Mind-blowing Creative Writing Techniques

Most Effective Creative Writing Techniques

Creative writing depends on your imagination power, wise conversion of thoughts into words, and convey unique ideas. Therefore creative writing prompts are different from other writing techniques. To make your creativity an achievement, you can employ some of the skills and literary devices are given below:

Dialogue:

Ernest Hemingway is an influential personality in the history of American creative literature. He used to unfold the plot of his story through character conversations. One of his innovative writing techniques includes letting characters talk as much as possible. Similarly, Jane Austen, another great story writer, developed her characters through dialogues. Hence, it is a well-practiced skill to use dialogues for a natural and realistic story flow. However, you can also make progress possible by relying solely on the narration. Though it might sound a bit unrealistic, it is a common trend in creative writing.

Similes and Metaphors:

Mostly, great fictions are rich in figurative language, inviting the reader to vibrant portrayals to induce emotions. This is one of the typical creative writing techniques among famous fiction writers and poets. For example, Rober Burns used many similes and metaphors in his poem “A Red, Red Rose”. Moreover, a well-known American poet, Sylvia Plath, used “bees” as a metaphor for her bitter past. Likewise, Shakespeare gave several connotations hidden in one word in his controversial play “Romeo and Juliet”.

Point of View:

Your point while weaving the story gives creative definition to the story’s voice. It determines the growth of the plot and reveals the ultimate message you want to convey. For example, the famous Fitzgerald’s The Great Gatsby provides a point of view by Nick instead of Daisy, the protagonist. On the other hand, if Daisy had been writing the story from her perspective, the results would change. It would significantly affect the central theme, voice, and message of the story.

Anecdotes

Anecdotes are simple little stories within the main plot. They allow the reader to get insight into characters without simple statements. Furthermore, anecdotes generate empathy and show different character dimensions. For example, Mary Shelley’s Frankenstein has an anecdote related to Elizabeth. It grants the character and family history of Justine.

Defining Creative Writing

There are many definitions of creative writing by different experts. None of them is less important or influential in understanding this writing genre. Nevertheless, the most common and quoted one is “the art of making things up”. It can be purely a product of imagination like poetry or fiction. Creative writing has great importance for any society on the planet. It has different kinds and categories featuring other creative writing techniques. One thing which is common in all categories of creative literature is its non-academic and non-technical style. Likewise, all kinds of creative writing have a common purpose of attracting readers.

Moreover, it can represent original facts, expressing how a writer feels, and entertain the audience. It is also true that creative writing exposes human experiences while providing them with a brilliant entertainment source. For example, the readers get close to the emotions of love and the narrative's responses to it. Although most creative writers tend to fiction writing, they aim to get at reality through poetry and storytelling. If you are attempting to be a creative writer, learn to express your thoughts through words and phrases. Besides, you have to know the major types of creative writing given below to get familiar with this art:

• Poetry;
• Novels;
• Movie scripts;
• Television drama scripts;
• Plays;
• Lyrics of songs, particularly emotional;
• Speeches and addresses;
• Journal articles;
• Memoirs;
• Philosophical essays.

Once you get acquainted with the fiction and nonfiction categories, creative writing techniques become simpler to learn!

Other Top Creative Writing Techniques

Record Fleeting Ideas

A living brain never stops working. Although some people feel confident about storing ideas without any source of the recording, they lose them. Ideas are fleeting and can vanish after popping up in your brain like raindrops falling on the earth. Even a few ordinary daily life acts can make you lose great ideas if you do not record them after inspiration. Therefore, you need to catch them, register them, and keep them before they disappear. It is as simple as keeping a notebook with you to write down your feelings, inspirations, observations, and thoughts.

Understand the Subject to The Next Level

Another persuasive creative writing prompts include having a deep insight into the subject. Specifically, the current poets love to see dancing words on the page without realizing the importance of the subject. Usually, creative writers attempt to generate stories by selecting from experienced subjects. Instead, they can wait until inspiration takes place. Not waiting for inspiration weakens the writers’ understanding of the subject. On the other hand, the writer can get close to the subject by combining:

• Experience;
• Imagination;
• Research.

