The fifth stage of the creative process is COMPLETING. During the hard work of the previous stage, one question keeps coming up: when is my book finished? Completion isn’t just about what happens when you finally finish writing your book. It happens continually as you work. Each sequence, each scene, each sentence. Every day of… Continue reading The Creative Process: Finishing your Masterpiece
The fourth stage of the creative process is WORKING – the hard slog of getting the writing done. You’ve got your story and done the research, shaped your character arcs and structured the plot. Now you write. This might seem straightforward, but there are many issues that come up while you’re writing that you’ll have… Continue reading The Creative Process: The Trance of Writing
We’ve reached the hard part of the creative process: STARTING. This is the moment of commitment. You’ve made your choice, you have an idea – now you must start writing. This is when the demons come out to play and procrastination takes over your life. Suddenly there’s a million other things you need to do… Continue reading The Creative Process: Starting to Write
CHOOSING is the second stage of the creative process and it starts with a question: what do I write? Inspiration has struck and you’re buzzing with ideas. Now you must choose between them. Choosing is unavoidable if you want to create. In fact, choosing is unavoidable if you want to live. But choosing is hard… Continue reading The Creative Process: Choosing the right idea
WISHING is the first stage of the creative process and is about nurturing your desire to create something. This is where you look for ideas and inspiration, and research stories to obsess over. The Desire to Create To create anything you need a space in which to do it – not just a room of… Continue reading The Creative Process: Nurturing your creativity
Writing a book is a transformative experience – terrifying and thrilling at the same time – like exploring a jungle or climbing a mountain. The process can take many twists and turns and you never know where you’ll end up. With that in mind, this series will explore the creative process and map out some… Continue reading A Writer’s Guide to the Creative Process
You may find this hard to believe, but your mind is a puppy. Train it well, treat it with respect, and you’ll have a lifetime of devoted service sitting between your ears. Wet nose optional. Let me explain. Writing is hard work. It’s even harder if you have no control over the most important tool… Continue reading Mind Training with the Puppy Technique
Writers hate rejection. So does everybody else, but writers and other creative souls will experience more than their share of the dreaded scourge. There aren’t many other occupations that have to deal with such high levels of criticism and sheer indifference. There are many ways to deal with rejection. Getting drunk and gorging yourself on… Continue reading How to Deal with Rejection
Writing a synopsis is one of my least favourite activities and I’ll do almost anything to avoid it. But a well written synopsis is essential if you want to sell the book you’ve been working on for months/years. A synopsis is the sales pitch for your novel and it’s designed to entice an agent or… Continue reading How to Write a Synopsis
Creating dialogue is one of the most enjoyable and the most challenging parts of writing. Dialogue isn’t like real speech. If you write dialogue to resemble real speech you’ll end up with something unreadable. If you don’t believe me, record a conversation between your friends or family, then transcribe it word for word. It’s a… Continue reading How to Write Dialogue
Description is the bedrock of storytelling. Good description brings a scene to life and makes it vivid in the reader’s imagination. This is achieved by following one of writing’s sacred rules: Show, Don’t Tell If you write your story by showing the reader what’s happening rather than just telling them, it’s more involving. It draws the… Continue reading How to Write Description
At the heart of every successful novel are good characters. And by ‘good’ I don’t mean a character who never does anything bad, is kind to small animals and children, and never swears. Well written characters bring a story to life and give the reader someone to care about, root for, or even love to… Continue reading How to Write Characters
Jessica Davidson 