what are the rules of creative writing pdf

Elements of Creative Writing (1st edition)

This free and open access textbook introduces new writers to some basic elements of the craft of creative writing. The authors—Rachel Morgan, Jeremy Schraffenberger, and Grant Tracey—are editors of the North American Review , the oldest and one of the most well-regarded literary magazines in the United States. We’ve selected nearly all of our readings and examples from writing that has appeared in our pages over the years. Because we had a hand in publishing these pieces originally, our perspective as editors permeates this book. As such, we hope that even seasoned writers might gain insight into the aesthetics of our magazine as we analyze and discuss some reasons we think this work is so remarkable—and therefore teachable. Edition 2 is under development in fall 2024.

Cover image credit: Hannah Olinger, https://unsplash.com/photos/8eSrC43qdro Used under Unsplash license: https://unsplash.com/license Background image credit: Copyright University of Northern Iowa. All rights reserved.

Elements of Creative Writing

Introduction.

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Chapter One One Great Way to Write a Short Story

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Chapter Two Plotting

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Chapter Three Counterpointed Plotting

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Chapter Four Show and Tell

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Chapter Five Characterization and Method Writing

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Chapter Six Character and Dialogue

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Chapter Seven Setting, Stillness, and Voice

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Chapter Eight Point of View

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Chapter Nine Learning the Unwritten Rules

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Chapter One A Poetry State of Mind

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Chapter Two The Architecture of a Poem

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Chapter Three Sound

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Chapter Four Inspiration and Risk

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Chapter Five Endings and Beginnings

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Chapter Six Figurative Language

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Chapter Seven Forms, Forms, Forms

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Chapter Eight Go to the Image

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Chapter Nine The Difficult Simplicity of Short Poems and Killing Darlings

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Creative Nonfiction

Chapter one creative nonfiction and the essay.

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Chapter Two Truth and Memory, Truth in Memory

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Chapter Three Research and History

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Chapter Four Writing Environments

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Chapter Five Notes on Style

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Chapter Seven Imagery and the Senses

Chapter eight writing the body.

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Chapter Nine Forms

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Back Matter

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Contributors

North american review staff, resource collections, single resources, creative nonfiction: alison alstrom, "good morning, heartache", creative nonfiction: lucienne bloch, "365 new words a year: october", creative nonfiction: traci brimhall, "philematophilia", creative nonfiction: taylor brorby, "confluence", creative nonfiction: lee ann roripaugh, "notes on beauty", creative nonfiction: paul crenshaw, "fire", fiction: sarah cypher, "ghost town", fiction: marc dickinson, "three days discovered", fiction: frannie dove, "a twister on stage 14", creative nonfiction: samantha edmonds, "an incomplete list of sad beautiful things...".

• isbn 978-0-915996-17-9
• publisher Rod Library, University of Northern Iowa with support from North American Review Press. Funding for this project was provided through the University of Northern Iowa Textbook Equity Mini-Grant Program.
• publisher place Cedar Falls, IA
• rights Original textbook content (Introduction, Fiction, Poetry, & Creative Non-Fiction sections) is CC BY-NC 4.0. Readings and examples in Resources section are used with author permission; all rights reserved.
• rights holder Jeremy Schraffenberger, Rachel Morgan, & Grant Tracey except where noted.

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The Cambridge Introduction to Creative Writing

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Creative Writing Handbook - Becoming a Complete Writer in all Genres

