Creative Writing Tips and Tricks!

IMPORTANT

Starting with a Strong Beginning! All good works of fiction strive to capture a reader’s imagination and transport them to a new world. To effectively hook your reader, you’re going to need a strong opening! Some things you’ll need to consider are:
- - Introducing your character(s) - you’ll want to show the reader right away who is in the story to help capture their interest.
  - Establish the conflict - What’s going on in your story? What is the problem or predicament? To hook a reader, you’ll want to show them even a glimpse of the conflict pretty early on.
  - Present the setting and point of view - Where is the action happening? On a pleasant, warm beach? In a dark and rainy graveyard? Setting is important if you want to inspire the mood and appropriate reactions in your reader! Point of view is also a very important aspect of your beginning. Try not to switch your speaker too much, especially not in the beginning, or your reader will likely be very confused.

Building Relatable Characters! Most all stories have characters in them, especially works of creative fiction! To create a good story, you’ll want to be sure your character is relatable and believable.
- - Actions Speak Louder than Words! - A character usually shows their intentions through the things that they do. Keeping a character’s mannerisms consistent and believable to the circumstances are important to the reader’s ability to understand them and relate to them.
  - Appearance is Everything! - The way your character dresses and accessorizes is, in fact, important to their reputation in the reader’s eyes. Do they dress in glamorous dresses and sparkling jewels? What does this mean for your character’s personality or background? Keep these things in mind when trying to create a believably human character.

- - Plan Ahead! - It may be helpful to start out with an outline. Even for writers who write chronologically, (straight ahead) it’s incredibly important to keep in mind your beginning, middle and end. You’ll probably have specific ideas in mind for particular parts, but being able to map out what you want for each part of your story is incredibly important for the fluidity and cohesiveness to your paper as a whole.

- - Relax! - A lot of writers get stressed when they don’t have every nook and cranny of their story figured out. It’s OK to not know your ending right away. It’s also OK to not know what you’re planning for the start of your biggest climax. Relax and let that creativity flow. Experiment and work through your drafts, and don’t worry if you don’t know everything yet - it will come to you eventually.

- - Don’t be Afraid to Delete! - Often, a writer can get stuck up on the specifics of a paragraph and not want to delete it, even with the criticism of their peers and mentors. It’s OK to delete and revise your work, it may be that your next version is even better than the first!

- - Save your Work! - When deleting, make sure you save that first draft in a separate folder! Don’t forget to save regularly as well. You don’t want to lose all that hard work!

That’s all I’ve got for you for now! So pick up those pencils, turn on that laptop and get to writing!

Contributed by: Alex Schobitz, Writing Center intern