So You Want to be a Writer?

Writing Tips for Students or Beginning Writers

By Robert Raymer http://www.BorneoExpatWriter.com

To be a creative writer, all you need is a pen, some paper, some spare time, a bit of inspiration, and an idea. From this idea you now have something to create. (i) What is creativity? You could describe creativity as having the potential to be inventive and original. But potential is not enough. We all have that potential, and everyone is creative to some degree whether you write poetry, bake cakes, start a business, play the piano or design buildings. There is no clear cut relationship between creativity and intelligence; creativity does not require a high I.Q., nor does a high I.Q. guarantee creativity. Creativity just needs to be nurtured and cultivated. It is like a muscle that atrophies without exercise. If you dont use it, you lose it. (ii) Being a creative writer To be creative as a writer, you need to be able to apply your energy and enthusiasm to whatever it is youre creating, be it a poem, a childrens story, or the great Malaysian (or American) novel. First you must feel inspired by an idea. Yet inspiration plays only a small role. The whole creative process (and this is the hard part) is taking that bit of inspiration, adding a lot of persistence and perspiration to get it all down on paper, and persevering in seeing it through the various drafts to completion, whereby you end up with a finished product; in this case, a written piece of work. Hopefully, this will inspire you to even more (and better) writing as you get better at your craft. (iii) Writing is a craft Creative writing, above all else, is a craft, something that will take time and effort to learn, to practice, and ultimately to produce. And it can be a lot of fun, too, and bring you a lot of pleasure, even if you never sell anything or never get published. Of Emily Dickinsons 1,775 poems, only seven were published during her lifetime. Others, like Franz Kafka, left instructions in their wills for their work (including novels) to be destroyed upon their deaths; fortunately, in Kafkas case, this was ignored.

(iv) What type of writing do you want to create? Now that you want to be a creative writer, what type of writing do you want to create? Thats like asking a young boy who dreams of being an outstanding athlete which sport he wishes to excel in? In order to make up your mind you may need to dabble in more than one to see how it feels. Maybe your forte is not novels but writing 2006 BorneoExpatWriter.com 1

poetry. Or the thought of writing children stories or greeting cards or a comic strip sounds like it would be a lot of fun. Or perhaps you see yourself as a newspaper reporter going after earth-shattering news or a columnist showing the world your wit. Maybe youre merely thinking about writing your church bulletin (since they desperately need someone), or even the company newsletter at work to help yourself get promoted. Or maybe you want to write award-winning magazine articles on a variety of topics that truly interest you, like womens rights, gardening, sports, or traveling to exotic locations.

GETTING STARTED Dreams of writing poems, stories, articles, or great books will remain just that, a dream, unless you actually get started on your writing. You can dream for years, yet you will get nowhere unless you pick up a pen and paper, or put your fingers on a keyboard with the computer screen in front of you. To even get that far, you must first find the two essential ingredients to all great writing: Time and Place. 1) FINDING THE TIME TO WRITE Finding the time to write is not really a problem, is it? We all have 24 hours in our days, so the time is there, but the problem is how do we spend our time? Okay, we eat three or four times a day, sleep for about eight hours, study or work (including homework) for eight hours, spend minutes or hours getting to and from work or classes, running errands such as going to the post office, buying groceries, sending our children to school or choir practice. We also read newspapers and magazines (and occasionally books), listen to music, watch TV, go to movies, e-mail friends, chat online, play computer games, surf the net, play sports, and dozens of other things on any given day. So who in the world has the time to write? Again, finding the time is not the problem; its making the time. Its cutting time away from watching TV, playing sports and games, chatting and e-mailing friends, surfing the Internet, so you can devote an hour (or half an hour) a day, and maybe more over the weekend, to write.

