Creative Writing

Creative writing is primarily imaginative. It is not strictly utilitarian or purposeful, though it may aim to please or thrill. Usually, it is informal kind of writing and the writer has great poetic license or at least, the freedom to experiment with form and even grammar.You can choose from amongst a host of genres beginning with poetry and going on to the contemporary popular graphic novel/comic .

Here are a few tips for creative writing:

1. Think out-of-the-box.

2. Even if you create characters that are outlandish, they must have traits that are identifiable. The readers should strongly feel for their chosen character.

3. Let the story emerge in a ‘quest’ and be sustained by a number of quests – every character must desire, wish, search or look for something.

4. Incidents illustrate the character and characters determine the incident.

5. Avoid too much suspense, there should be adequate information with the reader to enjoy the story and empathize with characters.

6. Have an ideal reader in mind.

7. Let incredible things happen to the characters, however, ordinary.

8. Experiment with point of view, frequency, duration and chronological order to create interest.

9. Understand the power of author’s tyranny; authors can create their own sequence of events, 

irrespective of real-life occurrences.

10. Play with your own power and knowledge as an author- you can know as much or as little about what is going on in the character’s mind.

11. You can use devices such as parallelism to create contrast, highlight similarities or to comment on the action. Irony in situations and statements may be revealed.

 12. Use metaphors to evoke great pictures in the mind of the reader.

13. Use the various meanings of one word to create amusement.

14. Use archetype and stereotypes but then challenge those.

15.Use humour.

16. Fall and rise of a character or his/her fortunes has been the essence of much classical writing, giving a cue to the modern day writer.

17.Stories emerge from challenges-very ambitious ones that either failed or became exemplary of human prowess.

18. The subjective and the objective may be brought at loggerheads to question perceptions.

19. Begin,’ in media res’-in the thick of things.

20. Write with a spirit-invoke the muse!

(Also see tips by novelist Kurt Vonnegut)