How to Master Creative Writing

Creative writing is a craft that improves with practice.

Creative writing means different things to different people. To some people it means poetry, while to others it means short stories or novels. Mastering creative writing takes study, practice and trust in yourself and your imagination. Creative writing allows you to explore the world as you understand it, solving problems and finding solutions in a make-believe world. Creatively written stories not only entertain readers, they educate them too, allowing readers to experience events and situations outside their own sphere of existence. A writer's unique perspective on the world is what brings a new slant to the oldest of stories and makes creative writing original.

Instructions

1. Write what you enjoy writing. Don't force yourself to write in the latest best-selling genre if it makes you uncomfortable. Forced writing is unconvincing and stilted, and you will likely get discouraged and leave projects unfinished. Use your own voice and style rather than trying to copy what other writers are doing.

2. Discover your writing process. Try planning or not planning, outlining or not, and experiment with editing as you go or waiting until the end of a first draft to edit your work. Different people write in different ways and there is no strictly right or wrong method or process.

3. Join a writer's group and get used to sharing your work and being open to criticism. It helps to get feedback and share your frustrations and successes with others who understand the difficulties.

4. Take a creative writing course and be open to learning new ways of writing and pushing against personal boundaries. A writing course helps a writer to discover strengths and weaknesses, and helps to develop stamina and discipline through regular practice. A good writing course will open up the mysteries of how to structure stories or essays to get the intended reader response.

5. Send work to publishers. Whether the goal is to get published or not, professional appraisal gives a sense of validation and worthiness to writing efforts. No one likes to work for no purpose, and the reward of having a piece published will encourage more writing.

Tips & Warnings

• Try to set writing goals. For instance, the goal of writing so many words, or even complete stories, each day or each week. Keep a tally of completed projects so you can see whether you're meeting your goals.

• Keep everything you write. It's useful to look back on old work and compare this with the work being done today. The comparison shows improvement, the change in writing subjects or genres or where ideas and themes are repeated.

• Writers are often their own worst enemies, judging their work too harshly and refusing to acknowledge success or skill. Let freshly written pieces stand for a week or more, then reread them to get a more balanced judgment, instead of making a snap decision that a piece may not be good enough.

References

• The Next Big Author: Author Tips