Turning Creative Writing Skills into Awards

Imagination- If you want to have excellent creative writing skills, you need to read! All writing comes with reading, understanding, and interpreting other stories, and then knowing where to branch out from there. When you’re reading a book, do you vividly imagine everything you’re reading? If not, try it! It’s an excellent practice. As a creative writer, you need to be able to visualize.

Sample a paragraph on your own, be as detailed as possible. Take someone who doesn’t love reading and visually transport them into the world in your mind. Include smells, memories, tastes, colors, and little totems to signal recognition. Making the page come to life is the key to creative writing. It’s not about finding good, creative content to write about. It’s about bringing your content off the page and into the actual world we live in.

You need to be able to show how your character is feeling, not tell.

Example: "The weather outside made Mary feel cold."

Translation: "The icy rain made Mary feel so cold that her bones cracked with every move."

Instead of saying that the weather made Mary feel cold, I explained what specifically about the weather could cause those feelings, and how that made her body ache in reality.

Presentation- Presentation is also an essential step to mastering creative writing. You need to know what you want to convey and convey it in a universal way. Whether it’s formatting or story-telling, the presentation can make reading your piece more appealing to viewers. Think about it: chefs are world-renowned and known for their production. There isn't just food on a plate. There's a presentation that makes that meal feel more five-star to the customer.

Audience- Who are you telling your story to? What audience do you want to appeal to? Having your creative writing centered toward a choice of people helps keep it together. No one wants to read something scattered, doesn’t have a plot, or is downright unrelatable. You can appeal to more than one demographic, but section it off, or do it all in one swoop. Don’t start here, turn the corner, stop here for a while, take a different turn, and come full circle. It needs to be in a straight line with twists and turns that don't alter the ending in too many ways.

Creative writing knows no bounds — it’s creative! Don’t be scared to approach a specific topic, or be a bit on the riskier side. Try writing about a dream you’ve had. Add, and remove certain parts to round the story. Highlight anything you remember vividly, and make it come off just as vivid to your readers. Make up any smells if you need to, to draw attention to detail. Describe the roundness, colors, and sharpness of everyday things. Research prompts to sample and go CRAZY!