Creative Writing Tips and Tricks

Be a Better Writer

Creative Writing Tips
Do you want to be a better writer?
Are you ready to be more successful at getting published?
At Creative Writing Tips and Tricks I offer my best articles, tips, and ideas to help get you on the path to writing fame and fortune. These articles were all originally published at my writing site Creative Writing- Sell Your Fiction.

What You Will Find Here

Introduction-The Secret to Writing Success
Sell Your Fantasies
Learn to Write What You Know
Following Writers Guidelines
Pros and Cons to Writing Without Pay
How to Choose the Best Titles
Creative Journaling
Finding Time to Write
Why You Should Sit On It
Help for Stress Induced Writers Block

Introduction

The Secret to Writing Success

If you're like me, you've been thinking about writing for many years. In fact, one of my earliest memories involves creative writing. When I was about four-years-old, a friend and I got ourselves into a bit of mischief. When her mother reprimanded us for it, instead of apologizing, I let loose with a highly unbelievable story explaining our reasons for getting out of line. This wonderful woman listened intently to my every word and then instead of bawling me out like I expected her to, she said, "Robin, with your ability to make up stories like that you should be a writer when you grow up." After that, she went on about how other people might buy my stories, even though she didn't.

As she escorted me home, I thought about what she said and the writing dream took hold of me.

As I grew up, that dream only became stronger. I told friends and family about my aspirations but I never really invested myself into it. I thought of my writing as a hobby, not important enough to make time for. For decades, I let daily life, earning a living and raising a family get in between me and making my publishing dream come true. But I never stopped thinking about it.

It took me until mid-life to learn the real secret to becoming a successful author. That secret is simply that writers write. They don't talk about it. They write. They don't think about it. They write, and they do it whenever they can. They get up early or stay awake late at night to write. They write in their cars. They write in their showers. Writers write whenever they have a free second.

Since learning this secret, I have been actively and passionately studying the writing craft. I have been writing daily. I have been submitting my work and I have been published. Now that you know the secret, you can do it too!

I created this lens to help you get started on your own path to fortune and fame. Here you will find writing and marketing tips, ideas for finding time to write, creative writing inspiration, and so much more.
Originaaly published at Creative Writing-Sell Your Fiction
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Fantasies for Sale

Originally Published at Creative Writing - Sell Your Fiction

Imagine being able to sell your fantasies, something you've conjured up simply from thin air. You don't need much apparatus, nor a patent, or even a paid copyright. A piece of paper and a writing utensil will do the trick. Everything else comes from within your own mind. Sounds magical, doesn't it?

Creative writing is a fun and sometimes magical process but it can also take that elusive idea, fantasies for sale, and turn it into a concrete possibility. Your thoughts, words, actions, stories, experiences, dreams and yes, your very own fantasies can become a commodity once you write them down in a well-crafted manner.

Selling fiction won't make you rich overnight, and only the lucky few will acquire that special spot on the New York Times Best-Seller's list but you really can earn some extra money creatively writing and selling your fiction.

The amount of money you can earn depends mostly on the amount of time you choose to invest and yes, it helps to have a bit of writing talent. I'm going to assume that since you are visiting this lens, you are a talented writer at heart, even if you aren't a successful writer on paper yet. Grammar, punctuation and writing technique can all be studied and learned. Ideas flow freely to everyone. It's up to you to capture those ideas and turn them into marketable stories by crafting them so they are easy to read and interesting to your chosen audience.

Getting your story down on paper is only the beginning when it comes to the business of creative writing. Marketing your work is just as important, if not more important than the actual act of putting ink to paper. (Which came first the chicken or the egg?) Of course you need to have a story written before you can market it but once it's written, (if you read your contracts carefully before signing them) your stories can be sold again and again, earning you more money from the reprints.

The intended purpose of this site is to help you prepare for this business of creative fiction and fantasies for sale, maybe make it a bit easier for you to get started. I've been at it a few years and have more than my fair share of rejection letters but I've also made a few sales and most importantly, I've learned a lot. I want to share this information with you, maybe help make it a bit easier for you to get started.

