each other. Seemingly illogical associations often result in more interesting and truer work.

As with all the exercises on this site, there's no right or wrong answer. If you're getting something down on the page, you've already succeeded. Use the links below to get started.

Index: Hands: A Creative Writing Exercise in 5 Steps

  1. Hands: A Creative Writing Exercise in 5 Steps
  2. Step #1
  3. Step #2
  4. Step #3
  5. Step #4
  6. Step #5
  7. Edit

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