Tag Archives: writing tip

What is Creative Writing?

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What is creative writing? Writing creatively, you might say. Or, creative writing is the opposite of writing factual stuff, like an instruction manual or a textbook. Well, yes, but what does this mean? 

I’m teaching a creative writing class this semester at my local homeschooling co-op. For fifty minutes once a week, I’m teaching 11-15 year-olds the basics of storytelling. I started off the class with my own interpretation of what “creativity” and “creative writing” mean. Below is a version of what I gave to them as handouts at the beginning of class. Hopefully it will get them thinking about what it means to be creative and to tell stories. 

What is Creativity? 

Creativity is a way of thinking about or reacting to a situation or a concept that is new or different from what’s been done before. Creativity is “thinking outside the box.” 

Creativity involves using our imagination. With imagination and creativity, we can make our thoughts become real, we can turn one thing into something completely different, we can make something from nothing. Every human achievement throughout history (from the controlling of fire and the invention of the wheel, all the way to inventing smart phones and the International Space Station) is because of human creativity. 

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When Your Writing Goes Against Your Personal Beliefs

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As a fiction writer, my main job is to make up stuff and write about things that I’ve never experienced (and probably never will, since I write fantasy and sci-fi). And sometimes, in the course of writing about people, places, and events that I’ve never seen or experienced, something comes along that directly violates my personal principles and beliefs. 

So what do you do, as a writer, if, for the sake of the story, you need to write about something that is the very antithesis of who you are as a person? I’m sure plenty of mystery and thriller writers have asked themselves this question. After all, the vast majority of people who write murder mysteries are not, in fact, murderers. 

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Write What You Don’t Know

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The old adage goes “write what you know.” Actually, I hear very few people in the writing industry actually promoting that idea anymore – probably because it’s a terrible idea. Well, not terrible, really – just an inaccurate and incomplete idea. 

If you’re writing a memoir or anything autobiographical, then obviously you’re writing what you know, and only what you know. That’s the point of that genre. Anything in the non-fiction realm, actually, should be what you know. Whether you’re writing a book about gardening tips or the history of shoemakers in 19th century London, then hopefully you’re writing from your own knowledge, experience, or research.

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The ABCs of Writing a Fantasy Story

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This isn’t a list of do’s and don’ts or advice. It’s more of a list of elements that I’ve found to be common in most fantasy tales. Feel free to make suggestions about what other words you’d pick for this list! 

A – Adventure. What good fantasy tale doesn’t involve an adventure? It doesn’t have to be a thrill-a-minute tale, or involve more traveling than Frodo’s hike from the Shire to Mordor, but “going on an adventure” is a foundational element in many fantasy stories. 

B – Bad Guys. Whether the villain is the personification of evil itself, or a conflicted, misunderstood character, it’s not much of a story without an antagonist. 

C – Creatures. Most fantasy stories have some sort of fantastical animals. Whether it’s a classic fire-breathing dragon or a creature you invented from scratch, readers expect beasts of magic or mystery. 

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Growing As a Writer

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Over the past few months, I’ve returned to a story world that I started a good ten years ago (maybe more). Several people thought I’d given up on those stories (not true, but I was flattered to know that they were excited enough about the idea to worry that I’d dropped it). You can’t publish a book that you never finish (well, with serial publishing, I guess you technically can)—but even though the art of finishing is very important to your growth as a writer, sometimes breaks are okay. 

Even though I knew that taking a break from a project was an okay thing to do, for some reason I started feeling bad about the length of time that I’d let this story sit. I was excited to get back to it, but also felt like a “bad writer” for having abandoned a story for so long. And some of the people who were excited to learn I was working on this project again also asked me why I’d paused and why it had taken me so long to get back to it. I know they meant well and were just genuinely curious, but being the sort of personality that I am, I felt guilty.

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