Best Creative Writing Tips for Beginners

With our creative writing tips, an amateur writer becomes a pro!

Are you brand new to the world of writing? Do you want to hone your creative writing skills to become a successful author? Creative writing for beginners can be a little overwhelming if you do not know the process well. As a beginner, you may need these creative writing tips to embrace your inner author and write your first story.

Do not indulge in the process of creative writing right away. You need to understand what creative writing is and its forms along with the various techniques of writing each of them and how a creative writing course can help you succeed in your career.

What is creative writing?

Creative writing is the artistic representation of ideas and imagination in words. It is different from the normal formative textual presentation of journalistic, academic and technical forms of writing. All literary works are classic examples of creative writing. They are written in a captivating style to give pleasure to the readers.

What are the different forms of creative writing?

The most popular forms of creative writing are as follows:-

• Children’s books
• Creative non-fiction
• Graphic novels
• Memoirs
• Novels
• Plays
• Poetry
• Screenplays
• Short stories

If you want to venture into all these types of creative writing then you definitely need to take training in that discipline. You may also need the following helpful tips to start your career as an amateur writer.

Helpful creative writing tips for beginners to get started with

1. Consider a creative writing course:-

If you are an absolute beginner in this field, opting for a creative writing course from any reputed institution like Henry Harvin will be most helpful to you. Expert content writers of such an institution will guide you to master the creative writing skills to compose engaging Fiction, Creative Nonfiction, Drama, and Poetry. If you want to learn how to craft an unusual & unique story and become a flourishing writer, you should go for this course.

According to The Statesman, and Creative Writing, Henry Harvin’s Creative Writing Course Ranks #1 in India. The key takeaways of this course are:-

• Live Projects to try your hands on
• Guaranteed Internship for gaining experience
• Weekly Job Support for job seekers
• Recorded Videos of classes
• Monthly Brush-up Sessions
• Bootcamps for developing Interview Skills
• Certified Creative Writing Specialist (CCWS) certification from Henry Harvin® Education, recognized by the American Association of EFL, UK Cert, UKAF, Content Writing Association in India, MSME & Government of India.

Henry Harvin institution has a well-structured syllabus specifically intended to help dreamers achieve their goals in writing stories, novels, poetry, scripts, etc.

Here’s a video on creating writing tips for beginners by Henry Harvin for your reference.

2. Choose your genre:-

Have you ever wondered how many genres and sub-genres are there in the realm of writing? Choosing the right genre to hone your creative writing skills is the toughest challenge that a new writer faces at the beginning. Your success as a writer mostly depends on the genre you choose and can master. Here are some creative writing tips for choosing the right genre of writing for yourself:-

• Read a lot of books and writings from different genres
• Identify which of them you like most and enjoyed reading
• Get familiar with the formats of those chosen genres
• Try to know the guidelines for writing those types

For example, if you like thrillers and detective novels then choose that genre to start with.

3. Find topics to write:-

After choosing the genre for your creative writing, find a topic to write for. There are innumerable places to draw inspiration for writing.

• Books- Read widely if you want to become a good creative writer. Find inspiration from the works of others. For example, a line of dialogue, or an unresolved detective story might give you an idea for starting a new story of your own.
• Magazines/Journals- Magazines are mines of information, facts and figures, sordid tabloid gossip, and boring trade secrets. Anyone can find an interesting topic out of these.
• Movies- Find ideas for building a plot or story out of any scene or situation depicted in a movie.
• Blogs- Like magazine articles blogs also provide information. Learn something new and unexpected from them also.
• Music- Music has the ability to move us. Sometimes lyrics can be adapted into a whole new story. Here are some creative writing tips in this regard:-
  • Play the music and listen carefully
  • Tap into the emotions the song conjures up inside you.
  • How do you feel while and after listening to that song? If the lyric is telling you a story, try to expand that idea into a prose format it talking about any character? Can you create a story revolving around that character? Think about this possibility too.
  • Use the song to dream up a movie. This way you can develop a story or a novel based on the song.
• Writers’ Groups/Clubs/Forums- Join some online or offline writers’ clubs. Discuss with other established writers about various topics, writings, and existing literary works. This type of conversation is very useful for beginners. These stalwarts may give valuable creative writing tips to newbies.   
• Nature- Draw inspiration from nature. Even a beautiful landscape may inspire a writer to write a whole novel based on it.
• Photography/Art- Have you ever tried visiting an art exhibition or a photography show? Try visiting one. These art forms can have hidden stories behind them too. A painted portrait of a lady or a mesmerizing photo of a serene landscape may inspire you to write a story also.
• Newspapers- Television series, news headlines, etc. can also be a source of ideas for creative writing. A piece of sensational news on a bank robbery can inspire one to write a detective story based on it.
• Personal Experience- Personal experiences are the based source of topics for writing. Observe day-to-day happenings in your life or other people’s life. These experiences can be clubbed together into a well-knit story someday.

4. Do your research:-

After you have chosen the topic for your creative writing assignment, start doing thorough research on it.

• Find authentic facts and figures that you are going to use in the writing.
• Go to a library, read other books on the topic
• Cross-check facts before penning them down
• Find out how other writers have presented the facts in their writings

Remember, a well-researched well-knit presentation of facts in creative writing draws more attention from the audience than loosely woven facts and figures.

5. Know the taste and preferences of your audience:-

Do you know who is going to read your first work? Do you have any particular audience in mind while writing your stories or novel? Many new writers skip this important step.

