THE CREATIVE WRITER. Writer s Toolbox

Transcription

1 THE CREATIVE WRITER Writer s Toolbox

2 At The Writers Academy, we are passionate about equipping budding writers with the tools they need to reach their full potential. The Writer s Toolbox series is designed to provide free, online and easily downloadable, practical resources to you as a writer. This free resource explores the creative writing process, and provides suggestions as to how you can become a better creative writer. For more free resources from the Writer s Toolbox series:

3 CONTENTS The Creative Writer p1 8 Eight Ways to Become a Better Creative Writer p3

4 The Creative Writer As one of the expressive arts, creative writing is undoubtedly arduous and challenging, but equally, it can be rewarding and fulfilling; nothing can match the satisfaction of taking a writing project through to completion. Writing a book is a horrible, exhausting struggle, like a long bout of some painful illness. One would never undertake such a thing if one were not driven on by some demon whom one can neither resist nor understand. George Orwell However, if you consider yourself a creative writer, you are committed to discovering and developing effective techniques to enable you to express your thoughts and emotions in imaginative, and hopefully unique, ways. In this ebook, we will be investigating ways you can improve your skills as a creative writer by considering the work and advice of established authors, reflecting on your current practice and exploring some of the tools you can use to enhance your writing. Home improvement At one time I thought the most important thing was talent. I think now that the young man or the young woman must possess or teach himself, train himself, in infinite patience, which is to try and to try and to try until it comes right. If you already read other authors, you will be familiar with their style of writing; the type of characters you expect to find, the tone of voice the author employs and the vocabulary you expect to encounter as they tell their stories. You may be less familiar with the specific techniques these authors employ in the construction of their work. You will find it useful to access advice and guidance from as many established authors as possible; those who have started as aspiring creative writers and become successful, published authors and are now available to share their experiences with others. You may find it useful to consider advice from the likes of Stephen King and Nigel Watts who have published, On Writing and Teach Yourself: Writing a Novel respectively. Stephen King s On Writing is written as a mixture of memoirs and masterclasses and, as one of the world s most prolific and bestselling authors, King describes the mechanics of writing a novel in practical terms using experiences from his own life to illustrate his narrative. Nigel Watts Teach Yourself: Writing a Novel takes the reader through the process of writing a novel, step by step; from generating the initial idea, through the development of character and plot, to finding an agent and contacting potential publishers. William Faulkner Unfortunately, there is no shortcut to improving your creative writing skills. Your first task will be to take stock of where you are and then decide where you would like to be in a specific amount of time. In other words, give yourself an achievable goal. I m assuming that because you are interested in the process of creative writing, you are also an avid reader of the works of other authors. If not, I strongly suggest you start reading now. Writers who don t read are as likely to succeed as archaeologists who have no interest in history. 1

5 Getting started Ambition is a wonderful thing. If men cease to believe that they will one day become gods then they will surely become worms. However, unless you are a contemporary manifestation of Henry Miller, I would strongly advise that you keep your literary ambitions in check at the start of your writing career; thinking small and realistically avoids becoming overambitious and underachieving. While you may harbour dreams of producing something as all-encompassing as Tolstoy s sweeping epic, War and Peace, as multiepisodic as Tolkien s saga, Lord of the Rings or as character-laden as Martin s marathon, Game of Thrones it may be prudent to start by producing a short story. But rest assured, by committing to this relatively small piece of creative writing, you will test your aptitude to the full. If you happen to be one of the many hundreds of thousands of writers who find themselves afflicted by a condition known as writer s block when confronted by a blank sheet of paper, worry not. The condition is not only commonplace, it s curable, and there are many, many remedies, as we ve already discussed in the previous chapter. When approaching your first writing project, if you do find yourself unable to get started, you could try some writing exercises. These are designed to kick-start your creative process and are essentially a mixture of simple devices, techniques and challenges that will generate solid, workable ideas. We will now consider how you might apply these to a practical writing project. Your first piece of writing Your first writing task will be to produce a short story of a maximum of 500 words in length. You should use one or more of the following stimuli to get you started: Open a book at random and write down the first complete sentence you see; this is the first line of your short story Flick through the pages of a magazine and choose the first image of a person you find; this is the central character in your story, begin by describing his/ her appearance, personality, attitudes and history Open a newspaper at random (or search an online edition) and choose a headline; this is the title of your short story Go online and search for a list of quotations about writing fiction; use the first one that catches your attention as your starting point Search online for short story writing competitions; when you find one that interests you, read the rules and use the stimuli provided Remember, these are basic exercises designed to help when you find yourself struggling to write. There are thousands of hints, tips and pieces of advice available to embryonic writers available on the internet; use them. Make a point of testing yourself as you work, by setting yourself fresh challenges every day as you begin to write; aim to produce a short story in 15 minutes from start to finish, for example. Alternatively, you could limit yourself to a maximum of 150 words for your piece, choose a single word as your starting point, or illustrate a well-known phrase, simile or metaphor. 2

6 Eight Ways to Become a Better Creative Writer 1 Keep a daily journal You should aim to source and produce your own stimuli and record them in your writer s journal. This should contain notes, comments and observations you have made, such as points of interest, small anomalies you encounter, little contradictions you overhear, interesting characters and emotionally charged situations that you experience as part of everyday life. You could also include visual stimuli such as images, illustrations and photographs in addition to newspaper stories, magazine articles and interesting pieces of graffiti you come across; in fact, anything that you find intriguing, mysterious or intend to return to during those dreaded periods of writer s block. Journal writing is a voyage to the interior. Christina Baldwin 2 Find time It is absolutely crucial that you establish a daily writing regime. Once you embark on a fixed routine, you will discover that it becomes an integral part of your day. Only you can decide how you will balance your other commitments with the time that you can devote entirely to writing; without distractions. You will know when you find yourself at your most productive during the day; if you don t, set yourself the task of finding out. Once you have determined the time of day at which you are most effective, experiment with the amount of time you can spend efficiently concentrating on your writing. Don t worry if it s only a few minutes at first; you ll soon build this up into prolonged periods of productivity. You never have to change anything you got up in the middle of the night to write. Saul Bellow 3

