For the love of writing!
Creative writing is a variety of things for certain individuals. For some, it's food to the soul and a way of escaping the mortal world, for others, it's a hobby or a burning necessity to do. For thousands of years, people, whether readers or writers themselves, have flocked to the art of storytelling, to be entertained, to live a life in a new world, and to enlighten the mind.
The worlds we experience within writing is an echo of the real Creation itself. Our ability to create stories and express them in words comes directly from the divine Creator, who Himself planned and spoke our universe into existence with words. Inheriting His attributes, being made in His image, humanity is equipped with a vast imagination and the ability to dream. Today, millions of people around the world use these built-in facilities to create ideas, places, people, and entire worlds in their minds; how these worlds go beyond the mind is where writing comes in. Writing is merely the catalyst by which people express their ideas and thoughts, to one individual or to many.
While all people write, for many, myself included, it's a life passion, a God-given desire that I find to be inescapable. Creative writing can be a calling for many, and those who possess the talent to carry that calling out have a very special gift indeed. While writers are unique in their own right, they, like any other person of a certain craft, require honing that talent in order to better their work. If you are a writer, whether new or old, or someone wishing to get more involved in the art of creative writing, I have compiled six different important points that I learned over my years of writing, for the purpose of helping you learn how specifically to hone your skills and become an even better creative writer. I strongly believe these six things are essential in writing, and I sincerely hope you find them to be as insightful and relevant as I have in my own works. Enjoy!
1 - Thinking and Mindset
It's best to start at the very beginning, where the majority of the battle is. The struggle doesn't begin once you start revising your work, or when you put the first words on paper, it begins long before that, and continues on throughout the entire process of writing. Since you are putting ideas into written words and ideas come from the mind, the mind is where nearly all the action occurs. Your mind is involved in every single aspect of the writing process. Creative writing is not just an exercise of the imagination, it's also an exercise in mental discipline and the ability to control your thought patterns. You are required to combat erratic thinking and keep a clear head, so that you will know precisely what you wish to write and how exactly to do it, from the grand plot to the individual paragraphs. Sound like a big job? That's how creative writing works, but the more you recognize how your mind works and prioritize disciplining yourself mentally, the easier it becomes. It's important to recognize it early as well, the sooner you start training your mind, the better. Considering very few teachers or writers give this mental advice, it's easy for people to forget all about controlling their thoughts. Many writers plunge into a story with a head full of steam only to suffer tremendously later on, overwhelmed by a plethora of problems they can't seem to fix no matter how hard they try. All the while, the real problem is their thinking. Good, clear writing requires a clear mind. Your mind must regurgitate constantly what you want to appear in your writing, or you'll in fact lose your purpose mid-way without even realizing it, and be even more at a loss to what went wrong when you try to go back and solve the problems.
What are some ways you can train yourself mentally and have clearer thinking? Some might suggest keeping a schedule for writing, to make it a part of a daily routine or at least set goals. While building a writing schedule doesn't work as effectively for some as it does for others, the important thing is that scheduling doesn't hurt. So if you think getting into a writing routine would help you stay more focused, go for it, there's nothing to lose. Limiting influences is another way to have a clearer mind and goes hand in hand with spending more time doing creative writing. If you've got a million other things that you're letting live rent-free in your head, of course you're going to be more distracted when it comes to writing and less in-tune with the ideas associated with your story. If there are things that inspire you and your writing (like listening to certain music for example), leave those, but beyond that, throw out anything that's not helpful. Longtime, professional authors are capable of shifting from the thoughts of life to their writing projects with more ease thanks to their experience, but for the rest of us, limiting influences and things to think about is important if you want to bring the most out of your stories.
In truth, when it comes to instructions on how to have better thinking, there are more "don'ts" than "do's", more things to avoid than things to practice. Here's one many fall for: spending too much time on social media, my number one thing I point to when people struggle with their thinking. More information goes into our brains there as opposed to anything else. I would even go so far as to say that the less time spent on social media directly corresponds to an increase in how good your writing is. I've seen a vast amount of want-to-be writers and authors do nothing but kill time on various entertainment and news platforms, talking about creative writing itself more than they actually write. If you're one of those kinds of people, don't panic, but I do urge you to take action, drastic if necessary, to stop procrastinating and get to work. And keep up the work, because the more time you spend away from writing, the more difficult it will be to get back into it. I know this from experience. Another thing I strongly advise against, for everyone, is to talk about procrastination itself. Quit complaining about your tendencies to be lazy as if it's something you can't overcome, because you can. The more you entertain thoughts about the difficulties, the more you'll actually believe writing well is impossible, and the more you'll be tempted to give up. Writing well means controlling your mind, not the other way around. Lastly, I'll remind you that the vast majority of successful authors, whether mega popular or not, can't be found on any typical social media platform, and if they are there, you won't find them talking much. Generally speaking, you just won't find many excellent, published authors laying around on the internet, and you won't know much about them, because they spend most of their time working instead of slacking. To sum up, good creative writing starts with your thought processes, and the more time you spend working while being less exposed to outside things, the more focused and clearer your head will be. Then, finally, you can use your creativity and imagination to the max.
