When I talk about imaginative writing, I mean, extending your initial concept, stretching it and shaping it. Your aim is to bring it to life in a way that will engage the readers.
Leave a CommentTag: creative writing
I am used to setting up a make-shift office whenever I am on my travels. Providing the table is the right height and the chair – relatively comfortable, I can set up my laptop or iPad and still keep up to date with my schedule. Whether I am writing for clients, for the Creative Competitor or, purely on a personal creative writing pursuit, there’s no need to miss out on work.
Leave a CommentAre you struggling with the dreaded creative block? Here are tried and tested ways to remove writers block and to keep your creativity bubbling away….
Leave a CommentSo far in this series on how to win writing competitions, or, (or at least, how to improve your potential for doing so), I have covered the importance of generating a good idea and developing it, turning this basic concept into something original and unique….
Leave a CommentI’ve been a writing competition judge for many years, even before I started up the Creative Competitor and we have been going strong for over ten years now….
Leave a CommentBy Annette Young
If you are an ideas person, you may find yourself overwhelmed with creative ideas that bombard your conscious mind regularly. While it’s true to say that some writers would be ultra-jealous of this, there’s no doubt that it can be difficult to pin down an idea from the masses. But what happens when you do target just one from a long list of creative ideas? Do you just run with it?
Leave a Commentby Annette Young In my mind, the whole process of creative writing is wonderful, yes, even the good, the bad and the frustrating. I admit I am…
Leave a CommentDo you find yourself putting things off? I think we all do this, mentally calculating that we’ll find time later or, maybe the next day, especially when faced with the mundane chores of life.
When I first started writing with intent
Novel writing. How much emphasis can you place on each character if you have a great many milling around within the plot? Each character should have a definitive role to play so you need to consider this.
Leave a Commentby Annette Young
I’ve always expressed the opinion that if someone really wishes to learn the techniques of creative writing and, to write professionally, they can. They just need to develop the right mind-set. This means they have to overcome any creative obstacles that block their way to success i.e. time, patience, family or work demands. It’s not rocket science to think that if they can find a little bit of time each day, this will keep the creative brain cells well-oiled and improvement will follow.
Leave a CommentI am constantly asked how to keep creative ideas flowing and yes, this can be difficult if you feel overwhelmed by the day to day problems in life, feel tired or, just low in spirits. The trick I have found at those times …
Leave a CommentCreative writing requires many skills – the desire to keep learning, the ability to see beyond the surface and look deep into the souls of characters and, to stretch your imagination when it comes to idea generation…
Leave a CommentIf your creative brain is on strike, this article may help you to come up with some imaginative ideas for your next short story or novel…..
Leave a CommentWhen you first start creative writing, it can seem like a mammoth journey to take before you feel comfortable with your writing and can start to believe in your own abilities…
Leave a CommentI have long advised writers to cherish all of their writing attempts and to have a file – whether offline or online so that they can dip into those past realms of creativity
Leave a CommentSomeone asked me the other day why I write. It’s not a simple answer, it’s complex because it is such an integral part of me. When I tried to explain that I couldn’t halt the sway of characters or ideas that popped into my mind, that I lived and breathed my role …
1 CommentLove writing? Take a top tip from the professional tennis players and develop…
If you are a huge fan of writing, you can gain much by watching professional sports people…
By Annette Young
The advice given to new writers is often to carve out a niche area and stick to it and they are right…. to a degree. But I remember when I took my first serious steps towards writing, I didn’t know what niche area to focus on – freelance writing or creative writing, frankly, I wanted to do it all. I was brimming over with ideas and just loved the experience of writing and learning. I tried to focus on just one project, but it was impossible.
Leave a Commentby Annette Young
Creative writing can be a wonderfully relaxing pastime but more than that, it can be therapeutic too and used to enrich your writing in ways than you cannot imagine unless you connect with your buried emotions. We all have moments of sadness and emotional pain – whether through grief, relationship breakdowns or simply moments when life frustratingly goes wrong. Trapped emotions can be damaging – we can remain stagnant if not careful.Life throws a myriad of obstacles and often unwarranted events in our way and this pain can intensify and remain trapped within.
Leave a Commentby Annette Young
Picture the scene, your imagination is burning bright, ideas are cascading into your conscious mind one after another and the words rush in thick and fast….isn’t that just the greatest feeling? The moment when you are in the zone and your story and characters behave. No-one enjoys having to wrestle with a stray word or a stilted sentence, we’d all give anything to have the creative floodgates open on a single command, but of course, it doesn’t always work that way. So what’s the best way to keep the creative writing ball rolling?
Leave a CommentWhen I was a child, I was always told no. Oh, how I hated that word. I saw it as a continuous effort to scupper my plans to explore and to redefine my boundaries. I may have only been four or five at the time, but when you have a determined nature and an adventurous streak, the word no becomes the worst word in the world.
Leave a CommentCreative writing – turn your lunch hour into a timed fiction fest. Give yourself 10 minutes of fast writing on a single idea and just let the words pour out onto the page. The end result may be excellent …..
Leave a CommentIf you are considering a new fictional project, stop for a moment and scan through these creative writing tips as they just might help you to increase your connection to the reader before you’ve even written one word. It pays to really consider what you are trying to achieve before you start out,
Leave a CommentDo you dream of being a successful author imagining your very first book signing or, about clasping that first copy of your book in your hands? Perhaps you just want to see your name in print or to win your first writing competition? Everyone who engages with the written word creatively has some idea
Leave a Commentwriting success. In fact, I would say that the more time you have, the less productive you may be. I know it can be difficult to juggle work and family demands. I did just that for many years. I had a husband (ex now) who was grumpy if I disappeared laptop tucked under arm and, who did not (would not understand) my need to write. I had a full-time job and a part-time job teaching and I had already taken the first tentative steps towards writing professionally. I also had a disabled mother
Leave a CommentMany freelance writers, who write full-time, will agree that to survive within the publishing world, there are constant pressures to seek out new publishing outlets and to continually strive for the regular publication of new articles.
To the outsider looking in, life may seem sweet, with hours to suit, no trudging to work in the wind and rain, or working at a job you despise, however, freelancers vary rarely work the traditional 9-5 and
Leave a CommentSometimes ideas just flow and writing our article or story is easy. Inspiration flows over us like waves and the subsequent finished piece is almost word perfect and requires very little editing. But for those times when inspiration is on holiday or worse, on strike, help yourself to master those off -days by creating a dream diary.
Leave a CommentWriters need to be able to consistently conjure up strong and original ideas to form complex plots in fiction so that the readers will be captivated and enthralled from the start through to the end. This forming of ideas can often be the most difficult of challenges for writers but it is vital that writers exel in this area and continuously create ideas to inspire and challenge their reader.
Leave a CommentWe are all guilty of allowing self-limitations to hold us back. We might not think about them, we might not want to admit that we hold back from our creative dreams but the chances are that these self-limitations perform a stranglehold on our publishing aspirations. I know I was guilty of this when I picked up my first professional writing job many years ago. I kept looking at the project overview
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