2) FINDING A PLACE TO WRITE The ideal place to write is wherever the computer is located. Yet sometimes the computer can be off limits most of the day because everyone else in your family or in your dorm is using it too; or its location is too noisy or full of distractions. So what you really need is a place that is relatively quiet, has a flat surface with enough space to spread out your work, and where you wont be disturbed by others. A desk or even a dining table (when not in use) would suffice, or you can go to the library. Wherever you decide, just make sure you bring along whatever you need for your writing, so youre not spending more time going back and forth retrieving things than actually writing.

2006 BorneoExpatWriter.com

3) GATHERING WRITING SUPPLIES Having a computer at your disposal is great, but not essential. Great novels were written long before computers were invented. And some great writers of today refuse to use them. A typewriter is nice, too, but that can come later, or you can pay (or convince) someone to type it for you (especially the final draft). All you really need are some pens and paper. To get started you dont even need a dictionary; however, that will come in handy while revising. So will a thesaurus, but only to find words you know how to use, not to pluck pompous, humongous words like pompous and humongous to impress people. Chances are (like a lot of new writers do) youll use them incorrectly and risk embarrassing yourself. Later, as you make a concerted effort to expand your vocabulary, you can use impressive words so long as they are appropriate to the task at hand. In far too many instances, they are not. A lot of excellent words are too archaic, too esoteric, or too formal to use for a general audience, except perhaps, in poetry. A good grammar book will come in handy if only to remind you all that youve forgotten since you last studied it. Youll be surprised and even embarrassed by how little you remember. Verbals, whats that? Dangling modifiers, heaven forbid! Compound subject-verb agreements - you mean they have too? And tenses that will actually make you tense, like past perfect, as if the past was ever perfect. Gradually youll learn to sort out your grammar and spelling mistakes. Most computers can do that for you. But dont rely too heavily on your computer. Instead you may want to pick up a good writing or style book, like The Elements of Style by Strunk and White. Again, all this can come later. For now, pens and paper, a place to write, and some time on your hands is all you really need to get started.

DISCOVERING YOUR OWN VOICE Now the easiest way to start writing is to write in a way that comes naturally to you. A lot of beginning writers, not knowing any better, try to write like Somerset Maugham or Ernest Hemingway, thinking theyll impress someone. Instead of impressing, the writing is often forced, stilted and leaves a lot to be desired. Besides the world doesnt need another Hemingway. We have one already. Nor do we need a cheap imitation of one. There are plenty of those around, too. So instead, why dont you write like...you? And write the very best that you can? But how, you might ask? Im not a writer! Where do I even begin? First what you need to do is to discover your own voice. The real you. The funny you. Or the serious you. You can do that by writing not for publication but for yourself. 1) WRITING LETTERS Write a letter to a friend or a relative, someone who wont judge you by your writing style. Theyll be glad to hear from you and will enjoy whatever you have to say, unless you write utter nonsense. Just tell them what youve been doing for the past few

2006 BorneoExpatWriter.com

weeks, months, years, and fill it with lively details. Be sure and keep a copy of your letters for your records, because later or even years or decades from now you may want to take another look and glean from those letters details about a certain time period in your life, as well as the mood or the tone you have unwittingly captured, which could be used for an article or short story or a nostalgic memoir about your life.

2) KEEPING A DIARY OR A BLOG I hope I shall be able to confide in you completely, as I have never been able to do in anyone before, and I hope that you will be a great support and comfort to me. These are the opening words from Anne Frank: The Diary of a Young Girl, published after her death, describing her experiences while she and her family hid from the Nazis in Holland during World War II. Although her short life ended tragically, her words live on. Those opening words are as true now as they were then. (i) Diary, as a record of your life Since no one should read your diary without your permission, its an excellent place to develop your writing style. A blog, on the other hand, could be read by anyone who stumbles onto it. Your diary or blog can be a record of your life, your anxieties, your troubles, your friends, your enemies, your lovers, your misfortunes...your everything. Even if you write: My life is so boring! Boring! Boring! youve caught that moment quite well, and it will later serve as a contrast to when your life becomes overwhelming exciting after you meet that special person, or so stressful and filled with unwanted demands and complications that youll yearn for those boring days! Since it is your diary, you can put in anything you want, descriptions of people, thoughts that startle and excite you, or even how miserable the weather makes you feel. For a blog, what you write could come back to haunt you, especially if you upset someone. So think twice what you write about someone else. (ii) Dont bore yourself Although a diary is a great opportunity for you to write about your favorite subject you this is not the time to bore yourself with myopic details of every single thing you did and ate that day. Instead write about the highlights, the things that made the day special or different: good things, bad things, and embarrassing things, too. (iii) Recapture your past A diary not only encourages you to write down details about your life-in-progress, it can also prompt you to write about your past, perhaps when an old memory is stirred after finding something associated with your childhood or with a particularly distressing