If you are writing for teenagers, keep in mind what they like to read and cater to their needs. Use the jargon and language in your writing that these teenagers use in their daily life. This way they can relate the story to their experiences and your writing will become popular among them. 

Have you ever wondered why Harry Potter novels have become the best-selling book series of all time? The Harry Potter books are a combination of epic fantasy and mysticism that evolved around characters of a classic boarding school. They are targeted towards young adults who could relate their own boarding school experiences full of fun, frolic, laughter, adventures, puzzles and riddles to solve, student-teacher interaction, and so on. These elements in all of its stories made the books pleasurable to read.

6. Create your own unique style of writing:-

The most important factor that makes a good author stand apart from the crowd is his or her unique style of writing. Get inspired by the writing of other established authors, but do not copy their work. Create your own style of writing, set of vocabulary, presentation, plot building, etc.

7. Practice writing regularly:-

Set aside time for practising writing daily. If you grow the habit of writing regularly you will never face the frustration and delays of writer’s block. Practice makes a man perfect. Hence, practise hard and regularly to develop your unique style.

8. Improve your writing vocabulary:-

Do you know the essential things you need to keep in your writer’s toolbox? Along with a grip on good grammar, punctuation, and style of writing, you need a great vocabulary too.

A strong vocabulary makes your writing more powerful. You will always have a huge set of synonyms to pull from your repository whenever you needed. This indispensable tool helps you choose the perfect words to express your thoughts and make an impact on the minds of the readers.

Follow these creative writing tips to build a strong vocabulary:-

• Read every day to learn new words.
• Diversify your reading list. Read almost anything you get in hand. Venture into different genres and read books on them to get an idea of what type of words are used, when and how.
• Know the meaning of the new words you have come across. Consult a thesaurus online or offline for this.
• Observe the use of the new word in the writing you have read. Keep a note of your observations in your diary.
• Use new words in your writing immediately after learning them.
• Develop practical vocabulary by learning words that express what’s important to you for the task at hand.
• Avoid using empty words in your writing. Empty words offer meaningful information to your readers. Substitute them with something more useful.
• Avoid using too many phrases to explain one single idea. This can again be achieved by framing a single sentence using carefully-chosen words.
• Try word games that are designed to improve vocabulary. Word puzzles and scrabbles are good in this regard.
• Visualize new words to remember new words and their meanings.
• Go for vocabulary tests to cement them in your memory.

9. Start with short stories or articles:-

A new swimmer never learns to swim by diving into an ocean, he tries the local pool first.

At the beginning of a creative writing career, one may dream of writing and publishing a book straight away to gain success. But, without proper training or experience in writing one might find the task daunting. In order to write a good book you need to possess several skills like stamina, vision, style, and a voice to leave a mark.

Some writers are born with these skills. Some need to grow them. Never pick up the humongous task of writing novels if you are not accustomed to regular writing. It is like you are diving into a vast ocean without knowing how to swim. Start with the local pool – the short stories or articles.  

For a new creative writer, writing articles on various niches is the best way to start with. You can slowly and steadily move over to short stories if you have been able to develop the skill of visualization. Ask for creative writing tips from established writers or take training in so from an institution.

The several benefits of starting a career with short story writing are:-

• Easier to write – Short stories are easier to write as you do not need to introduce too many characters as in a novel and are most likely to keep it simple. Simple things are easier to handle.
• Most likely to finish – Small tasks take short time to finish. This way you will be able to complete your task quickly and publish it in a short time.
• Enough time to develop your own style – Writing short stories on a chosen niche is the best way to develop and improve your own unique style of writing. You will be able to identify your strength, as well as flaws quickly.
• Less risky venture – Small short-time tasks are always less risky to take up. Imagine the plight of a writer who spends months after months writing a novel only to find himself off-track in the middle of development or with no publisher interested to print it.

10. Find publishers:-

Finding publishers for new writers was hard once. The scenario has changed now. There are lots of ways to publish your literary work and reach out to the potential audience.

• Go for online publication– Since the advent of the internet era, we have seen many developments being made to give platforms to writers for easy publishing of their works. For example, Blogger.com, Medium.com, WordPress.com, etc. are open-source platforms where any layman can create an account free of cost, and start publishing his or her works. These platforms are used by millions of people across the world. Hence, anyone can get a good amount of audience for his published writings very quickly.
• Go for Google Play Book Partnership– This is another awesome platform for the self-publication of books and novels. You do not need to rely upon any publisher to take the initiative to publish the book online. Anyone can publish a creative writing work by following a few easy steps.  
• Go for a literary agent – If you are interested in an offline or printed publication for your literary works then you can seek the help of a literary agent. The only disadvantage is that these agents ask for an advance amount that covers the publication cost. They are motivated to take on clients based on the size of the advance they make. If they find it less than what they expect, they may not proceed with your writing.

11. Embrace criticisms:-

Writing is not a solo endeavour, it requires an audience, feedback and critique. As a new creative writer, you should learn to embrace criticisms of your literary works.

It is hard to recognize any flaws in our own creative work. We always feel proud of our creations. And that is why when anyone praises our literary work we become proud. Pride arouses ego and ego leads to failure. That is why both self-criticisms, as well as critical appraisal by the audience, are required during the growing phase of a new writer. Learn to handle them, learn from them and improve your writing style.

Conclusion

Creative writing for beginners will never become a daunting task if you approach the task with well-defined goals to achieve. All you need is to carefully plan your career starting with a suitable creative content writing course and following some creative writing tips. 

Further reading materials

• Top 20 Creative Writing Books to Read in 2022
• Best English Writing Courses in India
• Top 10 Content Writing Courses Online in 2022

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