15 Tips For Creative Writers

A written word is often seen as liberating - it sharpens the mind, and feeds the soul. The opportunities are everywhere, waking up with every morning, and going to sleep with hopes of finding more ideas in sweet dreams. However, in the world of creative writing there is good and bad, the good being inspiration and imagination creating aspiring writers. As opposed to this, there is the worst enemy of every writer - writer's block. Here are some tips to help you write more efficiently.

1. Create a Pleasant Atmosphere

Before you start writing, invest some time and effort into selecting your little corner where you'll be comfortable. This will prevent distractions, and allow you to fully concentrate on your writing.

2. Don't Put Pressure on Yourself

No matter how much you wish to write a creative piece, don't put pressure on yourself. Pressure is like a really big amount of empty air, aimed at replacing your ideas, talent, and imagination with just that - empty air. If you feel there is too much pressure above your head, take a break for as long as you need it.

3. Allow It Time

This is actually quite similar to getting rid of pressure, as fitting your writing into a very tight schedule can out a pressure on you. So, make some time for your writing, regardless of whether this is half an hour or a whole afternoon - the important thing is that you know this is your writing time.

4. Write in the Morning

The best time to write is in the morning, and this doesn't apply to creative writers only, and writing creative content. Freelance writers writing on any topic and in any direction should also get up early and start spilling their ideas on the paper with the arrival of the morning.

5. No Room for Perfection

Don't expect your every word to be perfect, as you will waste a lot of time on trying to achieve this, and the chances are you won't even achieve it. Nothing is perfect, so don't expect a flawless masterpiece, but allow it to have small imperfections - it is what makes it very close to perfect.

6. Improve Your Spelling and Grammar

Writers should invest time into their language, and this doesn't include only wordiness and having a rather rich vocabulary. It is also a very good idea to learn grammar rules, or at least read through them from time to time.

7. Write Things Down

You never know when the idea might strike, so keep a notebook and a pencil close by, so that you can write fresh ideas as soon as they come to your mind. You surely wouldn't want to forget them!

8. Use a Checklist

Before the process of creation begins, make a short list of the things you want to write about. Use this checklist to help you organize your ideas and thoughts.

9. Write about the Things You Like

Writing about the things that you find interesting, fascinating, and so forth, will give you the opportunity to put your passion and fascination you have for these things into your writing. You need to create a whole new world for your reader, and he needs to believe in your every single word.

10. Enjoy writing

Remember to always enjoy writing, and don't allow it to turn into a job. Writing is fun!

11. Write on a Computer while Being Disconnected from the Internet

When you start writing it might be a good idea to disconnect from the Internet, as this useful tool might easily distract you from your writing. A funny photo shared by your friend through Facebook, and you can easily lose track of time on this social network, forgetting about your writing. Organize your time wisely.

12. Don't Write About the Things You Are Not Familiar With

Without getting into complicated explanations, you shouldn't write about the things you know little or nothing about. Go back to number 9, where you'll find the answer why this is not a good idea.

13. Syncretism - Words from Pictures

In case you need inspiration, try this little writing exercise: take any photo, and try to write a short, or a long text based on what you see. The combination has proven to be ideal for creative writing. A picture is worth thousand words - why not write these words down?

14. Time Limit - Fifteen-Minute Exercise

Another writing exercise is based on the idea that you should use your time in a productive manner. Instead of spending hours staring at your laptop screen, try this fifteen-minute exercise. Tell yourself you have only fifteen minutes to write a story. Regardless of whether this is a reversed psychology or something else, it works like a charm. You'll be surprised with how many ideas you can come up with in such a short time frame.

15. Proofreading Your Work - The Perfect Timing

After you finish your work, don't proofread it instantly. Rather than this, wait for a day or even more before you start proofreading your work. This way you will be a lot more efficient in finding errors, if there should be any.

Two Is Better Than One

"Hey", he sneered my way. "Hey!" a little louder, a little breathier.

I blushed. I always blushed; perpetually, painfully shy, continuously craving invisibility. I stared straight ahead, eyes on the board, palms and pits producing an instant hot sweat.

"You know...you gotta have the ugliest nose I've ever seen." he hissed.

I leaned forward, hands flat on my desk; perspiration mixing with the Comet residue the janitor had left behind, forming a balmy paste over my flattened grip.

It was Valentine's Day and the Carnations would be delivered soon. You could feel the buzz in the room. I tried to focus on that. Once my flower came, I'd be vindicated. He'd feel so stupid for taunting me. He'd realize I might be popular and that someone out there might think I was pretty.

The Carnations were a big deal at our school; a yearly tradition. They cost three dollars of hard-earned pocket-money so selecting the recipient was taken very seriously. Boys sent them to girls, girls sent them to boys, girls even sent them to each other. Most were fired off anonymously; the only ones signed stemming from legitimate daters and official best friends. No one else dared to be so outwardly presumptuous.

"I bet you think you're gonna get a flower, don't you?" he jeered.

I tried to lift my hand discreetly, bringing it up to camouflage my apparently hideous nose and my now stinging eyes. I would not cry in front of him, but the smell of the Comet coming from my grit-covered hand was burning my nostrils and losing me my battle.

"You think you can hide that big banana?" he laughed. "Good luck with that. Good luck with that and that grease-slicked skin of yours."

I liked to think it was the fumes, but my eyes were brimming regardless of cause and I knew he would be sure he'd gotten under my skin, fumes or not.

