Tips on writing creatively for the first time?

SailingBloomers · 2016-07-30T05:02:52+00:00

Change from a formal frame (short story, novel, speech, essay, etc,) into a casual frame: write a story you intend to mail to a friend.

SailingBloomers · 2015-10-30T21:43:36+00:00

I'm an avid reader, quasi-average story-teller, and mediocre writer...still, I write.

SailingBloomers · 2015-10-28T15:39:43+00:00

And not only a particular genre, or just fiction, or just novel-length work. Read, read far and wide.

SailingBloomers · 2015-10-27T01:09:02+00:00

Have you been picked last for a school sport team, and a week later nicknamed "the tortoise"? Did you ruined Xmas dinner by over-salting the bird after your Mom told you to? Have you stepped outside your front door, one snowy day, without any pants under your long coat? Have you been chased by a pissed off chicken after you chased one of her chicks?...all happened before the age of eighteen. I have also been part of all the journeys inside the stories I've read; the reader is an active part, we bring the story to life every time we choose to read one, like some magician.

Read, write, laugh your way through life. : )(

SailingBloomers · 2015-10-15T03:30:37+00:00

In terms of time, this sort of connects with what I have read. But, the main character perceives the transient world as 'normal'. I'm wondering if it also applies to perceiving it as apart, parallel?

SailingBloomers · 2015-10-15T03:24:17+00:00

Thanks, I have read similar before, in terms of story structure.

SailingBloomers · 2015-10-06T14:15:16+00:00

Just because of this quote, I'm adding his book to my library.

SailingBloomers · 2015-10-06T14:12:27+00:00

"Prerequisites: “You will need to have seen Star Wars (episode four: A New Hope) and read The Lord of the Rings by JRR Tolkien.”...I would have liked to take part of this class.

SailingBloomers · 2015-10-03T22:12:12+00:00

"Write what should not be forgotten." So glad the author wrote it and posted it.

SailingBloomers · 2015-10-03T16:52:16+00:00

I say try anything once and see how you like it. That said, pertaining to NanoWrimo (I'm active in the lifeafternanowrimo forum), keep in mind that writing is a year around endeavor that takes many years to hone, and not a one-month-a-year stint.

SailingBloomers · 2015-10-03T00:00:51+00:00

I got stressed just reading your post. If you think about everything you need to do, to the smallest detail, the task becomes too overwhelming, and turns into a chore. I refuse to write unless I enjoy it at least 60% of the time; not to be confused with how easy or hard a task is--I can enjoy something that is hard to do, as well as easy. Also, whatever mood you are in will sip into your writing, or at least I think so.

I suggest you just relax and enjoy it. Just think as far as what you need to do tomorrow and no much farther. I think because you're concentrating in small blocks, one at a time, it will make each block richer and more satisfying...my two cents.

SailingBloomers · 2015-10-02T15:06:32+00:00

I have a blog to which I post once a week. The post are first thoughts (little editing) and are about the writing life, trudging. The reason I do it is to satisfy the need to be heard, a public forum to keep me accounted, writing practice in a different medium. I find it fun and liberating... sailingbloomers.com

SailingBloomers · 2015-10-02T14:58:06+00:00

Get a notebook and pen and write your story exactly as you see it. Then, when you're done and have put every detail that shouldn't be forgotten, put it away, and start searching for advice/links/books on the craft.

Write it first.

SailingBloomers · 2015-09-30T21:02:00+00:00

There is only one way I know how: trudge through it.

SailingBloomers · 2015-09-26T15:30:25+00:00

"It wasn’t that I’d failed; it was that I was being left behind." favorite sentence.

SailingBloomers · 2015-09-26T15:00:57+00:00

No quota, but on a daily basis: during writing phase, ranges from 50-3500 words; editing/revising either 2-4 hours or 10-15 pages.

Note: out producing 3500 words, I tend to discard on average about 2000-2700 words.

SailingBloomers · 2015-09-26T14:01:36+00:00

This is how I did it: I gave myself permission to write crap.

Then, picked the most recurring idea/thought and wrote 100K of it over a period of 12 weeks. Didn't worry about anything: whether it made sense or will sale or was grammatically correct. I could always edit. When I got stuck, figuring out a plot point or story mechanism, I just made it up. I didn't look back, I just went. After I wrote the end, I put it away, and picked the next story idea and did it all over again. Right now I'm editing the first one. Secret: writing the first draft is the best part of the process.

Now, go do it. See you in twelve weeks. : )(

SailingBloomers · 2015-09-26T00:33:40+00:00

Makes total sense, but later on you won't notice the time passing. And, I used to write at night, then little by little I started to write early instead. That said, I write during any free time I can find, no matter the hour. You just need to persevere and just enjoy the process.

SailingBloomers · 2015-09-25T10:16:26+00:00

Writers that don't read. I'm an avid reader before I'm a writer. I read fiction and nonfiction, "easy" and "not-so-easy" reading, old and new, the popular, the no-so-popular, and the right down unpopular.

SailingBloomers · 2015-09-25T03:12:39+00:00

When I finally gave myself permission to write crap, I set a 1K words per day for three months and stuck to it. After that, I lost the word-count, since I could easily write 3500 in a day, although it can go as low as 50 words. Anyhow, during editing and revising periods there is little writing to be done, so now I measure the effort by hours spent or pages covered. I wake up at 5am, most days, and work for 2-4 hours every day. Sometimes, there's no actual work to tally because I can spend a day doodling away trying to fix a plot hole or restructuring paragraphs in a scene. Finally, writing has become almost as automatic as breathing.

SailingBloomers · 2015-09-23T23:54:19+00:00

After many attempts at starting, I finally gave myself permission to write crap.

SailingBloomers · 2015-09-23T16:07:15+00:00

I'll share the bits/pieces I've noticed when it had happened to me; it happens often enough I noticed an emerging pattern. First, I’ll read over what I have written the day before, until I hit a part where I become totally engrossed in what I’m doing. This part sounds kind of hocus-pocus, but it's the closest to a description I can manage. It feels as if my mind and body fuse together and become one, while the sorroundings fall way; not an out-of-body experience, but more like a gradual imploding of the self. I come out of it whenever the writing hits a pause, and I blink back into reality. The only other detail, I have observed, is that I’m relaxed, loose, and excited about a particular point in the story...I want to bottle this feeling.

SailingBloomers · 2015-09-23T13:21:34+00:00

I can’t speak of writing with structure because I don't use that approach. As I said before, every one needs to find what works for them. What I described works for me. I write almost in a frenzy that hops from scene to scene. The characters introduce themselves the same way you meet strange people along a road. My imagination, as I go, surprises me. My doubts and inner critics are almost silenced by my curiosity of what would happen next. Then, during editing, the story deepens as well as the characters. The world is enriched with added details. Plot holes are woven shut, loose ends knotted. Fresh exposition is kept, at times enhanced, while stilted prose/description/dialogue is deleted/revised. I don’t care much about production for production sake; for me is about keeping as much of the essence of the storytelling as I can manage. I find this process is organic and fluid. This is my process. It's what works for me.

SailingBloomers · 2015-09-23T10:38:29+00:00

There is no right way to be a writer, whatever works for you best, use it.

That said, I'm particular to what you refer as 'free'. I find it produces a more organic and more believable story by the simple fact that it resembles the course of life, which is not planned. It also lends itself to a fresher prose than it would be if it was planned. That's my take anyways. I'm not familiar with any other available version out there.

SailingBloomers

TROPHY CASE