Writing Exercises
Writing Tips
Questions and Answers
Go Directly to Current Exercise
Word Usage, Grammar, and Some Pet Peeves
Three Good Places to Learn About Grammar:
The Grammarist
Grammar Girl
The Center for Writing Studies
A Visual Artist on Writing Her First Novel
Dear Visitor,
I am a veteran teacher of writing from university level to little kids. I offer these writing exercises in the spirit of the Internet as a place for a new kind of community of sharing and exchange. I call them "exercises" rather than "prompts" or "lessons" because I think of them as ways to strengthen the writing muscles that you already have and as ways to expand your range of techniques. The execises are free, but if you want to give something back, please read some of my online fiction or take a look at my books. I also offer suggestions for small and tiny press books that you might want to read or purchase as gifts: see giftbooks. I also teach private classes online as well as public classes at New York University's School of Continuing and Professional Studies, and, finally, I have a free newsletter you can get by sending your e-mail address to:
The newsletter is also online at Books for Readers .
-- Meredith Sue Willis
Current Exercise
Here are two "ending" exercises that might be for something you're already writing or might start you on something new:
-A character stands alone and thinking. Describe the place where the character is and then go into the person's head.
– Describe an object. Movies sometimes do this, the camera coming in tight on an emblematic object - a sleeping cat? a discarded newspaper flopping in the breeze? - as the credits begin to roll.
For more on ending, see below for previous exercise.
More writing exercises below and in archives. How about a few notes on grammar and word usage?
Writing Tips
A Visual Artist on Writing her First Novel
I'm having a bout of "infantile omniscience" – Gee, all I have to do to fly is to go up on the roof wearing a cape and jump off with my arms spread – that adults can suffer from when having to learn to learn new protocols, skills, etc. when they, otherwise, feel competent and assured.
The constant challenges of learning to write continue to surprise. It feels like the opposite of peeling an onion. I keep thinking the last layers are in place, when they're not. Ironically [a jerky, overused word] the challenges are, in part, what motivates me to write.
I came to a point with my painting when I didn't feel there were any left. A death, of sorts. Writing feels like trying to solve a mathematical equation or one in physics – both of which I know nothing about. Moving things around. Getting them to connect. Shaping an elusive mass of disparate stuff. Also, a painting is there forever. Doesn't go out of print. Usually, doesn't get passed along or thrown out.
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The Balancing Act One: Balancing Our Lives
I want to talk a little bit about balancing our writing in our lives and in the work itself. The life part is obviously a challenge. Even people who have set aside a summer or retired or otherwise made space for writing, often find that the rest of life gets in the way. Those of us who have been working in offices or schools or other settings full of social interactions may have accumulated a ton of great material for writing, but probably not the habit of being alone for long hours and figuring out how to stay creative without others. The loneliness of writing can be a huge problem for some people.
I know a couple of writers who have dates in coffee shops and bookstores with a writer friend. They drink coffee and write on their laptops. No chit chat, but just a little company. A former student of mine knows someone who makes a lounge available at her office. They invite people to come and write together. The organizer provides prompts, but no one has to use them.
Personally, I depend a lot on physical exercise. On my writing days, I often do a lot of desk work before getting to writing. I'm not sure this is good, but it seems to clear my brain and enable me to write intensely for a fairly brief period of time (45 minutes to an hour or maybe an hour and fifteen minutes). I can work much longer at revision or copy editing, but I'm speaking here of the time when I am really "in that place," as I call it to myself-the place where my full attention is on the world I've created.
When I start coming up for air, I usually go for a vigorous walk, during which I often get new ideas or solutions to problems, or, sometimes, just an idea for something I need to pick up at the grocery store. But I almost always get something.
Here's an idea from a student: Sit down with a friend, and have the friend read a chapter of your work aloud to you. Just listen. "The tone of her voice was lovely as she read. For the first time I grasped how it important it is that I appreciate what I have written."
One of my students says, “The more I think about it, the more I understand ... that giving the right cues to the reader, cues that will help he/she journey along the work – is one of the biggest challenges confronting a writer. [The writer needs] to ease the reader into the beginning of the story. Being hospitable is what I strive for when you come to my home, so it only follows that I should extend that same consideration to readers of my work. In no way should it diminish the story’s impact or style.”
Two interviews where I talk about writing: Creative Writing Now and one by Tricia Idrobo with me on Writing and Illustrating: Sharing Information about Writing and Illustrating for Children . Both sites have a lot of good information.
