Creative writing - Mike Sanders 2014

Getting unstuck
Drafting and structuring
Drafting, researching, and editing

When penning any creative writing document, you must ensure the content is appropriate for your audience, your voice is appropriate for the content, your word choice is effective, you use transitions, and the document is formatted properly. Knowing how to draft, research, and edit can make the task of creating an effective work of creative writing much easier.

After taking notes, mining your journal, and outlining, a first draft is constructed. It doesn’t have to be perfect because it’s a work in progress. Developing a catchy, interesting beginning pulls the reader in and makes him or her want to read more. The body of the work will follow, using a theme or concept as a rough guide.

You can enrich your initial draft by reading period material similar to your own project and taking notes on what’s relevant to your work. If possible, travel to some of the unfamiliar places that appear in your manuscript and note their details. Lastly, interview scholars and everyday people who pertain to your subject to vastly enrich the verisimilitude of your work.

When it comes time to revise and edit, you must carefully read each word with new eyes. Word choice is a crucial factor. Do not use the same words over and over. Mix up sentence styles to give your work variety. Readers will appreciate your effort.

CHAPTER 20 Drafting and structuring

In this chapter

·  Using your journal

·  Learning to freewrite

·  Making an outline

·  The technique of quilting

Whether you feel it or not, there’s a process to writing that many writers follow naturally. If you’re just getting started as a writer, though, or if you always find it a struggle to get going, following a writing process might help.

In this chapter, I offer some tips for getting your writing on track whenever you’re feeling stuck.

Getting unstuck

Have you ever sat staring at a blank piece of paper or a blank document on your computer screen, unable to find words to populate it? Writers traditionally call this the “terror of the blank page.” When you feel this, it means you might have skipped the vital first stage of the writing process, prewriting. Prewriting is everything you do before starting your rough draft.

Ideas are all around you. If you want to write but feel you don’t have any ideas, try the following:

·  Read through your journal.

·  Use a writing prompt to get started.

·  Write about incidents from your daily life.

·  Create a vivid character and then write about him/her.

Then you can build on your idea and add flesh to its bones. Luckily, you have a couple ways to do this. One I’ve talked about before is called freewriting. Open a new document or start a new page, and write everything that comes into your head about your chosen topic. Don’t stop to edit, even if you make mistakes. Another is brainstorming, in which you write the idea or topic in the center of your page and then jot down ideas that arise from it—the subtopics or directions you could take with the article.

DEFINITION

Brainstorming is a prewriting method in which you record ideas stemming from a single central topic or concept.

Once you’ve done one or both of these prewriting exercises, you need to select what’s going into your first draft. Some pieces of writing require more planning than others. Typically, longer pieces, such as novels, need a lot of thought at this stage.

First, decide which ideas you’ll use. During your freewriting and brainstorming, you’ll have come up with lots of thoughts. Some belong in this piece of writing; others can be kept for another time or project. Then, decide how to order those ideas. Try to have a logical progression. Sometimes, your topic will make this easy: in this section, for instance, it made sense for me to take each step of the writing process in order.

Sit down with your plan beside you, and start your first draft (also known as the rough draft). At this stage, don’t think about word count, grammar, spelling, and punctuation. Don’t worry if you’ve gone off topic, or if some sections of your plan don’t fit together. If you’re a new writer, you might be surprised to learn that professional authors usually go through multiple drafts before they’re happy with their work. This is a normal part of the writing process.

As another aid, some writers find setting aside specific time to work on their rough draft helpful. You even could go somewhere you won’t be interrupted or have to deal with distractions.

IDEAS AND INSPIRATION

Writing requires concentration and energy. If you’re a new writer, don’t try to write for hours without stopping. Instead, give yourself a time limit (such as 30 minutes) to really focus. And no checking your phone or email during that time!

Now that you’ve gotten to the actual writing, let’s backtrack and take a closer look at some the most helpful prewriting techniques.