I’ll be
focusing on creative fiction in this post (mainly short stories and
novels), but poetry, (auto)biography and creative non-fiction are all
other forms of creative writing. Here’s a couple of definitions:
Creative writing is writing that expresses the writer’s thoughts and feelings in an imaginative, often unique, and poetic way.
(Sil.org – What is Creative Writing?)
Writing is a form of personal freedom. It frees us from
the mass identity we see all around us. In the end, writers will write
not to be outlaw heroes of some underculture but mainly to save
themselves, to survive as individuals.
(Don DeLillo)
Writing of any sort is hard, but rewarding work – you’ll gain a huge
amount of satisfaction from a finished piece. Being creative can also be
difficult and challenging at times, but immensely fun.
How to get started
Many people think that just because they’ve read a lot of stories (or
even if they haven’t!) they should be able to write one. But as Nigel
Watts writes:
There is a common belief that because most of us are
literate and fluent, there is no need to serve an apprenticeship if we
want to become a successful wordsmith. … That’s what I thought until I
tried to write my first novel. I soon learnt that a novel, like a piece
of furniture, has its own set of requirements, laws of construction that
have to be learnt. Just because I had read plenty of novels didn’t mean
I could write one, any more than I could make a chair because I had sat
on enough of them.
(Nigel Watts, Teach Yourself Writing a Novel)
By all means, if you’re keen, jump straight in and have a go: but
don’t be too disappointed if your first efforts aren’t as good as you’d
hoped. To extend Watts’ metaphor, you may find that these early attempts
have wonky legs and an unsteady seat. There are lots of great books
aimed at new fiction writers, and I’d strongly recommend buying or
borrowing one of these:
I’d also recommend starting small. Rather than beginning with an epic
fantasy trilogy, a family saga spanning five generations, or an entire
adventure series … have a go at a short story or a poem.
And if you end up chewing your pen and staring at a sheet of paper,
or gazing at a blank screen for hours, try kickstarting your writing
with a short exercise. Don’t stop to think too much about it … just get
going, without worrying about the quality of the work you produce.
Tips and tricks for beginners
-
Do some short exercises to stretch your writing muscles – if you’re short of ideas, read the Daily Writing Tips article on “Writing Bursts”.
Many new creative writers find that doing the washing up or weeding the
garden suddenly looks appealing, compared to the effort of sitting down
and putting words onto the page. Force yourself to get through these
early doubts, and it really will get easier. Try to get into the habit
of writing every day, even if it’s just for ten minutes.
-
If you’re stuck for ideas, carry a notebook everywhere and write down your observations.
You’ll get some great lines of dialogue by keeping your ears open on
the bus or in cafes, and an unusual phrase may be prompted by something
you see or smell.
-
Work out the time of day when you’re at your most creative.
For many writers, this is first thing in the morning – before all the
demands of the day jostle for attention. Others write well late at
night, after the rest of the family have gone to bed. Don’t be afraid to
experiment!
-
Don’t agonize over getting it right. All writers have
to revise and edit their work – it’s rare that a story, scene or even a
sentence comes out perfectly the first time. Once you’ve completed the
initial draft, leave the piece for a few days – then come back to it
fresh, with a red pen in hand. If you know there are problems with your
story but can’t pinpoint them, ask a fellow writer to read through it
and give feedback.
-
HAVE FUN! Sometimes, we writers can end up feeling that
our writing is a chore, something that “must” be done, or something to
procrastinate over for as long as possible. If your plot seems wildly
far-fetched, your characters bore you to tears and you’re convinced that
a five-year old with a crayon could write better prose … take a break.
Start a completely new project, something which is purely for fun. Write
a poem or a 60-word “mini saga”. Just completing a small finished piece
can help if you’re bogged down in a longer story.
Online resources
NaNoWriMo
Every November, hundreds of thousands of people just like you do
something extraordinary: they write a novel in just thirty days. Want to
be part of the coffee-fueled, manic-typing, adrenaline-rush that is
National Novel Writing Month?
(NaNoWriMo for short). Make sure you sign up by October 31st. The
“rules” state that you can’t start writing Chapter 1 until 00.01am on
November 1st but you can spend as long as you like before that planning…
Authors’ websites and blogs
I read lots of websites and blogs written by authors and these give real
(sometimes harsh) insights into what it’s like to write professionally.
