Creative writing is one of the most cathartic activities known to man. It is a great way to communicate and express yourself and your feelings freely. Creative writing is the best medium to think outside the box. In many cases, people find writing to be a better substitute for all other forms of communication.
Once you can captivate a reader through your writing, it holds the potential to become more than a hobby. However, it is not easy to lure in a reader to stay till the end. Every word must be well-thought, and every page must invoke more curiosity than the previous one.
The best part is that there are always ways to get better at creative writing with every passing day. Below are some ways that can help you along your journey.
1. Understand the Target Audience
The first step to unlock your creativity is to understand your target audience. You can create good content only when you understand who you are writing for and what they may expect from your work. Whether you are writing a children’s book or a fantasy flash fiction, put the pen down for a while.
Start by searching the expectations of people who read a certain genre. Do they expect extreme twists and turns or look forward to a smooth journey? Would they be okay with a bit of sarcasm, or should you keep it simple?
There are many such questions that can help you understand the expectation of your target audience. After all, it is one of the essential rules of creative writing to never underestimate your reader. So, start there and trust your gut with the rest.
Make sure that your readers are engaged with the text throughout their journey. Create an interesting plot, make the characters relatable, and set a perfect world to immerse them in. And, of course, do not forget about the twists and turns.
2. Edit After You Write
One of the biggest mistakes creative writers make is editing while writing. They go back to the top after writing every line to see if it looks captivating enough. You may think that all this hard work will make your work shine bright, but the results are not as you may have thought.
Going back to the top of your text every time hinders your creative thought process. In addition, this process can take a lot of your time and effort. As a result, your story may not be as coherent on your page as it was in your mind.
Therefore, it is always recommended for writers to leave editing for the end. Once you are done with your work, do not rush to edit right away. Instead, go for a walk or sleep on it. This way, you can edit your work with a fresh mind.
Remember that editing is not all about rechecking your punctuation marks and grammar. It also involves ensuring that your tone is consistent, the structure is coherent, and the events take place in the right chronology. You can also consider hiring a professional editor for more insight.
3. Join Writing Courses
The world is filled with talented creative writers, yet no one can claim that they have unlocked the fullest of it. The thing about creative thinking and writing is that it can always be improved. One of the best ways to improve your creative writing is by joining creative writing courses.
Creative writing courses are led by experts on the subject. Working with these experts allows writers to understand how their work can be improved. In addition, they also try diverse writing styles to explore their creativity.
Courses from reputable sources can also enable writers to build their portfolios. It can help you land better jobs and gain more expertise on the subject. Plus, you can always get something more to learn from your peers.
The best part is that you can hang out with people with the same interests as yours. It can be a great networking opportunity for individuals who want to become a professional in the field. In such circumstances, these connections can help you throughout your life.
4. Create an Amazing Hook
There is not a lot of time for you to engage your reader. If you lose them in your first sentence, you lose them forever. Hence, it is important to create your hook after a lot of consideration. Ask yourself if your hook is great enough to make any reader leave everything else and continue reading.
It is not as tricky to create a hook as one may think. You can use a question, quote, statistic, anecdote, metaphor, and so much more to engage the reader. This way, the reader will keep going on until they find an answer to the mystery that your hook started.
Just as every step of the way, keep your audience in mind. You can look into other successful works in the same genre as yours. This practice will give you many ideas for creative and effective hooks for your book and engage any reader that picks up your work.
5. Create a Satisfactory Ending
Remember your hook? Well, the reader has come for an answer, and they are expecting a good one. Yes, you can leave some things to the imagination of the reader, but this is not one of them. When a reader spends time on your book, they want you to make it worth it.
The goal is to induce a feeling of satisfaction in your reader as they read the last line. It is a great way to keep them thinking about your work for a long time. Of course, it also increases the possibility of them telling more people about your book and increasing your fan base.
On the contrary, an unsatisfactory ending can leave the reader agitated and dissatisfied. They may leave bad remarks on your story and never come back to read it again. As a creative writer, the last thing you want to do is to scare a reader away.
