Imaginative Writing Helps Us to Produce Enjoyable Stories

1/6, Where to Begin

 We experience creative writing in many places. Films, television, music, adverts, computer games, stage plays and poetry are just a few.

 Imaginative writing helps us to produce enjoyable stories.

 A story must never be boring – a writer’s job is to entertain.

 There is more to creative writing than just telling stories. Writers take their readers’ imaginations on exciting and interesting journeys.

 Is your story set indoors, outdoors, in a town, a village or a field? Think about the weather. Is it snowing, raining, blowing a gale, sunny or cloudy?

 Decide what type of story you want to write. Fun, scary, mysterious, exciting?

 One of the best ways to begin a story is by describing the setting.

 Often, describing the setting will lead to an idea for the rest of your story.

 Remember, the more interesting the setting, the easier it is to come up with a story.

 Stories never arrive fully formed. They have to be worked on. This can be a slow and difficult process.  Avoid accidentally present tensing by planning your story first. 2/6, A Sense of Senses

 When writing, a good author is always aware of the five senses.

 Include at least two senses in each paragraph. This will help to keep your writing vibrant.

 Try to include a character in your story that is vulnerable or nice. This will encourage your reader to care about what happens to him or her.

 When writing, don't just visualise a scene as if it was a photograph; experience it with all your senses. This helps to produce vivid writing.

 Remember, the way a story is told is as important as the story itself.

 Always have an idea of what you are about to write before you start.

 Authors like to be mysterious, only revealing their story gradually. This helps to keep the reader interested. 3/6, The Writer's Voice

 Don’t ‘talk’ through your pen or pencil; use your writer’s voice instead. This means not overusing strong words (unless for dramatic effect) and using lots of description.

 When we talk face-to-face, we use all kinds of non-verbal signals to help our communication.

 Even phone conversations and radio speech rely on voice tone to help communicate feelings.

 40 – 70 % of the way we communicate is non-verbal.

 Our non-verbal communication skills are taken from us when we write.

 We use description to make up the difference – description ‘tells’ the reader what is being communicated in a non-verbal way.

 It is important for our reader to know what our characters are thinking and feeling. This can only be done through description.

 We ‘draw’ our scenes through the written word. 4/6, Truth and Lies

 Like a successful lie, a fictional story must be believable. However, unlike lying, it must also entertain.

 The worst thing someone can say about a story is, ‘It wasn’t very realistic.’

 No matter how weird or wacky, a story must always appear to be true.

 To help produce a believable piece of writing, some authors pretend to themselves their story is true.

 Good research helps to give a piece of fiction the ring of truth and often leads to new story angles.

 Try to avoid having random or unconnected events in your story – everything should be plot related.

 If you have a lot of accurate detail in your story, the ‘untrue’ bits will be easier to believe.

 Readers always enjoy a story that appears to be telling them something secret.

5/6, Curious Characters

 Short stories can be like jokes. You can use them to play tricks on your reader. For example, they might think they are reading about a human character only to discover, at the end of the story, it is an animal.

 Fiction is friction. Without some form of conflict, a story quickly becomes boring.

 Try to describe your main character in emotional terms rather than physical.

 A good story is like a row of falling dominos – one event always leading to another.

 Surprising the reader helps keep his/her attention, e.g. having a zombie that is nice – though, even with this, you still need a ‘baddie’ to keep things entertaining.

 People always enjoy reading about the odd things other people do – that’s why they watch reality television and buy gossip magazines.

 A character’s behaviour can change a story in a way that even surprises the writer.

 The way a character looks rarely changes a story in a way that surprises the reader.

6/6, Finally

When producing a piece of creative writing:

 Use your imagination to explore your story’s setting.

 Remember to use your writer's voice. Don’t ‘talk’ through your hand.

 Create well-formed and interesting characters.

 Remember, your job is to entertain your reader.

 Emotional or otherwise, always have some form of conflict in your story.

 Try to reference at least two of the five senses in each paragraph.

 Try to avoid accidentally writing in the present tense.

 Reveal your story gradually.