T H E C R E AT I V E W R I T E R

Writer’s Toolbox
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OUR COURSES

Creative Writing Constructing

for Beginners a Novel

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 CONTENTS

The Creative Writer p1

8
Eight Ways to Become a Better
Creative Writer
p3
 The Creative Writer
If you already read other authors, you will be
As one of the expressive arts, creative writing familiar with their style of writing; the type
is undoubtedly arduous and challenging, but of characters you expect to find, the tone of
equally, it can be rewarding and fulfilling; voice the author employs and the vocabulary
nothing can match the satisfaction of taking a you expect to encounter as they tell their
writing project through to completion. stories. You may be less familiar with the
specific techniques these authors employ in
the construction of their work.
“Writing a book is a horrible, exhausting
struggle, like a long bout of some painful You will find it useful to access advice and
illness. One would never undertake such guidance from as many established authors as
a thing if one were not driven on by some possible; those who have started as aspiring
demon whom one can neither resist nor creative writers and become successful,
understand.” published authors and are now available to
share their experiences with others.
George Orwell
You may find it useful to consider advice from
the likes of Stephen King and Nigel Watts
However, if you consider yourself a creative who have published, ‘On Writing’ and ‘Teach
writer, you are committed to discovering and Yourself: Writing a Novel’ respectively.
developing effective techniques to enable you
to express your thoughts and emotions in Stephen King’s ‘On Writing’ is written as a
imaginative, and hopefully unique, ways. mixture of memoirs and masterclasses and, as
one of the world’s most prolific and bestselling
In this eBook, we will be investigating ways authors, King describes the mechanics of
you can improve your skills as a creative writing a novel in practical terms using
writer by considering the work and advice of experiences from his own life to illustrate his
established authors, reflecting on your current narrative.
practice and exploring some of the tools you
can use to enhance your writing. Nigel Watts’ ‘Teach Yourself: Writing a Novel’
takes the reader through the process of
writing a novel, step by step; from generating
the initial idea, through the development of
Home improvement character and plot, to finding an agent and
contacting potential publishers.
“At one time I thought the most
important thing was talent. I think
now that — the young man or the young
woman must possess or teach himself,
train himself, in infinite patience, which is
to try and to try and to try until it comes
right.”

William Faulkner

Unfortunately, there is no shortcut to

improving your creative writing skills. Your
first task will be to take stock of where you
are and then decide where you would like
to be in a specific amount of time. In other
words, give yourself an achievable goal.

I’m assuming that because you are interested

in the process of creative writing, you are also
an avid reader of the works of other authors.
If not, I strongly suggest you start reading
now. Writers who don’t read are as likely
to succeed as archaeologists who have no
interest in history.

1
Getting started Your first piece of writing
Ambition is a wonderful thing. Your first writing task will be to produce a
short story of a maximum of 500 words in
length. You should use one or more of the
“If men cease to believe that they will following stimuli to get you started:
one day become gods then they will
surely become worms.”
• Open a book at random and write
down the first complete sentence you
However, unless you are a contemporary see; this is the first line of your short
manifestation of Henry Miller, I would story
strongly advise that you keep your literary
ambitions in check at the start of your writing • Flick through the pages of a magazine
career; thinking small and realistically avoids and choose the first image of a person
becoming overambitious and underachieving. you find; this is the central character
While you may harbour dreams of producing in your story, begin by describing his/
something as all-encompassing as Tolstoy’s her appearance, personality, attitudes
sweeping epic, ‘War and Peace’, as multi- and history
episodic as Tolkien’s saga, ‘Lord of the Rings’
or as character-laden as Martin’s marathon, • Open a newspaper at random (or
‘Game of Thrones’… it may be prudent to start search an online edition) and choose a
by producing a short story. headline; this is the title of your short
story
But rest assured, by committing to this
relatively small piece of creative writing, • Go online and search for a list of
you will test your aptitude to the full. If you quotations about writing fiction; use
happen to be one of the many hundreds of the first one that catches your
thousands of writers who find themselves attention as your starting point
afflicted by a condition known as “writer’s
block” when confronted by a blank sheet of • Search online for short story writing
paper, worry not. The condition is not only competitions; when you find one
commonplace, it’s curable, and there are many, that interests you, read the rules and
many remedies, as we’ve already discussed in use the stimuli provided
the previous chapter.