Thereby, by unifying these three elements, you can achieve great mastery over subject selection.

Picking up Relevant Narrative

Why are some stories timeless despite being a product of imagination? Why are some old stories still parasitic to the media and current university syllabus? Are only subject, language, character, and dialogues responsible for the popularity of a plot? The single answer to all these questions is “the selection of narrative”. How do you unfold the story through its beginning, middle, and end by involving curiosity and suspense, do matter! The famous play “Waiting for Godot” by Samuel Bucket unfolds the events packed in great mystery. That is why plays like this are timeless in esteem. So, if you want to learn how to write a short story, you must learn relevant narrative selection.

Using a Unique Voice

The definition of voice in creative writing is the author's personal style to accomplish a literary work. It involves various divergent literary devices and artistic tactics, such as;

• Syntax;
• Diction;
• Semantics;
• Dialogues;
• Tone;
• Mood;
• Pacing;
• Character traits;
• Punctuation.

Although you may feel it's like a hazy theory, voice is vital to contribute to an artwork in literature. In short words, it is one of the effective creative writing tips for you to develop a unique and recognizable voice.

Give an Engaging Intro

An introduction is the hook that wins the reader’s attention and keeps him/her reading to the end. Therefore, your intro must be engaging and giving vivid details of the character's background dipped in imagery. For example; “The Story of an Hour” by Chopin provides us with enough account of the protagonist's character by a vivid background.

By talking about her black lineage in the intro, the author connects the theme of bias with the central conflict. Meanwhile, she develops her character with a reasonable, realistic approach.

In the introduction, the reader comes to know about the death of her husband and the beginning of her inner struggle to accept it. Without flashbacks, the visual, auditory, olfactory, and tactile imagery in the intro contributes to engaging the reader.

Using of Three Act Structure

The three-act structure in fiction divides the entire story into three sections:

• The start setup;
• The middle confrontation;
• The end resolution.

If you are a novice storyteller, keep this model in the vision before you begin writing. Give a setup with a great introduction creating curiosity to read to what it leads. Then, present a catastrophic moment by giving the climax that makes the audience sit on the edge of the seat. At last, resolve the tension by providing digestible resolution. Also, make sure you make a logical connection between the three parts of the story. Otherwise, your reader will leave it without getting interested in the resolution, resulting in poor examination results.

Give Interesting Information About Setting And Location

Another powerful creative writing technique is the choice of setting and location. Setting and location mean the determination of time and space for your story. For example; “Shakespeare in the Bush” by Laura Bohannan is an exciting story about storytelling among primitive Africans. The author selects Nigeria to generate the idea of a different, primitive, but wise interpretation of ‘Hamlet’ by Shakespeare. The Nigerian customs and knowledge contribute to providing her with a new version of the well-known play. No other location could have served her purpose as much as Nigeria's bushy surrounding and black listeners.

Similarly, the internationally famous short story “All Summer in A Day” by Ray Bradbury gives nonlinear time and space. The planet is Venus, while the time is set far in the future when space traveling will get common. Without that setting, the author might not contribute his theme of the relationship between humans and nature.

Use Eloquent Dialogue

Dialogues have integral importance in creating the overall impact of the writing. If you are attempting creative writing the first time, work hard on the dialogues. Try to add literary devices to the dialogues, like symbolism. Remember, dialogues become quotations and live forever if they create an imaginative and wise mind. Also, dialogues play an essential role in character development. For example, through the dialogue of Iago, we come to know his villainy in “Othello” by Shakespeare. Similarly, we feel sympathy, love, or hatred for a character depending on his dialogue before any other fiction action.

