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More Creative Writing Tips & Writing Secrets

7/2/2015

#creativewriting #Writingtip #Writingadvice #Blogbetter #blogging #copywriter #writingadcopy #fiction #nonfiction #authortips #authoradvice #businesswriting

Yes, you can be a great author, blogger, writer... Literature is changing fast. The publishing industry is morphing too. Mankind needs great debaters, discussion starters, cyber conversationalists. It is the best of times for writers, creatives, authors!

#Learning how to write well, will give you the biggest return on your investment compared to any other invest you have ever made! Great Writing opens doors of opportunity for anyone who is a good at it. Every industry needs better writers. Fiction Writers, Nonfiction Writers, News Reporters, Humorists, Poets, Lyrisists... Every field of endeavor needs great writers. #GreatWriters excel in any occupation and at any interest they put their minds to achieving.

You owe it to yourself, your family, your co-workers to read the best writing tutorial book ever scribbled...A NEW TALE by Stu Leventhal the master of many literary genres! *Let me know what you need help writing with? Just leave a comment! It is my pleasure to assist new writers...OUR WORLD NEEDS THE BEST WRITERS POSSIBLE! http://www.anewtale.com

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CREATIVE WRITING PROJECT BLUEPRINT

2/13/2014

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Before You Write One Word!

By Stuart Leventhal

Step one for any writing project should be to decide who your audience is. Before you write your first word, figure out who you want to speak to. When trying to communicate some idea to other people, the more you know about your audience the easier it is to write for them. Next determine the purpose of the writing; entertainment, instruction, to inform, inspire, to persuade, to warn?

Now, blend all your knowledge about who you are writing for with why you are writing!

When you know who your reader is, you can do some research and find out what they like to read. Armed with the information of what pleases your particular reader it is much easier for you to meet their needs.

When writing for a new market, your first step should be to try to gain their undivided attention. Make them take notice by targeting your specific audience’s emotions. Again, your research into who you are writing for will supply the answer to what will get you an immediate reaction out of them.

Now try to make every word, line, paragraph a cliff hanger! The idea is that everything you write should leave them wanting to read more. You cannot achieve your purpose for writing unless you are first satisfying your readers’ interest enough to hook them into committing to read your whole work.

Writing is about communication. Tailor your words to the situation you are addressing. Project your personality. Do not re-invent yourself. Your readers want to hear from you. Ask yourself, why am I the perfect person to write this piece? What about me, is special that will make this creative project unique and extraordinary! Now all you have to do is follow your heart and give your readers your very best writing!

“Know that there is often hidden in us a dormant poet, always young and alive.” – Alfred De Musset

*Need some creative writing advice, a fresh perspective, some mentoring? Contact Stu L, E-mail:

[email protected]

COPYWRITING, SONG LYRICS, FICTION, NON-FICTION! PRESS RELEASES! SPEECHES!....

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WORD SMITH

8/16/2013

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The Lonely Road of the Word Meister.

By Stu Leventhal

From your early childhood, you have been training to become a Word Smith. Certainly writing for professional publications is a whole different kettle of fish from turning in grade school essays your parents or older siblings helped you author. Since school, you’ve grown and matured plenty in all kinds of ways aside from your writing, grammar and communication skills. Think of how proud you were when you turned in that history report on Honest Abe Lincoln then a few days later you received your first A+.

Aspiring authors plying their word smith craft in every genre will tell you, it doesn’t matter what you are writing about; fiction, nonfiction, poetry, sci-fi…when writing good, you are going to leave a piece of your past personal history somewhere among the paragraphs. The more of your emotional experiences you leave on the page, the better your writing will be received by your reader. Therefore, everything you do from the time you wake up to turn off the annoying buzz of the alarm clock until the time you fall asleep at night with the TV remote control still in your hand, you are training to be a better writer.

Writing is about expressing one’s self, exposing your feelings, vulnerabilities, fears and dreams. Laying your soul bare is what convinces readers of your sincerity and gives your work value. If you aren’t passionate about your subject, why the heck would you waste your time writing about it? And, more importantly, how can you possibly expect your reader to give a hoot?

