Creative Process – Page 5

November 5, 2015

Writing Prompt: Using Imagery for Inspiration

One way to get your brain working if you’re having trouble getting started, is to start by describing something. Find a picture that’s interesting, look out your window, or close your eyes and imagine a vivid memory. You can even imagine a place you’ve never been or that doesn’t really exist. You can pick something as simple as a girl...

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October 25, 2015

Learning To Write Stories

I like to joke that I was writing stories before I knew how to write words. That usually gets me a “you’re weird” expression or a generally confused look, but it’s actually true. Even back when I was a toddler and hadn’t learned to write (or read) yet, I would make up stories. And since people had read books to...

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October 20, 2015

A Happy Day: This Writer’s Dream

A happy day Is a comfy seat, A cup of tea, A way to write, And nowhere to be. Other than some lucky weekends, right now this poem is a dream. I am lucky enough to write for a living, and I am very grateful for that. Although I never imagined I would write educational materials, I like my work,...

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October 19, 2015

Is Something Missing from Your Story?

Sometimes, I get about 50,000 words into a book and realize that I’m a bit too close to the ending. If I keep going straight through, I’m going to end up with more of a novella than a novel. That’s not necessarily bad, but it’s generally not what I’m trying to do. When this happens, it’s because I only wrote...

Characterization, Plot, & Setting/Creative Process Comments: 0

October 15, 2015

Be True to You

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October 13, 2015

Personality Tests: An Exercise in Characterization

Want to test how well you know your character? Russ’s comment on Deathwalker 3.6 made me think of a great characterization exercise: Take a personality test from your character’s perspective. Answer the questions the way your character would and see whether the results agree with how you think of your character (or at least, if they agree as much as you...

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October 7, 2015

Ideas: Gotta Catch ’em All!

It’s late at night. You’re on the verge of sleep, and you have an idea for a story. It’s dark, and you don’t have any way to write it down. You repeat it in your head a couple of times and drift off sure that you’ll remember in the morning. But you don’t. It doesn’t matter if it’s sleeping, driving,...

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October 2, 2015

Poetry In Movies & More

Poetry: using words to combine rhythm and sounds in defiance of the rules of prose. It can be abstract. In can be explicit. It can be bouncy and childlike. It can be driving and adult. Although the term “poet” may never have the same loftiness it once did, poetry is much more powerful and ubiquitous than most of us realize...

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September 30, 2015

“Finishing” a First Draft

I think I mentioned before that it took years for me to finish my first novel. Because of all the time and effort I was putting into it, I expected there to be a big, celebratory moment: WOOHOO! I finished my first novel!!! I was looking forward to that moment. I figured I’d go out to dinner with friends, maybe...