Creative Writing Tips

TIP #1: Use Settings to Convey Emotions

Setting and surroundings help to convey emotions. A happy character will be energetic with many friends and move quickly in bright settings. A sad character will be tired and isolated, moving more slowly within darker settings. You can customise the colour, lighting and surroundings of the setting to suit the emotion you want to express.

Examples

Express the feeling of sadness at school.

As I headed towards the tall metal gates of the school, I felt like a cockroach on a kitchen bench top in a five star hotel. Their squinty eyes pierced through my soul, as if they knew a deep and dark secret about me. I scurried past like a little mouse, seeking refuge away from the whispers, chuckles and mumbles. Instead of gliding past, I roll my ankle, spilling the books in my bag as well as my lunch over the concrete floor. I get up and limp away as subtly as I can. The giggles only get louder.

Express the feeling of anxiety at school.

Swinging open the cold, heavy metal gates, I sprinted towards the distant classroom 8G with the freezing misty fog in my face. I accidentally skidded across the wet oval grass, bruising myself terribly in the process. After bolting up the cracked pavement with a skinned knee and then up the spiral staircase, I finally reached the long, narrow corridor. Crashing through the cherry wood door, I threw my bag off me. With barely any time to regain my breath, thousands of eyes pierced at me before laughter louder than a nuclear bomb explosion bursted out.

“Sorry,” I winced.

“Jason,” the principal gritted his teeth, “you’re in BIG trouble.”

Express the feeling of anger at a restaurant.

I was mesmerized by the beautiful fat steak topped with a crispy, caramelized crust and chunky side fries. I slowly picked up my knife and fork to delicately slice through this perfect medium rare steak. Instead of finding juicy, tender meat, I winced when a nasty, blue piece of steak revealed itself without any warning. Suddenly, a boiling hot bubble rose up inside me and I blew up like a volcano.

"Who made this steak!” My screams echoed throughout the entire kitchen that the door seemed to unhinge itself.

Express the feeling of peace at a temple.

“It matters not what someone is born, but what they grow to be.” I was amongst the protective arms of nature. Like my predecessors, I was practicing rigorously to perfect the most ancient and powerful aspect of kung fu, inner peace. The most advanced kung fu master in China berated me, saying that I could never understand the art of peace. In the redwood forests, I closed my eyes and imagined my optimistic grandpa.

“If you only do what you can do, you will never be more than you are now.” I imagined his wise words and reiterated them within my mind. I will train harder than ever. Year by year I will never give up.

TIP #2: Show Do Not Tell!

TIP #3: Have an engaging plot!

Example

Katy looked up with wonder at the bright orange horizon, completely cloudless with the sun rising lazily like a tortoise at dawn. Stretching her arms wide open and letting out a relaxing yawn, she gazed at her rose gold watch which said “six am”. Katy and her goofy dad Galvado were on a four day adventure to discover spectacular islands in Bali, Indonesia. Still bloated from the morning breakfast buffet, Galvado heaved the shiny white yacht off the ute with his chubby, manly arms, nearly bruising his toe in the process and hitting Katy with the sail due to his lack of coordination. Unbothered and lazy, Galvado set off towards the north-westernly direction according to the map that Katy plagiarized poorly from a fairytale book of ancient myths. They started to sail and sail until Katy raised her monobrow at something particularly suspicious. The boat was bouncing on the water like a bobblehead, sinking at the rate of a cheetah chasing a fat deer. Katy’s heart dropped when her shoes were almost in line with the water, and blood rushed through her body.

“DAD!” Katy exclaimed, burying her head in her arms. No matter how hard she tried to stand up, the unstable boat tackled her with enormous splashes. Then, quite suddenly, with a gigantic splash. Katy capsized like a grandma trying to ride the unicycle uphill. Luckily, her dad’s elephant belly floated in the ocean, creating a soft trampoline and a life raft for her to hold onto.

“I knew I could count on you to float,” Katy complemented.

In this moment, a gray triangle appeared above the water circulating around the two clueless sailors.

TIP #4: Grade your writing!

1. Structure: does your text follow the conventions of text type?

2. Communicative ability: how engaging is your text overall?

3. Vocabulary: using sophisticated vocabulary

4. Grammar and punctuation: make sure you have full stops, commas…

5. Content: how much relevant information you have put it