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Increase Your Creative Writing Skills – Start Your Story From the EndBy Marjorie J McDonald

See if you can create a story going from the end back toward the beginning. Let me explain how you might do that. Select the ending you want. Next, move to thinking about what might have been going on right before the result you wrote down as your ending for your story. Choose from your story idea stash or create a new idea and have that be in place as the part of the story that led to your ending. Next, move back one step further. What might have been going on in this part of your story to flow to the last two parts you selected.

Let me put this in another way so you can get a better idea of how to do this.

Pretend you needed a birthday cake for a special person and you were not going to stop by the store and buy one. The last thing you might put on the cake would be candles. Moving back, the cake would need icing. Moving back one more step, the cake would need to be put on a plate. Moving back one more step, the cake would be taken out of the baking pans. Moving back one more step, the cake would be cooling after coming out of the oven. You can follow the process all the way back to when you decided to make the cake. When you have completed this exercise, you can read through the steps, from beginning to end this time, and see if the steps are in order and exactly what was needed at that time to reach the outcome you were headed for, in this case, a birthday cake with candles on it.

Do you see how you could use the process in reverse in your writing? It is a fabulous way to create a story and be sure you have put in all of the details for your reader to follow so the story comes together. It is also a way to use the creative part of your brain to set up the sequence and make sense of the movement and flow of the material you are writing.

When moving backwards you will immediately be aware that there is something missing if you have left out one of the steps. When you are moving forward with your writing it is more difficult to catch that a detail that is very important might have been overlooked.

Another thing that is great about writing this way is that your inner critic will have quite a challenge trying to find something to point out to you about what you are doing. It is so refreshing to quiet that inner critic, enjoy the process and create a story that you can use. When you are not second guessing and questioning everything you write it removes a great deal of pressure. You may find that if you have writers block it may help you to get past that. Repeat the process as often as you like by making this a tool for you to use as needed.

I personally find it is so much fun to write in this way it often is my choice when asked to write for someone else or for a publisher. I can go about it knowing that the potential to have a good article or story is very high. That allows me to relax and write. I find I can complete my story more quickly and I feel more confident when I present the story. All of these things can change your sense of accomplishment and satisfaction about how to write and I find every use of this tool to be of value. See what you think after you try this writing method and approach.

And now I invite you to join me for a series of writing exercises to help you discover your areas of interest in writing as well as increasing your creativity. You may access these exercises by visiting http://www.freecreativewritingstrategies.com.

You also may enjoy visiting my blog at http://www.creativewritingmadeeasy.com

Article Source: http://EzineArticles.com/?expert=Marjorie_J_McDonaldhttp://EzineArticles.com/?Increase-Your-Creative-Writing-Skills—Start-Your-Story-From-the-End&id=1822385

Author: Linda A Lavid

When I decided to write a novel, I had the impression that writing fiction would be easy, a winsome process that would fly on the wings of creativity. What fun to let go and free myself from the objective to the subjective. How exhilarating! Well, sort of, for a while. Fact was it took me three years to complete my first book-length manuscript that was, in the clear light of day, unreadable. During those early years, I did two things: I read books on writing, and I wrote. Neither was a bad thing, but besides taking an inordinately long time, I kept making the same mistakes over and over again. And when it came time to rewrite, I didn’t know where or how to start. The writing books were clear, concise and redundant in what they had to say. I poured over them with gusto and did a lot of highlighting. But the wisdom that spewed forth never seeped into my brain for any practical purpose.

The tasks of writing and publishing are rife with fits and starts. Some aspects may come easily, while others will prove more trying. Looking back I can now identify three critical activities, that once incorporated into my writing life, were and continue to be, of immense help.

Join a writer’s group. In the absence of attending a writing program (an option not available to most of us), the advantages of joining a writer’s group are tremendous. It is in this environment that craft can grow and flourish. Often, members in a group are diverse, not only in what they write but where they are on the writing-publishing-marketing continuum. Put all the members together and a synergy takes place, whereby a wide base of skill level and experience can be freely shared. Besides having your writing reviewed, critiquing other people’s work is likewise helpful. Figuring out what works and why is a critical developmental step in learning how to write well. And there’s also the commiseration factor. Like babies to new mothers, writing is fascinating to writers, but in the company of non-writers such discussions may leave you standing alone, drink in hand, looking furtively to where your friendly listener disappeared. Writers’ groups can be found in bookstores, continuing education programs and on-line. It’s been my experience that libraries have the space and are amenable to having community meetings. Membership can be open or restricted, receptive to all genres or focused on a certain kind of writing. No matter how the group is configured, there’s gold in ‘them thar hills’.

