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6 Tips For Your First Jab At Creative Writing
< < < 5 Writing Myths Busted
The world of creative writing is an ever expanding one as stories or genres continue to evolve in a natural reaction to the changes in time. Having confirmed writing skills, however, is not enough to succeed in creative writing. Having passion for it is more important than having technical expertise. Love for creative writing, and not adherence to the grammatical elements, is what will ultimately guide you to doing things properly and successfully.
6 Tips for Your First Jab at Creative Writing
Dont Stop Reading Its impossible to become a writer, much less a creative writer, without being a reader first. Discovering your love for writing shouldnt stop you from further devouring reading materials but should instead encourage you to diversify your taste. If you want to become good in creative writing, you need to broaden your horizons. Dont limit yourself to reading one genre because this can only provide you with limited knowledge. If you want to improve, read everything that you can get your hands on.
Dont Stop Learning You can ask Stephen King, Danielle Steele, Dan Brown, and JK Rowling, and all of them will surely tell you that theyre not perfect writers and will never be. No one can be perfect in any way, and if you allow your writing to stagnate, readers will soon get bored with your work. Of course, before you can continue learning about creative writing, you first have to acknowledge the fact that your writing is definitely imperfect. Get past your ego if you want to be a successful creative writer.
Choosing a Topic Youve heard countless people tell you that to be a successful writer, you need to write about you know, and thats true. But more importantly than that, you have to write about something you love or something you hate, just as long as its a topic that arouses passion in your heart and brings your pen aflame! If you find something that interests you but you dont have adequate knowledge about then research it by all means! Research, research, and research, until you can safely say that youre writing something you know and love.
Build Your Vocabulary True enough, Ernest Hemingway earned fame by using poignantly but sometimes brutally simple words for narrating events in his stories. But building your vocabulary surely wouldnt hurt, would it? Broadening your vocabulary and discovering its etymology can be one of the ways for you to develop a story idea or an effective way of setting the tone or mood for a particular chapter. But more important than that, building your vocabulary will reduce the instances when you cant just quite say the word you want but its already in the tip of your tongue.
Dont Let It Get Away If an idea suddenly occurs to you, and it seems excellent for a future story, write it down. If youre walking down the street and you suddenly think of a good dialogue for your characters, write it down. Dont let anything get away because the human mind is a tricky thing, and it might be impossible for you to recall exactly what occurred to you just three minutes ago. Good story ideas are a dime in a dozen, but great ideas are definitely few, and who knows if what youve written down will one day become one of the latter?
And last but not the least, NEVER STOP WRITING. Don't make publication of your work the ends and means for your writing. Write because you love to write!
< < < 5 Writing Myths Busted
BONUS : 7 Secrets For Beating Writers Block
Copyright © Shaun R. Fawcett
Most people can easily identify with the dreaded "writer's block". It is a well-known phenomenon that just about everyone has faced at least onece in their lives.
I used to suffer from writer's block, big time! Thus, I know through personal anguish and suffering, that it is definitely not a pleasant experience.
Especially when the due date for one's project or paper is getting closer by the day; and the boss asks you "how's that project going" every time you don't manage to avoid him/her as you sneak down the side of the corridor.
WRITER'S BLOCK IS FEAR-BASED
Writer's block is a fear-based feeling. For whatever reason, many of us have this incredible fear of committing ourselves in writing whenever we are faced with a blank page or computer screen.
Fear no longer! I'm here to tell you that writer's block can be beaten! Every time.
Just realizing that writer's block is really an irrational fear that keeps us from putting pen to paper is half the battle. It's actually a fear of the unknown, often coupled with a fear of failure.
We secretly wonder just what exactly is going to come out of this pen/keyboard, and when it does, will we be revealing some kind of incompetent idiot who doesn't know what they're talking about?
On the other hand, if we have done the proper preparation, our rational mind knows that we can do it just like we did it all of those other times before.
Unfortunately, fear often wins the day when it comes to writing. As I stated above, I suffered from writer's block for many years and it was not the most enjoyable of experiences.
THE 7 SECRETS
Fortunately, somewhere along the way I did manage to develop a few tricks to overcome writers block. Some are obvious, others are not. Here are my personal hard-earned practical secrets for overcoming writer's block:
1. Don't Write Too Soon
Before trying to write, it is important to prepare mentally for a few hours or days (depending on the size of the task) by mulling the writing project over in the back of your mind. (Just as athletes don't like to peak too soon, writers shouldn't write too soon either!). Dont worry; your sub-conscious mind will be working away on the problem while you are doing other things.
2. Do The Preparation
Read over whatever background material you have so that it is fresh in your mind. I read through all background material carefully marking important points with a yellow hi-liter and then review it all before I start to write. This is the material that your sub-conscious mind need so it can do its job in the background while you are doing other things.
3. Develop A Simple Outline
Before sitting down to write, put together a simple point-form list of all of the key points you want to cover, and then organize them in the order in which you are going to cover them. (I know, I know... your Grade 6 teacher told you the same thing... but it actually does work).