Your reader picks up your book haphazardly off a stuffed book shelf or comes across one of your articles while flipping through the pages of a magazine as they sit waiting for the dentist assistant to call their name. More than likely you are only going to have one very quick chance at hooking this reader then you still have to wheel them in. Now you start sparring with them feinting and jabbing, faking a left to the body then throwing a right hook at the head as you try to set them up so you can deliver the knock out punch! Bore them at any time and in a flash, they will slam that book or magazine shut on the very words you poured hours of sweat, tears, thought and worry into then selfishly head back to that bookshelf or magazine rack or worse callously reach for the TV remote control!

Believe me when I say every awaken hour and probably while you are sleeping too, you are preparing yourself to write better. All of one’s experiences contribute to your well of knowledge and heighten your imagination, the two most important areas you need to develop in order to communicate better. Deep down inside, every creative writer knows they are going to have to bring every weapon in their arsenal to the table in order to attract and retain the attention of a suave readership. A creative writer needs to be able to manipulate, get inside someone’s head, sway, deceive, enlighten... You have to become a psychiatrist, scientist, politician, teacher, parent, mentor, lover, student, stalker, co-worker, friend and more from paragraph to paragraph to paragraph. As we mature and mold our character, we also mature and mold the character of our writing. Your personal development and intellectual growth is entwined with the growth of your writing abilities and thus all are constantly evolving together.

Ask any established writer for their most important piece of writing advice and they will all tell you, read and write! Read everything you can get your hands on; every genre, every style about any and every subject. READ! READ! READ! But you have to live too. Reading will expand your horizons, add to your knowledge, open up your mind, engage your creativity and take you places you could not hope to go without living hundreds of lives. But nothing produces more compelling writing material than pulling from one’s real life experiences.

Preparing, training, studying and learning are all great but, eventually we have to take the plunge. We have to start writing. Nothing, absolutely nothing is better for developing a writer’s skills and abilities than writing. Practice makes perfect. Practice is great for building all skills. In creative writing practice builds confidence. It allows a creative writer to experiment, test the waters, to go where no man has gone before. Be prepared and expect to hit some rough patches as you attempt to tackle new writing techniques and tougher subjects.

One can never write or type, scribble short hand or even try to talk into a tape recorder as fast as you can think. That is why we are always going to get frustrated because we’ve lost track of what we were trying to say. Know that trying to force the words to come usually has the opposite results, making it harder to write as well as tougher at times to focus one’s thoughts in the direction one would like them to go. The only solace I can give you is we’ve all been there. You will come out of it and when you resume writing the words will read better than ever!

Writing isn’t an easy walk through the park. It is hard work just to figure out exactly what it is you wish to say. It is even more difficult to express your thoughts on paper in a way that others will find value in. But, writing and writing then writing some more is the only way you will ever get better. And, yes you are going to have to re-write, edit, cut words out, replace words, shuffle sentences and re-arrange paragraphs before your text begins to take shape and becomes coherent enough to show to someone else. And it is still such a long way from being good enough to expect people to pay money to read your work!

Writing is not a get rich quick scheme. Writers, even the rich and famous authors, pay their dues and more. You will spend many hours, days, months and years alone with just your thoughts and a pen or keyboard. You will second guess yourself and scrutinize your work. You’ll rip up whole manuscripts that you worked months on! You will sit and stare at your blank computer screen in frustration and disgust wondering if the words will ever flow freely again. This is the world of the Word Meister. If you stick it out and keep on writing you will grow better and better, write faster and faster and your 1st drafts will begin to need less and less rewriting. You will eventually develop the skills to write at a level you never dreamed possible.

I cannot even begin to describe the places your writing will take you. Once you’ve experienced the feelings of accomplishment and elation that can only come from writing something you are really proud of. When you get to that place, you will understand that there are few possibilities in one’s life from which you can feel that feeling. Thus, the best advice I can give a young scribe is to keep writing creative writer and challenge one’s self at every turn. I want you to feel that feeling! It has nothing to do with getting that first royalty check from your publisher but everything to do with knowing that you’ve finally gotten it right. You have arrived. You are a great writer and there is nothing anyone but you can say or do to change that.

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Teaching and Learning Creative Writing

6/7/2013

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by Stuart Leventhal

No one knows everything they can possibly know about the world of creative writing. Creative writing is an ever evolving craft. Good writers experiment with new styles and techniques all the time. Pushing oneself with attempts to take one’s craft to higher levels is how we learn, grow and become better writers. Reading other authors’ works on any subjects we can find, exposes us to different ways of expressing our self and teaches us different methods of communicating what we wish to say. Reading everything you can get your hands on is one way to gain a larger vocabulary which will serve you well throughout your writing endeavors. But a lot more goes into writing good text than just knowing a lot of big words.

