Improve Your Creative Writing: Why & How

Have you ever noticed how there are some people who always express themselves beautifully

in their texts, their WhatsApps, their emails? They put thought into each one, and each one

you kind of look forward to getting. Maybe they choose their emojis very carefully,

maybe they choose their... Just what they write and it hits the right note. Well,

that's because they've spent time thinking about how they write. And what I'm going to be doing

today is sharing some ideas with you about how you can start nurturing your own writing. Sound good?

Cool. Let's carry on. In case you don't know me, my name's Benjamin. I'm one of the teachers

from engVid. Okay, so if you really want to get good at something, you need to practice.

Yep, I've said that before. So, if you want to get good at writing, the main thing you're going

to need to do is set aside some daily time for writing. Now, according to your sort of

commitments and schedule, you will know when the best time is. Maybe you're more productive in the

morning, maybe there are less distractions late at night. One famous writer, Burleigh Doherty,

used to put her children to bed and then put a fire... Put a log on the fire, and she would

write until the log had burnt all the way down. So, that was her daily practice. It was in the

evening when there were no distractions. And in today's age, there are a lot of distractions.

Our phone is a constant source of distraction, messaging us, and there's always something to

look at and do on your phone. Well, if you're going to develop your writing practice, you're

going to need to put your phone down at times to concentrate on it. So, find a time that works for

you and stick to it. Like, I've tried this before, okay, and it's not easy because you always have a

million things that you  need to do that will always 

be an urgent to-do list.  But that's not going away,

yeah? That will be with us until the day we die. There's always going to be things to do.

What you need to do is be able to prioritize and switch off some of those

needs and demands on our time so that you make the time for your writing.

"Why would you bother doing that?" I hear you ask. Well, I'm not guaranteeing that you're going to be

like J.K. Rowling with Harry Potter and be a 

blockbuster bestseller,  okay? There are no guarantees

that anything will get published. You have to want to develop your writing because you want to do it,

yeah, for the simple pleasure of being able to communicate articulately, concisely exactly what

you want to be able to  write, let alone requirements 

for good use of English at work and at exam level.

So, there's two types of writing, really. There's reflection, sort of diary writing,

and creative writing, and I'm going to look at both. So, I was reading a quote earlier today

by... Who was it? Oscar Wilde, that was it. And he said, "I always take my diary on a train with me

because if I get bored..." I'm paraphrasing now. "If I get bored, I want to have something

sensational to read about." So, a diary can provide a record that will last a long, long,

long, long time. Yep. You might find that your children read your diary in many years down the

line. And the process of writing a diary, so at the end of the day, writing down what's happened,

and your thoughts, and anything else you want to put in there can be therapeutic. Yep. You're

getting stuff off your chest. Yep. Any kind of worries and things, you can write down,

and by writing them down, it seems to lessen that stress. You might find that you sleep better.

So, it's not actually that good for us to be looking at blue screens before we go to sleep,

but if you can get into the habit of writing a diary, it's not always practical. You might find

that you sleep better. And if you're annoyed about someone or something, you might find that

if you write it down, you'll end up complaining about it less. Okay? So, diary writing,

especially if you're going off and doing something interesting, you're going traveling,

it can be a really nice memory of that time, because you can look at pictures, yep, but that

shows you what you were doing, but you'll never get back what you were thinking and feeling at

the time. Okay. Creative writing, actually trying to write your own stories. Why would you do that?

Well, just to give, like, a new sort of challenge, like taking up a new... Like a new hobby. And by

becoming an artist, you'll want to start getting inspiration. You'll start noticing characters.

You'll start noticing how people are. You'll get on a bus, and you'll be looking, and you'll be

thinking, "Hmm, I wonder if there are any people in here who could be in my story."  

So you'll become

more of an observer of life. I'm not saying you'll stop doing things, but you might find that you

notice things more. It's very good for us to use our imagination. Yep, so often we are in a

got-to-do-this, got-to-do-this, got-to-do-this, and we are in problem-solving mode. If we can

sort of use our higher cognitive capacities, then that can only be good for your overall mental

health. You might find that the practice of being a writer, you might end up going to a

local writing group. Often they have weekly meetups, and they can be quite nice, and you'll

meet some people that you would never have met if you hadn't decided to be a writer. And once

you actually complete a work - I'm still working 

on this - there'll be a  huge sense of satisfaction.