I challenge you to join me on my way to fame and fortune. Write and sell your fantasies, your romance, your horror, your drama. Share your science fiction, your dreams, and your fictional situations and characters with the world. Write, submit, and sell your stories.

Creative Writing Tips article topics will include markets and marketing ideas, writing tips, advice from successful authors, how and where to submit your work, writing contest information, and so much more.

You really can make money selling your fantasies.

Learn to Write What You Know

Originally Published at Creative Writing - Sell Your Fiction

Time and again you will receive the same creative writing advice; write what you know. In other words, write about things you encounter in your daily life. What better topic could you choose? Not everyone does the same job, grew up in your hometown, had your smart-alecky brother as a sibling or has had any of the same experiences you've had. Who better to sell a story about these things than you? You already know the small details. And it's precisely those small details that when woven into your fiction make for a believable read and a better story.

But fiction is made up, you might say. Why do I need to add realism? While it's true that creative writing is made up of make believe stories, a writer is asking his reader to believe his made up, make believe stories. You want your reader to suspend his belief in the real world for a while, get lost in your words, feel comfortable in your fictional world. You want your reader to believe the story that you're telling them so that they will keep reading and hopefully enjoy it so much that they seek out other stories you've written. That is what will make you a saleable writer.

Write What You Know

Writing what you know doesn't mean you can't explore other things. If you're a stay-at-home-mom, add a little spit-up to your mystery novel. If you're a nurse, use proper medical terms in your short romance story . If you grew up near a beach, name the sea life residing there to add depth to your science fiction drabble. As far as your smart-alecky brother, I'd leave his name out of things, but you might want to relay one of the many pranks he pulled in high school for comedic relief in a horror tale.

Giving your audience a little of the truth goes a long way in helping them accept your fiction.

Mind you, I'm not suggesting that you fill your entire manuscript with boring facts and dull details, or even that you should tell everything you know about a subject, just because you can. What I'm proposing is that you add a sprinkle of authenticity to your fiction, a tidbit of information, here and there, to give your creative writing a feeling of reality that will help it burst alive.

Write What You Don't Know

Writing what you know from life experience is the easiest way to go but it isn't the only way to go. Let's say you want your story's hero to be an ex air force pilot but you've never even been on a plane, let alone met an air force pilot. Should that stop you. Absolutely not! There are other ways to write what you know. Researching any topic by reading, watching films or asking someone who has experienced whatever it is you want to write about are all good ways to learn to write what you know. Be inquisitive. Look for the little known facts. Educate yourself and ask the juicy questions to reveal information that when planted in your creative writing, will make it pop with enough truth to hook your reader's attention.

Double check anything you aren't sure of to make sure all of your data is correct. One false factuality and you'll have your reader second guessing everything, defeating your whole purpose.

Give your reader a bit of realness, a taste of the truth, and they will feel secure in your world of fiction. They will trust you to take them places they've never been. Do it well and they'll want to join you on your fictional voyages again, and again.

Let's Review:

Use your own life experience to add truth to your fiction.

Educate yourself and do research to learn details of the things you don't already know.

Gain a following by obtaining your reader's trust!

Writers Guidelines- Follow the Yellow Brick Road

Originally Published at Creative Writing- Sell Your Fiction

In L. Frank Baum's original Oz series, following the yellow brick road lead Dorothy to the wonderful wizard and ultimately back home, where she truly wanted to be. Following writer's guidelines can lead you and your creative writing to publication and eventually to that amazing first paycheck.

Although writers submission guidelines aren't actually written in brick and mortar, as a beginner, you should treat them as if they were. You might be thinking of that old cliché about rules being made to be broken. Writer's guidelines are not rules. Writer's guidelines are limitations that have been put in place for any number of reasons. Every publication has their own individual set of guidelines. Not following writer's guidelines can be deadly to your story's publication. Continuously not following writer's guidelines will be deadly to your career as a fiction writer.