When approaching your first writing project, if Remember, these are basic exercises designed
you do find yourself unable to get started, you to help when you find yourself struggling to
could try some writing exercises. These are write. There are thousands of hints, tips and
designed to kick-start your creative process pieces of advice available to embryonic writers
and are essentially a mixture of simple devices, available on the internet; use them.
techniques and challenges that will generate
solid, workable ideas. Make a point of testing yourself as you work,
by setting yourself fresh challenges every day
We will now consider how you might apply as you begin to write; aim to produce a short
these to a practical writing project. story in 15 minutes from start to finish, for
example. Alternatively, you could limit yourself
to a maximum of 150 words for your piece,
choose a single word as your starting point,
or illustrate a well-known phrase, simile or
metaphor.

2
 Eight Ways to Become a
Better Creative Writer
1
Keep a daily journal

You should aim to source and produce your

own stimuli and record them in your writer’s
journal. This should contain notes, comments
and observations you have made, such as
points of interest, small anomalies you
encounter, little contradictions you overhear,
interesting characters and emotionally charged
situations that you experience as part of
everyday life. You could also include visual
stimuli such as images, illustrations and
photographs in addition to newspaper stories,
magazine articles and interesting pieces of
graffiti you come across; in fact, anything
that you find intriguing, mysterious or intend
to return to during those dreaded periods of
“writer’s block”.

“Journal writing is a voyage to the

interior.”

Christina Baldwin

2
Find time
It is absolutely crucial that you establish a daily
writing regime. Once you embark on a fixed
routine, you will discover that it becomes an
integral part of your day. Only you can decide
how you will balance your other commitments
with the time that you can devote entirely
to writing; without distractions. You will
know when you find yourself at your most
productive during the day; if you don’t, set
yourself the task of finding out. Once you have
determined the time of day at which you are
most effective, experiment with the amount of
time you can spend efficiently concentrating
on your writing. Don’t worry if it’s only a few
minutes at first; you’ll soon build this up into
prolonged periods of productivity.

“You never have to change anything you

got up in the middle of the night to write.”

Saul Bellow

3
3 4
Read, read, read Learn from the experts
You should always be in the process of reading
“I don’t know much about creative
something in your chosen form, whether
writing programs. But they’re not telling
short story, poem or novel. Reading the work
the truth if they don’t teach, one, that
of established, published authors will have
writing is hard work, and, two, that you
an impact on your own work. Consciously or
have to give up a great deal of life, your
unconsciously, the act of reading will expose
personal life, to be a writer.”
you to the way that other writers structure
their work, use vocabulary, employ dialogue,
Doris Lessing
reveal the plot and drive the narrative forward.
If you can, aim to read a set number of books
every month. It is a good idea to read the
most recently published works in your chosen
Although there are those who manage to excel
field on a regular basis. This will keep you up
in the expressive arts without any form of
to speed on contemporary styles and subject
training, these are rare individuals. The vast
matter. Try also to work your way through
majority of us will find that our knowledge,
a selection of work by notable 20th century
awareness of techniques and acquisition of
authors; become familiar with the books of
skills are both accelerated and expanded when
Orwell, Joyce, Hemmingway, Faulkner, D.H.
we undertake a recognised course, taught
Lawrence, Kerouac, Stendhal, Dumas, Zola,
by experts within their chosen field. Creative
Heller, Martin Amis, Grass, Atwood, Steinbeck
writing is no different.
and Sartre… This list may appear exhausting,
but it is far from exhaustive; there are many,
many equally gifted 20th century writers who
you will discover for yourself.

“If you don’t have time to read, you don’t

have the time (or the tools) to write.
5
Simple as that.”
Show and share
Stephen King
“Everyone needs help from everyone.”

