Writing Energy Exercise: Do It Your Way or Don’t Bother

Writing Energy Exercise: Do It Your Way or Don’t Bother

Key Techniques

1. Method-Driven Voice Discovery

Writers must identify and double down on the writing approach—internal monologue, nonlinear structure, obsessive sensory detail—that generates internal voltage. The goal is ignition, not conformity.

2. Acceptance of Weakness to Leverage Strength

Instead of masking deficiencies, use them as a structural feature. If you struggle with plot, emphasize voice. If you avoid dialogue, use monologue or stylized narration. Make the absence part of the design.

3. Momentum Through Imperfection

Write forward with velocity. Allow imperfection in early sentences. Let tone and rhythm lead, even if logic or continuity lags behind. Push for energy, not control.

Writing Prompt (500 words)

Write a first-person scene in which your narrator is under pressure—emotionally, physically, or psychologically. Tell it entirely through your most energized mode of expression. Avoid elements you “should” use and instead write through your default instinct, whether that’s obsessive internal thought, description of irrelevant details, idiosyncratic language, or nonlinear time jumps. The urgency must come through, but not via conventional pacing. Use the storytelling muscle that generates energy for you—even if it’s asymmetrical or odd.

Evaluation Criteria

• Voice fidelity: The voice feels driven by something internal to the writer, not imposed from outside models.

• Narrative intensity: The piece builds heat—emotional, tonal, or atmospheric—even if it resists typical plot structure.

• Intentional constraint: The piece clearly leans into one strength without compensating for perceived weaknesses.

Strong Response Example

A writer fluent in chaotic, rhythm-driven interiority composes a fragmented scene of a narrator waiting for biopsy results, told entirely through a series of obsessive catalogued sounds overheard in a hospital hallway—without naming the event or the outcome.

Weak Response Example

A writer who’s strong in lyricism but unsure about dialogue adds stiff exchanges between characters to “balance” the prose. The energy dips, the tension flattens, and the strong voice gets diluted by conventional scaffolding.

Workshopping/Revision Questions

• What felt natural to write, even if it didn’t feel like “a story” yet?

• Where did the energy sag, and did you try to fix it using tools that don’t come naturally to you?

• What if your draft wasn’t broken but just wanted to live outside traditional story architecture?

Recommended Reading

“The Tunnel” by William H. Gass (from In the Heart of the Heart of the Country)

This excerpt is a masterclass in obsessive interiority and syntactic propulsion. Gass doesn’t try to balance interior monologue with action; he barrels deep into the architecture of a disturbed mind. The narrative unfolds through linguistic texture and associative depth, not external movement. Ideal for studying how a writer sustains energy using their native strengths—and no one else’s rules.

AI Disclosure Statement:

This writing prompt was created in collaboration with ChatGPT, an AI model by OpenAI, to support creative practice. ChatGPT assisted with idea generation and drafting; the final text was edited by the author. The illustration was created using Google Gemini.