Write Yourself Out of a Corner

When you are facing a blank page (or screen), a constraint-based prompt — for example, "you must use the words 'cloud' and 'green'" or "you must set the scene in a crowded grocery store" — can get your brain working in unexpected ways.

In this creative writing guide, longtime teacher and novelist Alice LaPlante shares 100 original exercises that will simultaneously push you into a corner and give you the tools to write yourself out of it. LaPlante explains the purpose of each exercise — to sharpen your ear for dialogue, generate surprising images, or access intense emotions — and breaks down student examples to reveal how to achieve these goals.

Whether you are looking to jumpstart new ideas or find a fresh angle on a work in progress, and whether you write fiction, creative nonfiction, or poetry, Write Yourself Out of a Corner will strengthen your imagination and your craft.