Creative Writing Tips & Tricks

Here are 10 quick tips to get you started on your creative writing journey!

1. Read! Read everything... fiction, non-fiction, comic books, short stories, giant novels. Devour as many stories in as many different forms as you can – it’s a brilliant way to figure out your own tastes and interests, and learning what you find compelling in a story.

   
   

2. Find the peak in the story and get there quickly. Keep purpose in your writing – every line needs to either advance the story or reveal something more to us about the character in some way.  

   
   

3. If you get stuck, ask yourself what your character wants. All storytelling hangs on a character wanting something and overcoming obstacles to get it (or failing to get it). If your story is floundering, chances are you’ve lost sight of your character’s wants and needs.

   
   

‘Every character should want something, even if it is only a glass of water.’

- Kurt Vonnegut

4. Remember your senses – visual imagery is great, but don’t forget about tactile senses. The smell of freshly cut grass will transport a reader to a place with greater intensity that describing the colour green.

   
   

5. Be succinct. If you can cut a word, do it.

   
   

6. Increase your word power. Words are your building blocks – expanding your vocabulary is essential for developing your storytelling skills.

   
   

7. Keep your voice active! ‘The window was shattered by the storm’ is not nearly as compelling as ‘The storm shattered the window’, even though the words used are almost identical. Active sentences keep the story alive!

   
   

8. Use descriptive passages to reveal the personality of your characters, not just their physicality. Telling us that a character has crooked teeth is an interesting physical detail, but telling us your character never smiles because she is self-conscious about her crooked teeth is far more revealing about who they are.

   
   

9. Show, don’t tell. Description can be great – it tells us information clearly and efficiently – but it doesn’t immerse us in the situation or the feelings of the character. For example: telling us that ‘John liked Jane’ is clear; but telling us that ‘When Jane looked at John his cheeks burned and he felt furious butterflies in his stomach’, hooks us into the moment and what the character is experiencing.

   
   

10. Write regularly. The brilliant thing about writing is that every time you do it, you get better. So get writing!