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| Greetings and welcome to what I like to call ‘Creative writing 101’. Now, a little bit of information before you bite my head off: That term, ‘Creative writing 101’ is a loaded term; And I’ll let you in on a little secret by saying that in all actuality, *Grabs the nearest megaphone* There IS NO formula to writing!! If there were, we’d all be the next J.R.R. Tolkein or Stephen King. However here you will be able to slowly begin to piece the puzzle together and start to open up yourself to more and more ideas of how to help your writing as well as help others with their writing.
The following is a collection of tips and tricks that I have thought of and have borrowed from others over the years. Not all of them were said by me, however all of them do reflect my opinion. I do not pressure any writer to view my opinion as the only right way. However all tips, I hope, will be of help. If you have a specific subject that has not been addressed yet that you would like to see posted please Email me the request and I will do my best to add onto the literature that you see below. |
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| all content is copyright to katherine 'hoshi' kettelhut & textured pavement studios unless otherwise noted. |
| /./Creative Writing 101\.\ |
| >>All poetry has to rhyme/meter
>>Each piece of writing must have layers upon layers of meaning >>You must follow grammar and punctuation avidly >>You must write something profound >>Everything must be formatted perfectly !!WRONG!! |
| You as the Writer |
| Ego: |
| 1. Just because you’ve written for a longer amount of time does NOT make you an expert.
If you ever attend an RT of any sort, that means that you are, in fact, admitting that you don’t know everything. Otherwise you wouldn’t be there to work on getting to be a better writer. 2. PLEASE Care about what you write. To make any value come out of any piece of art, you must put a part of your soul into it. 3. Enjoy it! Even if you’re a horrible writer. Enjoy doing it and work to get better. This is another misconception. When you sit down to write, do NOT be afraid to write junk. If you get to thinking that all of your writing HAS to be profound, has to be perfect, it will do nothing but constipate the creative process. 4. No one knows what creativity is. If they did, there would undoubtedly be a pill to trigger the neurons in your brain to make everyone more creative . . . I would hate to see that day come. 5. If you have a Genre inside of you, go for it! You already have the hardest part of the job figured out: Who your audience is. 6. You have to read a lot to be a good writer. Not the other way around. Don’t think “oh, I wont read anything at ALL because it will spoil my own creativity.” . . . if anything, it stops your writing all together. Don’t get to thinking “Everything under the sun has been written about, I can’t write anything original.” WRONG! The story might have been told already, but no one has ever heard it the way YOU have told it. 7. Write about what you know and what you love. Forget all of the other people out there. As a writer, you should please yourself before you try to please everyone else. If you don’t, you end up not caring. That’s not what we want. |
| Criticism: |
| 1. Take a lot of it, take it often, but take it with a grain of salt. There are three types of writers when it comes to critiques. Those who take EVERY piece of criticism and change their story/poem to make everyone but them happy, those who take none at all because of pride, and those who take a little and leave a little.
Constructive criticism is your friend. One of the most important things about writing is: if you ask for constructive criticism, don't complain if someone gives you advice you feel isn't right. You're asking them for their opinion. Take all advice into account, and if you feel what they give you isn't right for the story, then don't be afraid to tell yourself that you don't want to use it. Remember that in the end it's your story and everyone is going to have different opinions of where to take it. This aside, do not feel that this an excuse to skip over proper grammar techniques. If you're showing a person a story, it's most likely to show them your hard work and hope that they enjoy it. Writers grow a lot out of just getting advice or someone maybe catching a mistake in their writing. Accept it graciously and use the advice you feel is right for the story. 2. Getting a beta reader is good (a necessity in fact - I have several for EACH story), but it's important to listen to them. If a beta reader tells you something is wrong, or is confused by an ambiguity in your writing, you need to make an adjustment, NOT explain what you meant to the beta reader, and figure it's done. It's YOUR job to make the piece understandable to the readers, not THEIR job to try to figure out what you mean. Once they have to do that, it jars them from the story, and you've lost them. No matter how well you write, how much you love it—there will always be something that you could have done better. Defending yourself against pointless criticism is understandable - but if the person is maybe trying to give helpful criticism and just doesn't know how to state it- reread it a couple times to make sure before responding. Sometimes it's hard to critique and it not sound like you're putting it down. 3. When you have people reading your stuff they are all bound to have opinions on what should happen or how something should be done. If they all comment on different things (not spelling errors, those should always be corrected) then you can pretty much chalk what they are saying up to how they want to write things, but if a great majority of them have a problem with something then it might need to be changed. 4. You should be your own best critic, not your worst. [I have a problem with this, myself] After you have gotten feedback from others, sit down and re-read over your stuff two or three times and see what it is that YOU think needs to be changed. Keep the critiques of others in the back of your mind, but mostly follow your gut instincts when it comes to fixing your own writing. |
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