Pouring human experience into artistic form of literature is the art of writing. Writing requires skills that meet certain literary standards and techniques. Most fields in creative writing (from academia and publishing, to grant requests and technical writing) require a higher education degree, including at least a Bachelor's degree, and, often, a Master's degree in creative writing, literature, journalism, or a related field.
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Method 1 of 3: Part One: Getting Inspired
Step 1. Think about what you want to write
Fields in creative writing are divided into sub-categories (fiction, poetry, creative non-fiction) and there are even specific genres (science fiction, mystery, experimental… and many more). Find what you want to write. Write down what you want to read. Your best writing will come from something that excites you, and maybe even just makes you one. When your passion can be expressed well in writing, your readers will become attracted to it. Passion for your writing project is a strong motivating factor and a great starting point.
Remember that you don't have to limit yourself to one particular area. Many experienced writers explore multiple fields – perhaps they write creative essays while publishing their own creative non-fiction works. It is also possible that they incorporate poetry into their short novels
Step 2. Create a schedule
Set a specific time, location, and atmosphere for your writing session. When you set this schedule, the creative part of your brain will get used to working in these conditions. Things to note are…
- Voice: some writers like silence. Others like to listen to music to spur their creativity. Others need friends to come up with ideas.
- Time: some writers write down their ideas before going to bed, and some in the morning, because not many people wake up to disturb them. Some writers may need a distraction, and therefore write during lunch breaks or while working. Some other writers like long periods of uninterrupted writing, and dedicate their weekends to writing.
- Location: assigning a specific building, room, or even chair can help with the writing process. This habit will train your brain to work more creatively, or technically, to achieve your goals.
Step 3. Read and learn
Read people some of the things you like and learn about them – find out what things make them effective. Try to learn the structure of your favorite poem, or the evolution of the characters in your favorite novel. Find a sentence that you think is very good, and think about it – why did the author choose that sentence or word?
Don't limit yourself to one particular genre or field. To really enrich your writing experience, you should explore different areas. You may not like the fantasy genre, but other people read and write fantasy writing for a number of reasons. Read it with this motto in mind: "I read to write. I read to learn. I read to get inspired."
Step 4. Be a "wanderer"
Pay attention to the things around you. Look for the mystery and solve the mystery. If you have a question, seek the answer with great enthusiasm. Take note of things that are unique and unusual. When writing, paying attention to these things will give you ideas for your writing. In addition, it can also make your writing more interesting, richer, and more realistic. Here are some pointers to help you explore the world around you:
- Nothing is too mundane or boring. There is something unique and special about every person and every thing in the world.
- There is a mystery before your eyes: a TV that won't turn on, a bird that doesn't want to fly. Find out how things around you work and don't, as well as why.
- Pay attention to details. Leaves are not only green; The leaves also have long and thin veins, strong stalks, and are shaped like spades.
Step 5. Make a note
Write down things that you are aware of or that inspire you. Take this note with you wherever you go. Some famous writers even sew extra pockets on their jackets to allow more paper to be carried. Use these notes to generate ideas, record things you see, read, or hear, and provide material for your writing. When you run out of ideas for your project, you can read this note again for inspiration. Remember that you can write down anything in your notebook, because anything can be a source of inspiration. Some useful things are:
- Dreams: the main source of strange and unusual things. Write it down before you forget it!
- Image: photos or doodles
- Quotes: things people say, sentences that surprise you, short poems, and more.
Step 6. Start Your Project
This is the most important part, and it can be difficult. Many of us can only stare at the computer screen, not knowing what to write. Some people call it "writer's block." To help you, here are some writing exercises that can spark your creativity and provide materials for your projects:
- Go to a crowded place. Imagine your eyes are a video camera recording everything. Get out your notebook and write down what is going on. Write down what all your five senses feel – sight, smell, hearing, taste, and touch.
- Bring a voice recorder, and secretly record a conversation. Don't let the speaker know what you're doing! Once you've recorded enough conversations, write them down on paper. Experiment with the words you come up with – delete, change, add. Create a new setting or situation.
- Make a character. What do they want? Scared? What's their secret? Who are they related to, and where do they live? What are their last names? Do they have last names?
Step 7. Join a community
Sharing ideas and getting feedback is one of the best ways to get inspired and improve your work. This may sound scary to novice writers, because your work may be something very personal, and you're afraid of rejection. However, writing in an isolated environment not only prevents people from reading your work, it also increases the chances of you building up bad habits (too extravagantly using words, repeating words unnecessarily, being too melodramatic, etc.) it's just that everyone who sees your work is someone who has the potential to provide new ideas and inspiration for you.
