Coffee break creative writing exercise: Handbag or wallet?

You don't need to spend hours on your writing to feel creative. Fuel your imagination wherever you are with our 15-minute coffee break exercise.

The contents of these can give a clue to their owner. Set your timer for five minutes and then jot down a brief description of the handbag or wallet and a list of contents. Include three things that are unusual or unexpected.

Set the timer for another five minutes and write a biography of the person. What do they most want? What is their greatest fear? What is their greatest secret – what don’t they want people to know about them?

For your remaining five minutes create the first few paragraphs of a story. What has happened to make the person suspect that their guilty secret is about to be exposed?