My Novel - Writing Course

 "My Novel"  - Module 1 

The Writer's Craft

If you look at the course outine, you'll see that the modules are mostly about technical matters such as character development, setting, conflict, dialogue construction, and the creation of tension. Such issues are often referred to as the writer's craft.  It's good news for you, because, like any craft, all these things can be learned - they are no mystery to the initiated.  We can teach you how to pile up all the bricks that make a solid, readable story.

We are, however,  going to start this course with an intangible, the one thing we can't teach.  Sadly, creativity can't be learned. How do writers come up with 'new' characters and 'new' plots, book after book? Even other published writers ask that same question.  Indeed, lots of the writers who seem to have an endless flow of creativity, also worry that the next rush won't come when needed.

QUESTION 1 FOR ASSIGNMENT 1 (a):

Which author impresses you most with his or her imagination and creativity? Why?

What is Creativity?

Creativity is that wonderful ability to pull ideas seemingly from nowhere, to dream up something no one else has ever thought of, and, when it comes to writing, to find a new, fresh and lively variation on existing plots, character types and writing styles.  You can build a new house with old timber, but unless you are infused with  some spark of genius, passers-by will only ever see a strange-looking contraption made from second-hand junk. It is  claimed there is no such thing as a new plot: writers rely on creativity to fashion something readers will consider new and fresh.

Where is this creativity lodged?  It certainly isn't a rational, logical process of the mind, is it?  Otherwise, writing craft alone would be sufficient.  Can we presume that creativity  lies  in the subconscious mind?  Some might go further and say it is lodged in the soul.  Do we, in the act of creation, tap into some universal Creative Principle?   If you are interested in exploring these ideas, please visit  my Suite101 articles entitled Creative Writing and Writer's Block  and  A Philosophy of Writer's Block.

QUESTION 2 FOR ASSIGNMENT 1 (a):

What is your view on creativity - what and where is it?  Or do you believe it is nothing more than a higher level of writing skill?

Finding Creativity

You can't learn creativity.  That's not what you want to hear, is it?  Nevertheless, we have to find it - or it has to find us! I believe that our heads are frequently so busy, often with trying to force creativity or puzzle out a plot, that we don't leave room for creativity to creep in.  Certain mindless, relaxing activities seem to help.  Walking is often effective, especially taking a slow ramble through natural surroundings.

This author would always take the dogs for a walk when  seeking a new plot direction or technical solution (like how to explain  a letter sent in Chapter 11 from the victim I showed  with a bullet in his forehead in Chapter 3).  I would make a deal with my subconscious: "I'll take the dogs for a three kilometre walk.  Please supply me with a solution by the time I get back." 

It is remarkable how often this mental conditioning works.  I would be strolling along a rural lane, chatting to the dogs, when suddenly an idea would pop in my consciousness  like a bubble in a thermal mud pool. Being prone to talking to myself, I would often have cause to exclaim: "Of course that's what happens! Why didn't I think of that myself?"  Such Eureka moments can come, like the original,  while soaking in a bathtub.  They can come when you pack that busy conscious mind away for a few hours' sleep each night.  Keep a pen and notepad handy by the bed!

Writing Prompts

The old Supremes song says: "You can't hurry love."  Well, you can't hurry creativity, either.  The harder you try to think of an answer, the more you block the creative process, and the longer it will take.  Nevertheless, many people find writing prompts useful when they're trying to come up with a new story or  somewhere to start the plot.

A writing prompt gives the conscious mind a puzzle.  We take something at random, or lump several disparate things together, and demand of ourselves: "Here, make something out of this!"  It could be three photos clipped from three different types of magazine.  It could be a conversation overheard on a bus.  Whatever it is, we must not dodge the task. We must produce something, anything.  The results are usually interesting, and sometimes awful. The stories created from some writing prompt exercises would be weird indeed.

But let's not mistake the true purpose of a writing prompt.  Nothing you write can be wrong or stupid. There would be few great stories generated straight onto the page from a writing prompt. You might arrive at a plausible concept, but the method is still an activity of your conscious mind - a piece of deliberate decision-making and planning.

The real work is happening elsewhere.  You have merely kept your conscious mind occupied on one task, teased your subconscious unmercifully, and  opened the window to creativity. The subconscious mind, I can almost guarantee, is happily working on something else. The story lines you develop from the writing prompts may well be fizzers, but make sure you come back to the results later.  Leave it be for a day or two.  Re-visit the writing prompt material you wrote so painfully, extracted like an abscessed tooth from that silly exercise.   Suddenly, the real creative ideas will emerge, strolling out from behind the words you thought were so pitiful and useless. 

Or maybe, the piece you wrote won't figure in your burst of creativity at all.  The morning after you've written that terrible exercise, lo and behold, you wake up with a brand new idea for a story - and it's totally unrelated to the story prompt. It may happen the next day, four days later, ten days later, a month later ... it could well happen as you are reading the comments I have written on your returned assignment.

For that matter, this entire course is one long writing prompt.  You will very likely find that,  after completing  a few modules, your creativity will be singing; ideas for plots, characters, and scenes will pop unbidden into your head.  You will find yourself desperate to just scratch at whatever literary bug is biting you and wanting to just start writing a book that day. When you give your creativity some room to play, it won't let you down.

You will find writing prompt exercises as part of your Assignment 1.

Ready to move on to Part b)  First Paragraph ?    CLICK HERE