Step 8. Manage your finances
Being a writer is a lot like being a superhero: having a boring job in the morning, and being a super cool writer at night. Some creative writers don't have full-time jobs – but this is very rare. However, having a steady job is not a bad thing. In fact, a good regular job can help you in achieving your goal of becoming a writer. As you search for your dream full-time job, consider the following:
- Is your salary enough to pay all your bills? A good regular job should lighten your financial burden so you can write without feeling anxious. Stress is not conducive to your project.
- Do you have enough time and energy to write? A good steady job shouldn't take up so much of your energy that you won't be too tired to write afterward.
- Can your work be a good "interlude"? Keeping a little distance from your writing work can be a good thing. Spending too much time on one project can have negative consequences. It's a good idea to stay relaxed while working on your project.
- Are any of your co-workers also creative? A good regular job should give you great coworkers. Creative people are everywhere! Not just writers or artists!
Method 2 of 3: Part Two: Turning Inspiration Into Words
Step 1. Capture your readers
No, don't really handcuff them! Impress them with your work. Immerse them in your writing so they want to continue reading it and don't want to run away from it, "cuffing" them to the text in your book. To do this, there are several techniques you can use:
- The five senses. We see and feel the world around us through our five senses. Awesome and convincing work can make readers see, touch, feel, hear, and smell the world in our writing.
- Clear details. This type of detail will give you a special sense of understanding what is going on in your writing. Instead of generalizing an image, such as "she is beautiful," make the sentence more specific, such as "She has long, blonde hair, tied with daisies."
Step 2. Write down what you know
If you are more familiar with something, you can write about it in more detail, real and deep. If you don't know the details that are important to your project, investigate them. Search on Google. Ask someone else. The more information you know about a situation, setting, or person, the more you can realistically explain it on your page.
Step 3. Consider the structure of your writing
Sometimes, the best way to write a story is with "Linear Structure": Beginning, Climax, Finish. However, there are many other ways to write a story, such as "In Media Res" – the story begins in the middle of a conflict. Alternatively, a story can also be inserted with various flashbacks. Choose a structure that fits your story development.
Step 4. Consider the point of view used
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First Person Point of View: Using "I/I"
- related – the narrator is the storyteller and also plays a role in the story
- separately – the narrator does not tell his own specific story, but may tell the story of a main character.
- plural (we) – shared narrator, possibly consisting of a group of people.
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Second Person Point of View: Using "You/You"
- upside down, the narrator refers to himself as the author, and may distance himself from unpleasant thoughts/natures/memory
- You/you = a character, with unique traits
- You/you = refer readers directly
- You/you = the reader is a character who plays an active role in the story
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Third Person Point Of View
- omniscient – the narrator knows everything, has complete control over the story, and is free to make his judgments
- limited – this point of view doesn't feel complete. It feels like the view is getting smaller as the field of view becomes more limited
- one character's feelings and thoughts – Harry Potter is limited to Harry's thoughts and feelings only
- direct observer – the narrator narrates the situation, but cannot explicitly explain the emotions of the characters there
- fly on the wall – the narrator is a spy, observing the situation from a distant point of view, but not knowing everything because the information he knows is limited by his location.
Method 3 of 3: Part Three: The Ultimate Rules
Step 1. Start with simple words
Simple is good. While of course you'll need a fair amount of vocabulary (we'll get to that later), too many difficult words will pique the reader's interest. Start slowly. Don't use "fancy" words just because they sound nice. Make sure that all of your readers understand what you are trying to tell them. No less, no more.
Step 2. Use short sentences at the beginning
Short sentences are easy to digest and read. However, this doesn't mean you can't or shouldn't write long sentences every now and then. It's just that short sentences can provide information without stopping the reader in the middle, leaving them confused.
- Take a look at the following examples of sentences that are too long and exaggerated. This sentence won the second prize from the Bad Writing Contest. No wonder why this sentence is considered "bad writing". This sentence is awash with jargon, confusing sentences, and too long:
"If, for some time, the ruse of passion could count for scholarly use, it won't be long before the repetition of guilt, justification, false scientific theories, superstition, perfunctory authority, and classification can be regarded as a desperate attempt to formally "normalize" the disturbance of separation process that violates the intelligent and rational claims of its obvious modalities
Step 3. Use the best possible verbs
Verbs are good sentence triggers. They carry meaning from one thought to the next. Moreover, they help the writer to achieve very high precision.
