5 TIPS TO HONING YOUR CREATIVE WRITING SKILLS

Creative writing is a form of fiction writing where the author creates events, scenes and characters that are from his imagination but based on facts that have elements of truth in them. Unlike other forms of writing, the purpose of creative writing is not to inform but rather it is to provoke an emotional response from the reader.

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Creative writing can be manifested in different forms and categories some of which include: poetry, short stories, novels, stage play scripts, film and television screenplays, etc.
Below are some tips to help you improve your creative writing skills:

1. Start journalling

It doesn’t have to be a kind of daily “Dear diary” input. You can just pick a random event that happened and make it into a larger story.
You could also reflect on a big question and try to answer it by writing. Questions like: what is the essence of life? What makes you happy? What gives you fulfillment? What are your worst memories?
Answering these questions would be a good way to get your creative juices flowing.

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2. Write a letter

This is more diary style. But rather than writing to yourself, you’re writing to someone, anyone of your choice. It could be a letter to someone who wronged you, or to your first crush. Or it could even be a letter to a friend or relative you lost years ago. Asides helping you hone your creativity, this whole process alone can prove to be quite helpful in untangling how you feel about your experiences and even dealing with them. And of course, there’s the plus side where you’ll get to practice writing about emotional and intense stories or poems.

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3. Make use of writing prompts

This tip would prove most helpful for those who have trouble beginning to write at all. A writing prompt helps you to put your pen to paper and you can take it from there. It helps to give you inspiration and get you started. A writing prompt could be an emotion, a sentence, a phrase and even as little as a word. Here are just a few writing prompts to help you get started:
a. Write a story that starts with someone asking, “Can you keep a secret?”
b. Write about a character who is feeling helpless.
c. Write about a mother having to tell her daughter that the man she has called father all her life is not her father.
d. Write about a woman confessing to her husband how she molested her stepson, and so on.

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4. Take part in writing contests

The promise of a mouth watering price always has anyone putting in all efforts to get it, whatever means necessary. So if motivation is what you’re lacking, then a deadline and a prize money will definitely do the trick. There’s also the added bonus of these opportunities helping to fan to flames your creative writing skills.

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5. Write a book

Before you start freaking out, I want you to know that writing a book doesn’t mean you have to write a novel of forty thousand words. The goal is to get you started and get better at it. You could start with an anthology, a collection of poems or short stories. You don’t have to be super ambitious with your goals for the book, but knowing that you started something and finished it will give you such a high and encourage you.

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It would be best to get feedback from someone else you respect in the field, if you are willing to go ahead and publish it or not. I should warn you though that it might not be perfect and that’s perfectly alright. Cut yourself some slack, you’ll surely get better!