Why yellow bricks, you might ask? Yellow is the universally accepted color of caution. As I stated earlier, all publications have their own unique set of writer's guidelines. If you don't read and follow each of them carefully, you might miss an important piece of information that could be vital to the life of your story. Or worse, you may anger the very person you're trying to woo, your editor!

Let's pretend you've crafted a wonderful 6000 word short story about a flying monkey who lives on the moon and you've decided that you'd like to send it to The Flying Monkey Magazine. (fictional name) You find a copy of their writer's guidelines and it says they accept short science fiction stories about flying monkeys of up to 5000 words long. Do you send it?

Your story is a short piece of science fiction and, by gosh, it happens to be about flying monkeys. It looks like you've found the perfect place to submit your story. But what about that word count? You might think to yourself, Mine is a great story and I haven't read any stories in The Flying Monkey Magazine about any flying monkeys who live on the moon in quite a while. They might publish it even if it is longer than what their guidelines state.

STOP!
Chances are the reason The Flying Monkey Magazine's guidelines specify that they want stories of up to only 5000 words is because they only have space for publishing 5000 word stories in their magazine. Magazines, books and even online sites and newsletters all have certain layouts that they need to adhere to. Many publications sell space for advertising. (All the better to pay you with, my dear) They need to work their stories and articles around these ads.

By sending them your 6000 word story you are not only wasting The Flying Monkey Magazine editor's time, but also your own. Even if yours is the best written, most well crafted story that particular editor reads all month, she still can't publish it because of space limitation. And so, after all your hard work, somebody else's (possibly not even as well-written) story about flying monkeys will be published in its place.

So what should you do? I suggest you make your story fit the guidelines. In this case, revise it. Remove any unnecessary words and paragraphs. Tighten your creative writing until it meets the publisher's fiction word count and you will have a much better chance at getting the editor's attention and making the sale.

Think you can't shorten your story? Bull Stinky! Revision is the successful writer's best friend. Although cutting 1000 words isn't easy, a determined writer can do it and will end up with a better story for their effort.

What if it isn't bull stinky? What if every word you've written is necessary to propel your flying monkey on the moon forward and towards a satisfying finish? Well, then you need to find another publication that accepts longer science fiction pieces because you can't force 6000 words into a 5000 word space, no matter how creative your writing talent is.

Regrettably, my own space limitation makes it impossible for me to make equally ridiculous examples of the possible reasoning behind every type of writer's guideline, but I'm sure you get the idea.

Let's Review
1. Read every set of writer's guidelines, word for word.
2. Follow each one cautiously.

Follow that yellow brick road all the way to the bank!

Creative Writing Prompts

New word daily!

One of my favorite creative writing prompts is the Word of the Day.

Every day a new word and definition create a multitude of story ideas. I can't tell you how many times I've successfully written creative stories using this method.

Simply read today's word and see what comes to mind. Then immediately start writing. It works for me!

Word of the Day is brought to you right here daily by Dictionary.com. The words change every 24 hours so be sure to stop by often to get your new writing prompts.

Your vocabulary is your most powerful tool when writing creatively. Learn a word a day here!

agrestic: Dictionary.com Word of the Day: agrestic: pertaining to fields or the country.

Writing Without Pay - Pros and Cons

Originally Published at Creative Writing - Sell Your Fiction

Why would a site called Creative Writing- Sell Your Fiction contain an article about writing without pay? Writing with or without pay is one of those issues that serious writers have been battling over forever. Although money isn't the only reason we write, most writers do dream of the possibility of fame and fortune whenever they sit down with paper and pen.

Some writers feel that when even just one author publishes without pay, it hurts all of the other writers out there trying to earn a decent living. Why should a publisher pay anyone if they can get stories for free? Others feel that it's okay for new writers to give away their work in order to build a portfolio of published clips and by-lines. Who is right?

In my opinion, both sides have valid points and this decision has to be a personal one that can only be decided by each individual author. I've compiled a few of the pros and cons to writing without pay in order to help you make this important decision for yourself.

There are times when your writing may help a charitable organization. Donating a story to these types of places should never be considered wrong, or bad, especially if it is a charity that you totally agree with and want to help. The same theory applies to different groups or clubs you might belong to. Many charities, and certain groups, collect short stories for use in anthologies that they then sell to raise funds.