This book is for and about amazing you. It contains three main parts beyond this section. The next, ‘Creatives’ and ‘Control’ explores each notion separately. Part three examines the all-important G-forces: Grail and Grails. Discussions in this chapter underpin the thematic title and core pursuit of this book – aiding writers to identify and tightly define the core goal or goals that they desire to realize from their textual quests and conquests. Part four explores 17 popular writing genres and provides an original example of each. Four of these illustrations are first-time attempts by this writer to compose a script in a foreign discipline that is outside his comfort zone and areas of interest. May these modest, raw offerings embolden you to likewise experiment at becoming a complete writer. The penultimate chapter, Part five, explores six topics that may aid writers to answer the holy grail writer’s question, as defined by this author. These topics in order are: Spelling, scripts, styles, solo writing, champions (i.e., role models) and circulation. This book does not aim to teach readers how to develop most technical skills required of competent writers. Open-access and commercial literature available on these topics are mature. Engaging these topics are best served by a medley of resources such as handbooks, video presentations, college curricula and years of dedicated writing practice. Part I Publishers’ edition © Jericho 15 The concluding part of most sections and each chapter is titled ‘Further reading’. These parts offer one or two open-access resources that explore material discussed in that section/chapter in further detail. The principal pursuit of this book aims to help you to identify the core goal/s that may motivate you to be the best writer possible in your chosen fields. There is a dearth of literature that unravels this all-important journey. This book is suitable for informal educational settings and structured teaching environments. It may support writers of all skill levels who thrive from learning solo, in groups or a mixture thereof. It may also guide Creative Writing Professors who teach applied education courses at all levels – from certificate to Graduate-level coursework. Creative writing author authors authorship publication publishing self-publishing self-publication writing creativity Creative Writing 101

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The Handbook of Creative Writing

• Steven Earnshaw
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• Language: English
• Publisher: Edinburgh University Press
• Copyright year: 2014
• Audience: College/higher education;
• Main content: 560
• Keywords: Literary Studies
• Published: April 14, 2014
• ISBN: 9780748689774

Elmore Leonard’s 10 Rules of Writing

By maria popova.

He prefaces the list with a short disclaimer of sorts:

These are rules I’ve picked up along the way to help me remain invisible when I’m writing a book, to help me show rather than tell what’s taking place in the story. If you have a facility for language and imagery and the sound of your voice pleases you, invisibility is not what you are after, and you can skip the rules. Still, you might look them over.

Leonard then goes on to lay out the ten commandments, infused with his signature blend of humor, humility, and uncompromising discernment:

Never open a book with weather. If it’s only to create atmosphere, and not a character’s reaction to the weather, you don’t want to go on too long. The reader is apt to leaf ahead looking for people. There are exceptions. If you happen to be Barry Lopez, who has more ways to describe ice and snow than an Eskimo, you can do all the weather reporting you want. Avoid prologues. They can be annoying, especially a prologue following an introduction that comes after a foreword. But these are ordinarily found in nonfiction. A prologue in a novel is backstory, and you can drop it in anywhere you want. There is a prologue in John Steinbeck’s Sweet Thursday , but it’s O.K. because a character in the book makes the point of what my rules are all about. He says: “I like a lot of talk in a book and I don’t like to have nobody tell me what the guy that’s talking looks like. I want to figure out what he looks like from the way he talks. . . . figure out what the guy’s thinking from what he says. I like some description but not too much of that. . . . Sometimes I want a book to break loose with a bunch of hooptedoodle. . . . Spin up some pretty words maybe or sing a little song with language. That’s nice. But I wish it was set aside so I don’t have to read it. I don’t want hooptedoodle to get mixed up with the story.” Never use a verb other than “said” to carry dialogue. The line of dialogue belongs to the character; the verb is the writer sticking his nose in. But said is far less intrusive than grumbled, gasped, cautioned, lied. I once noticed Mary McCarthy ending a line of dialogue with “she asseverated,” and had to stop reading to get the dictionary. Never use an adverb to modify the verb “said” … …he admonished gravely. To use an adverb this way (or almost any way) is a mortal sin. The writer is now exposing himself in earnest, using a word that distracts and can interrupt the rhythm of the exchange. I have a character in one of my books tell how she used to write historical romances “full of rape and adverbs.” Keep your exclamation points under control. You are allowed no more than two or three per 100,000 words of prose. If you have the knack of playing with exclaimers the way Tom Wolfe does, you can throw them in by the handful. Never use the words “suddenly” or “all hell broke loose.” This rule doesn’t require an explanation. I have noticed that writers who use “suddenly” tend to exercise less control in the application of exclamation points. Use regional dialect, patois, sparingly. Once you start spelling words in dialogue phonetically and loading the page with apostrophes, you won’t be able to stop. Notice the way Annie Proulx captures the flavor of Wyoming voices in her book of short stories Close Range . Avoid detailed descriptions of characters. Which Steinbeck covered. In Ernest Hemingway’s Hills Like White Elephants what do the “American and the girl with him” look like? “She had taken off her hat and put it on the table.” That’s the only reference to a physical description in the story, and yet we see the couple and know them by their tones of voice, with not one adverb in sight. Don’t go into great detail describing places and things. Unless you’re Margaret Atwood and can paint scenes with language or write landscapes in the style of Jim Harrison. But even if you’re good at it, you don’t want descriptions that bring the action, the flow of the story, to a standstill. And finally: Try to leave out the part that readers tend to skip. A rule that came to mind in 1983. Think of what you skip reading a novel: thick paragraphs of prose you can see have too many words in them. What the writer is doing, he’s writing, perpetrating hooptedoodle, perhaps taking another shot at the weather, or has gone into the character’s head, and the reader either knows what the guy’s thinking or doesn’t care. I’ll bet you don’t skip dialogue. My most important rule is one that sums up the 10. If it sounds like writing, I rewrite it. Or, if proper usage gets in the way, it may have to go. I can’t allow what we learned in English composition to disrupt the sound and rhythm of the narrative. It’s my attempt to remain invisible, not distract the reader from the story with obvious writing. ( Joseph Conrad said something about words getting in the way of what you want to say.) If I write in scenes and always from the point of view of a particular character — the one whose view best brings the scene to life — I’m able to concentrate on the voices of the characters telling you who they are and how they feel about what they see and what’s going on, and I’m nowhere in sight. What Steinbeck did in Sweet Thursday was title his chapters as an indication, though obscure, of what they cover. “Whom the Gods Love They Drive Nuts” is one, “Lousy Wednesday” another. The third chapter is titled “Hooptedoodle 1” and the 38th chapter “Hooptedoodle 2” as warnings to the reader, as if Steinbeck is saying: “Here’s where you’ll see me taking flights of fancy with my writing, and it won’t get in the way of the story. Skip them if you want.” Sweet Thursday came out in 1954, when I was just beginning to be published, and I’ve never forgotten that prologue. Did I read the hooptedoodle chapters? Every word.

Complement Elmore Leonard’s 10 Rules of Writing with the 10 best books on writing and the collected advice of other famous writers , including Walter Benjamin’ s thirteen rules , H. P. Lovecraft’ s advice to aspiring writers , F. Scott Fitzgerald’ s letter to his daughter , Zadie Smith’ s 10 rules of writing , Kurt Vonnegut’ s 8 keys to the power of the written word , David Ogilvy’ s 10 no-bullshit tips , Henry Miller’ s 11 commandments , Jack Kerouac’ s 30 beliefs and techniques , John Steinbeck’ s 6 pointers , Neil Gaiman’ s 8 rules , and Susan Sontag’ s synthesized learnings .

— Published August 21, 2013 — https://www.themarginalian.org/2013/08/21/elmore-leonard-10-rules-of-writing/ —

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Creative Writing 101

You love to write and have been told you have a way with words. So you’ve decided to give writing a try—creative writing.

Problem is, you’re finding it tougher than it looks.

You may even have a great story idea , but you’re not sure how to turn it into something people will read.

Don’t be discouraged—writing a compelling story can be grueling, even for veterans. Conflicting advice online may confuse you and make you want to quit before you start.

But you know more than you think. Stories saturate our lives.

We tell and hear stories every day in music, on television, in video games, in books, in movies, even in relationships.

Most stories, regardless the genre, feature a main character who wants something.

There’s a need, a goal, some sort of effort to get that something.

The character begins an adventure, a journey, or a quest, faces obstacles, and is ultimately transformed.

The work of developing such a story will come. But first, let’s look at the basics.

• What is Creative Writing?

It’s prose (fiction or nonfiction) that tells a story.

Journalistic, academic, technical writing relays facts.

Creative writing can also educate, but it’s best when it also entertains and emotionally moves the reader.

It triggers the imagination and appeals to the heart.

• Elements of Creative Writing

Writing a story is much like building a house.

You may have all the right tools and design ideas, but if your foundation isn’t solid, even the most beautiful structure won’t stand.

Most storytelling experts agree, these 7 key elements must exist in a story.

Plot (more on that below) is what happens in a story. Theme is why it happens.

Before you begin writing, determine why you want to tell your story.

• What message do you wish to convey? 
• What will it teach the reader? 

Resist the urge to explicitly state your theme. Just tell the story, and let it make its own point.

Give your readers credit. Subtly weave your theme into the story and trust them to get it.

They may remember a great plot, but you want them thinking about your theme long after they’ve finished reading.

2. Characters

Every story needs believable characters who feel knowable.

In fiction, your main character is the protagonist, also known as the lead or hero/heroine.

The protagonist must have:

• redeemable flaws
• potentially heroic qualities that emerge in the climax
• a character arc (he must be different, better, stronger by the end)

Resist the temptation to create a perfect lead. Perfect is boring. (Even Indiana Jones suffered a snake phobia.)

You also need an antagonist, the villain , who should be every bit as formidable and compelling as your hero.

Don’t make your bad guy bad just because he’s the bad guy. Make him a worthy foe by giving him motives for his actions.

Villains don’t see themselves as bad. They think they’re right! A fully rounded bad guy is much more realistic and memorable.

Depending on the length of your story , you may also need important orbital cast members.

For each character, ask:

• What do they want?
• What or who is keeping them from getting it?
• What will they do about it?

The more challenges your characters face, the more relatable they are.

Much as in real life, the toughest challenges result in the most transformation.

Setting may include a location, time, or era, but it should also include how things look, smell, taste, feel, and sound.

Thoroughly research details about your setting so it informs your writing, but use those details as seasoning, not the main course. The main course is the story.

But, beware.

Agents and acquisitions editors tell me one of the biggest mistakes beginning writers make is feeling they must begin by describing the setting.

That’s important, don’t get me wrong. But a sure way to put readers to sleep is to promise a thrilling story on the cover—only to start with some variation of:

The house sat in a deep wood surrounded by…

Rather than describing your setting, subtly layer it into the story.

Show readers your setting. Don’t tell them. Description as a separate element slows your story to crawl.

By layering in what things look and feel and sound like you subtly register the setting in the theater of readers’ minds.

While they concentrating on the action, the dialogue , the tension , the drama, and conflict that keep them turning the pages, they’re also getting a look and feel for your setting.

4. Point of View

POV is more than which voice you choose to tell your story: First Person ( I, me ), Second Person ( you, your ), or Third Person ( he, she, or it ).

Determine your perspective (POV) character for each scene—the one who serves as your camera and recorder—by deciding who has the most at stake. Who’s story is this?

The cardinal rule is that you’re limited to one perspective character per scene, but I prefer only one per chapter, and ideally one per novel.

Readers experience everything in your story from this character’s perspective.

For a more in-depth explanation of Voice and POV, read A Writer’s Guide to Point of View .

This is the sequence of events that make up a story —in short, what happens. It either compels your reader to keep turning pages or set the book aside.

A successful story answers:

• What happens? (Plot)
• What does it mean? (Theme: see above)

Writing coaches call various story structures by different names, but they’re all largely similar. All such structures include some variation of:

• An Inciting Incident that changes everything
• A series of Crises that build tension
• A Resolution (or Conclusion)

How effectively you create drama, intrigue, conflict, and tension, determines whether you can grab readers from the start and keep them to the end.

6. Conflict

This is the engine of fiction and crucial to effective nonfiction as well.

Readers crave conflict and what results from it.

If everything in your plot is going well and everyone is agreeing, you’ll quickly bore your reader—the cardinal sin of writing.

If two characters are chatting amiably and the scene feels flat (which it will), inject conflict. Have one say something that makes the other storm out, revealing a deep-seated rift.

Readers will stay with you to find out what it’s all about.

7. Resolution

Whether you’re an Outliner or a Pantser like me (one who writes by the seat of your pants), you must have an idea where your story is going.

How you expect the story to end should inform every scene and chapter. It may change, evolve, and grow as you and your characters do, but never leave it to chance.

Keep your lead character center stage to the very end. Everything he learns through all the complications you plunged him into should, in the end, allow him to rise to the occasion and succeed.

If you get near the end and something’s missing, don’t rush it. Give your ending a few days, even a few weeks if necessary.

Read through everything you’ve written. Take a long walk. Think about it. Sleep on it. Jot notes. Let your subconscious work. Play what-if games. Reach for the heart, and deliver a satisfying ending that resonates .

Give your readers a payoff for their investment by making it unforgettable.

• Creative Writing Examples
• Short Story
• Narrative nonfiction
• Autobiography
• Song lyrics
• Screenwriting
• Playwriting
• Creative Writing Tips

In How to Write a Novel , I cover each step of the writing process:

• Come up with a great story idea .
• Determine whether you’re an Outliner or a Pantser.
• Create an unforgettable main character.
• Expand your idea into a plot.
• Do your research.
• Choose your Voice and Point of View.
• Start in medias res (in the midst of things).
• Intensify your main character’s problems.
• Make the predicament appear hopeless.
• Bring it all to a climax.
• Leave readers wholly satisfied.
• More to Think About

1. Carry a writing pad, electronic or otherwise. I like the famous Moleskine™ notebook . 

Ideas can come at any moment. Record ideas for:

• Anything that might expand your story

2. Start small. 

Take time to build your craft and hone your skills on smaller projects before you try to write a book .

Journal. Write a newsletter. Start a blog. Write short stories . Submit articles to magazines, newspapers, or e-zines.

Take a night school or online course in journalism or creative writing. Attend a writers conference.

3. Throw perfection to the wind. 

Separate your writing from your editing .

Anytime you’re writing a first draft, take off your perfectionist cap. You can return to editor mode to your heart’s content while revising, but for now, just write the story.

Separate these tasks and watch your daily production soar.

• Time to Get to Work

Few pleasures in life compare to getting lost in a great story.

Learn how to write creatively, and the characters you birth have the potential to live in hearts for years.

• 1. Carry a writing pad, electronic or otherwise. I like the famous Moleskine™ notebook. 

Faith-Based Words and Phrases

What You and I Can Learn From Patricia Raybon

A Guest Blog from Stephen King—Yes, that Stephen King

Before you go, be sure to grab my FREE guide:

How to Write a Book: Everything You Need to Know in 20 Steps

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Enter your email to instantly access my ultimate guide: 

How to write a novel: a 12-step guide.

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• > The Cambridge Introduction to Creative Writing
• > Composition and creative writing

Book contents

• Frontmatter
• Acknowledgements
• Chapter 1 Introducing creative writing
• Chapter 2 Creative writing in the world
• Chapter 3 Challenges of creative writing
• Chapter 4 Composition and creative writing
• Chapter 5 Processes of creative writing
• Chapter 6 The practice of fiction
• Chapter 7 Creative nonfiction
• Chapter 8 Writing poetry
• Chapter 9 Performing writing
• Chapter 10 Writing in the community and academy
• Illustrative bibliography

Chapter 4 - Composition and creative writing

Published online by Cambridge University Press:  05 June 2012

Whether it is right or advisable to create beings like Heathcliff, I do not know: I scarcely think it is. But this I know: the writer who possesses the creative gift owns something of which he is not always master – something that, at times, strangely wills and works for itself. He may lay down rules and devise principles, and to rules and principles it will perhaps for years lie in subjection; and then, haply without any warning of revolt, there comes a time when it will no longer consent to ‘harrow the valleys, or be bound with a band in the furrow’ – when it ‘laughs at the multitude of the city, and regards not the crying of the driver’ – when, refusing absolutely to make ropes out of sea-sand any longer, it sets to work on statue-hewing … As for you – the nominal artist – your share in it has been to work passively under dictates you neither delivered nor could question – that would not be uttered at your prayer, nor suppressed nor changed at your caprice. If the result be attractive, the World will praise you; if it be repulsive, the same World will blame you, who almost as little deserve blame.

We have seen how the composition of fiction, poetry and creative nonfiction is mostly a matter of reading and practice.

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• Composition and creative writing
• David Morley , University of Warwick
• Book: The Cambridge Introduction to Creative Writing
• Online publication: 05 June 2012
• Chapter DOI: https://doi.org/10.1017/CBO9780511803024.005

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