2 - Planning
First comes the idea, next comes the planning. Like many jobs, creative writing usually demands planning, and laying the foundation for your story. Yet, planning in advance is something some writers tend to neglect, and willingly in some cases. A common misconception about planning and structuring your stories is that if you do so, you're hurting a lot of the "creative" process and making everything too stale. This idea stems from a rather new mindset that believes fresh, unique writing is a spontaneous process. New writers have bought into the view that the best, most appealing writing stems from a sort of eccentricity, you have to follow wherever the wind blows and make up the story as you go. While movie directors may make this approach sound hip and cool, it's universally way more logical to chart your course before you start writing. How can you write effectively when you don't even know what you're even going to write? It becomes exceedingly difficult to make readers feel a certain way when the writer doesn't know how they are going to do it. Early on, I was too inexperienced to realize the benefits of planning the finer details of my story, but I'm amazed at the amount of people who opt to start from near-complete scratch... it makes every aspect of writing exceedingly more difficult, and the worse part is that it's 100% unnecessary to inflict all that extra work on yourself.
But not everyone is comfortable following the same rules. This is where personal preference comes in, you've got to find which level of planning works for you. Some do better when they only plan the basics: characters, setting, and the intended message of the story, others like me prefer to plan every individual "scene" from beginning to end. Whatever suits you best is perfectly fine, but I strongly recommend you at least plan enough. I learned the importance of this after writing my first book, The Gatekeeper, which I rewrote six times because I was never happy with each version. It was due to a lack of planning, and since then, I've been writing everything about my current and future projects down in notes. I write down character appearances, synopsis, backlore, list the scenes of my story and what purpose they will serve in the book. As a result, I don't have to worry about remembering everything in my head, and it frees me up to focus on writing in the moment. Don't worry about uniqueness. every story is always unique in its own right. If you need further proof about the importance of fully pre-planning your story, just look up J.K. Rowling's plot charts!
3 - Experience
Not everything you write will be perfect. This is creative writing 101. A lot of what any new writer writes isn't the most fabulous, but the secret to improvement is simply experience, so don't fret too much. For many careers, practice is essential, and it's the same for writing. The more you write, and the longer you do it for, the better you will become. So, after you get your mental ducks in a row, after you plan your story, remind yourself before writing that it's going to be a learning experience. Yet again, some people seem to fall short on understanding how experience works. Just because one chapter, a full book, or even two books failed in your mind, doesn't mean you should give up. Good writing will show you where your skill lies and how to replicate it in the future, and bad writing will show you how your formula didn't work, and what you need to change for next time.
Experience goes beyond how much time you've spent in front of your laptop typing. For writers, there's multiple ways to gain it. One of those is familiarity with the craft itself, whether you're writing or if you're just reading another person's work. You do not need to spend countless hours taking creative writing classes at your school in order to gain the knowledge you need to write well, you just need to expose yourself to writing. Basically, read. Read to your heart's content and beyond. And on top of that, watch (good) movies and TV series of the kind of genre you're interested in writing in. Over time, you will find that you'll absorb the methods of writing you are exposing yourself to. This was how I learned to write, actually. Having been a reader for much of my life, and an enjoyer of a few different fantasy shows, I not only developed a passion for storytelling, I also taught myself how to do what other writers did. I did have lots of trouble early on, but betterment came with my age, and by the time I self-published my first book, I had tremendous familiarity with my genre and years of writing experience, all by the age of 18. Want to write well? Respect and pay attention to proper English, learn the ins and outs of traditional storytelling, and don't give up even if you have to rewrite a book six times. This, above all, is the best way to become an experienced writer.
4 - Emotional Impact
Sometimes, a little emotional damage is necessary to inflict upon your readers. :D
So far, I've gone over some key things that ought to occur before you begin writing your book or other creative writing project, but what about when you've reached the work-in-progress phase, when you're actually in the thick of it? What are some tips that could be given? Well, first off, remember that your mindset and thinking is something you want to remain in control of all throughout the writing process, so keep that in mind. You'll be busy enough with that alone. But as far as recommendations go for when you're actively typing words on the screen, there aren't in fact a whole lot that need to be given beyond the other things I say in this list of keys to great creative writing. This is something that's pretty subjective, each writer will develop their own success strategies when they are in the middle of writing their project.
But there is one, universally important thing that I will in fact recommend all writers follow, and that is: make your readers feel it. Make them feel exactly how you want them to feel to the best of your ability, namely, by developing strong characters that have incredible interactions and connections with one another. A basic, average story with phenomenal characters will be praised as being top-notch, but a brilliant, genius story with uninteresting characters will feel lifeless and won't hold any readers for long. In short, if there's one thing you want to focus on when you write, it's presenting the message and moral of the story to readers through, like I said, characters, and them having interactions that make readers feel connected to them in some way. Do this well, and the quality of your writing instantly improves more drastically than if you did anything else. You want to direct the emotions of your readers. Hook them, and you'll be able to drag them anywhere you want. Why are cliffhangers so dreaded by readers? Because the author did such a good job making sure the reader wants to keep reading, that when that part of the story ends, readers want more, even to the point of being upset they can't have more right away. Make use of these tools, writers. Mwah-ha-ha-ha!