In typing in corrections to a manuscript, and I decided to do it in reverse order, or at least Chapter 21 followed by Chapter 20 followed by Chapter 19 etc. It feels uncomfortable, but keeps my focus on the sentences and words. To read in order is to get swept up in story-- ideal for a reader and for the writer as she drafts!-- but it means you tend to skip little rough spots and even outright errors. So even though this isn't the most fun, it is a good technique, IMHO.
Check out Jessica Murphy's piece on avoiding Gawking Characters at Inspiration for Writers, Inc.
The biggest hint of all is to find a time in your life for regular writing. It doesn't matter if it's every day or every week-end or six weeks in the summer-- you need a period of time you can depend on. You may also occasionally get an inspiration that sends you rushing off to your notebook or computer, and that is great, but it is an extra-- a gift from the universe! To edit and revise and continue and finish work, you'll need that regular place and time.
Separate your critical brain from your drafting brain. Try writing at least three paragraphs (or even better, three pages) before you go back and fiddle with the words. If possible, don't read over what you wrote today until tomorrow or at least after lunch. It will be much easier to make changes.
Try not to do just one thing if you can do more than one. Don't give the information that he ate a steak, rather, show both that he ate a steak and that he was angry when he was eating it: "He stabbed his fork into the slab of sirloin and and slashed off a piece with his knife."
After you've written your draft, go through it looking to see if all the essential conflicts have been dramatized. This is an especially good technique if you feel that your dialogue is flat or boring. Put the dramatized conflicts into the dialogue.
Put thinking, contemplation, and dramatized flashback scenes at a point in your story where it would be natural in real life too: riding a train, lying awake at night when the character can’t sleep, etc.
Click here for hints from writers, editors, and agents.
And here for what some writers have to say about writing and literature.
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Questions and Answers
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Q: Doesn't a piece change when it's worked on for a long time as the writer's mood changes? I feel I started writing more light-hearted passage when I felt happier and less daunted by the act of writing. Isn't the reverse true, as well?
A: The answer is a resounding Yes! Moods change, you lose momentum, change the focus of your interest. I know people who have taken ten and fifteen years to write a novel. Their entire life changes: family members die, physical conditions change.
This is one good argument for drafting as quickly as possible, to capture the original impetus and mood.
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Q: How do you balance writing and life?
A: The life part is obviously a challenge. Even people who have set aside a summer or retired or otherwise made space for writing, often find that the rest of life gets in the way. Those of us who have been working in offices or schools or other settings full of social interactions may have accumulated a ton of great material for writing, but probably not the habit of being alone for long hours and figuring out how to stay creative without others. The loneliness of writing can be a huge problem for some people.
I know a couple of writers who have dates in coffee shops and bookstores with a writer friend. They drink coffee and write on their laptops. No chit chat, but just a little company. A former student of mine knows someone who makes a lounge available at her office. They invite people to come and write together. The organizer provides prompts, but no one has to use them.
On my writing days, I often do a lot of desk work before getting to writing. I'm not sure this is good, but it seems to clear my brain and enable me to write intensely for a fairly brief period of time (45 minutes to an hour or maybe an hour and fifteen minutes). I can work much longer at revision or copy editing, but I'm speaking here of the time when I am really "in that place," as I call it to myself-the place where my full attention is on the world I've created.
Part of the discipline of writing is figuring out how to get it out of yourself: do you need others? Do you need long periods of time? Do you need music? Silence? So different for each person.
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Q: How do you think about and manage your writing time? What helps you be more creative and more productive?
A: In a recent Advanced Novel workshop class at NYU, one class member said that she writes at least four hours a day, roughly from the time she drops her children at school till she picks them up. I, the teacher, felt full of envy. She is in the first flush of writing her first novel. Nowadays, I often work only an hour, and often none on teaching days.
To answer this question, I observed my writing habits for for a few days. What I realized was that (a) I do a lot of desk work before getting to writing- clearing my brain, as it were; then I write very intensely for a fairly brief period of time (45 minutes to an hour or maybe an hour and fifteen minutes). This period is when I am really "in that place," as I call it to myself-the place where my full attention is on that created world. Then, coming up for breath, I am physically restless, starting to think about chores that need doing, phone calls to be made, etc.