"Are you crying?" he mocked. "God, you're such a baby." Out of the corner of my eye I could see his knee bouncing up and down. His leg jostled a mile a minute causing the frayed hem of his jeans to swing back and forth.

Although tears were the last thing I wanted him to see, they did make him back off. No one wanted to be responsible for making someone cry in class. It meant a trip to the office and a call home, neither a favorable outcome.

I tilted my head and stared through the window. Outside was bleak. It had been a particularly cold February and the wind was whipping through the trees. I swallowed the lump in my throat and longed to be out there. Being outside in blustering gales coatless would be better than having to sit here, enduring him.

I tried to pay attention to the lesson being taught. I tried not to think of my rumbling belly, my chemically transformed skin, my imminent flower or the jerk next door. I had almost accomplished all of it when there was a knock on the door causing an eruption of excitement amongst the other students.

I simply froze. What if it hadn't worked? Or worse, what if I had somehow messed it up and it wasn't anonymous after all? The sweat magnified and became a fast-trickling stream flowing straight down my spine.

"You're getting greasier by the second, loser." he said in a snide tone.

My eyes were glued on the flower bearers. They were shouting out name after name and at long last, mine was called.

As hard as it was to have all eyes on me, I lifted my cement-stiff body out of the desk and forced my heavy legs to move towards the front of the room.

As I got closer, confusion set in. Two flowers were being held out.

"Do you want me to pass one to someone?" I whispered, my face flaming with prickly heat.

"Nope, both for you. Lucky," the girl said enviously. "I didn't get any." It shouldn't have, but it made me tingly inside.

The tingling shrouded the walk back to my desk and shielded me from the stares and snickers. I sat down in a trance-like state, eyes glued to the blossoms laid out in front of me. Their sweet aroma replaced the smelly Comet, their pastel shades swapped for the unicolor scheme outside.

A legit Valentine's Day Carnation. I did a quick mental check; nope, I'd only sent myself one. I was sure.

"Two?" I heard him exclaim. "I don't believe it," he almost sounded wounded. "You sent those to yourself," he guessed. "You had to!"

My face seared and my throat tightened. He'd managed to break through my bubble and yank me back to miserable reality. Only reality didn't seem all that miserable anymore. Someone had thought of me, someone liked me.

The bell to end the school day rang and he got up quickly. "See ya later, freak show."

I waited for everyone to leave, their chatter slowly quieting as they filed out one by one.

I wanted to pack my flowers in my bag without the other kids knocking around. I wanted to make sure they went unharmed.

As I swung my legs, now light, around the side of my seat, something caught my eye; a pink ticket that hadn't been there before. I recognized it instantly and my heart skipped a beat as I quickly looked around. If anyone had seen it, I'd be the laughing-stock of the school, the butt of every joke, as opposed to now, being the butt of only most.

I reached down to grab the Carnation receipt, my fingers fumbling over the waxy paper. But, as I brought it closer to my face, I realized it didn't belong to me. My name was boldly printed in the recipient's box sure enough, but the printing wasn't mine. It was his...the jerk next door's.

Okay, we all knew that was coming. Except for...maybe the boys...

Write A Series Of Books - Not Just One!

Whether you've just started your first book or have completed it, don't stop with just the one. Establishing a presence online or in print is crucial and will have readers coming back for more. One way to achieve this goal in a reasonably short amount of time is to break a novel apart into several "books" and they can also be stand alone, but linked. This way, you can publish them all individually and then as a whole. This will increase your sales.

Link your book series together with similarly styled but individually designed covers and they will more than likely also be loaded onto a single page in your Ebook store and be recognized as a series there. When you load up your books, if you put the series title in the title of the book they will be on one page and readers can find them easily.

A continuing character or characters should be established in the first book if you go for a series. This person or couple or group has to change and grow as you write the series, as I did for my lead character in my first book, and thereafter.

Feel free to change your covers if you find that sales are slow or there doesn't seems to be enough attention being paid to your books. There isn't any charge to change the outside or inside on the major online retailer, as well as in their P.O.D. division. As a reminder, in that same major retailer you do have to physically submit separate files to enable readers to Look Inside on the print version posted online. They take care of that automatically with the E version of your book/s.

Lengths may vary of course but a good "short story" or chapter in a linked series is about 5,000 to 6,000 words. This enables you to develop the character or characters and gives a reader the chance to get to know them. You can also have a series of novellas and these should be a minimum of 25,000 words to qualify as long form fiction, because they are true novels.

When you go to load up your Ebooks on this retailer's direct publishing site, there's no need to put a cover jpeg inside of your book as well. They take care of that now so it will save you a step! If yuu create your cover jpeg for your Ebook site, then make it 5x8 inches as this looks great both on the site, plus you can use it for your book's print version, if you choose.

Have Books Influenced Your Writing Style?

It's snowing outside. You'll know that if you've looked out of a window recently, or seen the wall-to-wall coverage of SNOWMAGEDDON II - This Time It's a Week Earlier Than in 2010. And there's nothing better on a cold evening than curling up on the couch with a good book.

So, rather than launching into a lecture on why another copywriter has sold out by admitting he'll use the phrase "Much, much more" without hesitation, I'd like to share three of the books that have influenced my writing style.

The Hitchhiker's Guide to the Galaxy - Douglas Noel Adams

I may have mentioned it before, but I'm a tiny bit of a massive, huge, ginormous Hitchhiker's Guide fan. I've got a huge leather-bound anthology of the first 5 books, I like Eoin Colfer's effort and I can sit through the movie without stabbing myself in the thigh with a fork.

