Check out some books by your tutor Fiona Veitch Smith … (click on the book covers to find out more)
Hello everyone, welcome to the first session of our free online creative writing course. Over the next eight sessions we will be looking at different aspects of creative writing and trying our hand at various forms. I’d strongly encourage you to have a go at the exercises along the way, and please feel free to leave comments or ask questions at the end. If you have arrived on this page without first reading the home page and frequently asked questions page (on tab above) please go back and do so now. If you have read them, enjoy the course!
Creativity and Art
What is creativity? The Collins dictionary defines it as ‘the ability to cause something to exist’. Without getting into too much of an existential discussion, I would say that with every thought that is expressed, something has been created. It was Descartes who said: ‘I think, therefore I am’; well I would add, ‘I think, therefore I create’ (do you feel a God complex coming on?). But how do we express our thoughts? Sometimes we do it verbally, other times by body language and still again through what is loosely termed ‘art’.
Art takes place when a thought is expressed and fixed in a way that other people may experience it on an aesthetic level – through music, writing, painting, sculpture, choreography and so on. Many artists say that their best work takes place when they ‘by-pass’ the thought and simply express the feeling. This may be true, but for writers, who use a verbal medium, a feeling must first be converted into a thought before it can be put into words. Don’t over analyse the thought before you express it, as this way you can ‘channel’ the purest interpretation of the feeling, but some cognitive process needs to take place. Some writers prefer to mull over a thought and give it form before they put pen to paper – I’m one of them – but it’s good practice to try and switch off the ‘editor’ at least for the first draft. First response trigger exercises are useful in this regard and can release some unexpected words and images.
Exercise 1:
Write down your first response to these words or phrases:
- Blue ball
- And that’s when the sadness came
- Coffee
The first task of a good writer is to convert feelings into thoughts and then into words. This is the raw material that can then be converted into something more permanent. Some writers refuse to toy with their first drafts, believing their creativity will be diluted; I disagree. Allowing your critical mind to improve a piece of writing is where the craftsman meets the artist. Something produced only by the former will lack soul and something by the latter will lack form. Good writing is a combination of art and craft.
For public consumption
Art, of course, is highly subjective and one woman’s masterpiece is another woman’s unmade bed. We all have the ability to create, but whether or not our creation is ‘art’ must be left to the eye or ear of the beholder.
In this session we will look at how you can craft those creative thoughts into creative writing to share with other people. And that’s what sets ‘public’ writing apart from ‘private’ scribblings – there’s a perceived readership in mind. When I ramble on in my journal, I am the only one who will read it (hopefully!) so my only concern is getting my thoughts down on paper. The moment I want someone else to read it I begin to consider ways to improve the presentation and craft it into something more aesthetically pleasing. I consider which words may sound more colourful, whether or not my sentence structure is grammatically correct, whether I’m using evocative imagery, and so on.
Story, feeling or image?
What is it about those creative thoughts that you think might be of interest to other people? Do they speak of an eternal truth or a common experience? Do they make you laugh or cry? Do they suggest a story that will entertain or a poem that captures a moment that must be shared?
Exercise 2: In 50 words or less write down why you want to write then list three creative thoughts that you’ve had lately (each 10 words or less). These may be an image, a musing, a ‘truth’, a story, or so on. If you haven’t had any, take yourself for a walk and look around; what grabs your imagination? Browse through a newspaper or a magazine; do any stories or pictures catch your attention? Think back over your day; did anything funny, charming, shocking or unusual happen to you or someone you know?
Poetry or prose?
Some people are more suited to writing poetry than prose and some people do well at both. Although we won’t be discussing it in this course, other people are more suited to script. I’m one of them. I’ve had relative success as a prose writer and in fact have managed to earn a living from it, but it’s taken years of hard work to get to this point. I recently branched out into scriptwriting and found that I had much more of a natural ability. (If you’re interested in finding out more about scriptwriting, check out getting started in playwrighting). You may find that you’ve been trying to make it as a poet when actually you’re more suited to prose. Now I don’t want to pigeonhole anyone, but ask yourself the following questions:
- Are you more attracted to films than stills?
- Do you enjoy telling people ‘stories’ from your life?
- Do you prefer to read stories or poems?
If yes, to these, then you may be more suited to prose than poetry. If no, then the opposite may be true. If it’s ‘sometimes yes, sometimes no’ then perhaps you are suited to both. We shall be looking at how to write poems in more detail in session 7, but suffice to say, a poem is like a snapshot of a moment. If you can’t rest until you know what happened before and after, then prose may be your genre.
Exercise 3: Take one of the three creative thoughts you wrote down in Exercise 2, then list 20 separate words that communicate or describe that thought. Do not, at this stage, link the words into sentences. Once you have your 20 words use them in a poem of 16 lines or less. Then, take the same 20 words and work them into a short story of under 300 words. Which exercise came more easily? Which form has best communicated your creative thought?