4. Keep Research Documents Close By
When you sit down to write, make sure that all of your key background materials are spread out close at hand. This will allow you to quickly refer to them without interrupting the writing flow once you get going. I keep as many of the source documents as possible wide open, and within eyesight for quick and easy reference.
5. Just Start Writing
Yes, that's exactly what you do. Once you have prepared mentally and done your homework you are ready to write, even if your writer's block is saying "no". Just start writing any old thing that comes to mind. Go with the natural flow. In no time at all you will get into a rhythm, and the words will just keep on flowing.
6. Don't Worry About the First Draft
Once the words start to flow, don't worry about making it perfect the first time. Remember, it's your first draft. You will be able to revise it later. The critical thing at the outset is to write those thoughts down as your mind dictates them to you.
7. Work From An Example Or Template
Get an actual sample of the type of document that you need to write. It could be something that you wrote previously, or it could be something from an old working file, or a clipping from a magazine article, or a sales brochure you picked up. As long as it is the same type of document that you are writing. Whatever it is, just post it up directly in your line of sight while you are working. You'll be amazed at how it helps the words and ideas flow. The main thing is to have an example to act as a sort of visual template.
In my experience this last point is the ultimate secret for overcoming writer's block.
To help with this, be on the lookout for good examples of writing that you may see in newspapers and magazines, and clip out the useful ones for future reference.
Copyright © Shaun R. Fawcett
Most people can easily identify with the dreaded "writer's block". It is a well-known phenomenon that just about everyone has faced at least onece in their lives.
I used to suffer from writer's block, big time! Thus, I know through personal anguish and suffering, that it is definitely not a pleasant experience.
Especially when the due date for one's project or paper is getting closer by the day; and the boss asks you "how's that project going" every time you don't manage to avoid him/her as you sneak down the side of the corridor.
WRITER'S BLOCK IS FEAR-BASED
Writer's block is a fear-based feeling. For whatever reason, many of us have this incredible fear of committing ourselves in writing whenever we are faced with a blank page or computer screen.
Fear no longer! I'm here to tell you that writer's block can be beaten! Every time.
Just realizing that writer's block is really an irrational fear that keeps us from putting pen to paper is half the battle. It's actually a fear of the unknown, often coupled with a fear of failure.
We secretly wonder just what exactly is going to come out of this pen/keyboard, and when it does, will we be revealing some kind of incompetent idiot who doesn't know what they're talking about?
On the other hand, if we have done the proper preparation, our rational mind knows that we can do it just like we did it all of those other times before.
Unfortunately, fear often wins the day when it comes to writing. As I stated above, I suffered from writer's block for many years and it was not the most enjoyable of experiences.
THE 7 SECRETS
Fortunately, somewhere along the way I did manage to develop a few tricks to overcome writers block. Some are obvious, others are not. Here are my personal hard-earned practical secrets for overcoming writer's block:
1. Don't Write Too Soon
Before trying to write, it is important to prepare mentally for a few hours or days (depending on the size of the task) by mulling the writing project over in the back of your mind. (Just as athletes don't like to peak too soon, writers shouldn't write too soon either!). Dont worry; your sub-conscious mind will be working away on the problem while you are doing other things.
2. Do The Preparation
Read over whatever background material you have so that it is fresh in your mind. I read through all background material carefully marking important points with a yellow hi-liter and then review it all before I start to write. This is the material that your sub-conscious mind need so it can do its job in the background while you are doing other things.
3. Develop A Simple Outline
Before sitting down to write, put together a simple point-form list of all of the key points you want to cover, and then organize them in the order in which you are going to cover them. (I know, I know... your Grade 6 teacher told you the same thing... but it actually does work).
4. Keep Research Documents Close By
When you sit down to write, make sure that all of your key background materials are spread out close at hand. This will allow you to quickly refer to them without interrupting the writing flow once you get going. I keep as many of the source documents as possible wide open, and within eyesight for quick and easy reference.
5. Just Start Writing
Yes, that's exactly what you do. Once you have prepared mentally and done your homework you are ready to write, even if your writer's block is saying "no". Just start writing any old thing that comes to mind. Go with the natural flow. In no time at all you will get into a rhythm, and the words will just keep on flowing.
6. Don't Worry About the First Draft
Once the words start to flow, don't worry about making it perfect the first time. Remember, it's your first draft. You will be able to revise it later. The critical thing at the outset is to write those thoughts down as your mind dictates them to you.
7. Work From An Example Or Template
Get an actual sample of the type of document that you need to write. It could be something that you wrote previously, or it could be something from an old working file, or a clipping from a magazine article, or a sales brochure you picked up. As long as it is the same type of document that you are writing. Whatever it is, just post it up directly in your line of sight while you are working. You'll be amazed at how it helps the words and ideas flow. The main thing is to have an example to act as a sort of visual template.
In my experience this last point is the ultimate secret for overcoming writer's block.
To help with this, be on the lookout for good examples of writing that you may see in newspapers and magazines, and clip out the useful ones for future reference.
