How To Get Started In Creative Writing
In my last article about creative Internet writing, I showed you one way to get started on this important process.
Getting started is important. Keeping going is even more important. If you don’t do something every day, the process of creative writing will certainly not become easier over time.
You have to keep yourself motivated, especially if you dislike writing like I do. If you’re keen, its easy to jump straight in and start writing: just don’t be too disappointed if your first efforts aren’t as good as you’d hoped. The important thing is to get in the habit; your quality will improve over time. And even your worst efforts are still of some value to your readers and to the search engine spiders.
I recommend starting small. Don’t aim for a 500 or 1,000 word article. Produce some 300 word articles, or write some classified ads as I suggested my last article.
There are days when you will end up chewing your pen and staring at a sheet of paper, or gazing at a blank screen for hours. If that happens, you can try kickstarting your writing with a short exercise of some sort, just as I did when I started this article today. I was not sure what I wanted to write about, so just out of curiosity I did a Google search for creative writing and found a great blog which had lots of articles that gave me ideas. This article was the direct result of that search. Don’t stop to think too much about it … just get going, without worrying about the quality of the work you produce.
Creative Writing Tips And Tricks For Newbies
Here are some more ideas for improving your writing ability:
- Use short exercises to stretch your writing muscles. If you’re short of ideas, read this article on “Writing Bursts“. Also check out this site: Creative Writing Prompts. When you are just starting out, you will most likely find that doing the laundry, shopping for groceries or weeding the garden suddenly looks appealing, compared to the effort of sitting down and putting words onto the page. But if you can force yourself to get through these early doubts, it really will get easier. Try to get into the habit of writing every day, even if it’s just for ten minutes. You don’t have to always write something about your business. Write a poem. Write a letter to an imaginary or real friend. Just Write!
- Are you stuck for ideas? Carry a notebook everywhere and jot down anything that you see and hear that may be relevant to your business. Write it down so you don’t have to remember it!
- This is very important: you need to determine the time of day when you’re at your most creative. If you’re a ‘lark’ like me, this will be first thing in the morning. If you’re a ‘night owl’, your time will be late at night. Try different times and see what you are most comfortable with.
- Don’t be a perfectionist. You are writing for the Internet, not for a magazine or some prestigious publication. Sure, grammar, syntax and spelling are all important, but don’t agonize over getting it absolutely perfect. Just get it down, and you can revise it afterwards if you think you need to.
- While you are writing, don’t stop to correct grammar and spelling errors. That’s why we have spell checkers and grammar checkers. You will lose your train of thought. Just keep writing while you are on a roll.
- Most of all: HAVE FUN! Writing can at times seem to be a chore, something that must be done, something that you can delay as long as possible. I often feel that way. But you know, once I have finished and published an article, I feel really good about it.
So get out there and get those creative juices flowing!
Bill Brine
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