Five tips on how to approach writing creatively
Creative writing is often thought to mean fiction or poetry writing, specifically the kind of creative writing taught in workshops at liberal arts colleges where people sit around and ask each other questions about character motivation, symbolism, and whether you’ve earned your cliche.
Actually, creative writing is so much more than that. You can approach any writing creatively, be it a research paper, an essay, a journalistic article, or even a blog entry. I like to think that I’m approaching this blog, even now, from my own creative angle. All ‘creative writing’ means is that you are infusing your writing with your personal creative spirit. That the creative energy of your writing comes from you and you alone. Not only is creative often confused with ‘fiction,’ but it’s also confused with the false idea that in order to be creative, what you are doing has to be a completely isolated work that lives on its own, outside of what anyone else has ever done. That’s simply not true. Writers are often influenced by other writers, and part of being creative is letting yourself be inspired by the work of others. There are many myths to being creative, and the purpose of this post is to encourage students to find their own routes to creativity. We are all endowed with the creative aspect; it’s just up to us to access it!
Top 5 tips on how to approach writing creatively
5. Read. The best thing a writer can do to improve his or her writing is to read. You will not believe how much you pick up just from reading and being inspired by the printed word. Read, and read everything you can. Try to push yourself to read things that aren’t exactly up your alley of interest. For example, I’m not really the biggest biography fan, so sometimes I challenge myself to read a biography rather than another novel, because by reading it, I expose my mind to new things.
4. Observe. It’s easy to be a passive, lazy observer in this world that is so full of richness and detail. Try to observe some of it if you can! Living in San Francisco can sometimes be a sensory overload, because the architecture here is so descriptive and varied. It’s easy for me just to shut my eyes and float through the world without paying attention, because it’s easy, but for a writer, paying attention is intrinsic to good creative writing. By forcing yourself to pay attention to details, you can draw on them later in your work. Even if you think you can’t possibly remember what you observe, you will surprise yourself when you write, as you realize that you actually do internalize and remember more than you even know or realize.
3. Show, don’t tell. Good writing doesn’t just present the reader with an idea, a situation, an argument, or a description. Good writing draws the reader in through the use of evocative language that makes an idea, situation, argument, or description not only real to the reader, but urgent and understood. Don’t just tell your reader, “The monster opened his eyes.” Do, as Mary Shelley does in Frankenstein, write like this, “It was already one in the morning; the rain pattered dismally against the panes, and my candle was nearly burnt out, when, by the glimmer of the half-extinguished light, I saw the dull yellow eye of the creature open . . .”
2. Write about what you know. This is self-explanatory. Write about what you know, because you come to your work with a unique set of experiences no one else has, a set of experiences that is an invaluable resource to any writer. Harvest those resources in your writing. Your own experiences are your own priceless advantage against anyone elses’ work, because you are the only person who has shared in your revelations.
1. Don’t edit yourself. Believe in yourself as a writer. Just let it flow. As hard as it is to sit down and write, force yourself to do it. The hardest part of writing creatively is to let the creative juices flow, but once the flood gates are opened, you’ll be astounded to see what is unleashed!
