How To Improve Your Creative Writing

HOW TO IMPROVE YOUR CREATIVE WRITING.

When it comes to creative writing a lot of students can feel they simply do not get it . Telling stories might not be their forte and adding on the time pressures inherent to exams can cause a real dilemma. It is important to remember that we all tell stories in our everyday lives and that there is a formulaic process for creative writing. This formula involves three key tips that will guarantee success.

Let`s be honest: you re going to need to plan. Some of this planning should occur in the exam room. But some can happen before you walk through the exam door.

STAGE 1: BE PREPARED.

Before you go into an exam you should have thought about characters. Here s how to get started on the task.

Take inspiration from the greats, all writers take elements from stock characters . Stock characters can range from the orphan, to the geek, to the misunderstood genius, to the loner.

For example, think about some of the main characters in the much loved Harry Potter series and ask yourself what about them makes those characters makes them special, memorable and relatable?

-HARRY POTTER- he is an orphan, this makes the audience SYMPATHISE with him. He has a distinctive facial feature (a scar in the shape of a lightning bolt), this signals he is somehow SPECIAL. He is signalled as different from the Dursleys who he lives with. This importantly makes the reader want him to SUCCEED.

-HERMIONE- is not from a wizard background and people make fun of her for this this makes her RESILIENT. She is also quite bossy and this often creates HUMOUR through its contrast to the laid back nature of characters like Ron.

Having well rounded, thought out and varied characters who interact with each other and who DEVELOP is very important in creating a story that someone will actually want to read.

Can you think of any characters of your own?

They might not spring to mind immediately but think about strong characters in your life. Your grandad, your favourite character in a TV show, your best friend or invent someone new. Make sure you can explain to yourself how they act and why. To help you do this you can create a character profile, what is their family like, what do they look like, what do they like to do, how old are they - how has their life experience affected them and why?

Make sure you have a small portfolio of characters who you think are interesting. You do not have to use these in an exam and shouldn t use them if the question isn t appropriate but it will acclimatize you to the process of invention and how it is actually just a process of collaboration between things that you have seen, read, heard, thought or even dreamt of.

STAGE 2: START TO PLAN YOUR STORY.

This is essential, unless you re Jack Kerouac you simply cannot just start writing. But don t worry there are tools to help you do so.

Top Tip: If you are completely stumped for ideas you can create a mind map of different ideas and start to draw inspiration.

Think about your story as having four points:

Point number 1: Introduce your reader to a scenario.

- Where are we?

- Who is the reader meeting?

- What do you want the reader to focus on first?

- WHO IS SPEAKING- what is the voice the reader is hearing

- How are you going to set the tone of the theme your story will be about.

Top Tip: familiarize yourself with the difference between first and third person narratives and how this affects what you read.

-It is easier to focus on characters as you can go into an exam with a stock list of them. (as mentioned in STAGE 1)

-DON T GO TOO FARFETCHED. Writing about aliens, explosions and disaster is hard to do in a limited amount of time and can divert attention from your narrative arch, characters and descri ptive language. Keeping the story simple will allow you to broadcast all of your talents without getting swept up in writing Mission Impossible 5.

Point number 2: Set up a challenge to this scenario.

Is the challenge emotional: the main character is lonely, the two main characters have had an argument, an important building is going to be demolished, somebody has died, somebody has to move away.

Think about what you want the reader to FEEL about this experience and think about what your characters would FEEL about this experience. Is one character more emotional, is another more withdrawn?

Think about how to convey these emotions.

TRY TO SHOW EMOTIONS INSTEAD OF NAMING THEM. In order to show an emotion, describe the physical and internal responses of your characters.

Let s say you want to convey the emotion sadness.

Bad descri ption: Sally wept and wailed and beat her fists and thought she would never feel happy again.

This descri ption is too clunky and over the top.

Good descri ption: Sally kept her gaze on a few squares on concrete at her feet, she could feel her shoulders arching forwards towards the ground and after a few moments, sensed that a few cold warm tears were trickling down her cheeks.

This descri ption uses body language attached to certain emotions to help convey how Sally s feeling are impacting her.

Point number 3: Have something change in the plot.

This change will either be to improve the situation or to leave it on course for an unhappy ending.

Point number 4: Resolve the story.

It can be happy, or unhappy or best of all, a little bit of both.

STAGE 3: USING DEscri ptIVE LANGUAGE TO IMPROVE YOUR WRITING.

Use descri ptive language!

Talk about what you see: colours, talk about the weather, talk about the feel of the air around you, talk about the smells around you.

Talk about you can touch: textures, soft, hot, cold, velvety.

Talk about the smells around you: deliciously freshly baked bread, grass after it has just rained, polluted city streets.

Talk about what you can hear: birds chirping, your little sister crying, two people shouting.

Talk about what you can taste: are you in a location with a particular type of food.

Think about the TIME OF YEAR: Practice stock phrases for winter, summer, autumn, spring. The morning had the rejuvenative feeling of Autumn- I was surrounded by my favourite fiery shades of red. , or Winter icicles crunched beneath my feet like splinters and it was dark .

If you do all of these things you should get by swimmingly.