Creative writing can be seen as a wide spectrum of writing styles, spanning from poems to novels. It brings the reader into brand new worlds, and worlds that are very familiar. Stories bring forth an insight of our world in an entertaining form, and as I’ve personally gone through the process of writing a few novels, the process of going from idea to a complete story is a difficult, but worthwhile experience.
All stories begin with a single idea or premise. The thing that will grab the reader and bring them into to continue reading your story chapter after chapter. In my experience, this has always the thing that has begun the writing process for my stories. The idea usually comes to me at random times when trying to figure out what I want to write about is something that is not at the front of my mind. It is invigorating when I come up with an idea that eventually can become a full-blown story, but it is wise to know that this idea doesn’t need to be set in stone. The idea can be thought of as the initial step in getting ideas out, but it will evolve as time goes by. From there, outlining and character development is to follow.
Once an idea is brought to the table, the brainstorming and preparation of writing take place where plot and characters come up. In many of my stories, a few characters are at the center of the plot, and these are the characters that need to be developed the most and seem the most realistic. As a writer, you want your readers to connect with these characters and be able to relate to their joy and sorrow. As well, secondary characters can play a large role in the development of characters as the story progresses. For myself, an outline is a deeper and longer way to understand the premise of the novel.
With a novel being a longer piece of prose, an outline can layout the scenes and events that occur throughout the story. Many of my own stories follow a three-arc layout. The three arc consist of learning about what the story will be like, the main portion of conflict, and the aftermath of the climax. A perfect story needs to have a good flow where the reader will be interested in it as the plot continues on, and laying out the story before I begin writing gives me suggestions on how I want to write. That said, I tend not to go too in-depth with it so I have flexibility when writing and I can diverge and bring in new ideas as I write. With everything set up, the longest but most interesting part for me begins, the actual writing.
Sitting down and writing the first draft takes a decent amount of time and effort. Putting the ideas that have floated around in one’s head and into an actual story requires a dedication and there often will be bumps in the road. The term Writer’s Block likely will pop into anyone's head when they get to a point where they are trying to continue on but are stuck at a point where one is unable to continue on. I’ve been struck with writer’s block many times, and it is difficult when you are unable to get out of it and have to drop the project, but not every idea will get to the end. Novel writing is a skill that takes a long time to master, and many times one needs to be able to be okay with letting go of projects.
Stories are what have kept information from the entire history of humanity around forever. The process of developing novels is different for every author, and my approach is one way that works well for me. It takes dedication to write a novel, but being able to have a completed work at the end is definitely worth the effort.
