The top 10 tips you should know if you want to dabble in creative writing
This post is all about creative writing tips.
Whether you dream of becoming a published author or just want to test a new creative outlet, learning creative writing skills is a fulfilling way to spend your time! As a professional writer and recent university graduate with a degree in creative writing, I’ve got 10 key creative writing tips that will help you discover the beautiful world of writing, without getting burnt out or bored.
This post is all about creative writing tips.
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CREATIVE WRITING TIPS FOR BEGINNERS:
But first, what is creative writing?
This question seems almost too obvious to ask, but it’s important to get on the same page about what creative writing is.
Being a creative writer doesn’t mean you have to become a world-famous author. In fact, creative writing includes anything from journaling, to spoken word, to writing fantasy novels, to writing monologues, and more.
It encompasses a huge range of style and expertise, but the creative writing tips in this blog post will be helpful to you no matter what style of writing you’re interested in!
#1: Write morning pages
People often talk about morning pages as a productivity hack, but it’s also a great way to hone your creative writing skills without a lot of pressure.
If you don’t know what the morning pages activity is, it’s a practice where the first thing you do when you wake up in the morning is write a certain amount of pages (it might just be one, or three, or more). The purpose of doing this is to brain dump whatever is in your mind (even if that’s pretty much nothing) and make space for creativity and a stress-free mind the rest of the day.
What a lot of people don’t talk about is the fact that writing every day, especially first thing in the morning, helps you develop a solid habit of writing and actually improves your writing skills over time!
Even if you’re not trying to write something fancy or super creative in your morning pages, the more you write what’s on your mind, the more you uncover your writing voice and style.
#2: Use writing prompts
The best way to get started as a beginner creative writer is to use writing prompts.
A lot of the writing prompts you’ll find online are unfortunately basic and over-used (not all of them, but a lot). So, I have a free PDF download of 365 unique writing prompts!
Here’s the big benefit of the download:
It takes all the time you would have spent sifting through sub-par writing prompts online, and instead gives you 365 writing prompts – one for each day of the year!
Download 365 writing prompts here.
#3: Make writing a habit
The biggest misconception people have about creative writing is that you can pick it up whenever you feel like it, and be great at it. Or, people think you’re either talented at writing or you’re not good at it.
But here’s the truth:
Writing is a craft. Just like any sport, or art form, or skill, you get better at it the more you do it.
Here are a few ways to make writing a habit:
- Start morning pages
- Download the 365 Days of Writing Prompts
- Set a designated time every day to write
- Get together with a group of friends on a weekly basis to write
- Fit a designated writing time into your routine (e.g. writing every weekday as soon as you get home from work)
The more often you write, the faster you’ll get better! This is probably one of the most important creative writing tips you’ll read.
#4: Read lots of different genres
When it comes to tips on creative writing, this might be one you didn’t expect.
Being a great writer means being a great reader… which also means reading a wide range of genres.
Becoming a better writer isn’t all about writing. You also need to expose yourself to different books, authors, genres, styles, and voices.
The more you read different genres, the more your mind will expand into understanding all the different ways you can write and how to hone your writing skills!
The most surprising time for me as a creative writing student was when I had to take a science fiction literature class. I really thought I was NOT a science fiction person, but I ended up loving a lot of the books we read, and the styles of writing I was exposed to in that class taught me a LOT about my own weaknesses in my writing.
Don’t underestimate the power of reading!
#5: Find your best environment
One reason that many people want to become creative writers is because it’s a highly romanticized profession.
The problem with that?
Often, it doesn’t match up with people’s expectations. They quickly realize that writing is actually a LOT of work, and it becomes more difficult to actually stick with it.
But romanticizing it has its positives, too!
When you think of your ideal writing environment, what is it?
Sitting under a tree? In a cafe? Making a little writing nook in your home? The library? At your desk?
Whatever your ideal writing environment is, try to go there as regularly as possible to get your best work done.
It’s such a simple thing, but your environment really does make a huge difference to your focus and level of excitement about doing things.
#6: Get supplies you love
This is another one of those creative writing tips that’s super overlooked, but having writing supplies that you love is such a huge deal!!
Whether you write on your laptop or on paper, there are certain supplies you’ll need that you’ll enjoy so much more if they really fit your style and taste.
It might be something as simple as what notebooks & pens you buy, or it might be a laptop or iPad case.
It might be the bag you use to carry your laptop around into coffee shops to write.
Whatever supplies you need, look for high quality supplies that you really love!
Here are some suggestions of supplies that I use to write and brainstorm:
#7: Have other creative outlets
Learning creative writing for beginners is more than just the actual writing part (as we’ve already established here).
Something that people often don’t think about is the fact that ANY creative outlet can get tiring after a while.
It’s important to have other creative outlets that you can turn to when you’re facing writer’s block or when you’re getting bored of what you’re writing. Having other creative outlets will re-ignite the excitement in you to write!
Examples of other creative outlets:
- Cooking
- Baking
- Drawing
- Singing or playing a musical instrument
- Curating playlists
- Drawing, sketching, or painting
- Designing clothes or graphics
#8: Do creative research
What the heck do I mean by creative research?
Here’s an example:
Let’s say I’m writing a book set in Nashville, but I’ve never actually been there. It’s pretty important for me to go to Nashville, or read a lot about Nashville and watch movies that take place in that city to really understand it.
In order to write about it, I need to know what it looks like, what kinds of people live there, how they speak, and what they wear.
Someone else who has never been to Nashville might not be able to tell the difference, but if someone who grew up in Nashville is reading my book and it’s obvious that I’ve never been to Nashville, they’re simply not going to like my book!
That’s a really simple example, but sometimes this can get a bit more complicated…
Let’s say you’re writing a historical fiction, or a fantasy, or a sci-fi. Often, these take place in settings and with characters that you can’t actually visit! So, how do you do creative research?
It’s still important to put yourself in situations similar to what your characters will experience, or find locations where you can observe something similar to what you’ll be writing about.
Of course you can use your imagination, but being out in the real world and observing the small, minute details that you don’t normally think about will make all the difference in your writing.
Watching movies can be creative research. So can sitting in a park, people watching, reading books, smelling certain types of food, and looking at pictures… As long as what you’re observing is in some way relevant to what you’re writing!
The main point is, if you’re serious about your creative writing project, you need to pay attention to all those little details that will make your story ACTUALLY believable.
#9: Brainstorm themes
Every story has themes, whether the author realizes it or not.
A theme is an underlying topic that gives the novel deeper meaning. Themes can be very general or very specific.
Examples of general themes:
- Unrequited love
- Friendship
- Forgiveness
- Regret
- Resistance
Examples of specific themes:
- The impact of communication
- The cost of trading integrity for survival
- The value of perseverance in the face of adversity
- The danger of biases and assumptions
It’s important to brainstorm themes and understand the themes that your story utilizes if you want to write something that people really connect with.
Whether you’re writing a novel, poem, short story, monologue, spoken word performance, or speech, themes are present in all styles of writing. They’ll shine through most powerfully when you know how to utilize them!
#10: Develop your voice
One big struggle for many beginner creative writers is developing your voice.
“Voice” just refers to how you use tone, vocabulary, syntax, and sentence structure to distinguish yourself and make the words jump off the page.
The best way to develop your voice is to write consistently, focus on small improvements, and try not to mimic other writers’ voices! Establish a tone that is unique to YOU.
Which of these creative writing tips will you be starting with?
This post was all about creative writing tips.
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