2006 BorneoExpatWriter.com

time in your life. Try to recapture what it meant to you then and what it means to you now from the wisdom of your present perspective. Your past and how you cope with it today is still very much you. Are you still afraid to raise your hand in class or at a seminar because a teacher once ridiculed you? Are you timid because of a domineering parent? A diary is an excellent opportunity for you to get to know and to understand yourself better, and its a whole lot safer than talking to yourself out loud! But if you do hear voices inside your head (like all writers do), write them down. They may be future characters waiting for you to write their stories into a best-selling novel. (iv) Write every day if you can Ideally you should write in your diary or blog every day, but thats not always possible, so aim for three or four times a week; that way you can capture most of your moods and most of the important details. If you wait until the end of a week, then a lot of the details will become compressed and some over-looked. Although some days will be routine, other will be hectic, or you might even be sick. Capture it all. Like your personal letters, what you write in your diary, you can always use later for future writing projects. All the details will be there at your disposal, even those comments about how crummy you felt because it rained on your birthday.

3) KEEPING A WRITERS JOURNAL In addition to a diary, you can keep a writers journal, which goes well beyond the day to day stuff. This is the place where you jot down all of your ideas that someday can be turned into articles, short stories, even novels. No matter what else is going on in your life, the writer in you will often emerge and everything that is happening around you can be used in your writing. Everything. The day novelist Arnold Bennets mother was buried he made his usual daily entry in his writers journal: Some bricks dry before others. Long walk from the cemetery gates to region of the chapel. By the way, the lodge at gates is rented as an ordinary house to a schoolmaster. John Fords vault next to Longson with records of his young wives (The flower fadeth etc.). This could be exaggerated into a fine story. Some writers keep a folded piece of paper or a small notebook handy in their pockets or purses. After making quick notes on the spot so not to forget, later you can flush out the details in your writers journal. This is also where you may describe your friends or acquaintances in detail, eyeing them as future characters (or villains), and any interesting or unusual places youve visited, including graveyards.

2006 BorneoExpatWriter.com

(i) Record dialogue Accidentally overhear an interesting conversation at the bank, or while waiting to use a payphone? Jot it down. Dialogues in your stories will sound even more authentic, if its based on authentic people. Put those words in a characters mouth, and hell sound like he knows what hes talking about, which will add credibility to the rest of your story. But if the writer hadnt written them down when he had heard them, think hed remember half of them the following day? The following week? In the exact way they were said? Even if you do have a great memory, get in the habit of writing things down in your writers journal. Itll make your great memory even better. (ii) Capture dreams Did you have a bizarre dream last night? Put it in your writers journal. Many a novel have been jump-started this way. Dont think, now this is silly: the dream didnt make sense to me when I was sleeping, so how will it make sense when Im awake? Maybe not all of it, but some parts might prove to be the missing link to a great story idea youve been working on, if not now, later. Do you want to risk losing it?

