Want to relax over the summer? Creative writing is incredibly therapeutic. Escape from your parents/pets/annoying siblings and follow these tips on how to put some zest in your writing.
Go to the right place
J.K. Rowling wrote Harry Potter in a coffee shop. But if you’re not such a fan of caffeine, there are plenty of other places you can go. Write on a train, squeeze into a corner, or explore a sunny field and feel like the ultimate romantic hero or heroine.
Write at any time
You can be inspired even when you’re not sprawled in a field of daisies. Just passed a man who reeks of pickled eggs? Jot it down. Has your dad cooked a particularly disgusting soufflé? Make a note. Acclaimed children’s author Jacqueline Wilson recommends carrying a pad everywhere to write down ideas as they come to you. A phone would work just as well.
Embrace any idea
Thinker and author Edward de Bono suggests that you should never dismiss an idea too quickly. When brainstorming ways to travel to Australia, most people will come up with flying. But if you think of something which seems crazy like ‘we could hop across on kangaroos’, don’t instantly reject it as stupid. Go with it. You can’t hop on kangaroos, but how about hopping from city to city across the world until you get there? That’s how some of the most fun and interesting ideas are born – and the same principle can be applied to your writing.
Generate some random words to get started. Link them in any way you can – and let your imagination run wild.
Encourage quirkiness
‘The cat sat on the mat’ is boring for a reason. You’ve heard it a million times before. You also know nothing interesting about the cat. What kind of cat is it? Is it scrawny with one eye? Does it leave a hoover-bag of fur on your favourite armchair? Such details suddenly make the cat a whole lot more interesting.
But don’t be too eccentric
The authors of the brilliant ‘How Not to Write a Novel’ give a wise warning. In the world of your writing, not everything has to be terrible. It’s certainly more interesting if the cat is scrawny with one eye, but that doesn’t mean its owner has to be an orphan living in a cardboard box who’s just been told she has days to live. That’s going a little too far. Similarly, not everything has to be perfect. If your protagonist is intelligent, kind, attractive, sporty, popular and regularly donates to charity, your readers are going to start grinding their teeth.
Make every sentence flow
If a sentence is gripping, your audience will want to read the next. Instead of ‘the cat sat on the mat’, try ‘Maybe it had been that way for years (‘what had been that way?’, readers will wonder). But it had only dawned on him in the past few days (‘still what?‘). He had slowly come to realise that, despite his former attachment, Scruff no longer visited that mat.’ Withhold information and tease your readers so they feel compelled to keep going – all the way through the book.
Above all, enjoy your writing!
Your audience will enjoy reading it.