In this great essay, Ray Bradbury gives us four words of advice that are essential for writing, or any kind of creativity: WORK RELAXATION DON’T THINK! ‘Work’ is self-explanatory. ‘Relaxation’ means getting into the Zone and letting the writing write itself. And ‘Don’t Think!’ means not second guessing yourself or interrupting the flow of Relaxation.… Continue reading Zen in the Art of Writing – according to Ray Bradbury
If the creative process has gone well, you should now be ready to share your work in the final stage: SHOWING. The moment of truth! As you work, writing and rewriting, there’s a constant internal pressure to share what you’re doing with others. Especially these days, now that our lives are enhanced/blighted (delete as appropriate)… Continue reading The Creative Process: Sharing 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
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
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
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
The hardest part of writing a novel is the opening. As attention spans shrink and a million distractions pull at our minds, it’s harder than ever to get people to sit still long enough to read to the end of the first page, let alone the first paragraph. An average novel is between 80,000 to… Continue reading How to Write Opening Lines
Lists of rules for writers abound, ranging from profound wisdom to statements of the obvious. I’ve gathered together some of my favourites here, plus a few inspiring quotes. When I start to doubt myself or just need a confidence boost, I turn to advice like this to get me moving again. I hope it helps… Continue reading 40 Rules for Writers
Jessica Davidson 