So Helena challenged me to do a book on writing tips the other day and I said 'challenge accepted'. I know I'm not a professional but here are some writing tips that some may find useful. They are most likely to be based on they way I would prefer t...
When most people think of creative writing, they key point that they might think of is description.
Those people are still in year five.
Dude, that's primary school stuff! Like, it gets so much more complex and detailed once you reach secondary school...then they start talking to you about pathetic fallacy, paradoxical language, gripping plots. No dainty princesses and flying unicorns...it's the real deal.
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But no seriously, description is very important and a vital key to a good story. Description is what makes a creative writing piece, creative. It allows the reader to really indulge themselves and place themselves in the writing. A lot of emotion can be felt purely from description. But what makes it so good?
Your description of has to be vivid and clear. I know when you read books like Harry Potter or The Hobbit and stuff (I have friends who are obsessed, they're the only books that I can think of right now) the writing and description just seem so magical and they're bought to life. They use this long ass words that sound so clever and exciting.
Honestly, good description isn't even that.
You just have to allow yourself to be free with your writing. It's easier to say, 'try and make your readers feel like they're in the story' than to do it; but when YOU write, can you feel the connection? Can YOU imagine yourself in your story? That's what you need to aim at. A good way is building an emotional attachment and relationship with your story and your characters. By doing so, you really get to feel what they're feeling because you've built this relationship with them. It's almost like they're your real friends.
I personally find that descriptions involving big fancy words can come across as tacky and also you can see that this person is trying hard- there's nothing wrong with trying hard, but guurrl you need to slow down. You can try really hard but you want your words to flow nicely so I feel the good description and not, "damn gurl, where you goin' with them big words? Harvard?" Just make it simple and really nice to read along with. You can use big words, but I won't feel the description as much. You know how people say quality not quantity? Well this is kind of similar- if you can arrange small, simple words in the right order for it to come across as legit, that is quality work and that is a talented writer AND thinker.
REMEMBER, WRITERS DON'T NECESSARILY HAVE TO BE CLEVER; YOU JUST HAVE TO BE ABLE TO FEEL THE EMOTION AND PUT IT INTO YOUR WRITING- FEELING IT CAN HAVE A MUCH BIGGER EFFECT. OPRAH FEELS THE EMOTION:
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Why good descriptions are important:
1- You want your readers to feel the emotion and also as if they were part of the setting.
2- What would CREATIVE writing be without description? God, even an essay has more description. The whole point of creative writing is that you allow your creativity and your versatility to flow onto the pages. Description emanates that.
3- Description can give your readers an idea of what's going on but in more detail.
4- Opens up a whole new world and brings the pages to life
Tips on how to write good descriptions:
1- Try not to overdo it with big, fancy words because it can look quite clumsy. If you can make simple words sound and look beautiful, you have accomplished something great. It is good to have a wide range of vocabulary which you can put in your story, but try not to 'torture' your description with big words. It can lose the message.
2- Place yourself in the moment- how do you feel? What do you see? What do you hear and what can you smell? Close your eyes and really think about what you want to write. and I were talking the other day and we were saying how we imagine our stories as movies, and then we write as much as we possibly can whilst the images our still clear in our heads. If this is hard for you, watch a film and take one scene (or two) and describe it as vividly as possible.
3- Use different literacy devices. I cannot even stress to you how many times our English teacher has told us that this year. Woman drilled it into our mindless heads. What are literacy devices? Onomatopoeia; similes; metaphors; alliteration...see where I'm heading? Try and use them but don't be silly with the metaphors ESPECIALLY they can really out of hand on Wattpad... Make sure that the devices you use fit in to the text (see what I did there ;) didn't work as well but, meh) so they don't seem out of place. I found a Quizlet that lists 50 literacy devices:
4- THERE IS NO HARM IN LOOKING UP DIFFERENT DESCRIPTIONS ONLINE! Please, if you are stuck, look up common sayings of similes online to help you. You're not stealing anything (unless it's from a book) and there's so much help you an get to improve your description writing skills.
5- Look up images online. Say if you want to describe a forest, or an eye or whatever, look up an image online and describe what you an see. Don't just say trees and leaves that are really green- that's just bullcrap. Really throw yourself in their if that's^ what you're getting.
We were surrounded by clusters of tall trees looming over us, some like bony skeletons. The sunlight seeped through the trees as the sun rose. We walked along to hear the crunching sound of leaves and twigs beneath our feet.
I know that's not perfect but you know, something imaginative. If you have trouble finding a fantasy world, legit go to Pinterest. I pin on that site so much it's not even funny. I have a Mythology and Fantasy board and everything.
I COULD PIN FOR THE WHOLE OF THE UNITED KINGDOM; NOT ENGLAND, THE UNITED KINGDOM.
Yupp. That about measures my obsession.
Hope this was helpful- it is quite difficult to explain how to write descriptively but I guess those were just a few pointers. I'm hoping to add some more as I go along.
