Creative Writing Help

Creative Writing Help Contents

About Creative Writing Help
Story Starters
Creative Writing Videos
How to make a creative writing video
Writer Interviews
Creative Writing Reading List
Creative Writing Techniques
Write Using Real Life Experiences
Need help writing a novel?
Freelance Writing Jobs
How to Build a Writing Portfolio
How to Write and Create an Ebook
How to Get Published
Character Name Generator
Creative Writing Ideas
Writer's Block and the Steps to Get Past it.
Looking for advice on how to become a writer?
Creative Writing Gear
Latest book that I Read
Have a Creative Writing Comment or Story?

About Creative Writing Help

Creative writing has always been my favourite kind of writing. To be honest, I don't like poetry or journalism. In school I finished my first year of journalism only to decide I didn't like it, there are too many rules.

That's what is great about creative writing, you only have one rule; anything goes. Basically the only requirement is to figure out how you're going to write the next great novel, are you going to draft it out via outline, brainstorm, or just go with the flow.

I like writing on the fly, I just open up a Microsoft word document and start typing. Some people can't do this, and need organization and structure, not me.

When I quit journalism in school, it was around that time that I also stopped writing. Sometimes life just grabs you by the horns and doesn't let you go. Years later, I felt lost or empty like I was missing something. Then suddenly I was laid off and found I had a lot of time on my hands and that's when I started to write again.

As soon as I started creating fictional characters and story-lines, I felt like my old self again, that I could accomplish anything. I felt like a kid, who had her whole life ahead of her.

I decided to create a website creative-writing-help.com, to help people just like me re-discover the joy of writing.

Things in your life might be stressful or not going well, but writing can help you deal with those stresses. As soon as I sit down at my computer, I use my life experience to help weave wonderful stories and plots.

Currently I am in the process of getting one of my novels published, and this wouldn't have happened if I hadn't taken up writing again.

Thanks and happy writing.

P.S. If you are looking for some support on how to write, check out Rob Parnell's Famous writing courses and ebooks for guidance.

Story Starters

Story starters are a great way to get inspiration. If you are experiencing writer's block, or just want a writing topic, story starters are a great way to find it. For a list of over 100 story starters check out 100 story starters.

Story Starters In a Jar

by: Free Spirit Publishing (COR)

Amazon Price: $5.57 (as of 02/16/2012)

Story starters are a great way to find inspiration. If you're struggling to get ideas, try this product out. Guaranteed to have you thinking outside the box.

Looking for Creative Writing Software?
If you find it hard to work from a document program and want something more, check out StoryCraft.

Creative Writing Videos

How to make a creative writing video

How to Make Money with YouTube: Earn Cash, Market Yourself, Reach Your Customers, and Grow Your Business on the World's Most Popular Video-Sharing Site

by: Brad Schepp, Debra Schepp

Amazon Price: $7.75 (as of 02/16/2012)

Creating videos is a great way to get traffic to your site. Another plus, it's easy to make money when you make a video. Check out this book to find out more.

Writer Interviews

Writer interviews are a great way to learn how to become a successful author. Learn what published writers have done to get their work and name out there. Find out what motivates them, what their writing schedule is like, and where they get ideas.

To check out interviews with Piers Anthony, Neal Asher, Larry Bond, Yvonne Perry, Stephen Mark Rainey, Eldon Thompson please go to writer interviews.

Creative Writing Reading List

Creative Writing Techniques

Creative writing is one of the easiest forms of literature. You can write fiction, non-fiction, poetry, basically anything goes. Anyone can learn to write creatively. However there are some creative writing techniques to keep in mind that will help make writing easier for you.

Some of the most important techniques for writing are; point of view, dialogue, flashbacks, foreshadowing, and description.

Point of view is important because you need to pick how you are relaying the story. Are you going to have a narrator? Who will it be? Will it be an omniscient character? Will you tell your story in third person, first person?

Before you begin to write your short story or novel, it's essential to establish who the main characters are and how the story will be relayed.

Most creative writing stories have dialogue. This is where one or more characters are needed. Think of using inner dialogue to convey your characters thoughts, and think of conversations that will help move your story along. It's smart to keep dialogue fast flowing and natural, and it needs to serve a purpose. If you just have talking to talk, the reader will quickly get bored.

