One of my favorite classes is my creative writing class. I love nothing more than spending a few hours each week writing a short story or novella. During the day I teach a range of classes ranging from English to journalism, but my creative writing class is something I look forward to every week. It’s the one place I can connect with my students on a personal level and find out what’s going on in their minds. It’s also a space I can use to explore the most recent news events through a literary lens.
I’ve put together a collection of tips and tricks on how to write the perfect story for a creative writing class. These will help establish the perfect writing environment for your students and enable you to properly teach the craft. So, let’s get started.
Decide On The Genre And Theme
Above all else, it’s essential to decide on the genre and theme of your story before you start writing. This will impact both your decision-making as a writer and the way you present your story to the reader. Think about the kind of story you want to write and the kind of class you want to teach – Do you want to write a crime story? A coming of age piece? A satire about electioneering in the twenty-first century?
Before you start writing, it’s important to figure out what genre the piece will belong to and what it’s going to be about. The theme should then follow naturally. If you go with a crime story, for example, the theme might be ‘crime fiction’. Armed with this information, you can start to formulate a thesis for your story. This is essentially your ‘journey’s end’ point – the point your story makes or reveals – and it should be concise, punchy, and easy to understand. Think of a classic introduction to a narrative poem such as ‘In the Mist’, by Emily Dickinson:
Some say the sun rises in the east,
Some say the sun rises in the west.
Who says it rises in either place?
– Emily Dickinson
Keep in mind that it’s not necessary to settle on one theme or one genre. You can take an existing work and stretch it into a genre you don’t normally write in or combine several genres into one piece.
Create A Ménage à Trois
One of the greatest things about my creative writing class is that it gives me the opportunity to explore different points of views and character arcs. This is something non-fiction writers struggle to do, so it’s a great privilege. In order to do this, you need to create a situation where three or more characters interact in some way. This doesn’t mean you have to have multiple POV characters in your story, but it does mean you have to write in a way that makes the different characters come alive. Here are a few ways to do this:
- Underpinning the narrative of your story is a central character – usually a journalist or a military officer – who is going to observe and report on the actions and interactions of your other characters. This person’s view of the world will be different from that of your other characters and it will change the way you write their scenes. The underlying reporter in Heliocentrus is an example of this.
- Make the secondary characters into a sort of ‘ménage à trois’ where each of them has a story to tell but in order to do this, you need to create situations where they interact with each other. The best place to do this is through dialogue – have conversations that reveal something about each of your characters – but don’t be afraid to show the world through their actions as well. The students in my creative writing class are often surprised at the degree of detail I go into when describing characters’ actions. It comes from years of directing and acting – I don’t just write about what I see, I want the reader to see it too.
- Include scenes from outside the main characters’ perspectives. If you have a lot of scenes from the inside of buildings and cars, it can make for a very ‘film-noir’ atmosphere. The best stories always have something a little ‘noir’ about them.
- Look at other classic narrative poems or short stories, especially those by classical authors like Chekov or Shakespeare. Their genius is that they combined various genres and used different characters to explore different themes. Do the same. Write what you know.
Find Your Inspiration
Above all else, writing is a ‘work in progress’. One of the most exciting things about my creative writing class is that I get to see the written word change and evolve as my students learn and grow as writers. This is a fantastic way to find inspiration and it’s something you don’t get to do when writing in a vacuum. My students often come up with new ideas and perspectives as a result of our discussions about the craft and I find this inspiring. It means that the magic of writing is that it’s open to the individual creativity of the writer. This is something to strive for as a writer and something to look for when writing your creative writing class assignment.
The Environment Is Everything
In addition to having the perfect plot and the perfect characters, you need to consider the setting of your story. This includes both the ‘present’ (the time period of your story) and the ‘past’ (the era or periods your story is set in). As a writer, it’s easy to get overwhelmed with details and forget what’s most important. Setting is vital and should be considered part of the craft. In “How to Write a Novel in 120 Minutes’, Stephen King says “the most important thing in fiction is… atmosphere. You need to capture the mood of a particular time and place. If you can do that, then you’ve come close to achieving perfection.” Writing is all about choosing the right words – it’s not enough to simply ‘tell it like it is’ – you need to find the right ‘it is’ in order to do that. Once you’ve done that, the rest will seem easy.
Know When To Show, Not Tell
Above all else, you need to know when to show, not tell. The best stories don’t just ‘tell it like it is’, they show it through various visual devices and the use of language. If you take a look at A Clockwork Orange, by Anthony Burgess, you’ll see a phenomenal example of how language and visual devices work together. For instance, take a look at this line:
“I want you to hurt, kill, and destroy”, says the droog.
In this case, the statement ‘I want you to hurt, kill, and destroy’ is told through the use of language and the dialogue is accompanied by a series of graphic depictions of what the narrator intends. In a novel, you should always try and put a picture in your readers’ minds while they’re reading. Don’t just ‘tell’ them something, show it to them through your writing in a way that brings the story to life.
The Importance Of Revising
One of the most important things a writer can do for themselves is to actually go back and edit their work. When you first draft a story, it’s a completely ‘work in progress’ and it’s easy to see everything that needs to be changed. However, in the process of perfecting your work, you need to look at the draft from a fresh perspective and be willing to change some things about it. This is an ongoing process and something you need to nurture in yourself as a writer. Sometimes, you’ll have a story that just won’t work – you’ll have to cut something or add something to make it better. The great thing is that once you’ve done that, you can go back and look at it with a clearer head. Never, ever show a draft to anyone else before you’ve had a chance to go back and edit it. It’s amazing how many things you can change once you’ve re-read it and re-written it a few times. The most important thing is to keep trying – keep playing with words and sentences, throwing ideas around, until you find the one that feels right. Once you’ve found that, you’ll know it and you can start writing.
When it comes to writing a creative writing class assignment, the important thing to do is to have fun with it. Make sure your students have fun – this is a space where they can explore different genres and themes and see something new every week. It’s also a space where they can develop their writing skills and see tangible results from their hard work. All these things should make it clear that this is a space where they can feel relaxed and safe to explore new ideas and stretch their minds creatively. So, have fun!