Creative Writing Tips

    • Write What You Know

    • It's often easiest to just be you. Drawing on your experiences and relying on the things you are most familiar with make it a lot easier to write a story. You can take liberties with it but it's easiest to make something up when you have a strong familiarity with it or have similar memories to build off.
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    • Experiment Using Writing Prompts

    • We've got a ton of great writing prompts on this site. Use them. These prompts will help you experiment with new writing techniques and can help inspire different ideas in your head. Even if the piece you write based on the prompt isn't the one you're looking for, it can help open the floodgates to a new piece.
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    • The Vomit Draft

    • Too often, people get caught up in making the first draft perfect. Forget about it. Instead, say everything and anything in that first draft, just vomit all over the page. That way you can see what you like and dislike and go from there.
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    • Revising - Writing Groups

    • One of the best ways to keep you writing and finishing work is when you have a deadline. If you don't ACTUALLY have a deadline, having a regularly meeting writing group is a great way to impose a deadline on your work. It also allows people to provide input and give you further insight on your writing. As such, by joining a writing group, you're able to get people to edit your work, come up with new ideas, and keep yourself on task.
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    • Writing Ideas - Don't Quit Your Day Job

    • David Sedaris talked about it in one of his lectures he gave. One of the biggest challenges about becoming a writer is making it your full-time job. Work is one of the biggest inspirations for your writing, and so, making your job writing cuts you off from a lot of that inspiration. You might one day have to quit your job to make time for writing, but don't forget to find your muse.
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