Crafting Compelling Stories: A Guide to Creative Writing Excellence

Creative Writing

So you have an idea But will it work for SQA submission?

Common Problems Premise takes too much world building/overly ambitious (Sci-fi and Fantasy) Premise is dull/hackneyed/clich (There s been a murder!... Mental health issues it s a dream world bleurgh!) There is no sense of a challenge or conflict to be overcome Lack of a clear protagonist No sense of where the story might move to next

So, now we write Start as close as you can to the problem you intend to have your protagonist face. Describe a feature of the setting that makes the story world come to life focus on adding detail to the small things and the larger world will be more interesting as a whole.

Exemplar The roar and hush of the sea skirts weightlessly, teasing the darkened edges of the dry sand whilst the other children's toes tentatively test the water. A flurry of splashes, all crudely painted nails and giggles, gleefully chase one another - their feet casting pebbles of pure white light into the air. To say that this childhood, their childhood, was abnormal would be wrong. Theirs was just as one should have expected. Their father looked on, vacant. Lost in worry over the seemingly important trivialities of his existence, he failed to see the change in young Amy's eyes - that hollow and malicious intent he often harboured towards himself. His head viced within the opinion pages of the slightly-less-right- wing-press, he had failed to read the meaning in her words over breakfast that morning. "I'm sorry, daddy," she'd pleaded, her voice a practised, fractured squeak. He hurriedly told her never to apologise. Not unless she truly meant it.

Start to add details to your protagonist Give them a reason for doing what they are doing. Try showing who they are through their actions rather than saying He was sad etc.

Exemplar The father, a skin-tight knuckle of a man, barely registered the panic apparent in the faces of those around him. The swell tide of men and mothers rushing into the sea jarred him out of inaction. In a slowly deliberate series of wrenching movements he rose to his feet, and in flashes of realisation, flurries of staccato steps, he became fierce elbows jostling for prominence at that open mouthed sea. Her body, held in sodden lumps, fell through the hands of the wailing clamour. The febrile wash claiming the father's breath, he paused, hand outstretched to touch Molly's limp neck.

Have your character try to overcome the problem It doesn t matter if they succeed or fail I care because of their attempt to do something. Make sure that whatever they do, it creates a secondary problem that you would go on to explore in Chapter 2 and beyond. BEFORE YOU WRITE, KNOW WHERE YOU WANT THE CHAPTER TO END.

Exemplar Amy refused to talk, even to her mother. A mute, bound by the memory of her indecision, it was impossible for her to comprehend her role in it all - other than her guilt at willing it to happen. She counted quickly in her head, from one to twenty and backwards again. She recited the nursery rhymes they sang, silently, listening for her sister's voice. She emptily played with the toys that had become hers. Her father was of little use in those following days. Every word he uttered was either of mumbled recognition or a passing, furious resentment. Her mother locked herself away, the crackling of cigarettes burning breaths to exhaustion the only evidence of her continued presence. Occasionally the fire lights of picture guns burst in flurries, clawing through the windows for an image to hang their story from. Amy clawed out the eyes of the little blonde dolly in her hands.