Pro - If you believe in the cause, by all means donate a story to them.

Some smaller, newer publications, don't have the funds to pay their writers. As a new writer, getting your foot (or more specifically, your name) in on the ground floor of a new publication can be good for your future because new publications that make it, eventually pay their writers. The flip side to this is that many of those new publications end up going under before they reach a level where they can pay you.

A toss-up - It's chancy but may be worth the gamble.

Building a file of published stories isn't easy in the beginning. Getting your name out there for people to recognize is an important part of being successful in the business of creative writing and so I guess I would have to agree with those that say it's okay for new writers to write without pay but only in the beginning, to start building a reputation and clip file because most paying editors do want to know if, and where, you've been published previously.

Pro - Having a few unpaid published stories under your belt may assist you in having something accepted at a paying market in the future.

Con - Having bunches of stories published in obscure anthologies, or at lightly frequented online sites, may not be as impressive to an editor as having one story published in a well-read magazine for which you've been paid.

Most publishers who don't, or can't, pay you for your work will offer other incentives such as a place for your biography (promotes recognition), a link back to your personal web site (promotes your other stories) or book page (promotes the sale of your published novels), or several hard copies of your printed work (provides published story clips for use in the future).

Pro - If your work will appear in a prestigious literary journal and supply you with a valuable clip, or you have a novel that you are trying to market, self-promote and sell, then there is good reason to write without pay for these publications.

Con - If you have nothing yet to sell, a link won't be very useful to you.

Getting published is always exciting be it with or without pay but to be completely honest here I have to tell you that, for me, nothing beats seeing my by-line and making money using nothing but ink, paper, and the noodles that God gave me. I love it and, if you've not experienced it yet, I know you will too. I get a natural rush each and every time I receive a publisher's pay check.

Con - Obviously, when you write without pay, you don't get a pay check!

Let's Review:

Writing with or without pay is a personal decision.

Getting compensated for your time and effort, be it cash or other incentives, is always best.

Go over the pros and cons thoroughly before deciding if publishing without pay is right for you.

Simple Solution to a Big Writing Problem

Bill Vossler has found a simple solution to a big writing problem. Read his great article at AbsoluteWrite.com to learn how you can get your writing life more organized and stress-free.

Little List Big in Writer's Life: "If you struggle at all with procrastination, serial writership (binge writing for a week, then none for two months), making choices, feeling overwhelmed or inferior, or any of the other slings and arrows that are endemic to the writing life, creating a daily little list in this manner might help you too." ~Bill Vossler

How to Choose the Best Title for Your Fiction

Originally Published at Creative Writing - Sell Your Fiction

What's in a name? When it comes to the title of your work of fiction, quite a lot! In order to learn how to choose the best title for your fiction, first let's look at just what a title does for your story. Your title is the first thing a prospective reader (and/or editor) sees when they pick up your book or story. A boring title will send them off looking for something else to pass their time with. A great title will grab their interest and make them want to read on.

The title you choose needs to define your story. It needs to tell the reader something about your story without giving too much away. It needs to entice them into reading your story and invite them into your fictional world. While a rose by any other name may smell as sweet, the wrong title for your work of fiction may give a bad first impression to your reading audience before they've even had a chance to see what a great writer you really are.

Your title also needs to set the tone of your story. Think about it. Would you want to read a horror story titled, The Fuzzy Pink Bunny? Or how about a love story with the title, Alien Fish Have Landed On Earth? Of course both of these may be excellent stories but their titles don't really portray what the actual content of the story contains. Better titles might be, Slasher Rabbit, for a horror tale, and Love Lands Softly, for a romance.

Many writers find creating titles to be the hardest part of the writing process. After all, quite a lot hangs on those first few words at the top of the page. I'd have to say that I agree with that statement approximately 50 percent of the time. For me, either a story title jumps out from the story, or it doesn't. When the story names itself to me, my work is easy, but when it doesn't, I can spend as much time thinking of a great title as I spent writing the entire story, including rewrites!

