Creative writing refers to a process that requires you to bring something into being that has never been there before. In other words, it is a process of creating something new. You need to attend creative writing classes to become a good creative writer. Remember that a creative writer works with imagination and ideas, and they make words on the spot. You should also note that creative writing can sometimes be just creating a new world for your story, though it’s usually at the basic level.
It can involve creating background settings and characters so that you can tell a simple story. A good creative writing work tends to have different elements. And, these elements can determine the quality of your work and assist readers to understand what is happening in a story. You need to keep these elements in mind once you decide to write a story. This article discusses the key elements of creative writing.
Characters
Characters usually play a huge role when it comes to the plot in a story. They can fuel and drive the whole story. A character can be a human, animate, and many more. Readers can identify a character, and become involved with their fictional world to hate the nasty villains and support the luckless underdogs.
In most cases, the readers can have some sort of suspension of disbelief when reading and enjoying a story. Remember that you can achieve this suspension when your writing verisimilitude, meaning believability. Readers who constantly have reasons to question the validity of characters in a story may not have the suspension of disbelief. Therefore, characters need to be authentic so that you can attract many readers.
This connection to characters can sometimes run deep. For example, there is a good chance that you have read many memorable characters that still seem real. Note that you can find inspiration for characters anywhere, and you can also create characters out of anything.
Plot
A plot is what occurs in the story. In most cases, a plot tends to follow a simple arc. And, by the time most authors decide to write, they may already have come across several plots through popular culture. Every movie, song, and book has a plot, so something always happens. It’s a good idea to have a habit of checking the surface and look for the underlying skeleton of plots in most of the things.
Most people believe that there are only seven plots that are in English literature. You can read some of the books out there that can teach you these seven plots. There is often one plot in a story, but to write it, you must find a character and set them looking for something. Ideally, if your plot doesn’t have good pace, then you need to kill off a character to improve the story.
Setting
A story takes place in a setting. You can have one or more settings, but this depends on the needs of your story. You should remember that the setting can be large, such as two large cities or small like the kitchen or living room.
Before you choose a setting, you need to figure out how a specific setting can underscore the themes of your writing. You can use the setting as a quest plot that can be supported well by the changing locations of the story. And, if your story talks about a personal growth journey, then setting may not be that important because this type of quest can unfold inside the mind of the character.
But you should avoid utilizing a setting without a good reason for doing it. A superficially chosen setting can seem false to your readers. If you decide to write a romance book, then a wild romantic setting can be suitable. And, if you write a science fiction book, you need to write as a scientist to make sure that the setting is believable, though you have an imaginary world.
Style
Style can be tricky to master because it is usually made up of ephemeral and thin things that are present but also hard to take hold of. It is crucial to your writing and you can get it from your vocabulary, rhythm, syntax, mood, and voice. It can be limited but is usually a natural by-product of you.
Style can be hard to manipulate because it can be unique to each writer. You can find many bestselling writers who write the same genre and they are gifted, but they tend to be different from each other.
You can change your style with some contrivances like elevated diction and specific themes. Also, it’s possible to mimic writers with some pronounced styles, though it may not make you a better writer. You can find some writers who claim that they can manage their styles by changing styles. In most cases, it’s contrivance for a specific purpose and not the real modification of personal style. You should just stick to your style so that you can become a better writer.
Theme
Themes in fiction stories cannot be limited to a certain set of ideas. Your theme is just the moral of the story. It can also refer to the bigger ideas in the story like betrayal, murder, compassion, and honesty. Theme is just like setting, especially if you deliberately utilize a specific theme with the desire of making a point and not because it naturally fits into the story.
Readers prefer to choose for themselves the meaning of your story. They don’t like you to preach to them or tell them how to interpret events in your story. Therefore, you need to show without telling them anything. In other words, you can tell your story with little of your interference and prejudices. Regardless of the theme you write, the readers can decide for themselves the meaning of your story.
As you can see, there are many elements of creative writing. If you are new to creative writing, it’s a good idea to read some books about creative writing so that you can master it. Even better, you can decide to attend creative writing classes.
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