And indirectly, Douglas Adams is the reason that I'm a copywriter. The first thing I did when we had the internet was search for the Hitchhiker's Guide. I found h2g2 - a collaborative encyclopedia founded by Adams. Through writing for h2g2, I learnt that I wasn't a bad writer. Then the community helped me become a good writer. And then I started to write for a living.

Candide - Voltaire

There's nothing I like more than writing a blog post with a sarcastic or tongue in cheek undercurrent. It might be the frustrated satirist in me, or it could just be the fact that I'm as sarcastic as they come, but I love it. And Voltaire is the master of the craft. "All's for the best, in the best of all possible worlds!" cries our eponymous hero, as he nearly drowns, or an earthquake wrecks Lisbon, or as his worldly wealth is washed away. If Voltaire's tongue had been any further into his cheek, he'd have dislocated something. And it's this talent for satire that's influenced the way I write blog posts.

Slaughterhouse 5 - Kurt Vonnegut

A colleague recommended I read some Vonnegut just after I'd started out as a junior copywriter. And Slaughterhouse 5 changed the way I think about writing. It took me from writing long, dull sentences to short, concise ones. Admittedly, the fact that Vonnegut has a unique style and structure does have a downside. After reading one of his novels, it takes my own style a few days to reassert itself. But if it wasn't for KV, my copy wouldn't be half as good. So it goes.

So that's three of the books that have influenced me. Obviously I've missed things like the Sharpe series (a how to on recycling the same themes over and over) and The Hobbit (an example on why you shouldn't fall in to the trap of big, showy follow-ups), but it I've gone on long enough.

Interview With John H Byk (Pen Name, Conrad Johnson), Author of Detroit Daze

John H. Byk (pen name, Conrad Johnson) was born and raised on the gritty streets of Detroit, Michigan. After surviving high school, he joined the Coast Guard and then went back to school to earn his Masters of Art in English. Still aching to see more of the world, he worked as a Merchant Seaman and then taught English in Japan and Thailand before returning to Detroit to teach high school. Having had enough, he retired early and now spends his time writing and interviewing contemporary authors on his podcast blog, 2012writersALIVE, from his home in Michigan's beautiful Upper Peninsula. When not chained to the computer, he spends his free time hunting, fishing, hiking, sailing and enjoying nature with his best friend Judy and his adoring canine, Sarah.

What was your inspiration for Detroit Daze?

I wrote my first novel, Till the Moon Falls, in 2010. When I finished it, a sequel came to mind so I went right to work on that. It's called, Xe-Nophobia. After finding an old high school friend on Facebook, he suggested that I should write a novel about those wild and crazy days so I did, figuring that a trilogy was better than a duology. The book is a prequel that completes The John Oxman Voyages series.

How long did it take you to complete Detroit Daze?

Once I finished my first novel I couldn't stop writing. I finished all three books in a year and then a fourth one and now I'm working on my fifth. I've also written non fiction, chapbooks along the way. If there's a day that goes by that I'm not writing, then I'm thinking about writing.

What do you find most challenging about writing crime fiction?

Avoiding sensationalism. Blood and violence for its own sake does not a good story make. There has to be a compelling narrative to justify it all.

What is your favorite scene in the book?

To be honest, I hated the entire manuscript when I was done with it. But then I shared it with Rebecca Forster, indie author of the best selling Witness Series and she nearly flipped out because she loved it so much. She answers this question best when she posted a review on Amazon that says, "Every word, every plot turn, every scene was so graphically presented that the reader prays the main character will be able to escape his circumstances. You will never forget Heavy, Berwyn and the rich cast of characters portrayed in this novel."

What do you love most about being an author?

The freedom to dream, explore, create, share and to have an excuse for eating fudge brownies for a sugar buzz while working.

What does an author need to do to be a guest on your radio show, 2012writersALIVE?

First of all, they have to have a book that's on the market and ready to be purchased with a click. Secondly, I prefer authors that have experience related to the work they are promoting and/or credentials more substantial than just being a blogger. I screen potential guests carefully to keep my show classy and relevant (I hope!). Thirdly, and perhaps most importantly, they need a telephone or Skype connection, especially if they live outside of the USA.

What's on the near horizon?

Warmer weather and lots of fishing trips. Seriously. I can hardly believe how much I've written in the past two years and all the interviews that I've done. I feel it's time to slow down a bit, catch my breath and cast a few flies for trout as I still continue working on my next project and soliciting guests for my podcast blog at a much more relaxed pace than before.

Is there anything else you'd like to tell my readers?

If you're a writer, write from your own social milieu. If you're a reader (as all good writers should be), always have at least two books on your nightstand (or on your electronic device) that you're working your way through. Scan and sift through everything that you come across in print. Also, watch a goofy comedy film every now and then. Besides that, make sure you wear sunscreen on the beach.

Guide to New Creative Writers

A lot of creative writers entertain the idea of getting writing awards to take credit of how beautiful and informative their creation is. Aside from the fact that they make money writing different types of stories, getting awards will make them more popular. Isn't it nicer if you will work for your own benefit? You will be your own boss. No deadlines to beat, no stressed days to endure. What is nice about being a writer is that you are given the chance to share your own thoughts and ideas to the world and get remarkable comments from your readers.