Flashbacks are a great way to explain something in the past while keeping your story in the present. Flashbacks are usually used when something happened in the characters past that's important to the story. If it's not useful, don't mention it.

Foreshadowing is similar to flashback, but it deals with the future. Foreshadowing is used when you want to hint about something that may happen in the future. Many authors use subtle hints to keep the reader engaged and to hint at a certain outcome or event in the future.

The last important technique when creative writing is description. Description is needed to build the mood, setting and timeline. This technique is tricky because you need to know when it's too much description and not enough.

By mastering these writing techniques, your writing will be a lot more polished, and you may be closer to landing a publishing contract.

Good luck.

To find out more check out creative writing techniques.

Write Using Real Life Experiences

Writes of Life: Using Personal Experiences in Everything You Write

by: Robert Yehling

Amazon Price: $11.95 (as of 02/16/2012)

Writing a story using real life experiences makes your story more realistics. You only have to look at successful authors like Robert Ludlum, Stephen King, Dean Kootnz, and Anne Rice to see this.

By incorporating different aspects of your life into your characters, you make them more believable and engaging to the readers.

If you're not sure how to do this, this book is a great guide to show you how.

Need help writing a novel?

NewNovelist 2.0 [Novel Writing Software]

Amazon Price: $297.50 (as of 02/16/2012)

This is a great program that helps anyone become a novelist. Want to write a novel but not sure how? Grab this program to be guided through the steps to building a novel.

Freelance Writing Jobs
Many people want to make money writing online. To succeed you need to be strong, polished and professional. Need help?

Check out Write where the Money is. Write for Top paying magazines and the web.

Freelance Writing Jobs

Freelance writing jobs are competitive. To compete you need to stand out from the crowd. There are lots of people out there hoping to strike it rich on the internet, or looking for a quick buck. It's these people who you'll be competing with for freelance jobs. And there are lots of people out there willing to work for $2 to $5 an article. But remember, you get the quality that you pay for. A decent payout for an article is usually around $25.00.

To stand out you need a strong portfolio and resume. You need to have a professional online presence. You also need to be aware of the hidden markets out there and whether or not they cost money to join.

If you want to learn the basics to finding professional freelance jobs, check out freelance writing jobs.

How to Build a Writing Portfolio

The Allyn & Bacon Guide to Writing Portfolios

by: Gina S. Claywell

Amazon Price: $5.75 (as of 02/16/2012)

If you're going to try your hand at freelance writing, you need a portfolio to showcase your work. If you are unsure of how to do this, a great guide to follow is this.

How to Write and Create an Ebook

If you have a website you are probably one of the many people out there who want to learn how to write and create an ebook. If you aren't one of the people wondering, think again. An ebook is a great way to market yourself, your business, your product, anything. Plus it has virtually no overhead cost to create. An ebook is a great way to break yourself into the publishing industry.

To find out more check out, how to create an ebook.

How to Write an Ebook Part Two

E-Publishing Success: How Anyone Can Write, Compile and Sell E-Books on the Internet (Chandos Information Professional)

by: Kingsley Oghjojafor

Amazon Price: $73.32 (as of 02/16/2012)

If you have a website online, an ebook is a great way to make money. Or as a writer, an ebook is a great way to showcase your creativity and writing style. Not sure what to write about or how to make an ebook? Check out this book, to learn more.

How to Get Published

Top Self Publishing Firms: How Writers Get Published, Sell More Books, And Rise To The Top: And Make Money Working From Home With The Best Print On Demand Self-Publishing Companies

by: Stacie Vander Pol

Amazon Price: $14.00 (as of 02/16/2012)

What every writer wants to know. How to get your manuscript published. Check out these great tips.

Interested in writing a children's book?

Not sure how to do it? A great book that covers inside information is How to write a great children's book and get published.

Character Name Generator

Character name generators are an easy way to find that perfect name and get to writing. I found while searching yahoo answers and other forums a lot of time is wasting asking people to help the author find that perfect name. Some people even describe the character and the plot. Which amazes me, because instead of wasting time, they could be writing.

So don't make that mistake, use one of the many character name generators found online and get back to writing. Lots of them are free, but if you write a lot you probably want to buy your own program.

For a list of recommended generators, check out character name generators.

Creative Writing Ideas

Need help getting ideas to write about? Want to try different exercises to get the creative juices flowing? Perhaps you're not sure what kind of topic to write about?
If you need some kind of inspiration check out creative writing ideas.