DEVELOPING AN EYE FOR DETAILS

1) BEING A KEEN OBSERVER One way to develop an eye for detail is to be a keen observer. Get in the habit of carrying your writers journal or a notebook with you, then find somewhere to sit, perhaps at a coffee shop, or in a library, somewhere you wont draw attention to yourself; then for at least fifteen minutes describe whatever you want to. It can be a tree, a table, the sound of the ceiling fan, or just watch others and describe exactly what they are doing. (i) Help yourself to be observant By watching and describing others will not only help you to be observant but also make you aware of a myriad of details that youve never really noticed before even though you may have seen it dozens of times. For example, the way a gas container delivery person lifts a full container onto his shoulder and holds it is different from the way he carries and holds an empty container. Or how the man at the eating stalls who is in charge of drinks meticulously prepares and arranges various drinks in advance, so when an order comes, he just adds hot or cold water. Or how many times (and in how many ways) does a person talking at a payphone (or on a handphone) change his stance?

2006 BorneoExpatWriter.com

(ii) Speculate what others are up to You can take this one step further and try to speculate who is on the other end of the line: his mother, his wife, his lover, or just a business client? And why is he calling? Arranging a date? Making up excuses? Does his tone of voice, his stance, or any other body gesture give it way? How so? Any time you have to stand in a long queue, like at the bank or at the post office, this is a golden opportunity to observe others around you. Notice how the bank clerk scratches his ear with a pen, or how he flirts with another clerk. Is she receptive or annoyed? How can you tell? How does she react to other customers request? Is she irritated? Is she smiling? Is the smile sincere? Does she keep glancing at the time? This not only gives you something to describe in your writers journal, it can also be an idea for a story. 2) WRITING FROM A DIFFERENT PERSPECTIVE Another way to develop your eye for detail is to change your perspective. Instead of describing things that you see, describe what others may see. You may be thinking, wont they be seeing what Im seeing? No, because they have different interests, different needs, and a totally different point of view. For example, if you describe a classroom, youll probably mention the desks and chairs, the chalk (or white) board, the color of the walls, being purely mechanical as you describe your basic classroom which you see all the time. But others may see it totally differently, for example:

(i) Your mother Now if your mother stepped into that same room shell be a whole lot more critical. Shell notice how small and cramped the desks are and how theyre so carved up it would be next to impossible for her daughter to write on it properly, especially during an exam. Shell notice the tacky, unwashed curtains in back, the dust and dirt on the floor, the cobwebs in the ceiling, and how cold or hot the room is. The whole time shell be concerned about her daughter, wondering how she could ever learn in such an unhealthy, unsuitable, and filthy room. (ii) A small boy A small boy, on the other hand, if no one was around (and he had no fear of being caught), would run riot in the room, pounding on the desks, scrawling stuff on the board, opening all the drawers, peering out the windows, fiddling with all of the equipment, including the overhead projector, the pull-down screen and anything else present. For him, the classroom would be one big adventure, a huge playroom.

2006 BorneoExpatWriter.com

(iii) A cleaning lady A cleaning lady would be grumbling about how messy the students are, wondering why they didnt bother to pick up fallen pieces of paper and throw them into the trash that was in the corner. Why did the room always look like a bunch of wild monkeys had been let loose, with all the desks and chairs in complete disarray. Some are even broken! And the floor... mud tracks everywhere! (iv) A cat A cat would sniff its way around the room, climb up on a chair or two, perhaps one of the desks to get a better look at things. It would mosey over to the trash to see if anything smelled interesting. It would then poke its nose in wherever it may fit just to see what was in there. If the floor was nice and cool, it may even lie down and take a nap. (v) Be an actor Instead of merely observing from another persons point of view, try to become that person. Be an actor and step into the role with gusto, and if you do this successfully, youll be seeing so many things that you didnt even know existed and it was right in front of you all along.

For more of Robert Raymers writing tips and creative writing articles, visit his website at www.BorneoExpatWriter.com

All rights reserved. No part of this document may be reproduced or transmitted in any form by any means, electronic or mechanical, including photocopying, recording, faxing, e-mailing, posting online, or by any information storage and retrieval system, without written permission from Robert Raymer of www.BorneoExpatWriter.com

2006 BorneoExpatWriter.com