If you are a new writer, you have to follow some tips in order for you to make money writing your ideas. With proper perseverance, you will surely gain writing awards in the end. So if you want to attain your goal the fastest possible time, you must carefully improve your skills as a writer so that you can come up with an outstanding work. If you are a newbie, then you must read a lot. Reading different types of work will make you more familiar about different writing styles which will surely help you for the betterment of your own work. You must also take notes of the new words you will be encountering to enrich your vocabulary. A proper word that has been used will add quality to the work. You must make sure that words are being used correctly because not everything synonymous to your desired word gives justice to what you want to imply to your audience. You will have plenty of writing awards if you will follow this step and make money writing about what you think will help your readers a lot.

Your grammar must also be properly checked. If you are not confident about it, you may ask a good friend to read your work for he may see whatever you have missed. You must also take note of different grammar agreements. Read a lot of books for it will also help you improve your grammar or you may check tutorials on how to make an error-free article. A bad grammar will push your readers away from your work since they could surely not comprehend your work well. Another option you may take is by asking your friends to check your works. Whatever you miss may be seen by someone who knows about grammar well so you must make sure that you seek help from the people you know could help you best.

You must be sure that you are really well-informed in writing your chosen topic especially if you like to inform your readers about it. You must make sure that everything is supported by facts and not just by your thoughts about the said topic. It is crucial to write such genre since you need to have a good background about the said topic so as to guide your readers about it not mislead them into an idea or thought which is not real.

Sharing your thoughts and ideas is a very noble thing to do since you will be changing other people's perspective if you know how to execute your movements well. Writing is indeed a good thing to do for you will gain a lot of writing awards and make money writing what you think is correct. If you have such goal and if you have the talent, you must totally continue reaching for it. Write with your heart and you will surely get what you want.

How to Write Children's Books

For some writing is the most difficult operation in the whole wide world. There are many spirited people with such delightful stories to tell, but feel that putting pen to paper is the most tedious and most challenging duty of all. Well, here are some tips that will wake up a new you.

Tip One: First of all, do some immediate self-talk and tell yourself that you are going to get much, much better and that you are going to try to make a concerted effort in following the rules set down here.

Tip Two: Whenever you get the chance, try to find out your preferred learning style. It will help make your writing chores a little easier. For example, are you a morning person or a night person. Do you work better in mixed company, or are you a person that must have complete and utter quiet. You know you have to be in a morgue to function well.

Tip Three: Get these tools, a recording or electronic device that will record your voice and messages. Borrow one, or purchase one and once this operation is over return it for a refund. This is only if your expenses are horribly low.

Tip Four: Make sure you have access to a computer to type your report. If you do not have one, make sure you can get hold of one. This is purely up to you, you do not need to have one.

Tip Five: If you know your story, then record it right away on the recorder. If you do not and need help in locating a story idea, then read on.

Tip Six: If you need to get a story idea, surround yourself with kids. Hopefully, you know young people. Relatives are great. Listen to their day activities. They are loaded with them. Ask how they are doing at school. Ask them if they have any stories to tell. You can either record them, or try to remember what they say. I frequently get ideas from my 6 year old and eight year old children. It doesn't take much. All you want is the idea. Just try to get a beginning, middle and an end. The rest is just coloring in. Sometimes, you can do it in one day. Sometimes, you may need to develop it over days, weeks or even months. Doing this will enable you to have many story ideas.

Tip Seven: Have fun telling your stories to kids and make them laugh. The crazier the story the better. Get their developed opinions of what is going on. Ask them if they can help you develop the story. I have written many books where I have given co authorship to my children or wife. You can always mention their efforts in the acknowledgement if you do not want to give them author credit.

If it is children's books that you wish to write, then you must read children's books, watch children's movies and plays. This is a world that demands your attention and consideration. They, the children, are a blast and chuck full of delicious ideas, words and attitudes. Do not let them down.

Tip Eight: Record all dreams. In fact, before falling off to sleep, ask yourself to have dreams that you can bring to the little people. I have found that by saying the next four statements help me much in my exploration into great ideas. Those statements are: I love You, I am sorry, Please forgive me and thank you. Try these on for a moment just before bed, upon awaking and whenever you feel the urge to reach for the stars and seek out another source according to your faith and being.

Tip Nine: If you are having writer's block, then you must get hold of a few short and thrilling and stimulating children's books and copy them in long hand. Do not type them. Make each word your own and savor each word, sentence and phrase.

Tip Ten: Listen to children's audio books. Listen to a handsome number in order to get the whole children's theme into you.

Tip Eleven: Do not forget to watch those Saturday morning cartoons. Try to watch them with kids.

Following anyone of these tips will help you get started. Remember your childhood. What was it like? Did you enjoy it? Why or Why not? Develop that ear for listening to other people. The greatest tip is to write and write and write some more. There is nothing like the exercise of getting something down on paper. Good Luck and enjoy.

How to Find Writing Inspiration

Everyone who has gone through life's tough experiences and come out the other end has wisdom to share. We're all experts at life's lessons and we all have the knowledge to fill many self-help books. But, where to start? What words to use?

One of my friends who has gone through breast cancer, broken bones, and loss of a parent at a young age, has learned methods of coping, plus inspiration to help others as well. So, she's starting to write. You may have a story to tell as well, and it's cathartic (which can be good) to get your words out.

But where does the inspiration to write come from? From the chakra standpoint, the Third Eye chakra. This is the chakra that opens you to your spirit guides or higher self or higher knowing, whatever terminology you choose to use. You can access the "muse," your inner guidance, and messages from the Infinite, all when in the alpha state, when opening your Third Eye.

