How can I get better at creative writing?

Question

I am a middle school student. For my age, people say I write well. But my sentences are very short and I don't describe things well. Are there any tips you have for me to improve? Any textbooks that will help me?

Answer 1

I think it is exciting that you are interested in writing. To write well is to build a bridge to the world out of your own dreams. By this I mean it is a lot of work but also fun. Perhaps like exploring the darkest jungles and wildest native ruins and discovering incredible treasures and finding them all in your own back yard. Thank god you bothered to look. Truly the best way to get better at writing is also the best way to get better at anything. Practice. Be easy on yourself with criticism and hard on yourself with effort. Never say I am not good enough but always how can I say this better. Derek Walcott won the Nobel Prize for literature and wrote his first epic poem at about your age. He said something that brought me great comfort. He said "Each blank page fills me with barely contained terror and if anyone tells you differently they are lying" So if writing feels difficult, that is normal. I will suggest two sources for tips on writing. First Kurt Vonnegut's rules:

Now lend me your ears. Here is Creative Writing 101:

1. Use the time of a total stranger in such a way that he or she will not feel the time was wasted.
2. Give the reader at least one character he or she can root for.
3. Every character should want something, even if it is only a glass of water.
4. Every sentence must do one of two things—reveal character or advance the action.
5. Start as close to the end as possible.
6. Be a sadist. No matter sweet and innocent your leading characters, make awful things happen to them—in order that the reader may see what they are made of.
7. Write to please just one person. If you open a window and make love to the world, so to speak, your story will get pneumonia.
8. Give your readers as much information as possible as soon as possible. To heck with suspense. Readers should have such complete understanding of what is going on, where and why, that they could finish the story themselves, should cockroaches eat the last few pages.

The greatest American short story writer of my generation was Flannery O’Connor (1925-1964). She broke practically every one of my rules but the first. Great writers tend to do that.

If you haven't read Vonnegut. You have a treat on the way.

I will also suggest a book by none other than Steven King who by the way encourages people to use nice short sentences and to be careful not to get carried away describing things. The title of the book is ahem "On Writing" I think it is very useful. There are many resources and many of them with some value. I think a good mantra for young writer would be "Write anyway" or Write Away right away the right way er.........hehe

Answer 2

Write! You get better at writing by - writing. Find a pen pal and write a letter every week. Find a hometown newspaper or church newsletter and write for it. Write letters to the editor, to congress, to companies you like/don't like. Describe your feelings or surroundings. Tell about an event or ceremony. Pretend the person you're writing to has never seen the event before and that you want to impart every detail - with out being boring. Write, write, write!!!

Read! Read as much and as varied a selection as you are able. Read poetry - poets make the BEST use of words (Dickinson and Poe are VERY good). Stay away from TV and movies. Read!

Then write! and write some more! and write some more!!

Good luck

Answer 3

Hi! It's nice that you ask questions like that.

Well, my advice for you is to not read more books, but be more observant in your surroundings. Sometimes, if we rely too much on books, be become precoccupied with being techniclly correct, and not writing from the art.

Creative writing is not only about the technicalities, but more on letting your creativity merge with your thought to write articles that feels.

As for your sentences being short, that is only a matter of slipping in a few more adjectives and adverbs here and there, to further describe and give your reader a more graphic idea of what you are writing.

Be more observant.

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However it is nice to add a few more books to your reading list. If you have the time, read classics, or even articles on the newspaper. I personally love certain romance novels because i am moved by how the authors relays the character's feeling to me through her poignant words.

Try watching the news, and pay attention to how newscasters deliver the news. They not only state the facts but give excellent descriptions of what they are relaying

Answer 4

Tell your trainer you misplaced it, and if you do not wish to then listed below are a few recommendations for you: a million) Write whatever you're fascinated with. two) Make definite whilst you write approximately the environment you comprise the 5 senses E.G what the man or woman can see, pay attention, style,contact, odor three) Every tale has a establishing,core and an finish. Begin your tale with a hook- make the readers curiosity and wish to maintain studying till the tip. Good Luck!

Answer 5

No. Not textbooks. They won't help at all. Read novels. By readin you will discover a favourite author beacuse his or her writing style appeals to you and try to read most of their books. Eventually the creativity will grow on you. That is how my vocab and writing style improved too. I am able to publish short stories now.

Answer 6

Try Stephen King ' On Writing '.