Writer's Block and the Steps to Get Past it.

At some point in time every writer experiences some form of writers block. Whether it's a day or two, or months is entirely up to you, and the steps you take.

Drawing a blank when you write can be an upsetting experience. It can happen at any time out of the blue. You can either give in to the block, or take control and get to writing.

My first suggestion is getting this great resource How to get over Writer's. I highly recommend this resource if you get writer's block a lot.

If not, read on for other ways you can overcome this problem.

Step One: The most common form of writers block is starting your story, article, webpage, whatever you are writing. Writing the introduction can be intimidating.

I get past this by writing whatever comes to my mind down. It can be the most horrible thing you write, but just get it down. Don't get psyched out about your grammar, spelling, sentence structure, just write your ideas down. Even if you hate it, write it down.

By writing your ideas down it gives you a foundation to build from. From there you can just keep editing and brainstorming until you have a clear path of where you want your story, or article to go.

Step Two: Another form of writers block happens mid-way into your story or article; perhaps you're drawing a blank on what direction your story is going, or maybe you're not sure what points to talk about in your article; whatever it is, it's a roadblock.

To get past this I sometimes takes take a day or two and just step away. I find when I stop trying to force it; my ideas come. It could happen when I'm jogging, walking the dog, just waking up, anytime, and bam! You get your answer.

If stepping away is not helping, try brainstorming. Write down whatever comes to mind. Think about what your intentions are for your story, or article. What do you want to get across to the reader? Remember just get ideas down, you can build from there.

Step Three: The last form of writers block happens near the end of the article or story. For me, it happens almost every time I write a story. You draw a blank to how you're going to end it. How are you going to wrap up everything? Have you explained everything? Does the story make sense? Is it interesting?

For me, the biggest challenge is the ending. So how do I take the pressure off? Again, I just jot any ideas that come to my mind down. Usually a good session of brainstorming fixes this problem. If not, walk away and really think about it.

If you're really stuck and it's been a few days, get outside help. Just talking to people can get ideas flowing. Get a friend, give them the basic scoop of what's what, and let the creative juices get going. You will be surprised where it takes you. And all the fresh ideas that come from it.

Looking for advice on how to become a writer?

I've recently interviewed over 20 successful published authors. One of the questions I asked them was what advice would they have for someone who was interested in becoming a writer. Well after reading their answers I began to see some common themes in there answers.

For example, a very popular answer was that in order to be a writer you needed to write. Seems simple enough. In order to grow and learn your craft, the saying practice makes perfect, is very true.

The other popular answer was read a lot. Read a variety of books, from fiction to non-fiction, to writing techniques, to editing, to copywriting and more. Basically when you can't write, you should read.

To find out what other suggestions and pieces of advice they had, check out the whole article at how to become a writer.

Creative Writing Gear

Proud to be a writer, why not show it!

Latest book that I Read

The Templar Legacy: A Novel

by: Steve Berry

Amazon Price: $4.95 (as of 02/16/2012)

If you like the DaVinci Code and Angels and Demons movies, than you are going to love The Templar Legacy by Steve Berry.

I picked this book up at a used bookstore because I found the cover intriguing and I had heard about the Templar Knights from the Dan Brown movies.

This book deals with history and modern day and is full of many twists and turns. The heros are an odd mix of people forced together but turns and events and the villian is selfish and cold.

The Templar Legacy is about a mother and her love of a son, it's about Jesus, and it's about a historical puzzel that needs to be solved in order to find the treasure and knowledge that so many seek.

If you enjoyed the DaVinici Code and Angels and Demons, you are going to like this book.

Have a Creative Writing Comment or Story?

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Reply

WritingforYourWealth Jan 16, 2010 @ 5:53 pm | delete

Nice topic. :) I think joining a writing workshop will teach you more than anything else out there. I belong to the SFF OWW (an online workshop for science fiction, fantasy, and horror writers), and it's been a great education.

Reply

California_Dreamin Jan 16, 2010 @ 12:44 am | delete

Nice job on this lens. Five stars from me.

Reply

tchoppy Jan 16, 2010 @ 10:12 am | delete

Thank you so much. I am glad you liked it. :)

Reply

labchef Jan 15, 2010 @ 9:31 pm | delete

Excellent lens.

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