<p>1/6, Where to Begin</p><p> We experience creative writing in many places. Films, television, music, adverts, computer games, stage plays and poetry are just a few.</p><p> Imaginative writing helps us to produce enjoyable stories.</p><p> A story must never be boring – a writer’s job is to entertain.</p><p> There is more to creative writing than just telling stories. Writers take their readers’ imaginations on exciting and interesting journeys.</p><p> 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?</p><p> Decide what type of story you want to write. Fun, scary, mysterious, exciting?</p><p> One of the best ways to begin a story is by describing the setting.</p><p> Often, describing the setting will lead to an idea for the rest of your story.</p><p> Remember, the more interesting the setting, the easier it is to come up with a story.</p><p> 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</p><p> When writing, a good author is always aware of the five senses. </p><p> Include at least two senses in each paragraph. This will help to keep your writing vibrant. </p><p> 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. </p><p> 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.</p><p> Remember, the way a story is told is as important as the story itself.</p><p> Always have an idea of what you are about to write before you start.</p><p> Authors like to be mysterious, only revealing their story gradually. This helps to keep the reader interested. 3/6, The Writer's Voice</p><p> 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.</p><p> When we talk face-to-face, we use all kinds of non-verbal signals to help our communication.</p><p> Even phone conversations and radio speech rely on voice tone to help communicate feelings.</p><p> 40 – 70 % of the way we communicate is non-verbal.</p><p> Our non-verbal communication skills are taken from us when we write.</p><p> We use description to make up the difference – description ‘tells’ the reader what is being communicated in a non-verbal way.</p><p> It is important for our reader to know what our characters are thinking and feeling. This can only be done through description. </p><p> We ‘draw’ our scenes through the written word. 4/6, Truth and Lies </p><p> Like a successful lie, a fictional story must be believable. However, unlike lying, it must also entertain.</p><p> The worst thing someone can say about a story is, ‘It wasn’t very realistic.’</p><p> No matter how weird or wacky, a story must always appear to be true.</p><p> To help produce a believable piece of writing, some authors pretend to themselves their story is true.</p><p> Good research helps to give a piece of fiction the ring of truth and often leads to new story angles.</p><p> Try to avoid having random or unconnected events in your story – everything should be plot related.</p><p> If you have a lot of accurate detail in your story, the ‘untrue’ bits will be easier to believe.</p><p> Readers always enjoy a story that appears to be telling them something secret. </p><p>5/6, Curious Characters</p><p> 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.</p><p> Fiction is friction. Without some form of conflict, a story quickly becomes boring.</p><p> Try to describe your main character in emotional terms rather than physical.</p><p> A good story is like a row of falling dominos – one event always leading to another.</p><p> 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.</p><p> People always enjoy reading about the odd things other people do – that’s why they watch reality television and buy gossip magazines. </p><p> A character’s behaviour can change a story in a way that even surprises the writer.</p><p> The way a character looks rarely changes a story in a way that surprises the reader.</p><p>6/6, Finally</p><p>When producing a piece of creative writing:</p><p> Use your imagination to explore your story’s setting.</p><p> Remember to use your writer's voice. Don’t ‘talk’ through your hand.</p><p> Create well-formed and interesting characters.</p><p> Remember, your job is to entertain your reader. </p><p> Emotional or otherwise, always have some form of conflict in your story.</p><p> Try to reference at least two of the five senses in each paragraph.</p><p> Try to avoid accidentally writing in the present tense.</p><p> Reveal your story gradually.</p>