7 3 Read, read, read You should always be in the process of reading something in your chosen form, whether short story, poem or novel. Reading the work of established, published authors will have an impact on your own work. Consciously or unconsciously, the act of reading will expose you to the way that other writers structure their work, use vocabulary, employ dialogue, reveal the plot and drive the narrative forward. If you can, aim to read a set number of books every month. It is a good idea to read the most recently published works in your chosen field on a regular basis. This will keep you up to speed on contemporary styles and subject matter. Try also to work your way through a selection of work by notable 20th century authors; become familiar with the books of Orwell, Joyce, Hemmingway, Faulkner, D.H. Lawrence, Kerouac, Stendhal, Dumas, Zola, Heller, Martin Amis, Grass, Atwood, Steinbeck and Sartre This list may appear exhausting, but it is far from exhaustive; there are many, many equally gifted 20th century writers who you will discover for yourself. If you don t have time to read, you don t have the time (or the tools) to write. Simple as that. Stephen King 4 Learn from the experts I don t know much about creative writing programs. But they re not telling the truth if they don t teach, one, that writing is hard work, and, two, that you have to give up a great deal of life, your personal life, to be a writer. Doris Lessing Although there are those who manage to excel in the expressive arts without any form of training, these are rare individuals. The vast majority of us will find that our knowledge, awareness of techniques and acquisition of skills are both accelerated and expanded when we undertake a recognised course, taught by experts within their chosen field. Creative writing is no different. 5 Show and share Everyone needs help from everyone. Bertolt Brecht By enrolling in a creative writing course, you will also be welcomed into a community of likeminded individuals, aspiring authors who, like you, are keen to develop their skills within a creative environment. Sharing your work is a vital part of creative writing. Engaging with others in a process of constructive criticism benefits all of those involved by increasing confidence and fostering a willingness to share work with fellow writers.

8 6 Learn incrementally A good grasp of language and access to a broad vocabulary is critical to the success of any writer. Words and phrases are the tools you will use to capture and communicate the stories you wish to convey to your readers. You must improve and increase your vocabulary by adding to it on a daily basis. There are several ways in which you can achieve this. To increase your vocabulary, you can aim to learn a new word every day; to improve it, you must learn what the word means, where it comes from and its most appropriate usage. To progress, you should make a point of including each new word in your daily writing routine. To source each new word, you could record any unfamiliar terms you come across in your reading; record the word, how it was used and in what context. Over the course of a year, you will have added 360 useful words to your vocabulary. 7 Approach things from a different angle We tend to perceive much of our immediate environment through two of our five senses; sight and hearing. This affects how we describe people, places and experiences to others and it has an impact on our writing. As a writer, you have to actively seek out new ways of communicating familiar experiences to your readers. By incorporating instances in which taste, touch and smell inform the way we relate to a situation, we bring a fresh perspective and additional layers of detail to our writing. Nothing revives the past so completely as a smell that was once associated with it. Vladimir Nabokov One day I will find the right words, and they will be simple. Jack Kerouac 5

9 8 Grab attention, keep interest What attracts you to a book? Apart from the author s name, you are most likely to notice the illustration on the cover and then the title. Having picked up the book and opened it, you will begin to read. Unless the first couple of paragraphs stimulate your interest, you are unlikely to read further. As a writer, you must ensure that you provide your story with a title that demands the notice of the reader, and then follow up with an introduction that continues to hold their attention. Titles and first lines are the vanguard of an author s work; they are your opportunity to get your work noticed. Consult your reading list of notable 20th century authors and compile a top 20 of attention-grabbing titles. Repeat the exercise for powerful and engaging first lines. Refer to both as you title and redraft your own work. My own list of opening lines: Ulysses by James Joyce Stately, plump Buck Mulligan came from the stairhead, bearing a bowl of lather on which a mirror and a razor lay crossed. Earthly Powers by Antony Burgess It was the afternoon of my eightyfirst birthday, and I was in bed with my catamite when Ali announced that the archbishop had come to see me. My own list of titles: To Kill a Mockingbird by Harper Lee Animal Farm by George Orwell The Catcher in the Rye by J.D. Salinger The Bell Jar by Sylvia Plath It was a queer, sultry summer, the summer they electrocuted the Rosenbergs, and I didn t know what I was doing in New York. Slaughterhouse - Five by Kurt Vonnegut All this happened, more or less. The Grapes of Wrath by John Steinbeck Slaughterhouse Five by Kurt Vonnegut The Stranger by Albert Camus Mother died today. Or, maybe, yesterday; I can t be sure. Intriguing, aren t they?

10 ABOUT Written by Michael Stewart Founder director, Director of Communications at Interactive Design Institute Edited by Elizabeth Garner-Foy Academic Development Editor at Interactive Design Institute Michael Stewart is a founding director of the Interactive Design Institute (IDI), a UK based organisation which has pioneered the provision of accredited online learning in higher education. Designed by Molly Rose Wilson Graphic Designer at Interactive Design Institute Michael has extensive experience in the writing, directing and delivery of education programmes across a range of media, and is currently Director of Communications and a member of the Board and Management team at IDI. Michael has fulfilled a wide variety of functions within the company, including the development of a pedagogy for online delivery, writing and editing of course materials for online provision, international and domestic business development, as well as the writing of resource materials and representing IDI in Europe, America, Russia and China. For more free resources from the Writer s Toolbox series: