Category: Creative Writing Tips

Creative writing tips and tricks for beginners

Writing Powerful True Short StoriesWriting Powerful True Short Stories

Writing a short story is easy, but writing a powerful short story is difficult. In fact, extremely difficult. Add the word “true” to the whole thing and you might as well have a story which is impossible to write… but if you do write it well, then you have a winner.

True short stories can be awesome to read and they can be boring to read. The difference is clear, and you need to make your ones in the first category. You need to make them powerful ones.

But how do you write a powerful true short story? (more…)

Writing Tip: Use Vivid DescriptionWriting Tip: Use Vivid Description

What is good writing?

Even though the correct answer is that whether a piece of writing is good or not rests entirely with the reader, many people think that good writing is effective writing. And it’s true.

Good writing follows a flow. Good writing is focused. Good writing is written for a purpose. Good writing is grammatically correct and readable. And…

Good writing uses vivid description.

And I hear you saying: “what is vivid description anyway?”… So here we are!

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Why You Should Write Like You Talk (And How I Defeated Writers’ Block)Why You Should Write Like You Talk (And How I Defeated Writers’ Block)

For a whole week, I was struck with writers’ block. I couldn’t write blog posts. Only blog posts. I could write fiction well. I could write essays and letters well. But blog posts and articles? No. I tried, tried and tried some more. And nothing happened.

I had about five post drafts waiting, each of them filled up with only three paragraphs. I had great ideas. I had great inspiration. The post was so good that I couldn’t wait to write it. However, when I opened that blank document and started to write, I got a feeling.

A vague feeling.

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Writing Tip: Finding the Balance of Narrative and DialogueWriting Tip: Finding the Balance of Narrative and Dialogue

In the world of fiction writing, there are many things to explore. Subplots, conflict, POV, characters, you name it. But have you heard of narrative and dialogue? If you’ve got a story, you’ve got to narrate it. If you’ve got a set of characters, they have to converse, i.e., talk. Talking in fiction writing is known as dialogue, and narrating or describing anything is known as narrative.

Now where’s the problem in that?

Too much of a good thing is usually a bad thing, and it applies here. Some writers use narrative a lot. Their characters aren’t talkers. It’s just page after page of narrative, how they did this, their journey, their perils, the people they met, the surroundings, and so on. All description. At which point your story looks like an essay which no one wants to read, rather than an amazing novel.

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Writing Tip: Experiment with Free-writingWriting Tip: Experiment with Free-writing

Free-writing. What is that? You write freely? It isn’t a technical description, but yes, the meaning is similar. Write whatever comes in your head. Just write. That’s all. But even though it’s simple, it’s powerful.

But what is it useful for?

Have you ever been stuck? I mean, you opened your word processor and freaked out at seeing the blank page? Did you have that feeling of writers’ block? The feeling of not being able to write a single word? If it did happen to you, it’s not a matter of worry. It happens to everyone.

The reason it happens is usually that the brain is focused intently upon what you’re going to write. Writing is a mental process. If you get too focused and tense, wondering how you’re going to commit pen down to paper (virtually), then of course, that feeling will happen.

So yes, it’s no big deal not being able to write. But how do you get rid of that feeling so that you actually get some writing done?

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Why Hunting for Plots is WorthlessWhy Hunting for Plots is Worthless

Plots are limited, and that’s a fact. If you think you can make up a unique plot all by yourself, think again. I’m not saying that it isn’t possible – maybe you can do it — but it’s as difficult as climbing Mt. Everest without oxygen.

Why is this so? Because there have been writers for centuries and centuries, and every plot you think of has already been done, been written or been told in one form or another. The details may be different – the characters may be different, and the setting may be different. But the plot will be similar; the issue of plagiarization will rise.

It’s a big claim to make. Is your writing original? Maybe you struggle with plots. Maybe you can’t seem to find a suitable plot.

Maybe it doesn’t fit.

Maybe it seems like it’s been done before, and many times.

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