The Creative Writing Struggle for Beginners

To develop an enticing story can be a terribly difficult task to overcome. On the one hand, you have to create a full concept on which the story is based around, and on another, you have to make the arcs, climax, and resolution of that concept; better yet, you have to make it interesting enough for a reader to WANT to read it.

What is the best course of action? Here are some methods that have helped me become better at writing and starting the process of developing a full-fledged story!

1. Creating an Idea

One of the hardest parts of writing — what are you going to write about? Putting oneself in the creative atmosphere can be arduous, and can leave aspiring writers to give up before they even give themselves the proper chance.

To be creative, we must put ourselves in the correct setting to do so, but this can be a different environment for everyone. For some, music can be a brilliant stimulant to get the creative juices flowing; for others, being somewhere like a cafe can drive them into creating a masterpiece. The true aspect is to place yourself in the right environment for YOU; an environment that will help YOU flourish and thrive.

2. Pull From the World Around You

Everyone pulls from different aspects, but if you’re struggling, sometimes the best place to start is right in front of you. This doesn’t necessarily mean you have to make your product a non-fiction piece, but looking at details around you can help you develop something unique.

You can take from nature, family, friends, possibly even a current struggle you’re facing, and other inspirations; this helps in the growth of your story and helps in making your writing concept unparalleled to others.

These tips should help you create the main idea for your writing, and we can now move on to…

3. The Layout

Now that you have your main idea thought out, you’ll want to create your layout for the story. This step isn’t necessarily a ‘must’ for your writing, but it can be a great help for staying on track and moving on to the next idea during the writing process. It’s also smart to look ahead when writing, knowing the outcome of the story before you’ve written it can help in the decision-making process of the actions and situations that unfold before that event.

(Credit:https://www.timvandevall.com/templates/plot-diagram-graphic-organizers/)

I always recommend this basic plot diagram that I’m sure we’ve all come across at the beginning of our writing journey. This is the basic of the basic, but this diagram can be more of help than you’d realize! This will help organize your thoughts and help you check the plot of your story before you’ve gone through the tedious process of writing it.

Keep in mind, this is the time to look over faults in your plot and try different outcomes. For a writer, your best friend at the beginning of all this will be the trash can (honestly, it’ll be your friend for the entire writing process); you need to be open to making mistakes and trying new concepts.

Be aware, this can happen in the middle of your writing process, sometimes, and there’s nothing wrong with that — it’s for the best! But if we can catch changes before writing a bunch of chapters that contradict it, later on, let’s do that.

4. Start Writing

OKAY! DON’T PANIC! THIS IS NOT A DRILL!

This can be the scariest part of it all, and there are probably a thousand questions running through your head on where to start. Sometimes, grabbing the pen, or keyboard, and going at is the right way to go. The best part is you can always erase, or backspace — nothing is permanent!

And something you may want to try! Some people find it easier to write backwards; in other words, start your writing process during the middle of the story, or even the end, and develop the beginning of the story later on. Again, thinking ahead to plan your beginning actions can sometimes be a much easier process.

Tips to keep in mind!

• Never be afraid to use a thesaurus to add singularity to your writing, or to avoid the over-use of a specific word.
• Don’t be afraid of change and feedback! There are different types of writing forums with people who would love to give you feedback on your writing from a reader’s perspective; you don’t always have to take that feedback into effect, but it doesn’t hurt to test it and to take it into consideration.
• Give yourself time. Writing isn’t easy, and if you’re planning on writing a complete multi-chapter project, it’s going to take you a good amount of time to develop — don’t rush it! Give yourself breaks when need be and don’t force yourself to write when you have no interest in doing so (That being established, you sometimes need to discipline yourself and place your mind in a creative environment, but if nothings sparking your interest, sometimes you have to take a step back and approach it again later — otherwise, your writing might take a hit from this)

Good Luck!

I hope this was of help to some of you and that you take these tips with you in your future endeavors! GOOD LUCK!