One which has been a strong favourite of mine for many years is Holly
Lisle’s. Check out her
advice for writers and her
weblog. She also has an excellent newsletter which I subscribe to, and some
very thorough and helpful e-books on various aspects of writing available for purchase.
Competitions listings
Having a theme and a deadline can make a startling difference to a writer’s motivation! If you’re in the UK,
Sally Quilford’s competition listings are a comprehensive and regularly-updated list.
I Should Be Writing podcast
This is a practical and inspiring podcast:
I Should Be Writing by Mur Lafferty.
She describes the podcast as “For wanna-be fiction writers, by a
wanna-be fiction writer” (though since starting it several years ago,
she’s had considerable success selling her short stories) and focuses on
science fiction and fantasy.
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Morning is definitely the time where I am most creative. I think it’s because my mind is the freshest and the least cluttered at this time of day.
from my life experience. Wether one could reasonably term such writing as being creative or not I don’t necessarily concern myself with.
The creative aspect which I believe is part of a writing nevertheless
may be found in how I address people with careful consideration
regarding how I may come across to them. There is no use in trying to be helpful if The way I say things registers in the readers mind that I
am being arrogant and self serving. Best regards,—Doug Rosbury
The tip that I would toss into the hat is to be willing to write garbage prose in order to get an idea out, however roughly. Just get it down on paper in a form that will let you recognize it later. You can edit it tomorrow — IF you wrote it today.
I go now to teach myself how to blog from an outline.
Working on getting the most lethal intensity out of my characters and the situations they find themselves in no matter what the tone or the subject matter is. I see this now and then in what I read and I must emulate this and still remain with feet on the ground and sane
I find the comments much more helpful than the article. All the opinions teach you that writing is as you make it, nothing more.
Lee Barker
Art of Fiction also includes some great exercises. In particular, I liked a long sentence exercise: Write three effective long sentences, each at least one typed page, each involving a different emotion. Several other exercises develop the technique of leading the reader paragraph by paragraph and establishing tone. These exercises include writing about the discovery of a dead body before the body is discovered or writing about an old woman whose detestable husband has died but without mentioning the husband or the death.
By Sara Roberts
If you walk along the river you see a great cliff and next to that cliff is the house in which sherry lives. Now sherry is a nice girl, simple not to bright and not very pretty, but she is nice. She has three family members no of which are related to her but they are the closest people that she knows. There is a cat named Herbert, a doll named Freena, and her best friend Sherrie, who is a speck of dust that she sees float by when she needs help.
One time sherry was playing wit her cat Herbert and they were on the edge of the cliff seeing who could get the closest to the edge. (Of coarse Herbert would never go along with the plan because he was such a scardy cat, so sherry helped him with that problem by throwing him as far as she could. Lucky for Herbert she couldn’t throw that far.) Now on this particular day sherry did not want Herbert to win so she would take an extra turn after her friend went. But this time she was running so fast and right before she could stop her friend Sherrie floated by and got right ion sherry’s way! This threw sherry of balance and caused her to wobble off over the edge of the cliff. Now I understand what you’re feeling now, how could Sherrie do such a thing! But indeed it was better off that Sherrie do that because right as she did there was a tree that fell down on the other side of the world right exactly where Sherry was standing and if she had tried to go any farther the tree would’ve squished her flat! But now back to sherry, as she fell down the side of the cliff, a great big eagle soared over the sun. Sherry was so scared that she couldn’t even think to cry out for help! But the eagle saw her and swooped down to her rescue, and caught sherry in its mouth. Granted the bird had no intent to save sherry, but she had no knowledge of that. She was merely glad she did not fall to her death. And as the giant bird carried her away, sherry thought brilliantly to her self, ‘My, what a lucky person I am to have so many people try to help me and be my friends.’ And with that she was dropped onto the birds nest where two tiny baby eagles where sitting waiting to be fed. Sherry thought they wanted to be her friends too, so she went over to play with the youngling’s and just as they started to wrestle, one of them bit off her hand. All this was so shocking she screamed and jumped out of the nest! But she left her hand behind her. And as she fell threw the sky for the second time today, she realized that Sherrie was the one who pushed her off the cliff and she wondered. ‘Why would my best friends do something like that?’ but sherry didn’t know why. So as she fell even farther down the side of the cliff, a breeze picked her up and flung her over the Grand Canyon. And then another wind flew her to the Great Wall of China, then over to the Eiffel Tower.
I am a technical writer who is toying with the idea to try my luck in creative writing for “fun and for legacy” at the same time. Why not?