- Pay attention to some problematic verbs. Verbs like "do", "go", "see", "feel", and "have", although sometimes appropriate to use, are not very interesting to use in writing. Replace with specific words if needed: "reach", "pass", "look", "experience", and "secure" to convey more specific ideas.
- As a general rule, use active verbs instead of passive ones
- Active verb: "The cat found its master". Here, the cat does the work. He is actively looking for his master.
- Passive verb: "The master found the cat". Here, the cat does nothing. The master is found; the cat is not looking.
Step 4. Be careful not to use too many adjectives
Beginner writers will really like to use adjectives. There's nothing wrong with adjectives, but sometimes their use can be redundant and they're often less clear – making them harder to understand – than other parts of your writing. Don't feel like you need to add a verb before each noun to describe the noun.
- Sometimes, the use of verbs is too much. For example in the sentence "I saw him play the last pawn and take it down, check the king, complete his successful victory.". What victories are not successful? Here, the adjective simply states what the reader already knows. This does not help the reader to understand the story.
- At times, the adjectives the author uses can seem odd. "He is a puissant opponent" is a sentence that is neither easy to understand nor does it fit the context. "Puissant" in French means strong, and replacing "strong" with "puissant" will make the sentence difficult to understand and difficult to enjoy.
Step 5. Learn a lot of vocabulary
Take a dictionary and thesaurus with you wherever you go. When you see a word you don't know what it means, look it up in the dictionary. It's hard to be a writer if you're not interested in etymology. On the other hand, use your vocabulary wisely. Just because you know a really weird word doesn't mean you have to come up with an excuse to use it.
Learn root words. Word Root will help you to guess the meaning of words you don't know without needing to open a dictionary
Step 6. Write down your intentions clearly
Sometimes, writers will feel tempted to use simple words. Oftentimes, we are confused and don't know which words to use, then ignore them and write "good enough" words. This strategy is useful and necessary in everyday conversation, but becomes a big problem in the world of writing.
- First, there is no social context. The author cannot use hands or body movements, and cannot use facial expressions to explain speech. The reader is alone there, and can only use words to understand the meaning of your writing.
- Second, the reader cannot read anything other than what the author gives. The reader will not think to ask the author what he wrote; the reader will assume that what is contained in the writing is the intent of the author. The author cannot clarify confusing words, which means that if someone uses a confusing word, the reader will always be confused by the word.
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For this reason, take extra time to clearly state your intentions.
Think clearly about what you want to say before you say it. Look for the right words seriously, even if it takes a lot of time. A lot of the writing is of low quality because the author didn't match the exact words with the idea, not because of the plot or poor writing style.
Step 7. Use figures of speech and figures of speech for effect, not as a rule
Examples of figure of speech are metaphors and similes. Metaphors and similes are best used when you want to dramatize something or draw the reader's attention to something specific. Like the phrase "I love you", figure of speech will lose its power if used excessively.
Step 8. Don't use too many or too few punctuation marks
Good punctuation is invisible and inaudible, but still strong. Lack of punctuation will make your readers unable to understand the meaning of your sentence. "Let's eat, mother", and "Let's eat mother" have very different meanings. Excessive use of punctuation marks will annoy your readers. No one wants to read a sentence that has more colons, semicolons, and dashes than the original words.
- Exclamation mark. Use exclamation marks only as necessary. People rarely speak by shouting; and writing also rarely needs an exclamation point. Elmore Leonard, the well-known crime fiction writer, has this to say: "Keep an exclamation point in your writing. You shouldn't use more than two or three for every 100,000 words in prose."
- Semicolon. The semicolon functions as a combination of periods and commas, joining two sentences that still have a logical relationship. Kurt Vonnegut discourages its use: "Don't use semicolons. That punctuation is a sissy hermaphrodite that doesn't say anything. Its only function is to show that you've been to college." While Vonnegut's judgment may be too harsh, it's a good idea not to use it too often.
Step 9. Once you learn all the rules, break them
Don't be afraid to twist the rules or play with them to achieve the quality of writing you want. Some great writers have broken the rules of grammar, style, and semantics with success, making their literary works even better. Find out in advance why you are breaking a rule, and try to understand the possible consequences. If you don't want to take risks, why call yourself a writer?
Warning
- You may often get rejected before your work is finally accepted.
- You must have a high passion to become a writer. Know what you want to write and make sure it's a passion that will take you places you've never been and you'll see whatever you want in your life, because you can do anything if you believe in it.
- You shouldn't write just because you want fame and money.