Bertolt Brecht

By enrolling in a creative writing course, you

will also be welcomed into a community of
likeminded individuals, aspiring authors who,
like you, are keen to develop their skills within
a creative environment. Sharing your work is
a vital part of creative writing. Engaging with
others in a process of constructive criticism
benefits all of those involved by increasing
confidence and fostering a willingness to share
work with fellow writers.
 6 7
Learn incrementally Approach things from a
A good grasp of language and access to a
different angle
broad vocabulary is critical to the success of
We tend to perceive much of our immediate
any writer. Words and phrases are the tools
environment through two of our five senses;
you will use to capture and communicate
sight and hearing. This affects how we
the stories you wish to convey to your
describe people, places and experiences to
readers. You must improve and increase your
others and it has an impact on our writing.
vocabulary by adding to it on a daily basis.
As a writer, you have to actively seek out new
ways of communicating familiar experiences
There are several ways in which you can
to your readers. By incorporating instances
achieve this. To increase your vocabulary,
in which taste, touch and smell inform the
you can aim to learn a new word every day;
way we relate to a situation, we bring a fresh
to improve it, you must learn what the word
perspective and additional layers of detail to
means, where it comes from and its most
our writing.
appropriate usage. To progress, you should
make a point of including each new word in
“Nothing revives the past so completely
your daily writing routine. To source each new
as a smell that was once associated with
word, you could record any unfamiliar terms
it.”
you come across in your reading; record the
word, how it was used and in what context.
Vladimir Nabokov
Over the course of a year, you will have added
360 useful words to your vocabulary.

“One day I will find the right words, and

they will be simple.”

Jack Kerouac

5
8 My own list of opening lines:

Grab attention, keep interest

What attracts you to a book? Apart from the
author’s name, you are most likely to notice ‘Ulysses’
the illustration on the cover and then the title.
Having picked up the book and opened it, you by James Joyce
will begin to read. Unless the first couple of
paragraphs stimulate your interest, you are “Stately, plump Buck Mulligan came
unlikely to read further. As a writer, you must from the stairhead, bearing a bowl of
ensure that you provide your story with a lather on which a mirror and a razor
title that demands the notice of the reader, lay crossed.”
and then follow up with an introduction that
continues to hold their attention.

Titles and first lines are the vanguard of an ‘Earthly Powers’

author’s work; they are your opportunity to get
your work noticed. by Antony Burgess

Consult your reading list of notable 20th “It was the afternoon of my eighty-
century authors and compile a top 20 of first birthday, and I was in bed with
attention-grabbing titles. Repeat the exercise my catamite when Ali announced that
for powerful and engaging first lines. Refer to the archbishop had come to see me.”
both as you title and redraft your own work.

My own list of titles: ‘The Bell Jar’

by Sylvia Plath

‘To Kill a Mockingbird’ “It was a queer, sultry summer,

by Harper Lee the summer they electrocuted the
Rosenbergs, and I didn’t know what
I was doing in New York.”
‘Animal Farm’
by George Orwell
‘Slaughterhouse - Five’
‘The Catcher in the Rye’ by Kurt Vonnegut
by J.D. Salinger
“All this happened, more or less.”

‘The Grapes of Wrath’

by John Steinbeck
‘The Stranger’
by Albert Camus
‘Slaughterhouse – Five’
by Kurt Vonnegut “Mother died today. Or, maybe,
yesterday; I can’t be sure.”

Intriguing, aren’t they?

 ABOUT

Written by Edited by

Michael Stewart Elizabeth Garner-Foy

Founder director, Director of Communications Academic Development Editor
at Interactive Design Institute at Interactive Design Institute

Michael Stewart is a founding director of Designed by

the Interactive Design Institute (IDI), a UK
based organisation which has pioneered the Molly Rose Wilson
provision of accredited online learning in Graphic Designer
higher education. at Interactive Design Institute

Michael has extensive experience in the

writing, directing and delivery of education
programmes across a range of media, and is
currently Director of Communications and a
member of the Board and Management team
at IDI.

Michael has fulfilled a wide variety of

functions within the company, including
the development of a pedagogy for online
delivery, writing and editing of course
materials for online provision, international
and domestic business development, as well
as the writing of resource materials and
representing IDI in Europe, America, Russia
and China.

For more free resources from the Writer’s Toolbox series:

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