Although I can't help you name each of your individual stories, I can give you a few pointers to help you choose the best titles for your fiction.

Although titles can't be copyrighted, it is always best to stay away from titles that have already been used to perfection by popular books or movies. There are several reasons for this. One reason is that it's confusing for people, not to mention editors and publishers. Another reason is that when a reader hears a certain title such as, Gone with the Wind, or To Kill a Mockingbird, they already have a preconceived notion of what that story is about. No matter how good your newer version of a story by the same title may be, it is bound to be a disappointment to your reader.

Don't give away the ending of your story with your title. You can hint at what the ending will be, but never give the whole ending away. Giving away the ending with your title will only make your reader feel cheated upon completing your work of fiction.

Wordplay is good. Choosing a title that has a double meaning is a fun way to give your readers something to think about without giving away your entire story.

Don't mislead your readers with the wrong title. In other words, don't choose an exciting title just for the sake of its excitement. As mentioned earlier, your title needs to define what your story is about and set the proper tone for your story. Choosing a title such as, The World is Exploding, for a story about a teenager whose lost their best friend is not good idea even though said teenager's world may seem to be exploding. A better title for that story might be, My World is Exploding.

Look within your story's framework for a word or phrase that best suits your story's definition. This word should not be too vague, and it should not have been over used while writing the story. In fact, if you can find a word or phrase that fits what you have written, and used it only once, this might be an excellent choice for your title.

Keep your title simple, and to the point. There's no reason to give everything away too quickly and a shorter, simpler, title will help to keep your audience guessing. Not to mention it will fit better on your newly published book jacket!
Now that you know how to choose the best title for your fiction, go ahead and start playing with the words in your story to come up with your best title possible!

Creative Journaling: Where Your Best Ideas, Get Even Better

Originally Published at Creative Writing - Sell Your Fiction

Creative Journaling is a bit different than keeping a personal journal. In personal Journaling we record our lives, and feelings, as they happen. In a Creative Journal, you might say, we record things as we'd like to see them to happen.

Any good writer sees ideas for new stories in a hundred different places every day. Keeping a Creative Journal will help you to more easily remember those ideas and even allow you to build on them. I know a lot of writers carry a notebook to jot down ideas and that is an excellent way to preserve your thoughts but a Creative Journal takes that simple notebook one step further and actually makes your creative writing even more powerful.

Why Keep a Creative Journal

If you are anything like me, you're busy. When a story idea comes to mind while doing something other than writing, you might jot it down quickly as a reminder later. You put the notelette away and a few days, or a couple of weeks, later,( if you can even find it) you pull that little message out and say, "What the heck was I thinking?"

By keeping a Creative Journal you will always know exactly what you were thinking because at the end of the day, or the hour, you have moved your quickly written idea onto a page of its own in your Creative Journal. You have expanded on your idea and recorded it so that when read back to yourself it will be as fresh as the moment you gave birth to it allowing you to write that award- winning-story sometime, anytime, in the future.

How to Keep a Creative Journal

Your own Creative Journal can be as fancy or as plain as you'd like it to be. I use a simple black and white composition notebook for mine. The sewn binding deters me from tearing out the pages after I've decided that mine was the stupidest idea for a story in the entire history of the world of publishing. But that's my own paranoia. Your's can be constructed in any way that you feel comfortable with.

The most important thing about your Creative Journal is that you use it daily. Don't skimp on it. Write out every thought that comes to mind as you are Journaling from your notes. Don't assume that you will remember anything. Write it out. You may not use everything you've written about your idea but keep the thought just in case. Sometimes one well written thought will trigger several different story ideas later.

And don't think that you need to write the entire story either. That can be done later. Right now all you want is a clear picture of your story idea. Depending on how large your idea was in the first place, this can take several minutes or half an hour. In fact, I don't even recommend that you try to write the story at all. Ideas usually need time to percolate before they can become great. By keeping a creative journal, your best ideas have time to become even better ideas.

