Tag Archives: creative writing

The Corruption of Creativity

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We have all been given creativity. You may claim that you’re not the artistic type, or that you’re often stuck for ideas. But never say that you have no creativity.

What is creativity, after all? It is imagination, originality, resourcefulness, vision. Have you ever had a good idea, then put it into practice? A good idea about anything—a more direct route to work, a way to rearrange your living room, the perfect gift to cheer a hurting friend. That’s creativity.

Imagination, ingenuity, vision—the ability to see something in your mind before it exists in reality. We all have this power, we all do this every day. You imagine what fun you’re going to have at the beach this weekend with your friends. You have a vision of the joy on your child’s face when sees that toy he’s been wanting under the Christmas tree.

Many use this creative power in a far less positive way. You imagine the next phone call will be the debt collector because you’re behind on that bill. You imagine that storm growing worse and your spouse’s car sliding off the road into a tree. This is called worry.

Worry is a corruption of the creative power of your mind. That imagination you have was intended to help you build a business, raise happy children, write a book, design a home. Worry brings fear, and fear brings a halt to all of the good ideas you have.

You have the ability to see something in your mind before it exists in reality. Take note of what you’re seeing. Think about what you’re thinking about. Do your ideas point towards a positive manifestation, or a negative one?

Don’t let worry and fear corrupt your imagination. The world needs your creativity.

My Superpower

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I am entering this blog entry into a contest by Positive Writer called “You are a Writer.” Check out his blog for links to many other inspiring stories!

 

I’ve always loved stories—the more fantastical, the better. Alien planets, magical worlds, the supernatural living among us—I like it all.

I would wish, sometimes, that I could live in one of those stories. It’s not that I hated my life—I had a wonderful childhood, loving parents, all my basic needs met and a few luxuries on the side. A great environment to grow up in, but nothing special, or so I thought at the time.

I wanted to be special. To be the one who opened the wardrobe door and discovered Narnia. Or woke up in Oz and saved the day.

I wanted to fly with the hidden angel wings on my back. Or wield the magic sword. Or be the holder of the key to the secret land of the unicorns. I played games, and wrote stories, and read stories, and wished I was something special.

Why couldn’t I have a cool superpower like one of the X-Men? How come all the hidden trails in the woods always dead-ended at the edge of the highway instead of taking me to a magical fairy realm? No hole in the ground ever led to Wonderland, no ring I put on ever made me invisible. Nothing special.

Then suddenly one day, not so very long ago, I realized that I was wrong. All these years, daydreaming about things that didn’t exist, were not futile fancies or a waste of time. All this time, I’d been honing my magical talent, my special power.

I could tell stories. I could think of worlds and people that had never existed before, and never ever would if I didn’t think of them and give them life. I could create the places I longed to visit, the amazing creatures I longed to see, and share them with other people.

I’m a writer. That’s my superpower.

I have a mind, and a voice, and a pen. And I can use them to create magic or save the day.

You have a mind, and a voice, and a pen. What’s your superpower?

My First Anniversary!

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So tomorrow, June 20th, marks exactly one year since my first blog entry. Okay, technically it was my second blog entry, but my actual first post was just a test to make sure I’d set up everything right on WordPress.

Anyway, in this post I’d like to celebrate that I survived a year of blogging. And I’d like to share some of the things that I’ve learned over this past year:

1. Blogging is lots of fun

It’s been fun coming up with new things to write about every week, reading comments from readers, posting my little Gravatar link all over the interwebs so that more people will see my blog.

2. Blogging is lots of work

See #1. As fun as blogging is, it’s also been surprisingly hard to post something creative once a week. As someone who loves to write, this ought to be easy, but it isn’t always. Especially since I try to publish my posts on a regular schedule, so I always have my self-imposed deadline breathing down my neck.

3. Blogging is a great way to meet new people

I’ve met so many cool bloggers. Since I started blogging, I’ve also been reading more blogs, and engaging in conversations via the comments fields—sometimes even moving to email or Facebook for deeper conversations. Yes, I do believe you can have meaningful friendships online.

4. Blogging stretches my creativity

See #2 about how much work it is keeping up with regular postings. Right now, I’m feeling very accomplished because I have several more weeks’ worth of blog entries already written, and more ideas in the pipe. But many times I find myself staring at the computer, thinking that if I don’t post something this week then some reader I don’t know will suddenly hate me. Surely a creative writer can come up with something creative to write? Sometimes it’s a stretch.

5. Blogging gives me a confidence boost

Despite the stresses of #2 and #4, I’m happy about my first year of blogging. I know I’m not famous (yet), nor am I being paid for blogging (yet), but it makes me smile when I see how many people subscribe to my blog via email or follow me on WordPress. And I’ve posted at least one entry a week for an entire year. Creative gems or not, that’s still a lot of writing.