Write daily. Yeah. I avoided the daily quota for years: too much pressure, performance anxiety, fear of failure, you name it. Finally one summer I took on the challenge, stuck with a minimum of 250 words and kept track of my daily progress. Some days I easily surpassed the quota. Writing daily keeps the story fresh and continuous. Start out small if you like – one hundred words. Double that and you’ll have a novel-length manuscript in one year. It’s crucial to choose a word-count quota that is doable and measurable. Be realistic and don’t set yourself up for failure. I also found Ernest Hemingway’s advice helpful – keep water in the well. In other words, once you’re done writing for the day, have a sense of where you’ll be picking up the story the following day. For illustrative purposes, this paragraph runs 138 words.

Analyze Story X. Immerse yourself in a novel or short story that you wish you had written. I believe subconscious formatting occurs when a person reads and the more one reads, the better she is able to write. There is also a state of natural selection and what you hold up as your favorite book or story, most likely reflects the kind of writing you want to take on. Immersion into a story is done by reading it, speaking it, and deconstructing it. To deconstruct, write an excerpt in longhand and pay careful attention to words, sentences, paragraphs. As you develop craft, this book/story will hold many answers to your questions, i.e., How does the author handle description, backstory, transitions? My Story X is Margaret Atwood’s The Robber Bride. I still marvel at how she plays with tense, description, characterization. I have referred to this book endlessly in learning how to write. For example, when my characters were doing an inordinate amount of walking and turning and looking, I referred to a random page of Atwood’s Bride and found some fixes. By the way, I do not write like Margaret Atwood . . . yet.

For more info: Linda’s Website

About the Author:

Linda Lavid is an award-winning author of fiction and nonfiction. Her latest book is Composition, A Fiction Writer’s Guide for the 21st Century. Reviewed as a “priceless gem”, this book discusses the craft of writing fiction and the art of self-publishing.

Article Source: http://www.articlesbase.com/fiction-articles/how-to-keep-writing-540534.html

Author: Eric Penz

I began writing my first novel in 1997. Six years, five drafts (give or take), two sons, and one major surgery later it was finally complete. Then it took another two years to get Cryptid published and on bookstore shelves. And don’t even ask how much Cryptid has earned me. The gravy train is certainly gaining speed, but don’t ever fool yourself that writing novels is a get-rich-quick scheme. Even the big boys like Crichton, Koontz, and Cussler will tell you that. The best-case scenario is a get-rich-slow—eternally slow—scheme. Which is to say, don’t quit your day job.

Ah, but then where does one find the time, resources, energy, and muse to write after coming home from slaving for the Man (or Woman) all day?

Well, that’s the million-dollar question. Actually, it’s only half the question. The whole question is where does one find the time, resources, energy, and muse to write after working all day… and then cooking dinner, doing the dishes, helping the kids with their homework, paying bills, cutting the grass, washing the cars, checking your email, doing your nails, going for a run, seeing a movie, getting the flu, finishing your degree… need I go on?

We all have twenty-four hours in the day, even the big boys like Crichton, Koontz, and Cussler. Life happens to us all. Just ask Stephen King what a crimp his car accident put on his writing.

We all have a list of reasons to not write. They’re not excuses, really. Life doesn’t leave much room for excuses. So don’t add guilt to that list. But that doesn’t change the fact that you’ve only written a thousand words in the past six weeks, does it? Then what’s the answer? How did I do it?

Well, it took me six years. So one answer is simply that I didn’t quit. Little-by-little, day-by-day, year-by-year I worked at it until it was done. But be more specific. Exactly how did I find the time? OK, well another answer is that I woke my computer every night at 9 PM, Sunday through Thursday, and worked until midnight or 1 AM. I did this religiously for six years, sometimes working seven days straight.

I took a two-year commercial fiction course at the University of Washington. I was part of a weekly critique group for three years. I immersed myself in the craft. I did everything I could to make myself the best craftsman possible. Does that help?

No, I’m sure it doesn’t, because you’re not me. You will not be able to work at the craft in the same way I do. You may work a double shift for the Man and the Woman and not be able to write from 9 PM to 1 AM every night. So here’s the answer you’re really after, though you’re not going to like it because it means there’s no short cut, no magic recipe that you can simply follow and be assured success.

You see, the million-dollar answer is that I quit.

Or at least I tried to; many, many times I tried to. But I couldn’t. You know why? Because writing is not something I do, it is something I am. I’m a writer. So there is no quitting. I cannot quit being who I am. I can only accept who I am. And once I did, I never failed to find time to write. My cars may not sparkle, I hired someone to cut the grass, and I often sleep less than eight hours a night, but I write.

So my advise to you is to quit. And if you can, then you’re not a writer. It’s OK. Not everyone is. Then find out what you are and do that, but don’t go back to writing. The craft is too hard and the rewards too slow in coming to labor at it unless you have to. And writers have to.

However, if you can’t quit then you are a writer. And once you realize that you can only find joy in life if writing is a part of your life, then you will find the time. I promise you. And it won’t be my way; it’ll be your way. Just don’t quit your day job. It may not be who you are, but it will pay the bills until who you are is a writer whose name is listed in the same sentence with the big boys.