At that point I usually go for a walk with my Nordic walking sticks (not a Nordic track but these things). As I walk, the next scene of my project often rises at the back of my head, then like a projected image before me. Out of my unconscious? Not really, because I had been focused on the idea. Out of repetitive physical activity? Maybe. Either way, I take it as a gift. Sometimes I scribble down these ideas on a piece of paper as soon as I get home. Sometimes I don't get to them till late in the afternoon, when I squeeze in a second session of writing.
Sometimes, I don't get a gift for my writing at all. Sometimes I get an idea for what to do with the leftover chicken in the refrigerator.
I don't know if this is useful to anyone or not. The real message is to find what works for you. Maybe for you it's a full long day set aside to go deep in your work. Regularity, I know, is important, whether it's daily or weekly or only on holidays. Personally, I know I am carrying my stories around with me all the time, mulling them over, letting them ferment, consciously or unconsciously.
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Q: I am considering self publishing a book. I found a company on the Internet, but since I probably know almost as much about brain surgery as self-publishing, I wanted to ask you what you think of this particular company.
A: The company you're considering has a lovely web site. There are many these printers that do a good job of making attractive books and then making them available on the Internet.
There are two important things to keep in mind, though:
(1) Whatever they say, you have to do your own publicity-- write to everyone you know, set up speaking engagements, get a reading at your local bookstore, etc. etc. The press will make the books available, and make them attractive, but they won't market them in any serious way.
(2) Another important consideration is what it will cost to buy books to sell on your own. What will the press charge for a supply of books? When you go to speak or whatever, you want to have books to sell. Some of the companies sell them reasonably; some make big profits selling the books.
I have a couple of short write-ups on my website about experiences that are worth looking at: Marion Cuba did well, and also look at Bert Murray, whose comments are just below hers. I know someone who used Lulu.com, and I've heard good things about a company that puts out a nice free newsletter, http://www.selfpublishing.com/
These companies (and many more) are legitimate businesses, and most do what they promise: the trick is to be clear about what they promise-- and what they don't. Be prepared to do the hard work yourself.
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Q: I'm doing a final edit of my novel and need to know the most common publishing house style to show that words should be in italics. Do you actually italicize them or underline them?
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A: I googled "using italics in preparing writing for publication" and came up with something from the MLA style sheet (Modern Language Association). They and other sources all specify italics, not underlining. Underlining, I believe,was used to indicate italics back in the day because typewriters didn't have italics. Today, since most publications and publishers insist on digital submissions at some point, italics transfer nicely from the writer's word processor to the publisher's. So I think this is a clear win for italics.
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Q: How do I punctuate thoughts in fiction?
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A: Generally, I save quotation marks for actual spoken-aloud dialogue. You can almost always do thoughts simply by saying:This is getting ridiculous, she thought. Some people like italics This is getting ridiculous,she thought. I prefer the fewest possible markers, grammatical and otherwise, but the bottom line is that there is no rule. You want clarity and transparency. That is, you don't want a reader being confused about whether a comment is thought or said aloud, and you want readers to move forward without noticing how you've done what you've done, if at all possible.
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Q: I'm confused about when I can use contractions. Right now I'm using them everywhere except in summations and narratives. But someone told me I should only use contractions in dialogue. Is there any rule?
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A: Definitely use contractions in dialogue, because it's how we speak, but fiction is a generally informal type of writing, and I'm quite sure I use contractions in my narration as well as within quotation marks. I believe the way to think of it is as another tool: if I wanted to slow down a passage of narration or create a formal tone, then I might well write: "I would slow it down.." But if my authorial tone is lighter, and I want speed, I might write "I'd speed it up with contractions." No hard and fast rule in novel writing, except that normal people in dialogue tend to use contractions.
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Q: I have a question about copyright - namely, what do I do to protect my work if I want to show it to someone else, but it hasn't been published yet? Is there a way to do that?
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A: About copyright: you own your writing by the act of writing it. You own the copyright, whether you've done anything official or not. Here's some information , but the bottom line is that you own what you've written, and fiction is rarely stolen– what you don't own and can't copyright is your idea– that is, someone else can do a similar plot and you can't do anything about it.
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Q: How do you punctuate titles? It seems like I do it differently every time!
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A: Here's a great discussion of that on Grammar Girl at http://grammar.quickanddirtytips.com/capitalizing-titles.aspx
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Q: How do you use quotation marks in dialog when the
character is telling something about the past and quotes someone else talking?
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A: The usual way is to use single quotes inside regular double quotes. So you'd have: Jane said, "I was rushing to the office when I ran into Frank, and he said, 'Janie, I've got some bad news!' "
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Q: What do you do when you've written different endings and like none of them? I keep telling myself something will come, something I haven't thought about, but so far it hasn't.
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A:I usually think in terms of hypothetical endings. I'll do a whole draft of a book and know that the end is weak, but at least I've had the satisfaction of writing “The End.” Then I'll lay it aside for perhaps a couple of months, then go over it from the beginning, and plunge on through. Of course, I may end up with another imperfect ending, but when I've finally made enough drafts, I usually have finally found the "real" ending, or at least the real stopping place.
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Q: How do I create realistic characters? I'm not striving to write great literature. I want to write a thriller, and I'm best at action and suspense.
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A: People who take my writing classes tend to fall into one of two categories. Some start with characters and have trouble finding stories for them; and some start with plots and have trouble with characters! It sounds like you are one of the second group. One good trick is to write back stories for your main characters-- mini biographies (or even a resumé!). Try to figure out the person's age, where they grew up, education level, ethnic background, what they want out of life, what their favorite food is-- all kinds of details, that might be useful in your story, too. Here's a list to get you started.
Also check out this advice from Writer's Digest about motivation and the arc of change in a character.
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Q. What about verb tense? The present tense is so much more dynamic. I am using past tense as in a story telling mode. Which is better in fiction?
A. I use the present tense sometimes, but it isn't my favorite. I like it best for very short pieces. In general, especially for longer works, I prefer the plain old story teller’s past myself. There are plenty of good books and good writers, though, that use the present tense extremely well. So, on the one hand, good writers make anything work. On the other hand, a lot of younger writers use the present tense because it is something of a fad. Take a look at Present tense for some thoughts on pros and cons.
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Q. What about working on two novels simultaneously?
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A. This, like many other things, depends on you. When I get stuck, I go on to a new project, so I often have two or even more books and a couple of stories and articles going at once. I also trust that I'll be able to get back to the things I've left.
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Q. I'm writing a novel and having a hard time with technology. Do I include cell phones? IM? Facebook? Twitter?
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A. That's a tough one. The clearest way to deal with it in my opinion is to consider every novel a historical novel, even if it is set in 2009. Make sure you have the right technology for the year. There are also lots of tricks-- your character can be the kind of person who always misplaces her cell phone or lets it run down, for example.
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Q: I have my first paid writing gig. It's for an online travel website. Do you think it's unusual or bad that they own all future rights to the article, or is this standard? From their website: Publication Rights: We are only interested in articles that aren’t yet published, and we own all future rights to the paid pieces you publish through us. If you prefer to maintain future rights, please submit your article through unpaid articles program.
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A: Writing for Hire (which is what you're describing-- the publisher owns the rights) is not great, but it's totally common. In other words, it's done a lot, especially with nonfiction, but also with some things like popular series books for kids that have different authors for each volume. It's not a scam, just not ideal. What I have done in such circumstances is to write a separate version of the piece, longer or shorter, maybe fiction instead of nonfiction, or using different examples to make the same point, or whatever, if I want to use it again. They can't buy your ideas and experience, just the words you've written.
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Word Usage, Grammar, and Some Pet Peeves
I just got caught misusing "mitigate" when I meant "militate!" Here's a good article about the difference. Short version: You almost always "militate against," and never use "against" with "mitigate." Burning fossil fuels militates against our present standard of living lasting into the next century. Keeping forests healthy may mitigate the effects of burning fossil fuels.
Here's a good blog entry at Grammar Girl on grammar and Fiction: Grammar and Fiction.
Take a look at this essay on the phrase "Begging the Question," which we all seem to use incorrectly.
Do you have a problem with commas? Here's a terrific article to set you straight.
Do you know Grammar Girl? This grammar blog is terrific on how to use practical, graceful grammar and punctuation. Here she is on the ... ellipsis: Quick and Dirty Grammar Tips
There are certain words that get misused a lot-- one is the word "heft," which means most often, weight or heaviness, or sometimes importance or influence. But a lot of people use it in what is really a rare and archaic way, as if it meant "bulk." A lot of students write, "He lifted his considerable heft out of the chair." It ought to be "He lifted his considerable bulk out of the chair." Correct uses are "The heft of a good hammer" or "Some synthetic fabrics are nice and warm, but I prefer wool because it has more heft." The word is a related to "heave," on the same pattern as "weave" and "weft."
Another word that irks me when it is misused is "smirk." This is a verb I would only use if I really didn't like a character or really didn't like a character's attitude at that moment. The dictionary definition (quoted from the Houghton Mifflin eReference) is "to smile in an affected, knowing way." Sometimes when writers really want a character to grin or smile humorously, they use "smirk," and it always sets my teeth on edge.
There are also certain words and phrases, all perfectly good English, that I avoid in my writing. I find that I have in the past overused them, probably because I actually like them. One word I have sworn off is “shard.” "Shard" sounds like what it is, a broken piece of something, but I’ve come to over-use it. It seemed like every time a glass broke or sun was refracted through a window in my prose, I would call it “shards of glass” or, metaphorically, “shards of light.”
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I also avoid certain phrases I used to love as a beginning writer: "visibly shaken" was one I used to look for excuses to use, as in "When she heard him say her name, she was visibly shaken." When I was a child, I adored "gathered up her skirts!" That's got to be what Cinderella did when she fled the Ball, and I was always looking for excuses to have someone gather up her skirts and run away. Do you have such words and phrases on your personal Avoid list?
One member of my writers' peer group can't stand the word "quotidian," which she says no one uses in real life. We were critiquing a novel-in-progress of mine, and another group member said, yes, but that word was used in context in the voice of a character who likes big words. This was an interesting case: no one disputed that a pretentious character can, in quoted dialogue, use words I wouldn't use myself, to fit the personality. But how about in the close third person, as in this novel, where the diction slips between the author's words and the words a character might use or think?
More Free Writing Exercises below and here :
Exercises 1- 20
Exercises 21- 40
Exercses 41 - 60
Exercises 61-80
Exercises 81-100
Exercises 101 - 120
Exercises 121 - 140
Exercises 141 - 160
Exercises 161 - 180
Exercises 181 - 200
Exercises 201 - 240
Exercises 241 - 260
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Here's something especially for teachers-- a free writing prompt of the month: Prompts
Looking for Poetry Writing Exercises? Writenet at Teachers & Writers has some good ones originally planned for young people, but they would make great starters for anyone
For writing exercises for children, click here. Teens can use the ones on this page, or look at my page for teens.
Here's a link to a really interesting haiku exercise from Timothy Russell.
And then there is making fun of writing prompts:McSweeney's has a fairly funny take-off called "Thirteen Writing Prompts" by Dan Wienceck
Rita Marie Keller has a blog called Buried Treasures that is full of writing prompts and links to more writing prompts. " Essays and writing exercises to help you uncover the great writing ideas you already have."
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Exercise #261
All around me as I write this exercise there is great devastation from the natural—possibly human enhanced—disaster, Hurricane Sandy.
Write as if you were present at a great disaster from the past—a fire, the eruption of a volcano. Be a victim or an observer, but try to imagine that disaster as it felt then.
Exercise #262
All around me as I write this exercise there is great devastation from the natural—possibly human enhanced—disaster, Hurricane Sandy.
Write as if you were present at a great disaster from the past—a fire, the eruption of a volcano. Be a victim or an observer, but try to imagine that disaster as it felt then.
Exercise #263
Here's an exercise for stories and personal narratives from story teller/writer Norah Dooley. (See her excellent blog at http://norahdooley.blogspot.com. She is also the host of the Folk Revival Program on WICN radio):
"How about 3...different endings? Look at literature and analyze how any book...ends. Generate a list [of typical book endings and use it to organize what you find in literature.
"The 3 new endings one writes can...be combined into one or you may hit on an ending you would never have thought of without the mechanistic prompts....Rewrite your ending 3 times by adding or substituting....a new bit of action... some of the character's thoughts--a feeling, a wish or a hope a comment on what has changed or is different, a memory a decision. End with a sound, a sight, a smell or a taste [or]describe the main character in action [or] a minor character observed or observing a dialogue."
Exercise #264
Write down one end of the telephone conversation of a stranger. Given the ubiquity of cell phones, this should be easy to find. Then, make up the other half of the dialogue, inventing the second person's words.
Exercise #265
When you think of your hometown or home state, what do you see in your mind's eye as a cinematic panorama? Include visual imagery but also sound associations and rhythmic effects. As you move in closer and closer, what things come into focus for you?
Whose face would you zoom in on first? What is he/she thinking at that moment?
(From Laura Treacy Bentley)
Exercise #266
Make up your own personal ideal beginning-of-winter holiday: If you missed Festivus, check it out. Perhaps you want a modern version of a traditional English Christmas with plum pudding and a crackling fire and snow? Or all the sacred music and none of the selling? Something entirely different? A parody? A new religion? Describe your own, in prose or poetry.
Exercise #267
Write about yourself or a character waking up on the first day of a new year. What has to be faced in the immediate future? In the distant future? From the past? Make this serious or funny. Include any hangovers or regrets- or triumphs- from the previous night.
If you are writing a long project like a memoir or novel, see if you can find a place to fit this in.
Exercise #268
Who's Your Muse?
Put yourself in a pleasant, comfortable space. Imagine what sort of being is likely to help you get your writing underway. Is it a long haired maiden wearing an ancient Greek peplos and carrying a lyre? Is it an old story telling grandfather with tobacco juice in the cracks of his skin around his mouth?
Write a description of your Muse.
Write a conversation between your Muse and you.
Write what the Muse inspires you to write.
Exercise #269
I always have mixed feelings about the holidays that seem to demand my participation whether I want to or not. Yes, we need our celebrations and commemorations; no, I don't much like the enthusiastic selling of vast quantities of chocolates and red ribbon.
How about writing an anti-Valentine story? This could be the tale (or memoir!) of an inappropriately timed break-up, or maybe just an anti-commercialization-of-Valentine's- Day tale.
Or maybe something about love, but not romantic love? Or a tale of the rather obscure real St. Valentine?
Exercise #270
Take a notebook or a netbook or other writing device to some public place-- indoors and warm!--perhaps an airport terminal or the mall. Choose a place where you can sit or lean comfortably for at least ten minutes. Eavesdrop. Listen to people talking. In particular, listen to people unlike you.
If you are well engaged in a project, but, say, have a character who seems wooden on the page (maybe the main character's teenage son), seek out people of the type you're having trouble with and actually transcribe some of what they say.
If you are just looking for new material, try workers in a fast food restaurant talking to each other during a slow time, people before a public performance or religious service, people on line to make purchases. Transcribe as much as you can, even if it seems pretty ordinary.
For example, my son worked as a caddy one summer to earn money for college, and he brought back fascinating conversations he overheard from the older, full-time caddies, several of whom had spent time in prison.
Turn one of these conversations into a personal essay or a story, or use it in your long project.
Exercise #271
Write a passage where a character thinks about the future. Don't do this as simply a preview of the plot. Rather, have the character see the future concretely, in images. Thus, "When he thought of the future, he saw his family gathered for the Seder with his youngest grandson's high voice piping the four questions and the rich smell of pot roast wafting from the kitchen..." Or perhaps, "When she thought of the future at that moment, all she could see was a wide flat plain covered in ash the same gray color as the overcast sky..."
Exercise #272
Part 1
Write a physical action scene. This can be a fight (between two desperate adults, between siblings, between alley cats), or it might be people dancing or workers lifting a beam into place in a log cabin-- anything with large muscle, physical action.
Make a careful effort to keep it visually clear to the reader. It is a procedure; write it step by step. What happens first? What is next? And then? One good technique is to close your eye and create a blank screen in your mind and watch the physical action in your mind.
Part 2
Add dialogue to the scene. Where does it fit best so that it doesn't interrupt the flow of action but feels natural. (The two men struggling are caught up for a moment in a close grip with no one in control, and they hiss at one another: "You'll never get it!" and "Damn you, American swine!"
Part 3
Revise so that you are telling the story in a close third person, keeping to one character's point of view. The action will stay largely the same, and certainly the dialogue, but you may now add a smattering of thoughts or fears or hopes in the mind of the point of view character.
Here's an exercise about endings, compliments of Chris Vera. I especially like his analogy to a painter painting a canvas from left to right.
Christopher says to write the ending first, because it helps to know where you're going before you start on a journey. Of course, as the story progresses, the ending may change, but this is perfectly acceptable and even encouraged!
Writing anything -even short stories- is difficult to do if you attack the story strictly linearly, from beginning to end. Creativity doesn't always work that way. It would be like a painter painting a portrait from left to right. Its often easier to break up writing into smaller chunks. This helps set realistic goals and reduces frustration. This becomes especially relevant in novel length stories and screenplays.
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