Further Resources:
There are some excellent resources out there for creative writers. To get quick ‘starter’ images when your own well is dry I recommend The Writer’s Block by Jason Rekulak. I’m currently working through The Creative Writing Coursebook by Julia Bell and Paul Magrs and finding it very useful.
The next creative writing course session is how to write a short story. But before you move on to that, please feel free to leave a comment or ask a question in the box below.
Welcome to The Crafty Writer's free online creative writing course, presented by Fiona Veitch Smith, a freelance journalist, editor, author, playwright, screenwriter and writing teacher. I hope that you'll see a dramatic improvement in the quality of your writing as you work through this course.
I’m a 15 year-old and the only thing I am good at is writing…so I decided to try this out.. I think I’m finally doing something right.
Even if I am not able to finish this course, I will still be glad that I tried. It’s opening up my mind to more ideas, giving me a broader scope. If I am underage for this course please inform me.
Hello Nandy, I’m very glad that you enjoy writing. I’m sure it’s not the only thing you’re good at, but it’s a good thing to be good at! This course is quite appropriate for a 15-year-old. I would say it would be 13+. Happy writing!
So far so good! I am enjoying the course!
I would like to say thank you. Your cours has given me the confidence to try my hand at Somthing I always wanted to do. It’s really early day yet but thank you.
You’re welcome Tracy. Thank you for taking the trouble to thank me. Makes up for all the emails I get from people moaning that the course – despite being free – does not provide more! I hope you continue to grow in confidence with your writing.
I’m definitely in the poetry camp! Here’s the outcome of my first creative writing session, using my 20 words in a poem. My creative thought was, ‘True love only exists where there is no fear of self.’
The fearless passion,
Of connecting souls,
Merging fire,
Heartfelt… Pure…
Their radiant imperfections,
Free to burn bright,
Real is beautiful,
Be content in its light…
Love like a child,
With an open heart,
Engage vulnerability,
Embrace who you are…
Harmony lake,
An ethereal bliss,
Calm, steamy, fulfilled,
In an eternal kiss.
Thanks for reading! Xx
OK, my creative thought was, ‘True love only exists where there is no fear of self,’ and here’s the resulting poem…
The fearless passion,
Of connecting souls,
Merging fire,
Heartfelt… Pure…
Their radiant imperfections,
Free to burn bright,
Real is beautiful,
Be content in its light…
Love like a child,
With an open heart,
Engage vulnerability,
Embrace who you are…
Harmony lake,
An ethereal bliss,
Calm and fulfilled,
In an eternal kiss.
Thanks for helping me to get in touch with my creativity again. Great lesson xx
i want to get more into writting like i want to you give me a topic and i write about it and you tell me things to do and change
I’m sorry Lauren but you need to find topics for yourself. That’s what releasing your own creativity is about. Creative ideas should come from inside you, not me. And I know you have it inside you! We all do. If you are stuck for ideas there is a great little book of ‘starter ideas’ called The Writer’s Block by Jason Rekulak.
Very nice to help on-line. I will stay in contact. Thanks!
Just wanted to thank you, this course has helped me break my writer’s block!
Just want to say Thankyou!
This is just what I needed!
You’re welcome Tracy and Karen.
I’m sorry to look stupid, but I can’t find exercise #2.
Hi Sonja, it’s halfway down the ‘Releasing your Creativity’ page under the heading ‘story, feeling or image?’
Good day
Please could you advise as to how I actually sign up for this course…. Or do I just work through this page and when done move on to the next?
Kind regards
Tracy
Hi Tracy, yes you just move through it page by page. There is a link at the end of each session to take you to the next one. Happy writing.
Thanks. For a scientist, who like to tell a story, this website is wonderful!
Interested in free writting course
great free course just what i was looking for.
Wow! I love this site…You’ve got a lot of stuff in store for my learning.
greetings, finding this course very enjoyable. it struck me as whoa how I was able to come up with a story using 20 words then piggybacking on them to come up with a short story of only 300 or less words!
OK great I wil continue on with this course.
i find this course very informative and challening
I found these exercises to be very helpful. I am in the middle between poetry and prose. I found both enjoyable to write. I’m looking forward to developing my skills further.
I always wanted to be a writer so many times i write stories but never finish them because i find them unfit. this course it helping me to make my ideas better and actually put organized thought on paper when the time comes. even after the first lesson its already helping so much. and the lessons are very easy to understand. i always wanted to take a creative writing course but out of all the free course sites I came across none of them had one. I am so grateful to have stumbled upon this site. thank you for this course finally. and i am looking forward to doing more lesson on here. these lesson i can actually say are fun and i never called school fun in my entire life even when it was. My college i went to was fun after school hours, i can say the program i took at the vocational school was alright but i can’t say it was fun like this course is. it was easy enough and it was what i wanted to do. but this course is truly fun i guess cause its even more what i want to do. i wrote one good short story back in high school out of the blue and i lost it. wish i would of held on to that thing it was the only good story i ever written i think it was about the angel of death Michael.
I’m glad you’re having fun, Ashley. Happy writing.