Article Source: http://www.articlesbase.com/writing-articles/working-and-writing-fulltime-if-i-can-you-can-32135.html

About the Author: Eric Penz is the author of Cryptid: The Lost Legacy of Lewis and Clark. Visit his Web site to learn more, http://www.ericpenz.com

Author: Linda A Lavid

I was educated by an order of St. Joseph nuns who demanded outlines – those bewildering subsets of bulleted letters and numbers – for term papers. The concept of outlining was similar in my mind to looking up a word in the dictionary I didn’t know how to spell. How could I outline when I didn’t know the topic? So after I completed the assignment, I did the outline. Of course, the outline was supposed to be done before the report. But what was the point? I still had to write the darn thing. Anyway, I didn’t come easily or willingly to the planning concept. No, that took me years of aimless writing.

My first manuscript was written after reading: See the scene as if it’s on stage, watch what happens, then write it down. Brilliant, I could do that. And I did. However, the end result was a meandering of the worst kind – backstory with no forward movement. So where did I go wrong? Metaphorically speaking, I built a house without a blueprint.

“A blueprint? For a story?” you say. “But that’s so contrived. What about the unpredictability of the characters? What about their freedom to express themselves untethered? Besides, if you know the whole story, you’ll give too much away. A story isn’t a term paper. It’s creative.”

Yes, precisely; fiction is creative. Even more, it’s boundless, it’s imaginative, it’s where pumpkins turn into carriages. And it’s exactly for these reasons that a general framework is needed. Stories do take on a life of their own. They can spiral out of control or drop like stones. Every innocent line of dialogue, narration, exposition, and description has the potential to draw the story off point. Sometimes you won’t even realize it until you’re pages ahead, pulling out your hair, wondering how events got so tangled, so lost.

I spent two years rewriting my first manuscript. Actually, I spent two years rewriting the first chapter of my first manuscript. Yes, I said first chapter, two years. That’s about as brainless as one can get. Naturally, during that time, I had some serious questions about my sanity and ability to write. For some reason, the thought of planning the story never entered my consciousness. No, that came later, much later.

Eventually, I took on another story. This second manuscript had forward movement, but ran out of steam at page sixty. I had the general sense of where I was headed, but for some reason stopped cold. Ditto for two subsequent manuscripts. It wasn’t until I was asked by a member in a writer’s group to give him an idea of where the plot was going that I decided to put a brief narrative down on paper. Suddenly, the clouds cracked apart and I understood what the nuns were asking.

Writers do a lot of thinking. In fact, we do more thinking than writing. Thoughts are lightning speed, transitory, winsome. And it is from these wild synaptic pulses that writers attempt to fashion a comprehensible story. Writing fiction is also a creative process of honing, shaving, twisting and turning ideas. It’s first brainstorming, then funneling down. It’s evaluating and deciding. Fiction breathes, grows, and mutates before becoming a finished story. In the process, some sorting out needs to happen.

And so goes my vote. Outline? Yes

Linda’s Website

Article Source: http://www.articlesbase.com/fiction-articles/outline-yes-or-no-599600.html

About the Author:

Linda Lavid is an award-winning author of fiction and nonfiction. She has published two books on writing: Composition: A Fiction Writer’s Guide for the 21st Century and Publishing Tips: Weekly Strategies for the Independent Writer.

Author: Rosey Dow

We all love tender stories. Some love to sigh and sink deeper into their soft armchairs, others love a good cry. Think of best-selling authors who have that ability: Nicholas Sparks, Francine Rivers, and Janette Oke. Their characters are so real and have such deep needs that we can’t help but lose ourselves within the pages of their books.

But where does that ability come from? Some writers have a natural gift for this kind of writing, but others must develop it. Either way, creating heartfelt prose is a skill that most fledgling writers can discover and strengthen over time.

Here is the key: Writers who stir our hearts are brave enough to reach into the hurting corners of their own souls. Instead of shying away from the pain, they explore it and embrace it and articulate it in great detail. Every aspiring writer would love to have such a soul connection to their readers, but they don’t have the courage to go where you have to go in order to have that happen.

Many times I’ve wept as my fingers swept across the keyboard, yet those pieces are the best I’ve ever written. It is from our own pain that we have a chance to reach other hurting souls who need so desperately to hear from us. (2 Corinthians 1:4) Every one of us has places in our hearts that only God can comfort. What amazing joy it brings when He allows us to share that comfort with others—people we will never meet and yet we can move so profoundly.

What hurting corner can you explore in your next story?

Article Source: http://www.articlesbase.com/fiction-articles/writers-tips-writing-from-the-heart-631144.html

About the Author:

And now I’d like to invite you to visit my blog with more writing tips and marketing know how at http://RoseyDowToday.com.

Rosey Dow is CEO of ChristianFictionMentors.com–http://christianfictionmentors.com