You're also in the alpha state when you're near sleep. Don't you wake up in the middle of the night and wish you had a pencil and paper to jot down your great ideas? Another time you empty your "monkey mind" is when exercising. When I go for a run, just the right words for a headline, slogan, or retort to a criticism will pop into my mind. While a nap or a run might not fit into your work day, meditation can easily fit into 10-minute breaks when you're up against the wall of writer's block.

MEDITATE TO WRITE BETTER

Meditation is a daily practice that has numerous health benefits, because it reduces the stress response on all of the body's organs and systems, sharpening the mind and enhancing calm and clear thinking.

Research studies continue to report on the power and benefits of meditation. A new study from the University of North Carolina shows that people who meditated for 20 minutes a day performed 10 times better than ones who didn't meditate.

Not just 100% better, but 10 times or 1000% better, an amazing shift.

If you're writing your next article or book, imagine how that would affect your productivity and creativity. In fact, meditation could be a great way to overcome writer's block.

Some might say meditation is one of the fastest ways of coming up with new ideas. But how can you fit it in?

1) Find a regular place in your home, office or garden where you can sit quietly for 10 minutes without disturbance.

2) Choose the style of meditation that feels right to you:
- A guided visualization you can listen to on your iPod,
- A traditional meditation where you focus on your breath or a mantra,
- A more active meditation where you relax through a few deep breaths, focus on a specific question or topic, and wait for answers/inspiration to come in.

So, calm your mind with meditation and open it to creativity.

Too Busy To Write, or Do Anything: Thoughts On My Publisher Life

How many of you are just like me? You are constantly attempting to catch up all the time. You have a list of things to do that you wish you did not have to do, a list of things you know you have to do--some of which are good and some bad, a list of things you've always wanted to do, and things you know you like but rarely, if ever, get to. Not to mention, you feel tired, are drinking coffee to stay alert and when you hear someone say they're bored you nearly have a heart attack.

What we busily become is not necessarily who we really are. My confession is that I am a creative writer, who rarely, rarely, rarely, barely ever writes. I could probably be a radio show host, a comedy improv actor with enough work, but what do I do? I help writers. I help promote writers. I think about writing a fair amount and sometimes scribble out a paragraph that I think I'll someday turn into a book. I also listen to those I'm enabling to be writers frequently tell me they need me to do more, it's not easy to listen to.

One of the hardest things to do as a publisher, who was once (and still wishes to be) an author is listen to authors whine, complain, and get in their own ways as authors. To steal another line, I ask, "Where it written that your publisher is going to be a miracle worker?" I'm only as good as my authors. My biggest fear is choosing an author's book and then having them do nothing to help sell their book.

But I digress. We are all so busy, we all want to see our words, or books, our thoughts become part of a larger audience and in some ways we are all our own worst enemies because we are convinced that all of this can, and should, happen and rather quickly so we race on to Facebook, Tumbler, Twitter, our webpages, create pages as if lightning bolts planting free electricity. It reminds me of when people used to get a business card printed and suddenly thought they were "official."

If we would all slow down and focus on the few essential things we really want and focus on slowing our minds slow down (myself included) we would be happier. I once wrote, "life is too short to go fast" I still agree. Think of your written words as dreams you want to come true. Think of your publisher as someone who will try their best to help your dreams come true, but only with your help. Over time we'll get it all right.

The Final Battle

They were circling each other under the moonlight. Those vicious eyes fixed on each other. The trees surrounded them, there was almost no way out. The moon was high in the sky, giving scarce light in a forest of darkness. Everything seemed prepared for the fight, a fight that rarely happened in these lands. It was a fight, of wolves.

The two wolves moved step by step, cautiously, concentrating on the other's moves. Their red eyes were like daggers, focusing on each other, knowing that only one would come out alive.

One of them let out a howl. His black fur was scattered around his body, He was very hairy. He looked horrid; his crooked legs were thin, but sturdy. An ear was torn apart, it wasn't his first fight. His teeth were vicious, letting out his deep growl; his bloody teeth were strong and sharp. His incisors were sabers. His eyes were bloody red.

His legs stopped, he turned facing his white furred opponent, taking a stance. The white wolf looked rather pleasant, his fur was whiter than the moon itself, they were rather groomed and soft.

His muscled legs took a stop, his furry tail stopping to place. Nothing moved, but his long white incisors which were emerging from his mouth. He let out a deep growl, telling his black enemy that he was determined to win.

Both in their attack stance, nothing moved, the wind howled, and the trees stopped swaying with it though, as if they were seated to watch the spectacle. The black wolf suddenly let out a howl, shaking the trees, an owl flew, and the wind carried the sound. The whole forest was struck by that horrid screech of deep voice. He leaped into a run.

The white wolf saw it coming, and assumed his position. As the black wolf's sprint came to an end he sprung his feet, soaring, claws stretched out, onto the white wolf. The white wolf flicked his paw into an attack, as they made contact. The black wolf was sprung away. He landed as his paws made impact grinding him on the ground, throwing him off balance for a second.

That gave the white wolf more than enough time to attack. He leaped at him, digging his teeth deep into his skin. A screeching yelp emanated from the black wolf's mouth. He struggled to release himself, but the white wolf's grasp was too strong for him. He then threw himself on the ground, releasing himself, blood dripping from his back.