So, kind of sounds interesting, Benjamin, but how do we start? Well, I'll show you. So how do we get

started? Well, I've spoken already about time, finding that regular time commitment, but there

should be a place as well. Where are you going to feel most happy writing? What kind of lighting do

you need? What kind of desk? Maybe not a desk. Maybe you like being out where there are other

people in a library or a coffee shop or on your way somewhere. Equipment. Some writers are very

particular about what kind of pens or what they write on. They like the feel of certain pens, or

some people use old-fashioned typewriters. If you're using an old-fashioned typewriter, there's

no chance that you could go, "Oh, right, I'm just going to go and have a look at Facebook, or I'm

just going to go and have a look at the newspaper, see what's going on." You know, it's just you

writing, and it's quite a sort of physical action, you know, duh-duh-duh-duh-duh, and then you push

it to the side, and you have to really concentrate because there's no delete on an old-fashioned

typewriter, so it requires a lot of concentration. Or you could use a computer, whatever works for

you. I actually find that using Google Documents is a very good way of storing stuff that I write,

because even if my computer breaks, it will still be there. We need to get some inspiration.

Inspiration is like literally breathing in, so we can't write unless we have stuff that, you know,

we want to write about. How do we get that stuff to write about? Well,  

let's go answer that question

straight away. So, a woman called Julia Cameron wrote a book called The Artist's Way, in which

she... The whole book is about nurturing your creative habits and feeding your artistic soul

with inspiration. So, I definitely recommend that book, and it will encourage you to do all the

things that you really enjoy doing that make you feel good - the types of food and clothes that

sort of nurture you, and the kind of people that bring out the best in you, and not to be, like,

really solitary. Okay, once we're starting... So, definitely recommend that. Once we're starting to

develop our desire to communicate, then it's an excellent idea to do as much reading as you can.

Notice what kind of books, what genres, what type of stories you enjoy, what is it that you like

about them. Do you like not knowing what's happening with a sort of thriller style of book,

or do you like the description in a classical romance, or... I don't know. Find... Find out.

But you will... By reading more, your ability to phrase yourself well will improve,

particularly if you're reading good stuff. It's important that we live a little, yeah?

The more sort of life experience you have, the richer your voice can be, because you have more

worldly wisdom to draw upon. And then we start... We need to start observing. Now, I work with a

colleague who literally a few moments ago said that he always carries a notepad in his back

pocket, and that is a fine example of this. Yes? Notepad everywhere. Because, you know,

our daily lives are incredibly busy, and you never know when you're going to hear something

that someone says or see something, that you're like, "Oh my gosh, that would be an amazing line

in a... In a book, in a film." But if you have it there, you can just write it down. You don't have

to go... That painful, you know, feeling that, "Oh, yes, that would be good. When am I going

to record that down?" Yeah? If you have it there, you're not going to do it. So really, whenever

you have some inspiration, you've got to make that effort to record it, because if you don't,

you'll forget. So, we're thinking of where we can start to sort of get some ideas from.

Now, one nice way of doing this is by talking to your family, maybe your grandparents if they're

still alive, asking them their family stories. You know, this won't be appropriate or relevant

to everyone, but where did their parents meet? Have any of your family migrated? Because tales

of migration, often they're... They're sort of really rich and, you know, why did they go there,

and what was that journey like, and how did they set themselves up in the new place? Are there

any war stories? I mean, sometimes people aren't willing to talk about that, but, you know,

that's part of our history. What was like... What was life like back in... You know, try and get

an understanding for it. Okay. Drawing on your experience. Now, you will have already

lived through things that no one else has. Yep, it's unique to you, so it's good to start

becoming aware of what your experience is. So, one exercise that I've read about is to make a

list of all the jobs that you've done. Now, if you're a student, you won't have done many jobs,

if at all. This is more to adults. What jobs have you done? List them. What places have you been to

in the last five years? I'm not sort of saying have you been to Tesco's, have you been to

Waitrose? I'm like, you know, the different places. Like, have you been to Salisbury? Have

you been to York? Where have you... Where did you go on holiday, if you had a holiday? Where have

you lived? Write those places down. People you have worked with. If you haven't worked yet,

who are the people who have made an impression on you at school? The teachers, your classmates?

Yep, who have you really sort of noticed? And from all of that, we already have a rich tapestry

that you can draw on in stories. But it will come down to thinking about what kind of stories you're

particularly drawn to as what you personally decide that you might want to create. Now,

there are loads of different types of writing. It's not just story writing. Yep. Journalists

write about what's going on in the world, in current affairs. People write reports.

But as I said at the beginning of this lesson, you know, if you can sort of explore this and

try and enjoy the craft of writing, then you'll probably find that your academic and your

professional English will improve, too. Now, there is a little quiz if you'd like to have a go at

that, just to try and remind yourself of some of the ideas I've spoken about in this lesson.

This is an area that I'm very passionate about, so occasionally I have some time where I'm able

to tutor via Skype, but it depends on, you know, 

what I'm doing at that time  and teaching commitments

and teaching commitments. But if you do want any extra help, then, you know, have a look at my

website, honeyourenglish.com, and I may or may not be able to help you. But thank you for watching,

and I hope you'll watch some more of these videos on YouTube. Do subscribe, and enjoy your writing.