If you really wish to develop your writing craft through reading, you need to start reading everything with a very critical eye. Forget about the subject of the piece and break down how it was structured. Ask yourself, why do you like this piece? What don’t you like about this piece? What could the author have done better? What would you have done differently? If the piece gets boring at one point try to figure out what can be done to cure that problem without changing the whole focus of the author’s work. Can you identify a signature style of wordsmithing in the piece? Why do you think the author choose to word things the way he did? If you are reading a story, why did the author lay out the form the way he did. Why tell it in the first person as if the story was about himself instead of using the third person technique and writing the same tale through the eyes and thoughts of one of his other main characters? How would the story change if it was told from a different character’s view point?

Reading a lot is definitely a key to learning how to write better. But, it is very important for young writers to force themselves to read stuff that is outside of their comfort zone. Regardless of whether a specific literary genre is the category of writing that you excel at or are trying to learn more about, every creative writer can always find writing tips and advice of significant value by reading and especially studying other writing niches other than their chosen field. A poet or song lyricist for instance can benefit greatly from listening to the lessons or insight given by a top newspaper reporter who is mentoring young journalists. And young journalists can certainly gain knowledge, technique and wisdom from studying our poet laureates. Don’t both crafts require developing intense skills of observation, eloquence of language, a flare for the dramatic and the gift of smooth, comprehensive communication?

Fiction and nonfiction sit at opposite ends of the literary spectrum; one form of literature being true and factual the other being based on the imagination and expression yet they both relying on the skills of telling a story and each type of author can benefit by studying each other’s styles and techniques then adopting them to serve their needs and purposes as they struggle to communicate expressively to their readers. As important as reading is to a young writer’s development it pales in comparison to actually writing something yourself. Few things in life engage a person’s mind more than struggling to write your thoughts down in a way that others will understand where you are coming from. Writing challenges your imagination, dredges up your emotions and can be quite frustrating and fatiguing most of the time.

Learning and developing a craft, so diverse, as writing, is definitely a lifelong experience. Having a mentor willing to help, listen and advise a fellow struggling writer cannot have a value placed on it. The next best thing is to join a writing group where likeminded people interested in developing the same art as you can converse, assist and support each other. We all know that the master can teach the student but remember it is a surprise and delight when the student occasionally teaches the master something too. Any good professor will tell you this does happen quite frequently and understandably more often than it is spoken of! We all learn and grow together.

Writing itself is sometimes mystical. We don’t always know where or how we come up with the stuff we come up with. We’re always over critical when we critique our own work. We doubt ourselves often and worry is this really the best way to say something. Is this the best word? And on top of that writing is art and art is many times hard to define. Everyone’s opinion can differ when art enters the equation which can leave an even an established author quite insecure. All this makes the craft of creative writing all the more tougher to learn or teach. Then by adding the word ‘creative’ to the word ‘writing’ we are putting added pressure on our young scribes to feel they have to always write something that is so utterly unique and astounding that it leaves the reader with their mouth hanging open.

Like with developing any other skill, the most important thing for becoming a better creative writer is practice. The more you write the faster and better you get at writing. Reading and studying is all fine and dandy but writing and writing and writing is what will eventually make you a great writer.

For this reason I urge you all to read every bit of writing advice and tips on this quite, large website. Then, put the theories and tips to use. All the writing help is free and posted on Anewtale.com for the purpose of helping young and old writers, new, professional and amateur writers and scribes of any and all genres, styles and levels of expertise. If you have some incite to add that might help a struggling young artist hone their skills of wordsmithing then by all means share. That is why we blog! Together we can help each other master the honorable craft of creative writing and hopefully, some great new literature will be the result!

Devour the poems and flash fiction of our student writers struggling to make an impression on anyone. Comment and lend your wit where wit is needed. Teaching is one craft where the student and the teacher both always benefit. Our writers crave the attention so constructively critique away! Everyone who publishes on this website knows they do so with the risk of having their feelings hurt. But we promise to take you worst with a grain of salt. It’s all in the spirit of learning! So, don’t be shy. Tell us what you think about any piece on the site even if it is to simply cast a vote for your favorite sci-fi fiction or to announce you really enjoy the work of one of our feature mystery writers. Don’t forget to praise our artists and photographers when deserved, they have feeling too! Now, let’s get writing. For, I cannot think of a nobler endeavor.