Full of fury, the black wolf bit the white wolf's neck, the white wolf let out a howl. He kept his teeth still, and kept on slashing at him with his claws. The white wolf wouldn't give up, but the teeth were biting too hard, his vision was fading away. With every struggle, more pain came, until everything was black.

There was a loud beeping sound, it was fast. It seemed to be speeding up, until it was a continuous sound.

The white wolf was entering the void. The determination to win, it was still too strong, but, he already knew it was over. It seemed as if every time he admitted defeat he went farther into the void. He was on the edge of oblivion. It was then that he felt it, the urge of another chance, and the confidence of winning. He wasn't sure if it was too late anymore.

Energy was bursting through his body, everywhere until the tip of his nose. He seemed to be glowing. He opened his eyes and saw the black wolf leave, he stood on his four feet, and howled a howl, that shook the forest, and got the trees to sway, it was his final chance.

The black wolf turned and looked in surprise as he saw the white wolf leaping on him. He yelped a yelp of surprise, and took his final breath as the white wolf's claws impacted on his body. The white wolf let out a victory howl, as he felt the black wolf's pulse stop.

The continuous sound was still sounding. Then it was quiet. Tears swarmed down Kate's mother as she realized, it was the end. She let out a loud sob. as the doctor looked at Kate, he Knew she was dead.

A beep was heard. The beep started to sound again. Kate opened her eyes slowly, her vision returning. She had witnessed a battle, a battle that would keep her confident all her life. The winner was evident. Life was victorious! Kate let out a smile to show her mother that she was okay. Her mother ran towards her and gave her a hug squishing Kate with her arms.

It was incredible that she witnessed that fight, the fight between life and death. It was a battle that happened rarely in your life, maybe once. It was a battle many wouldn't survive; it was a battle of a lifetime. Kate knew this wasn't the end; in fact it was the beginning. She felt a chill in her bones as she remembered that someday, death's son would return, for vengeance, maybe even stronger than his father.

She pushed the thought out of her head, she was going to enjoy her life, she was almost certain. She emptied her head and tried to enjoy her mother's hug, while she still could.

Celebrating National Kite Flying Month: Giving You 8 Reasons to Write This Month

Have you ever flown a kite? Have you ever attended a kite festival? What goes through your mind as you watch a kite dance with the wind? Kites have been and continue to be a whimsical, fascinating outdoor activity that requires the mechanical skill of maneuvering the strings that control these lightweight, dazzling and colorful flying wonders in the sky.

Traditional kite festivals and events unite kite flyers and those who love to watch kite performances around the world. It gives kite pilots the opportunity to display their unique, artistic, aerodynamic pieces of artwork demonstrated through the skillful techniques of their navigational performances. This aerobatic ballet in the sky started as a scientific tool used for such purposes as meteorology, wireless communications, aerial photography and aeronautics.

As we celebrate National Kite Flying Month, this is an opportune moment to allow this art form to inspire you to write. Here are 8 ways to get inspired and compose some amazing pieces of work to celebrate the art of kites this month:

1. Write about what kite designs and shapes are representative of certain countries and cultures.
2. Write a review about kites or a book written about kites.
3. Write about the types of materials kites are made from.
4. Write a poem or short story about your experience flying a kite.
5. Write about local, national or international kite flying clubs.
6. Write about why people are so fascinated by kites.
7. Write about the history and evolution of kites.
8. Write a blog or article about the photos you have taken of kites in flight.

"Go fly a kite" is an idiom used to tell annoying people to go away and leave you alone. However, as we redefine this expression during National Kite Flying Month, let this theme release your inner writing creativity and revive the love of a skilled hobby in a new and innovative way. By the way, the third Sunday in April is dubbed "Go Fly a Kite Day!"

Writing A Comedy Script

In theory, writing a comedy script is easy; as a matter, of fact, we can apply that to writing a script of any kind, too. Writing anything is easy, period. However, when you start to apply qualifiers such as "funny" in front of the words "comedy script," then the difficulty level obviously increases to the point that it can be very hard. Don't believe that? Well, in that case, then just look at all of the bad "comedy" films that have ever been made throughout the history of film! Each and every one of those transgressors first started out with an awful comedy script. With all of this in mind, let's take a quick glance at just what should be included in writing comedy, and, no, you need not be so-called comedy writers to succeed.

First, you should use reversals. What are reversals? A reversal is basically something that is contrary to what is expected. For instance, remember that scene from 2009's The Hangover that included plans by Stu to wed his girlfriend? It turned out that Stu would actually marry a stripper-that's a reversal. In fact, as those experienced in writing comedy will tell you, humour is founded on reversals.

Next, you should never underestimate the power of a big build-up. A big build-up relates to something happening in a movie that everybody expects, but to really capitalise on this occurrence, you should make any characters in your script expect the total opposite of what is really going to occur next. This has the effect of increasing the schism between the characters' and the audience's expectations and what really occurs. As a result, the bigger the schism is between expectation and reality, the bigger the laughs will be, too.

Believe it or not, location is not just important to the story of a movie, but also to writing comedy as part of your comedy script. If you select locations in a wise manner, even though you are writing a comedy, the funny ideas will just have a tendency to flow effortlessly. It will be useful to think of some locations that are not just interesting in a visual sense, but also chock full of curious items that your characters can interact with in humorous manners. For instance, The Hangover made great use of this principle of scriptwriting. Remember that the setting of the movie was Las Vegas, which obviously is chock full of interesting people and things that the Hangover characters could interact with, thereby producing really funny moments!

