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.
have just spent a pleasant hour actually writing,not just hoarding up my thoughts and ramblings.I feel good.Thankyou.
I really liked the exercises that were given. When I did exercise 3 both the poem and the story were were very close in the story line even though both were expressed in a different manner or outline.
thank you for this information. i find it helpful indeed.
my other struggle in question form: how do i get an agent???
You have to treat agents the same as publishers. You send off a book proposal to them and wait for them to reply.
So far so good. Great exercise on prose vs poetry. Also helped to actually verbalize why I would like to write.
In the words of Tennessee Williams, “Why did I want to write? Because I’m an artist. What is an artist? – A man who loves life too intensely, a man who loves life until he hates her and has to strike out with his fist to show her he knows her tricks and he’s still the master!”
Im a very creative person,we are 8 brothers.They all worked as creative artist .in .advertaising,actors ,painters,writers, home decorators.
My life was the ballet,got injured and my Waterloo.
I worked years as a fashion stylest in a tv network,and a lot of free lance.
ALL of this came easy to me.
The woman that I most admire since a child was Oriana Fallaci,books are part of me.
Good exercises…see what it comes.
I am from Slovakia,but I have written a book in English.The book is for the children- I can tell that it is the first English book for the little pupils of 6,7 years old.I have another one for the children of 10,11,12 – it is the book where the pupils started to know what is mathematics,biology,chemistry and so on.I do not know,perhaps these books are convinient for this portal- or they are not. The first book is named: My first English book,the second is named-I want to know more Thanks for undersanding Your sincerely Viera
Hello Viera,
This site is about giving advice to writers. We don’t publish or review books – unless they’re writing advice books. Congratulations on finishing your books and I wish you all the best finding a publisher for them.
Fiona
Hi Viera,
This is a site that gives advice to writers. We do not publish books nor review them (unless they are writing advice books). Good luck with finding a publisher.
Fiona
Hi Fiona, thank you for this free writing course. So far so good. I realise that I like to rush through everything and this is no different, but in doing the exercises (3 in particular), I realised that I had to take my time. No need for speed and it’s amazing what can come from just one thought. I have been writing for ages, but never actually finish anything. I lack structure and I sidetrack. I hope this will help me sharpen and improve how I write. Writing gives me pleasure and I believe this course will help me in more areas of my life than just being able to write stories. You rock!!!
You’re most welcome Natasha. Strength to your pen!
So far I have found that the lessons are made to clearly understand. I know what you are asking of me and I feel that I have confident that I can produce what you are asking. I hope this is exactly what I have been looking for, that extra “umph” to get me producing the kind of material that I feel I as well as my reader can be satified with.
Hi, i am interested in starting up a blog and trying to get all possible advice on (the general questions like, will i cut it, can i do this, what if i am terrible – what tools will i need)…and i am curious as to know if creative writing skills will help me in my blog?
Hi Khandi, check out the three posts on beginner blogging for writers starting with this one http://www.thecraftywriter.com/2007/12/02/beginner-blogging-for-writers-part1/
Hi Fiona, this course is inspirational, and I have identified my style of writing, thank you so much.
God Bless.
Hi Fiona, Thanks for the writing courses online for free. The infomation and exercises are very helpful. I’m happy i found this site. I want to be a writer. I have always wanted to be a writer. My favorite subject in school was english. I love to write and makeup stories. Thanks again.
Here’s wishing you well for your future writing career, Connie.
How do I enroll in this free class and get started? This course sounds wonderful and just what I have wanted to find. Please tell me more?
No need to enrol Jo; just get started on the first session.
Ms. Smith, I found this first section of the writing course to open up my pent up feeling
and doubts about knowing if I could and should write, or just sit back and not worry about
the situation.
So far, I have gotten up off my duff and am now ready to press on toward my ideas of story
telling in a narrative form. I want to write a story about a woman who actually lived in the
early part of the eighteenth century, in greater London, England. However, historians seem
to have glossed over that portion of the eighteenth century for reasons unknown.
Thank you for helping me to see that things are possible.
John McRae
You’re welcome John.
I believe That I can get good material to write about but Iam a fraid of my sentence structure and thought organizing
I finished section 1 and raring to gowhat is next
Be kind to me Iam a 82 byear old senior
sorry but Iam confused what do I do Know what is next
why do i keep getting the same page back what swrong i guess you dont want me
Hello John. I don’t work over the weekends. Now I’m back in the office I can clear your comments. You simply have to click on the link for the next session at the bottom of the page and it will take you to the next session. Otherwise go back to the contents page and click the next session there. Good luck.
Hi Fiona,
This is a great course! Thanks for making it free and open to all. This is especially helpful to someone like me because before I though knowing how to put creative thoughts and words on to paper was all I needed to know for writing stories. But Writing under your guidelines has changed that view entirely. I’ve learned I’m not very good at writing under commands on certain topics and I look forward to using this and other courses to improve that. Thanks again.
In just reading through this lesson and doing the first exercise I feel I have learned several things. Thank you.
You’re welcome.