Exercise 1: Scene Rewrite in 3 POVs
Scene Prompt: A character walks into a crowded room and realizes someone he/she fears is there.
1. First Person
The laughter and chatter hit me first—too loud, too close. I squeezed between bodies; my shoulders tensed like I was expecting a blow. Then I saw him. My breath snagged in my throat. There, by the fireplace, swirling a glass of wine like nothing was wrong. The room tilted. Someone jostled me, and I stumbled, but I couldn’t look away. His lips curled, just slightly, like he’d been waiting. Run screamed my nerves. But my feet were roots, my pulse a trapped bird.
2. Third Person
The crowd parted just enough for Ana to spot the razor-sharp line of his suit jacket across the room. Her fingers went numb around her wineglass. Two years. Two years, and he still stood like a blade; all edges, no give. The din of voices faded to an underwater hum. He hadn’t noticed her yet. She could slip out, but the exit was behind him. A man beside her laughed, sudden as a gunshot. Don’t look up, she begged silently. But the universe had never listened.
3. Second Person
You adjust your collar, the room’s heat sticking your shirt to your back. Laughter bubbles around you, glasses clinking, someone’s perfume too sweet. Then near the balcony. That walk, that tilt of the head. Your stomach drops. They haven’t seen you yet. You could turn, but what if they notice? Your hand flexes, empty. You should’ve brought a weapon or a drink. Something to hold onto. The crowd shifts, and their gaze flicks up directly at you. Too late.
Exercise 2: Describe a character who is jealous without using the word jealous.
1. First Person
I force a laugh at his joke, but my teeth grind behind my smile. She touches his arm, just a brush of fingers and he doesn’t pull away. He never pulls away from her. My coffee’s gone cold, but I gulp it anyway, bitter as the lie I tell myself: I don’t care. When he leans in to whisper something to her, my knuckles whiten around my cup. Stupid. I should’ve known. He only looks at me like that when she’s not here.
2. Second Person
You notice how his eyes linger on her laugh, right? That little crinkle at the corner of his mouth; yours used to cause that. Now you sit there, stirring your drink until the ice melts, counting how many times he touches her elbow in one conversation. Three. Your chest burns. You could say something, but then you’d be the crazy one, wouldn’t you? So you swallow it down, sharp as broken glass.
3. Third Person Limited
Emma pretended to scroll through her phone, but her gaze kept snagging on them—on him, specifically, and the way he angled his body toward Lila like a sunflower to light. His old sweatshirt, the one he’d “lost” last month, was draped over Lila’s shoulders. Emma’s throat tightened. She remembered the exact texture of that fabric, the way it smelled like his cologne and, faintly, of her laundry detergent. Now it would smell like her. She stabbed at her screen, leaving a hairline crack.
Exercise 3: Voice Check (First-person POV)
Write a paragraph in first-person from the character had made an accident
My hands won’t stop shaking. The glass is everywhere where tiny, glittering shards scattered across the kitchen tiles like broken stars. Mom’s favorite vase. The one she bought in Italy, the one I wasn’t even supposed to touch. I scramble to pick up the pieces, but the sharp edges bite into my fingers. Stupid. So stupid. I should’ve been more careful. Footsteps echo down the hall, and my stomach drops. She’ll know. She’ll know.
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