Searching for the less obvious joke is another thing to keep in mind when writing your comedy script. You see, in comedy, the less obvious is sometimes funnier than something that's been done to death a hundred times over! Here is a tip on how to locate a less obvious funny joke: It is probably going to be the 5th or even the 20th scene that you can come up with and not the first one that you concoct. So be patient as you go about trying to find the less obvious joke in the material that you come up with.

Irony is rarely something that is practised properly, but when it is, it is usually comedy gold, maybe even comedy platinum. Irony is nothing more than creating either a disparity or an incongruity between the intention and the expression or even between the intention and the results. Remember this simple-but-effective definition of irony when crafting your comedy scenes. Irony is very versatile, which means that you can incorporate it right into your comedy on both the macro as well as the micro levels.

It is beyond clear that hardly everyone can be a legitimate comedy writer. In fact, some writers of comedy probably shouldn't be in the business at all, but, for some weird reason, still are! No matter how you look at things, though, comedy is a science more than an art form because there are things that are simply funny to the human mind, period. So to save you from being just another of the many bad comedy writers out there, do keep the above tips in mind when composing your comedy masterpiece. That way, you'll actually succeed at humor.

How To Come Up With a Good Story for Your Graphic Novel

A graphic novel is pretty much like a paperback novel except that it is told with pictures or graphics (hand-drawn images). The script of course is an integral part of the whole thing, besides, you wouldn't understand whatever is going on, on the pages, save maybe for the action scenes in some panels. All in all the core of your graphic novel should be the whole plot and how you tell the story, the graphics are just a supplementary element that enhances the story. In fact they serve the purpose of literally visualizing the character as there are times when words are not enough to describe someone or something.

Plot

With millions of stories that have been told over thousands of years in many different languages, it is almost a rare thing when someone is able to come up with something new. But you can still write a new story rich with surprises and twists as long as you do not compare your story with someone else's work. Originality is a critical aspect in creating a graphic novel. It may also be best not start your idea by thinking in what genre' you will write it on, because it gets cramped up in your head thinking about a plot of action, adventure, thriller, horror, drama etc. Instead start your story by picturing the moments of it in your mind. You can think about a vampire story where it starts with a mysterious murder case, then insert a climax where hundreds of vampires chases the protagonist and ending it with a bang - a battle between the champion of the story and the evil villain vampire in a lopsided fight that favors the villain, until that one instant when the good guy exploits his vulnerability and wins the fight by virtue of pure chance. You can then put your story in the corresponding genre' that it belongs.

Graphics

This part of your work will take a lot longer than creating the story and plot, especially if you're an inexperienced beginner in drawing. Basically what you would need to do is learn to draw, there are a lot of online course on this subject. You can also buy a tutorial book or CD's and learn to draw comic book characters and background in a matter of months. Learn some digital graphics tools like photoshop and corel draw because they can lighten up the load in completing your work at least 30% faster, especially in coloring and clean up. As much as possible come up with original characters (i.e. looks, costumes, clothing, hair and eye color, facial structure etc.) and make your panels more dramatic to enhance the emotions of the readers with each scene.

Out of Body Dreams: What Do They Mean?

When you dream, your mind creates a sort of story, based on different elements lying within your subconscious. Sometimes the dream contains memories from your day - people you interacted with or places you visited. In other cases the dream pertains to a memory that recently resurfaced. Other dreams present you with a glimpse of the future. Often times, a dream is an amalgamation of all of these elements. Out of body dreams are less common.

It's normal to have dreams on a nightly basis. In fact, you dream each and every night, regardless of whether you remember those dreams or not. Even if the characters and events within your dreams seem to come out of left field, they do have meaning. Your dreams can help you understand your own inner desires, your thoughts, feelings, and all of the things that happen to you. So what does it mean when you have an out of body dream? This is a higher level of dreaming, whereby you enhance your connection to your subconscious mind.

Essentially, an out of body dream is an exploration of the non-physical realm. In this realm, you stand to gain knowledge pertaining to your own nature, in addition to the nature of others and the universe. This form of spiritual travel can be truly illuminating and intellectually gratifying. When your spirit leaves your body within the confines of the dream, you are no longer attached to your material existence. In this new realm, you are uninhibited; you can experience the many benefits of metaphysical travel.

If you're having out of body dreams on a regular basis, this is your spirit trying to tell you something. Perhaps you have some residual grief that your spirit would like to release. Perhaps your spirit is seeking extra nourishment. Perhaps you need to shine light on the past or understand and prepare for your future. The out of body dreams you have can help you to understand exactly what you need to move forward with your life. As such, you should be careful not to dismiss them prior to considering what they mean.

Out of dreams occur spontaneously, but believe it or not you can also train yourself to have them. For instance, if you would like to understand yourself better, or gain new insights into your future, or even if you would like to experience release from your physical existence, you can train yourself to have out of body dreams. Instead of waiting for your body to tell you what it needs, you can access your ability to have an out of body dream in order to grow. The best part about out of body dreams is that you can choose what you would like to see in this other, subconscious world. All that you could possibly want to know about your life is placed at your fingertips, where all you have to do is step outside of your body to access it.

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Creative Writing - 5 Top Ways To Rejuvenate Your Creative Writing Starting Today

Writer's block is a widely known phenomenon amongst writers, when you feel completely stuck, out of ideas, and wondering not where the next book or poem or chapter will come from, but where the next SENTENCE will come from.

It's times like this when your creative writing feels in need of a serious boost of energy and inspiration, something to rejuvenate it to the kind of levels you've produced before, and can do again.