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Can Creative Writers Save The World?

2/1/2013

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There comes a time in every artist’s life, creative writers probably quicker than others, when one feels compelled to take their game up a notch or two. Young artists start out trying to get everyone’s attention; we focus on making our work so entertaining that everyone has to take notice. Some of us settle down once we realize we can’t please everyone then we try to move in a direction that pleases us first. After a few years, we no longer feel the urge to prove our self and that’s usually around the time that financial pressure has begun to ease up. No longer having to worry, so much about, struggling to make a living, we may start to question; do we have what it takes to be one of the greats? Should we be using our gift for something a bit higher than simple aesthetic, entertainment value?

Instead of sticking to creating the now well-received writing that has become our trademark which brought us this far, be it fantastically creative rhyming, current and relevant pop music lyrics or telling very scary, horror, flash fiction tales. We all take for granted and devalue our own talents because they come so easy for us and keep getting easier the more we ply them. We’re too close, too involved to realize how special, rare and valuable our own unique skills are.

Many artists, writers and performers feel the arts and their art in particularly, needs to eventually take on some of societies difficult issues, in order to be worthwhile. After all, wouldn’t it be a crime to waste one’s talent on frivolous, entertainment or worse a career in advertising and marketing? The answer lies in what is one’s definition of worthwhile as well as how great art is deemed great in the first place.

People in general and artists especially, confuse living a meaningful life and trying to make a difference while we’re here, with being more outspoken about one’s ideals and fostering one’s beliefs. An artist, especially a creative writer, need not abandon his or her signature talent to start penning prose that is of the preaching and forewarning type because he or she no longer wishes to waste their talent on frivolity. One must remember that most of the great literature stood the test of time before it was deemed utterly fantastic. Originally, all the great ones were just entertainment. Very few writers write with the audacity of believing they are going to change society or save mankind. Those labels get put on great art and artists later. Art, especially written works, will attract the attention of critics and scholars, usually long after the masses have adopted it as worthy; quite frequently posthumously.

Stop beating yourself up, with self-doubt and guilt, which does no one any good. Trying to impress your fans and the public with how good a person you’ve become or preaching to save the earth before it is too late, almost always comes off as self-indulgent, pompous and contrived. The result is almost always boredom as far as the art piece is concerned. When one wishes to take one’s art type craft to the next level, one works on perfecting one’s skills and elevating the level in which one performs the craft. In creative writing we learn all there is to know about the field of writing, the use of words, grammar, diction, vocabulary, writing style and particularly the genres we excel at. First, become an expert who walks the walk not just talks the talk.

By all means keep pushing yourself to be better. Test yourself by trying to expand your craft. Try to take your literary genre or writing niche to some place it’s never been. Become a mentor and take on a student or two. Leave the preaching, warnings that earth is doomed and all the prolific labeling to the so called critics and scholars. When you feel you are ready to take on more difficult or serious themes with your stories, go for it! But, do it through your work. Think about how Mark Twain went about drawing attention to the very touchy subject of slavery. Twain had worked for many periodicals during his career and could have easily written and had published some articles or essays stating his position and feelings on the subject of slavery. Instead, Mark Twain crafted a fictional novel about a youth traveling along the Mississippi River. Twain’s Huckleberry Finn drew more attention to the subject of slavery and racism than a hundred news articles could have. The book is still cherished reading today over 100 years after it was published and is taught in schools around the world. So, the answer to the question, which is the title of this article, ‘Can creative writers save the world?’ I don’t know but, we’re going to keep on trying.

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Write About Things You Know

1/28/2013

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When a teacher of literature gives the inevitable advice, “Write about things you know.” It is not meant to be taken literally. Naturally a person who grew up caring for, walking, playing with a dog and loving a dog should have an easier time of writing a story involving a dog than someone who never had a pet. An author who lives in the Rocky Mountains should be better at telling a reader what it is like to go hiking through slippery, treacherous, snow covered, icy terrain. But, no teacher of literature wishes to set limits on what their students and hopefully, future writers can achieve, tackle or imagine. They are simply pointing out that in order to bring to life for your reader a given situation, setting, character or theme one should have intimate knowledge of what one is writing about. That said, you now have to work on getting the skills to be able to transform your unique, personally acquired knowledge so you can mold it or stretch it so it fits into whatever scene you are writing about.