Produce Tension or Conflict

Conflict is the central focus of the story for a reader. Whether he is attentive to dialogues or characters, his mind revolves around the conflict you raise. Thereby, it is crucial to create an engaging and attention-grabbing conflict to flow throughout the story. You can generate an outer conflict connected to an inner conflict. Besides, you can also use secondary conflict's creative writing technique to invite the reader’s attention. Remember, it is the thread of conflict that leads a reader to hang onto curiosity throughout the wordplay. You cannot skip this creative writing tip to produce a comprehensive and influential story in a nutshell.

Wise Character Development

In creative writing exercises, character development is an essential part of learning. A writer develops a character through dialogues, background history, actions, and responses from other characters. The most crucial factor in character development is dialogue. People emotionally and psychologically respond to a character’s dialogues and set a resonant idea about their importance to the story. An example for clarification of this point is the globally celebrated novel “Tess of D’Urberville” by Hardy. The reader realizes the innocence, virtue of Tess by her dialogues before anything happens to her.

Arouse Strong Emotions

Evoking emotions is an essential factor of descriptive writing and creative literature. You can follow the instructions given below to induce feelings in your story for the professor:

Develop your character with emotional dialogues and attach emotions with the protagonist when you describe him/her.

• Indicate the ominous happenings by using symbols, imagery, scenery, metaphors, and similes.
• Plant seeds in words uttered by your characters.
• Use redolent names.
• Use a fly-by-night narrator

Work hard on the confrontation and resolution in terms of evoking emotions.

Spare 10 Minutes Daily for Writing

Another good idea is not to load yourself with things. Do not just sit with your laptop and get too promising to finish your work on the first attempt. Creative writing is different from research papers. It needs a calm, fresh, emotionally activated, and thoughtful mind with lots of imagination. When your creative powers look so down, leave the work. Instead, every day you feel relatively fresh and mentally healthy, and productive; spare 10 minutes for your project. During this dedicated time of 10 minutes, sit in a quiet place rich in natural beauty to nurture your mind’s productivity. Besides, stay close to artworks, sources of inspiration, and great authors' writings throughout the time you write your story.

Let Practice Make You Perfect

You cannot expect that people will begin to consider you Shakespeare after reading your first story. Creative writing is an art like cooking, sewing, painting, and weaving. So, you cannot spring out as a perfect writer right after the first completed work. Creative writing techniques include practice as of crucial importance. Take more subjects, work on different climaxes and character development, and continue experimenting. Practice makes things perfect, so do not lose your stamina to attain an esteemed writer's goal. Remember, the worldwide known writers once faced rejection and badly flop pieces of their art. Thus, you should never lose courage and be devoted to practice!

Use Abstract Language

One of the typical, globally known creative writing techniques is using abstract or figurative language to write a story. Mainly, poets from different cultures are highly interested in playing with words in giving them colored meanings. Likewise, playwrights and novelists love to use figurative or nonliteral language to amuse the reader and create masterpieces. For example, look at the dialogue given below: “The children pressed to each other like so many roses”. It is taken from “All Summer in A Day” by Bradbury. His use of “pressed” and “roses” produces an image of soft roses in a line pressed against each. Bradbury uses these words to convey the idea of the innocence of the children. He could also say, “The children fell on each other while playing”. You will see it does not sound that engaging and emotion-provoking like the former. Hence, the writers use figurative language to give long life to their words into the readers' minds. They use similes, metaphors, symbolism, imagery, and other literary devices to serve the purpose.

Four Types of Creative Writing

Finally, you must read out major types, given below, of creative writing to perform a brilliant job for A+:

Expository: it involves essays, manuals, textbooks, and articles, beginning with an introduction and a solid thesis statement. Expository writing does not include fiction and poetry.

Persuasive: persuasive writing persuades the reader to believe in an idea and act accordingly. It consists of logical arguments and pieces of evidence.

Narrative: narrative writing leads to storytelling, which can be both fiction and nonfiction. It familiarizes the story with the reader through characters and dialogues.

Descriptive: this type of writing produces clear imagination into the readers' minds by using literary devices in a story. The characters and dialogues are wrapped in figurative language and stylistic devices.