Try to leave a few pages in between story ideas so that you can return and flesh out your thoughts further at a later date if you need to, without making a scribbly mess of your journal.

Once you get used to this type of journalistic writing, you will never be at a loss for words, your stories will become stronger and more meaningful, and writers block will certainly never bother you again.

Start a Creative Journal today. Use it to expand on story ideas for the future. Remember, good stories, become great stories only after they've had time to develop.

Find Time to Write, Right Now

Originally Published at Creative Writing- Sell Your Fiction

I can't tell you how many times I've heard people say, I'll find time to write when my children are older, or I'll have time to write once I'm retired from my job. My answer to those people is, don't wait. Do it write now!

I speak from experience on this. I waited for my children to grow up and I waited until I didn't have to work anymore and do you know what I think about all of that now? I think I wasted a lot of time not writing, time that I can't get back, time that I could have spent writing if I only knew then what I do know now.

What have I learned since I began actually writing? I've learned that my writing is important to me and that writing doesn't have to be an all day, sit-down-for-months-until-you've- finished-your-novel, stay-up-late-and-don't-answer-the-phone-until-you're-done experience. Writing can be done a few words or minutes at a time. Writing can be done while you are sitting in your car waiting for the kids to get out of school. Writing can be done while you are cooking dinner, or doing the laundry. Writing can be done while your preschoolers are watching television in the same room. Writing can be done while waiting for a doctor's appointment. Writing can be done while the children have special alone time with your spouse. The simple truth is that writing can be done just about anytime, or anyplace that you can bring a pen and paper, or a laptop computer, or even a tape recorder.

Although it would be nice to have a few hours, or months, dedicated only to your writing, you can write a novel, or a short story spending only a few minutes a day.

Ideas for Finding Time To Write

Extend Your Awake Time

Get up an hour earlier, or stay up an hour later. You'll be surprised at how much writing you can do in that extra 60 minutes.

Organize Your Thoughts

Think about what you intend to write before sitting down to do it. The mind is a powerful tool and can draft an entire story without a pen and paper. If you have a clear idea about what you want to write before you actually find the time to do it, your writing will flow easily and you'll be able to write more in shorter periods of time.

Keep Writing Instruments Nearby

Be sure to carry a notebook and a pen with you where ever you go. Ideas can strike at any moment. If you've got a way to remember those ideas, your precious little writing time will be more successful and profitable for you.

Set Small Daily Goals

Stephen King didn't write the Dead Zone in twenty-four hours. A sentence, a paragraph, or a page a day, depending on how busy your life is, can add up quickly. By setting small goals for your daily writing you are more likely to stick with it, finish your work and succeed!

Give Yourself Permission to Write

Your writing is important to you. Make time for it the same way you make time for everything else that is important in your life. Busy moms and dads tend to put their children's wants and needs first, which is wonderful as long as you prioritize your own wants and needs too! Give yourself permission to write and your family will ultimately be proud of your writing accomplishments and in turn you'll be a happier mom or dad too!

Let's Review:

Don't wait, make time to write, right now, each and every day!

Setting small daily writing goals will pay off big in the long run.
By writing what you can, when you can will set you on the road to publishing success.

Sit on It

Originally Published at Creative Writing - Sell Your Fiction

Sit on it is not just a favorite catchphrase and retort from the wildly popular '70's television program, Happy Days, it's one of my favorite creative writing tips for revision.

When you sit on it, (wait before a final revision) you give your story time to ferment. Now we all know that fermentation can be either a very good thing, as in wine making, or a very bad thing, like when that wine turns to vinegar. In writing, it is always considered a very good thing.

Letting your story sit for a while, before revising, will give you a fresh perspective when you return to it. While you reread it for revision - typos, grammar mistakes, and improper wording will jump off the page at you. Good ideas and bad ones will do the same. Letting your story sit for a while will give you a new set of eyes, and ears, towards your once familiar story and help you to decider whether that story has turned into first-class wine or soured into acidic vinegar.

Waiting to revise also gives your noodle the chance to work its magic by unconsciously working on your story and coming up with new, possibly better, ideas.