If you’ve always lived with pets and you are writing a sci-fi thriller, it is not so farfetched that future space travelers would not adopt adorable creatures from their stops on distant planets as pets. You can use your knowledge of ‘what you know’ about growing up in a household full of pets to express to your reader, realistically, the positives and negatives of having a pet aboard a spaceship. You know the companionship, love, joy and fun a pet can bring to an individual’s life. You also can write about the dedication it takes to care for and nurture a pet. Pets are often very loyal and protective of their owners and loved ones. There is no reason to believe space pets would not show many of the same needs and endearing traits as earthling’s beloved dogs, cats and parakeets. When you write what you know, however trivial or trite, you add a dimension of believability to your scenes that is hard to get from studying text books. Things you take for granted because you’ve grown up with them all your life or have come to encounter them day in and day out, can be fascinating to your readers who grew up in a completely different life style.

Let your readers see a glimpse of the people who have made an impact on your life both negatively and positively. We want to experience what it is like to be around such an individual. If you grew up in a house full of siblings, you don’t have to write a biography to be able to use your experiences to portray, ‘what you know’ in other types of stories. For example, the feelings of never having any privacy are universal for any overly crowded situation. No matter what genre of creative writing you are attempting, your prose will be elevated by sharing your true feelings about the humiliation you felt always having to wear hand me downs or the love, sibling rivalry, comradeship or family loyalty you experienced living with such a large family.

You may think you have a vivid and versatile imagination and believe me, there will be times when you are going to need to delve into that imagination but readers can tell when an author is baring his sole. There’s a different tone that comes across, when a writer is writing about something he cares deeply about, has a real interest in or has a fond or non-fond memory of. In your experiences is where the true value of your wisdom lies. That is what the reader is hoping to experience when he chooses your book over all the other, many books on the shelves of a book store to purchase then spend a little time with. He’s hoping to make a connection with you as the writer or with your characters. He’s hoping to learn something new or at the least have a few laughs and enjoy an hour or two. To make your reader consider his or her time well spent and worthwhile you must take the camouflage off and be willing to reveal a glimpse inside your soul.

Everyone has experiences in their life that stand out as important. Take those instances that were turning points in your own development as a person and expand on them. Add to them stuff to make them more profound. Build a story around the dramatic episodes you’ve lived first hand. Change the characters, time and place to fit in with the story you wish to tell in the genre you wish to write but keep all the emotion of the moment intact. Write what you know!

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NEW BOOKS!
by Stu Leventhal

Learn Creative Writing From a Super Star Mentor! Author, Poet, Reporter, Entrepreneur Stu Leventhal Gives Writers of All Genres a Pep talk! And some great tips Too!

Business Online and Offline is explained by Author and Business Consultant Stu Leventhal. Marketing, Management, Sales and Promoting in Modern Times Are All De-Mistified! You Will Learn How to Problem Solve and Grow Any Business Type!

AUTHOR! POET!
Your Favorite
WEBMASTER:

Stu Leventhal has just released
another mystery Kindle Book in the suspense mystery detective genre. HIGH SEA by Stu Leventhal is a thriller set on an exotic island resort. check out the Kindle Book Trailer...

More Creative Writing Tips & Writing Secrets

CREATIVE WRITING PROJECT BLUEPRINT

Before You Write One Word!

WORD SMITH

Teaching and Learning Creative Writing

Can Creative Writers Save The World?

Write About Things You Know

NEW BOOKS!
by Stu Leventhal

AUTHOR! POET!
Your Favorite
WEBMASTER:

Archives

Categories

More Creative Writing Tips & Writing Secrets

CREATIVE WRITING PROJECT BLUEPRINT

Before You Write One Word!

WORD SMITH

Teaching and Learning Creative Writing

Can Creative Writers Save The World?

Write About Things You Know

NEW BOOKS! by Stu Leventhal

AUTHOR! POET!Your FavoriteWEBMASTER:

Archives

Categories

NEW BOOKS!
by Stu Leventhal

AUTHOR! POET!
Your Favorite
WEBMASTER: