How to Improve Creative Writing
Many educational systems are based on creative writing. Students are expected to make all their writing projects original, non-standard, and non-plagiarized essays. All the methods are welcome just to teach students how to become creative writers. Not all youngsters understand the right way to become creative and their projects become boring, stereotypical, and uninteresting. If you struggle with your creativity, we can help. Our useful guide provides the necessary recommendations and brilliant tricks that will help to improve your creative writing.
Consider Your Audience
Our first recommendation is to pay attention to your audience (readers). Always put yourself into their shoes to understand what they expect from you. One of the common demands is to read something fresh and creative. Asking definite questions, you can reveal the needs of your potential readers.
- What is the purpose of this story?
- Does it highlight important problems?
- Is it helpful for me?
- How does it deliver the main message?
- Is it clear and logical?
- Does it implement uncommon methods?
Use the Three-Act Structure
Creative writing is hugely dependent on a specific structure, which consists of three crucial acts. It’s used in modern writing and definitely makes all academic papers or fiction stories original and captivating. We’ll use the famous creation of a legendary writer John Ronald Ruel Tolkien called “The Lord of the Rings” as an example.
- Set-up. It is the beginning of the story when you describe the world, life, and events important for your characters. These descriptions lead us to the “turning point” of the story. Thus, the main characters learn that evil lord Sauron has survived and the only way to kill him is the destruction of the Ruling Ring they’ve found.
- Confrontation. The turning point begins after the heroes discover the way of killing Sauron. They have to decide what paths to tread to come to the only place where the Ring can be destructed. Confrontation provides multiple details about the development of characters, the sequence of events, and their consequences.
- Resolution. The last stage of any story is resolution or climax. It’s the hottest point when the drama reaches its peak. In Tolkien’s masterpiece, the climax begins when two hobbits reach the evil land of Sauron, and they try to cast the Ring into the volcano. Their friends try to help them by a diversion, which may cost their lives. All the heroes are in peril and the heart of readers begins to beat faster because they don’t know who will survive.
Grab the Attention Straight Away
If you want to draw the attention of your readers, do it right at the beginning of your story. If your introduction isn’t interesting enough, your readers may not want to continue the reading. You will need an attention grabber. For example, you write a detective story about a murder. Make sure you begin with the description of the murder. Your readers will be interested in details and would like to find out who is the murderer. Try to make the opening chapter uncommon and even weird.
Learn from Famous Writers
Never bypass the opportunity to gain the experiences of other writers who have well-deserved fame. Tolkien, King, Rowling, Gaiman, Asimov are only a few of the numerous talented writers of the present and the past. They have sufficiently enriched world literature and have affected millions of people from all corners of the globe. Today, we can learn a lot from their wisdom, as well as creative touches. If you’re an active reader, you’ll have a rich experience and will know what smart tricks to implement to make your writing creative. However, you should never plagiarize other authors. Otherwise, you’ll be ashamed and nobody would read your plagiarized works. If an author copies his/her colleagues, such writing isn’t creative at all. You may use their creative prompts as general concepts buy with your own ideas.
Create Character Based on the People Your Know
One of the most efficient creative techniques is to use your real-life experiences in writing. It may be difficult to create a story without any connection to reality. Many beginners struggle with the creation of their characters. Thus, we recommend using people you already know as samples of your characters. It’ll be much easier and afterward, your story will get the necessary boost. You’re welcome to add some events, which happened to you as well.
Use the Snowflake Method to Brainstorm
You can likewise apply a unique method of brainstorming – Snowflake. It was created by a famous author and instructor Randy Ingermanson. When you create the story from scratch, write a basic summary. It’s similar to writing research papers when the abstract briefly explains the purpose and reveals the outcomes of the research at the beginning.
You will have the core – the main events and outcomes of the story. Your next step is to add details to those events and outcomes. You’ll steadily add more facts, which appear as snowflakes during the snowfall. For example, the main hero discovers the body of a murdered person. It will be your core and you should think about how everything led to this moment and the way your hero will find the murderer.
Revise and Improve Your Texts
It’s very important to revise all the texts you write. Obligatorily reread it twice or thrice to make sure it’s free of mistakes. Pay attention to your grammar, punctuation, word choice, spelling, active/passive constructions, and something of the kind. You may likewise join a creative group for constructive criticism. People may miss the mistakes they make when they write and afterward, revise. Other people have a fresh and objective look. They will tell when your story lacks creativity.
Memorize all the recommendations and prompts mentioned in our guide. They are universal and will definitely suit every student regardless of the assignment type he/she must accomplish. We likewise encourage reading other similar guides and tutorials to get more insights. Don’t forget to find and read samples written by creative and successful writers.