How to Sit On It

After you've written and revised your story, and only after you've decided that it is perfect the way it is and can't get any better, put it away. Hide it from yourself. Find a drawer, a file folder, or maybe a shoe box in the back of the closet. The important thing is to get that story out of sight and leave it sit for about a week, longer if necessary, shorter if you have a deadline to meet.

When time's up, I promise you will be surprised at what you see. That surprise may be pleasant or dismal but in either case, you now have the chance to see your story the way an outsider (editor) will. And you have the chance to fix it before that editor has the chance to reject it. You may also find you have a few ideas for improvements that seem to have come from nowhere. If you do use those new ideas, I suggest that you put your story through a new round of sitting on it, just to be sure!

I won't tell you how many typos I disbursed into the literary world before I began using this method for revision. I will say that I found myself embarrassed quite a bit and for the silliest of errors - things I should have noticed but didn't because I was too familiar with my own writing. The problem was that whenever I finished a piece of writing, I became excited and wanted to see it in print immediately. After submitting it, I would go back and revisit the piece, to sort of give myself a Fonzie, "Hey!" and a thumb's up! What I usually found was a "Hey, where the heck did that extra word come from," or, "Hey, where's the other half of that quotation mark?" I'd know immediately that my chances for publication were about as good as Chuck, the eldest Cunningham brother, ever returning from college and to the series.

I only began being published after I learned how to sit on it!

Let's Review:

Write and revise your story to completion.

Wait before submitting, then revise your story again.
One of the most powerful creative writing tips I can give you, sit on it before revising, will help you create cleaner, stronger stories, and give you a better chance for some "Happy Days" of your own, seeing your by-line in print. Hey, you might even be asked back to produce a spin-off!

Help for Stress Induced Writer's Block

Originally Published at Creative Writing - Sell Your Fiction

Sometimes life takes a turn on you. You might be happy and in full control of your life right now. You might confidently think you know where your future is headed and then, wham-o you get slammed right out of the ball park.

What is Stress Induced Writer's Block

The death of a loved one, the loss of a well paying job, divorce, sickness, legal problems, depression, injury; any of these things can send you flailing into a black hole where writing becomes nearly impossible. This type of stress-induced writer's block can be devastating not only to your writing career but to your entire soul. A writer has to write in order to feel complete and if that freedom of expression gets buried due to tragedy, that loss becomes two-folds worse.

How to Write Through Stress and Grief

I wish I had a magic answer to give you here, but I don't. What works for one writer might not work for another. Some people will tell you to write about your personal tragedy in order to excise it from your mind, others will tell you to start a grief journal in order to keep yourself writing everyday. Although these are both great ideas, neither of them worked for me.

What helped me? Writing about silly things. Writing about whatever came to my mind. Writing about things I didn't care much about. Writing about things I wanted to learn. In other words my advice to you is simply to keep writing even when you don't want to, even when you feel like you can't. The topic doesn't matter. In fact, the topic doesn't even have to make any sense.

After a string of highly stressful situations, it took me almost a year to get myself back on track. I foolishly turned down writing jobs and I pushed aside opportunities because I thought I couldn't write anymore, because I thought good ideas would never come my way again but I'm back to it now and I've learned an important lesson. A writer needs to write. My not writing was only making my stress worse because I was keeping everything bottled up inside of me.

Why You Need to Write Through Stress and Grief

A writer writes and no matter what happens to us we can't stop. Sure we can take a break from it every now and then, but we must come back to it. It's something we need to do in order to survive- just like breathing and eating.

Your stories and poetry might feel very far away from you while you're dealing with your own stress induced writer's block but trust me they are still within your reach if you grasp for them. They might seem all fuzzy and out of focus at first, but if you force yourself to write something, anything, eventually it will get easier and in the end, you'll feel much better about the situation and about yourself.

Of course writing won't make the stress and grief go away but it will take you outside of it for a little while giving your hurt some precious time to begin the healing process and before you know it, you'll be back to your old writing self again. You might even find yourself a stronger writer in spite of it.

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Thursday, April 22, 2010