Creative writing - Mike Sanders 2014

Introduction

Creative writing is generally understood to be writing that comes from the imagination, or writing that isn’t factual. It’s the very fine art of making things up, in the most attractive, apt, and convincing way possible. It’s the telling of lies in order to reveal illuminating and dark truths about the world and our place in it.

Some creative writing is partly inspired by real events or based on biographies or autobiographies, such as Jack Kerouac’s On the Road or Sylvia Plath’s The Bell Jar, and the extent to which real life and real people can sometimes directly or indirectly inform creative work. “Write about what you know” is the writer’s maxim that has long since fallen into a crashing cliché—but it’s a cliché for a good reason. Many writers do precisely that. Nonetheless, such creative writing remains in essence a fiction and makes no actual claim to the facts.

Creative writing came late to the educational realm as something that’s written about and taught. The first textbooks did not appear until the early 1900s, and the first educational programs were developed in the 1950s. Before those years, the great writers you’ve heard of learned primarily by reading extensively, copying other writers, and regularly writing on their own. Today, however, creative writing is a popular area of study in high schools and colleges, and publishing it can be very competitive. At the same time, electronic media has made it possible for people to self-publish their own work. You might say we’re in the midst of a transitional era between book-based creative writing and that which is published only in electronic format.

Creative writing itself has continued to evolve as well. In the 1970s, the term creative nonfiction came to describe a type of factual writing in which the narrator’s personal involvement with his or her subject or subject matter is a common element. Likewise, events are rarely recounted in the objective way, which we tend to associate with journalism or other types of factual writing.

Who knows how creative writing will evolve over the next several decades. It’s an exciting time to be a writer and to watch it all unfold.

How this book is organized

The book is divided into seven parts, designed to build your basic knowledge of writing technique, the different kinds of writing, and how to go about conducting research and publishing. Ideally, all portions of the book are to be used in concert with each other in order to give you the best possible introduction to and tools for creative writing.

Part 1, You, the Writer, introduces you to the practice of and most essential elements of writing. It covers the most basic characteristics of what writing is and how to conduct it in a manner that is convincing—and that will relate to readers.

Part 2, Speech, Voice, and Point of View, discusses the importance of where the speaker is in your writing and the best ways to say things and convey your information.

Building on this knowledge, Part 3, Character, Setting, and Types of Stories, focuses on the people in your writing and where your action takes place, along with descriptions of the kinds of stories you can choose from when creating your own.

Shifting from craft to genre, Part 4, Short-Form Genres, covers the shorter types of writing you can try, such as the essay or the short story.

Part 5, Long-Form Genres, shows you ways to develop these shorter forms into book-length undertakings such as an autobiography or a novel.

Part 6, Drafting, Researching, and Editing, moves on to pragmatic matters, including various methods of composition and research.

Part 7, Getting Published, tackles the complexities of the publishing world and what techniques will serve you best in getting your work produced and read by others.

In the back of the book, I’ve included a glossary, resources for additional information, and a compendium of the writing samples used throughout this book.

Extras

Throughout the text, regardless of what comes under discussion, sidebars frequently appear as means of emphasizing aspects of the topic under analysis, while also offering new information, tricks of the trade, exercises to try, and things to avoid. You might think of them as a running commentary on the main text, continually offering additional aid. Here’s what to look for:

DEFINITION

These sidebars present explanations of what terms or phrases mean.

IDEAS AND INSPIRATION

Look to these sidebars for pointers on overcoming a problem or improving your writing.

WATCH OUT!

Be sure to heed these sidebars that contain warnings regarding common pitfalls.

WRITING PROMPT

These sidebars share exercises or assignments to apply a creative writing technique.

Acknowledgments

Many thanks to Lori Hand and Christy Wagner for their invaluable editorial expertise in improving the book.

I would also like to thank the publishers who first published my writings, which serve as examples in the following chapters.

Trademarks

All terms mentioned in this book that are known to be or are suspected of being trademarks or service marks have been appropriately capitalized. Alpha Books and Penguin Group (USA) Inc. cannot attest to the accuracy of this information. Use of a term in this book should not be regarded as affecting the validity of any trademark or service mark.