Sometimes writing helps me in expressing clearly what I am supposed to say but cannot because I am already drown with mixed emotions.
In case some people are not aware of this – writers are now highly in demand as content writers and the like.
So, try writing …
a beginner,but I do enjoy it.
This is the first time that I have been to this website.Reading what
you have written here has helped me relize that I am not alone.
Finaly I have found a spot where I will be able to get the help needed to my writing straightened out. Thanks.
Thank you for your time and consideration in regard to a link to your website.
Sincerely,
Matt James – Project Representative
for me you should just think of an emotion or a situation beetween charachters and then get a setting that best shows that like if you want to have a really scardey cat character put them in a dungeon or something, i came up with this myself but i sort of like it but maybe im just imagining that it helps
yea i know that was a huge run on
who whichs to be that way, but people, things get in the way, and now I find myself STUCK, with lots of things I neither need or want, I feel as if I’m carrying my life’s burden on my back, with no way to get rid of it. My freedom depends on me getting rid of this stuff and getting back to me–my very own freedom. I think I need just a little help. I need an outlet for my fustrations, so I write a lot about it. I’m trying to work it thro people, this is not easy. Thanks for listening.
Thoughts and ideas can take years to develope into the final concept that you desire to put into words. Relax, breathe deeply, be patient and use what you know. The words will come when they are ready and often when most unexpected.
-live long and prosper
i am a man and i don’t know how to write a romance novel that is not feminine. i need help on creating the structure of the story.
here are the basic ideas that i have
” ” studying abroad in japan and my character is just starting to get adjusted to college life. he is somewhat of a loner and has no friends.
I’m trying to find the right way to make a romantic spark that will stat my characters start my characters social life.
Also i need to find a way to write in my character’s past without interrupting the flow of the story.
i cant find a way to make the romantic moments…solid… make the reader feel the emotion of the scene.
would you think i have the potential to be a writer?
i am planning to pursue a masters degree and i am not yet decided of what to take up. is creative writing a good choice for me?
i will appreciate your immediate reply because i need to decide immediately before the course in my chosen school closed, and i will respect your opinion about it whether its negative or positive.
regards
I’m really confused, and if anyone could aid me with this, it would be very helpful.
start and how to end a creative writing!!!
Thanks.
I also just read that Malcolm Gladwell in his most recent book “Outliers” has stated that to “get good” at something you need to have done it for 10,000 hours. That is a huge and daunting number but when you break it down it makes more sense. That’s about 3-4 years of 8 hour days, or 10 years worth of a few hours a day. Most professionals can get that under their belt easily, but it does re-emphasise something I’m always saying, you have to write every day no matter what.
Wonderful blog, keep up the good work.
I too want to join the world of writers, but I don’t know how and from where to start?
Till now, whatever I have written is my personal diary.
So, please lend me a helping hand and provide your valuable suggestions…
I am sure it would help a lot…
Thanks
Jitin
You can mail me @ jitinsukhnani@gmail.com
me to improve my skills in creative writing , therefore i would request daily writing tips to provide me recources and samples of creative writing.
how and from where get started. I would very nice if i get one method to follow.
My self discovery venture led me to this site; I must confess it’s given me direction, a direction in which only a conscious effort can lead.
I am fifteen years old and I have decided (today actually) that I would like to write novels, and i’d rather do it sooner than later so I can get them published and all that jazz. It will mostly be fantasy, because I absolutely adore fantasy novels and I can read them anywhere, anytime. I’m having trouble trying to come up with a different plot though, because with fantasy, some novels are quite similar to others and I would really like mine to be completely unique. Does that make any sense? Please email me on ideas at dani_-i@hotmail.com
Your ideas will be greatly appreciated!! Thanks for taking the time to even read this!
Being a writer means also facing your death…but it’s better to die fighting for the truth and justice than living with your guilt forever.
We are the minds beneath the pen’s mist.
=JOURNALIST=
feel free to contact me:diploetry@yahoo.com
we might share ideas
Thanks a ton.
I think creative writing depends on the individual. We’re all different so we are going to think, interpret and act different.
Your the biggest critic of your own work so if you can impress yourself, it’s more than likely others will enjoy it too..
Thanks Heaps!
couse i feel it somethimes it`s hard to write u know the writing subject it`s defficult from others subjects ,,,,, so help me to learn in easy way inshallah,,,,thanks,,
my regards .
And I have a friend who is my “writing buddy”, and I love her writing to pieces, but whenever I read it I always feel so downtrodden. I feel like I’ll never be as good as she is, but without her I don’t think I’d have the willpower to write at all.
What can I do? I’m desperate to just write all my ideas down, but I feel like there’s something blocking their path.
-Jade, UK
Warm regards,
Faith must find ME again
God Bless You.
Thanks a lot for tips and also the great links!
skills especially creative writing.Therefore itis necessary to understand these techniqes.
the spelling and the grammer? I thinked
writers need to be good at the writing, no?
It makes me very disgusting to see so much
errers from them who’s supposed to be good
with the words. I pull my hare out. What is
going on with you peepl?
No, Sara, you shouldn’t write whatever comes into your head. Heads are renowned for being filled with rubbish and nobody wants to have to read it just because it’s been written down. One writes because one has something to say. That’s quite different to recording what comes to mind. Unfortunately, publishers’ slush piles are packed with the thoughts of writers who wrote whatever junk they had in their minds.
Too many aspiring writers think that because they can pen a few words that they’re worth reading by others. Not so. Writing takes about twenty years for the average apprentice, and most people aren’t up to it. The reason Woody Allen couldn’t find a plumber at the weekend was because too many potential plumbers were in their garrets scribbling muck that came into their ‘minds’. Hemingway put it best: “Writing is easy. All you do is sit at your typewriter and bleed.” Plumbing is even easier still, but you have to be prepared to work weekends.
We have one thing in common… I’m also a huge fan of Holly Lisle’s write ups… I am a freelance article writer.
Two things which I really find helpful in your post are: keeping a notepad with you to jot down ideas and proofread your content after at least a couple of days… if you read you text same day or even the next day, you will hardly hit the mark.
Thanks,
Jenna Twain
I find this article very useful. I am an aspiring riter form Kolkata and want to write for big publishing houses . Howver as I have no liinks to publishers I find my book hard to sell. Any takers?
I am a crazy lover of poems & creative writings . Creative world is so beautifull writers expressor open their heart in words. I would like to share my own ideas ,thoghts in front of you. However as i have no link to publish my ideas.
thanks
avantika
It was a dark and stormy night.
i just remember one thing nature’s beauty , happiness,lot of fantastic things which gives us best moments
Unless they go back to school and learn how to spell, these people should be told the truth for their own good: they are wasting their efforts by trying to write illiterate garbage: they are running before they can walk. The bare truth can do wonders for people.
As for the creative part, as I’ve said, it’s a talent which you either have or have not – period. It’s like a singing voice.
Maybe i just get too wordy ^
writing comes naturally to me, so i dont work that much to write something. but lets use a example: school, lets say math, someone may be really good at math naturally, and somebody may be really good at math and not know it because they have never done it, you just got to give yourself and other people a chance.
so just start writing, try different techniques and genres because you could find a hidden talent
Phil South
Creative Genius Programme
It’s really very helpful in writing personal experience, essay, speeches and technical writing. Initially, we have to just write rather then too much thinking like how i can write?. Think positive whatever thought comes in your mind just write, because it will take time in perfection. But this procedure gives you boost in writing. After some days you will find yourself as a good writer.
Short stories require different techniques. New writers can often find writing short stories to be more difficult than they first imagined because short stories are often mistaken as easier to create than novels.
The main reason for this is that new writers think that, because short stories are short, they require less writing technique. In fact, short stories are equally, if not more demanding to create, *because* they are short.
Shortness is not always easy to create. I have discovered this on many occasions. They require a lot to be moulded into a short space. Where as novels allow space for writers to create scene, back story, build characters, create set pieces, etc. over a large canvas, e.g. 95k words plus, short stories require all this in under 3k words (some times more).
Back story, character building, scene setting, etc. all have to be done in a few sentences throughout the story, but mostly, and this is where short stories differ greatly from novels, these things will have to have happened *before the story began*. There is often little room to pause and establish back story as there is in novels.
In brief, short stories begin *after* the main action has occurred. Novels begin before (just before some times) the main action as occurred.
So, new writers should give short stories a go but not because you think they are an easy option to writing novels. They are equal, if not more demanding, for any writer.
One of the best “Tips and tricks for beginners” I can offer because it works so well is this: Begin copying out in long hand the first chapter of your favourite novel. Try it! Magic happens.
step by step of how to publish a book