One example I should like to mention about emotional impact is from Star Wars, particularly the connection between Obi-Wan Kenobi, a Jedi, and his apprentice Anakin Skywalker. Obi-Wan has existed as a character for over 45 years, but his heyday was in a trilogy of movies made in the late 90s and early 2000s. In those movies, he had a unique bond and friendship with his Jedi apprentice, Anakin, who himself was an outstanding warrior. The two were unstoppable, and fans enjoyed the relationship tremendously despite some grievances about Anakin's character personality and acting (proof that sheer emotional value can overcome weaker areas in writing). By the time Anakin had become corrupt and turned into the legendary Darth Vader, fans were absolutely hooked, which made the trilogy's immaculate final battle between Obi-Wan and Anakin that much more powerful and captivating. Fans wanted even more, and they got it in Star Wars: The Clone Wars series, which was praised for "fixing" Anakin's character imperfections and providing even more character depth and emotional impact. And now in 2022, the newly released Obi-Wan Kenobi series included even more of the two iconic characters. The first four episodes stayed away from the two interacting with one another, but all it took was for the final two episodes to tap into the classic, two-decade old relationship between Obi-Wan and Anakin to completely transform the series in a positive way.
The point is, if you want your story to be successful, you have to have emotional impact. What is the moral of your story? What can people learn from it that will have a positive effect on their own lives? How are you enlightening them? Nothing inspires people more than when they feel connected to your characters. Do this right, and everything else will fall into place.
5 - Learn to Troubleshoot
As I mentioned before under experience, there are times when, for whatever reason, your projects won't work out. You don't like it, or there's something missing, or you just aren't confident enough in your work. When this happens, you go back and try and figure out what went wrong and why. Great writers will know quickly what they have to revise, and the professionals have learned to do a lot right the first time by, but it takes some time to get to that point. If you don't have a natural knack for being perfect, learning how to fix the issues in your writing is vital. Writing can be a lot at times even for the writer, so fixing problems can be a lot harder than it might sound. This is why the correct thinking is important at this stage of the process, you've got to be focused and figure out how to improve your work.
Do what works for you. If you have to take an extended break for a few weeks, go for it. Or if you need to sit down for a while and do it all at once, make time for it. However, I must warn you about something I myself still need to get better at, and that's the danger of overthinking. When stuff goes wrong, some writers can overanalyze and accidentally make the issue twice as worse. What is an isolated issue can turn into entire rewrites all because the author started to find problems where none really existed. No one is as hard on you as yourself, and in creative writing, there are more consequences if you overdo being demanding of yourself. Writers can take what they believe is a poor chapter to a reader, asking for a second opinion on how to improve, only for the reader to respond "Wow, this is wonderful! I love how you wrote it. Keep this up!", leaving the writer even more perplexed. Unfortunately, there is no magic fix for figuring out the balance between thinking critically and overthinking, it's just something you have to keep practicing until you find your sweet spot. Making use of test readers helps, but be aware that they most likely will have different opinions on your work, so don't take every bit of advice so seriously. Set your own goals, and if the readers opinions' reflect what you wanted them to feel, you did your job, but if not, that's when you need to go back and analyze how to fulfill your goals.
In most cases, it's a general rule of thumb that your work is not bad, you're just overthinking it, and running the risk of bringing down a lot of story when all you need is minor edits. Your writing isn't bad, you're just a little insane. Don't worry, I've been there, and most writers have as well. Having confidence in your story prevents "problems" from appearing to you, saves you time, and the more you work at it, the more you'll be able to distinguish the difference between needing to revision and plain overthinking.
6 - What's your Purpose?
No great writer or author is complete without a clear purpose in mind. Alternatively, the question might be, why, ultimately do you write? I want you to think hard about that. And keep thinking about it for your entire writing career, always reminding yourself of it. It may sound basic, but it's the glue that holds everything else together. It makes up your drive, your desire to put everything you know into practice, and your desire to get better and better. For me, I write because I have a passion for storytelling, one that God allowed me to cultivate along with the ability he gave me. I can't really imagine myself ever not being invested in it in the years to come. What's your purpose? Do you do it for the fame? Do you hope to use it as a stepping stone so you can become reputable enough to talk about "real world issues?" Do you do it as a hobby, and not for a living? Define your intentions of writing creativity, and it will define the kind of writer you are as a whole. And if you are lucky, your writing will help define you as a person.
Love what you do, and always fall back on that fact when your writing gets tough. Your purpose, so long as you are honest to yourself, keeps you from being able to give up and makes you push as many times as it takes. The sky is the limit. Never forget why you write, or you'll face difficulties along the way. Many authors have lost their way like that, but stay your course, and in the end, you'll be glad you did it, for your sake and for the sake of your readers. You never know when you will inspire someone, but it can happen to anyone. So be who you are, make good use of what God has given you, and the reward of all your hard work in writing will be that much sweeter.
I'd love to hear from you. If you are a writer or someone with experience in the field, feel free to share your own thoughts and insights in comments for others to see! Thank you!
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