So here’s my self-congratulatory pat on the back. And many thanks to everyone who does follow me (here, or on Facebook or Twitter). I hope you’ll read and share my writing for another year! 🙂

Current Writing Projects

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This week’s entry is all about me. I couldn’t think of anything useful or instructive to write, so I thought I’d just share a little about my own current writing projects.

Besides writing this fabulous blog, I am also working on two novels. They’re both part of the fantasy trilogy that has been my main creative focus for the better part of the past two years. The trilogy is entitled The Light-Whisperers of Kalevala. I’m about half-way (okay, maybe one third of the way) done with the first draft of book two.

I really enjoy writing a first draft, even when I find myself deviating from my original outline. Or when I get to that trouble spot of my outline where I just had a big question mark and now I’ve got to come up with something.

First draft writing is pure creation, pure exploration. I’m learning about the characters and having adventures right along with them. It’s fun and it’s freeing.

Editing, revising, and rewriting are not quite as fun. This is where I am with book one. Yes, editing, revising, and rewriting are all different processes, but I’m currently engaged in all of them. Mostly that last one.

I have rewritten many scenes in the first two chapters—more than once. And each time a scene is rewritten, I know it’s better—the plot flows smoother, the clunky boring parts are trimmed or gone, the characters become more three-dimensional and consistent. The total word count is going down, which is a good thing (the first draft clocked in at 175,000 words, which is a tad long, even for a fantasy tome). I’m excited about the end result of a more streamlined and readable novel, but I’m becoming less and less excited about the process to get said result.

I’m sure all writers (or artists of any sort) experience this feeling of being so tired of a piece of work that you just want to give up on it and call it done so you can forget about the thing. Yes, there will come a point when I have to call it done—without doing that, it will never be published. But I know that time is not yet.

My critique group has been very helpful by providing feedback. They have pointed out the slow spots (there are lots of those), the places where characters seem to fall flat, and those little inaccuracies that aren’t a big thing but could trip me up later. Of course I don’t automatically make every suggested change, but when multiple people point out the same things—repeatedly—it’s probably important.

Hence, the rewriting. And more rewriting. My goal is to have the rewrites and revisions of the entire first book done by the end of May. That’s a little over a week away, for anyone who’s counting. And how close am I to accomplishing that goal? I’d rather not talk about that…

Well, sooner or later, I will finish this revision of book one. As sick of it as I am right now, I’ve worked too hard on it to just quit. And besides, since I’m industriously writing book two (and sketching ideas for book three), that kind of makes book one necessary.

So now it’s back to the rewriting/revising board again (with the occasional hop over to first draft creative freedom on book two, when I just can’t stand it anymore). Oh yeah, and cranking out a blog entry of some sort every week.

So what sort of projects are you working on?

Where do you get your ideas?

Posted in Music, Movies, and other Muses, Writings about Writing by

Speaking just for myself, I’ve always found it odd when someone asks me where I get my ideas. I get my ideas from everywhere, from life all around me. A song, a conversation with a friend, a scene in a movie, a picture on the wall, a tree, my pet rabbits, a rumpled pillow on a sofa… Anything and everything is fodder for ideas.

For me, ideas—whether they be plot ideas, character ideas, or something more ephemeral—hit me at random times, from any sort of random prompt. I’ve got a notebook full of story ideas. So I have never really had the problem of thinking “I want to write, but I don’t know what to write about.”

Even so, I often feel uninspired, and sometimes a writing prompt of some sort can help jumpstart me back into the process. My primary go-to writing prompt is music of some sort, but pictures often help, too. So here are some pictures that can perhaps help you to jump-start those creative thoughts.

A pen and a notebook. What will you write?

A pen and a notebook. What will you write?

Something's about to happen here...

Something’s about to happen here…

What a cute wee door! Who lives here?

What a cute wee door! Who lives here?

A lone man and a great wide view. What does he see?

A lone man and a great wide view. What does he see?

Funny name for a train platform...oh, wait, some other author already used this one...

Funny name for a train platform…oh, wait, some other author already used this one…

What song is he playing?

What song is he playing?

Tree creature

Tree creature

There's gotta be a good story behind this one!

There’s gotta be a good story behind this one!

What kind of stories did these pictures prompt for you? Please share in the comments, or even share a link to your web page where you’ve posted your ideas!

(Feel free to copy or repost these pictures, but PLEASE give me credit by linking back to this blog. That’s not only the properly legal thing to do, since I took all of these pictures, but it’s also the ethical thing to do. And the law and ethics so rarely coincide these days!)