Wednesday, November 30, 2011

The Secret To Transforming Your Creative Writing

Writing prompts don’t tell you how to write, which words you should use, how long your sentences should be and so on. That’s all up to your own creative expression. The prompt just provides an entry point to unlocking your imagination, and this can be invaluable, especially during times when you’re feeling particularly blocked or short of inspiration.

Another benefit of using writing prompts is that they gradually make themselves redundant.

The more you use writing prompts, the more easily you’ll be able to come up with the starting point yourself.

This works because your creativity is something that can be trained and developed. When you use prompts often, your creative mind learns to pre-empt what the writing prompt might have been, and it loves to fill in the gaps.

So instead of thinking “I’m really stuck, I think I’ll use a writing prompt to get my creative juices flowing”, you start to think: “I’m really stuck. What kind of writing prompt would work to get my creative juices flowing?”. And then you come up with it!

This sounds too simple and obvious to work, but it does. In effect your saying “I don’t think I know the answer to this question. But if I DID know the answer, here’s what I think it would be…”

Because you’re putting faith in your creativity to come up with something, it will, it loves the challenge. You’ve just got to present it with the challenge in the right way.

And this is how creative writing prompts can help, by training your creativity to come up with new ideas, new perspectives and different outlooks in the way you write.

How Many Times Have You Been Stopped

With ticket number two, things are becoming more serious. You cannot do California traffic school more than once in an eighteen-month time period. Yeah, I know, there are a few exceptions, but even if you qualify for the exceptions and get traffic school – the points still go on your driving record and your insurance goes up. Not much benefit in doing traffic school – at least in my opinion and for me. But most of us can live with one ticket on our driving record.

It is tickets three, four, and five that will change your life and motivate you to find a solution. At least that is what motivated me to learn how to fight traffic tickets. Acquiring more than two tickets in a short period of time is what this post is about. If that’s you, then you are the person that I am talking to here. I know how desperate you are for a solution because I was you. I acquired four moving violations and a parking ticket over thirteen-months.

What you need to know is this. You can beat these tickets. I spent several hundred hours learning how to fight my tickets. I talked to lawyers, did research, bought books, went to innumerable internet sites, found case law, read the law that pertained to my traffic tickets, and sat in the courtroom watching the proceeding.

You can fight your traffic tickets yourself and win. I did. I will never take another ticket and just pay it.

I learned that just because a police officer gives me a ticket doesn’t mean I am guilty. Take my speeding ticket for example. I might have been going faster than the posted speed and that would be why the police officer wrote me a ticket. On my ticket is a cvc number telling the court what California vehicle code I broke.

Creative Writing Exercises

First, when engaging in creative writing exercises try not to plan or think about what you are doing too much. The goal is to keep writing. Therefore, avoid the temptation to stop and edit as you write. At this point, you should not worry about grammar or spelling. If necessary, you can always come back later and take care of that. Finally, make sure you retain your writing from your exercises.

Many people find that writing in groups is an excellent way to enjoy creative writing exercises. If you find that you are not motivated on your own, a group setting can be a great way to cure that problem. You are not only accountable to yourself but also to others. In addition, you can benefit from the inspiration of others.

When it comes to specific creative writing exercises, there are many. Random stimulation is an excellent way to get started. This type of exercise works by taking two or three random words, any random words, and then putting them together will inspire your brain to put things together and form patterns that often would not be possible under other circumstances. You might begin with random word combinations. These combinations may not even have anything that would seem to be in common at first glance. Try to use these words in your writing in some way. If you are having trouble coming up with word combinations, consider creating words lists such as a list of different verbs, adjectives, places, professions, etc. Choose a word from two or three different lists and get writing!

You might also consider using starting phrases to get the inspiration going. These creative writing exercises work by starting with specific phrases and seeing where they lead you. Consider such examples as I would like to or I remember. There are, of course, innumerable phrases which you could use.

Creative writing often involves the development of characters so it is also a good idea to use some creative writing exercises that focus on character development.