Writing exercises

My tutor has said to be me that creating odd scenarios for your character then writing about what they would do or what they would think. I've found this exercise extremely helpful as it's brought up many new things about my character that I hadn't thought about before, especially personality traits. It's very good for character development, even if you don't end up using the specific piece in your finished work.

This is an example of such an exercise I tried where I wrote a scene in which my protagonist was blind:

I think I am sitting on carpet, it is soft and fluffy, though for all I know it could be the fir of a dead animal. I don’t really believe that though because I can smell a strong scent of detergent in the air surrounding me and if my sense of smell can pick that up, then I’m sure the smell of a rotting corpse would be easy enough to spot.

I open my eyes, and it is dark. I blink them shut then open again but nothing. My breath is vacuumed out of my lungs and my head is dizzy. I realise my brain must be shutting down from lack of oxygen as I begin to feel drowsy and I take control and inhale a sizeable gulp of air.

The smell of detergent seems to be strengthening and creating an ill feeling in my stomach. I feel suddenly terrified of everything, I have no idea what or who I am sharing a room with, if anything.

There is a creak in what sounds like the room next to this one – it is a threat.

There is a slight buzzing hum coming from a few metres away from me – it is a bomb.

Every sound I hear sounds threatening.

Every scent I smell I am suspicious of being gas.

I realise very suddenly that I have completely neglected my other senses my entire life and have relied far too heavily on my sight.

I am disoriented and confused and I have no control over what is to happen to me. If someone were to walk into the room now and attack me, all I could do is flail and scream and maybe kick them a few times before they got the better of my loss of sight, and defeated me.