So here are 5 top ways to give your writing a new lease of life. You can start putting them into action today:

1. Experiment with some creative writing prompts. Prompts simply provide a starting point for your writing, a new direction to head in that you might not have tried before. Once you get started, your writing is all your own, you're free to create and write in whichever way it takes you. That initial prompt gives the little boost you need to get the creative writing ideas flowing once more.

2. Start small and keep it short. Often we expect to be able to write 3 new chapters of our novel a day when the reality is we're struggling to string more than a couple of words together. This expectation is only making the block more painful. Instead put all major projects to one side, pick something small, different and experimental, and see where it leads. After building confidence with a few of these short projects, work up to larger more ambitious ones again.

3. Start an ideas journal. The easiest way to keep creative ideas flowing to you like Niagara Falls is to capture them as soon as they come. Use an ideas journal to write down ideas when they appear. The more ideas you write down and capture, the more will appear. Your ideas journal will soon be overflowing with a diverse collection of new writing ideas you can't wait to explore.

4. Detach from the outcome. When you're focused on the "end product" of what you're writing and trying to come up with something perfect, it's easy to lose sight of the enjoyment of writing. Pick a new project and have no expectation of how it will turn out. Simple write freely, whatever comes to you. You'll come up with some gems of ideas as well as reconnecting with the pure enjoyment and adventure of writing freely and easily.

5. Take a few creative field trips. Visit places you've always wanted to, or places full of inspiration that stimulate your senses. Whether this for you is a walk into the depths of a forest, or a trip to an art gallery or bookshop, you'll be surrounded with ideas and new possible directions in which to write. Take your ideas journal (see tip 3) to record all your ideas for future development.

These are 5 top tips to help rejuvenate your creative writing, starting today. Which one are you going to start using first?

Creative Writing Exercises - Unleash Your Writing Abilities With Creative Writing Exercises

When you feel your writing is starting to become a struggle or the dreaded symptoms of writer's block are descending upon you, it's easy to panic.

But all writers have peaks and lulls in their writing, we can't be writing at our very best every time we sit down to create.

The secret is not to feel that when your writing's getting a little sticky it means you're about to enter a huge block that will last months or years, or that you'll never be able to write anything of any worth ever again.

A great technique to help you do this is to have a store of creative writing exercises and prompts close to hand.

Writing exercises and prompts can help give you that spark of inspiration when you feel you're lacking any.

Writing exercises also help you to explore new ways and directions of writing that you might not have tried before. The more experienced you become as a writer, the better, the richer and the more rewarding your writing becomes, both to you as the writer, and to your readers.

So why don't more writers use writing exercises?

The main issue is that we feel they are somehow a short cut to creating. We feel that when we write it should be completely 100% our own work, and by using a writing exercise or prompt as starting point, we're somehow cheating.

This simply isn't the case. Imagine you're a chef who's just starting out. You have a natural love of food and understand how different flavours combine and enhance each other.

But you haven't cooked many different dishes and want to gain more experience. You'd like to start with a lasagna but you've never made one before, and you're not even sure what all the necessary ingredients are. What you could do is gather together a huge range of ingredients and simply experiment by throwing together different flavours and seeing what develops. This might be a lot of fun for a while but it will take you a long time to find combinations that work well and you're likely to get frustrated in the process.

The alternative is to start with a basic recipe. So you find a few recommended lasagna recipes, see what the common ingredients are and try cooking them yourself.

Then, once you have the basic form of the dish mastered, you can begin to add your own little flourishes and secret ingredients, to make it your unique lasagna dish. If you didn't start with those basic recipes as a guideline and were simply guessing what went into a tasty lasagna, you might have taken weeks and dozens of wasted attempts to get even close to a delicious lasagna.

It's similar with writing.

Creative writing exercises provide a recipe, a framework to get you going in a new direction you might not have tried before.

Once you start and understand the technique, you're completely free to experiment with it, evolve it into your own style and writing voice.

There may be exercises you enjoy so much they become one of your most trusted and reliable ways of writing creatively. There may be other methods you try that you don't really enjoy or don't suit your writing aims and style. Either way, each time you try a new writing exercise, you return to your writing a wiser, more experienced writer, and writing will come far more easily to you. And that can only be a good thing.

So use some creative writing exercises today and unleash those writing abilities in you just waiting to be discovered.

Creative Writing Prompts, Creative Writing Exercises And How To Electrify Your Writing!

Lately you've felt like you've been writing the same words, phrases and paragraphs over and over, without any fresh direction or ideas. So you're looking for ways to juice up your writing, make it more stimulating, enjoyable and interesting.

Creative writing prompts and exercises are a fantastic way to give your writing that boost you've been looking for.

The problem most of us who write have with using writing prompts or writing exercises is we feel it's somehow cheating or a shortcut.

I'm sure you've probably felt this yourself at some time: "If I use someone else's prompt or exercise, then it's not my writing. What kind of writer can't come up with their own words and ideas?!"

Well, it's not quite so simple as that. Here's why:

Imagine you want to play some music. You have electricity running to your house, and you have a CD. But you don't just go and hold the CD against the electricity socket on your wall and expect to hear music!

Or you want to make some toast. So you get out a couple of slices of bread, put them on your kitchen worktop near an electrical socket and hope when you return a few minutes later the bread has become toast. It's never going to happen!

In both of these situations there's a crucial missing link. You have raw power - the electricity. You have the raw material, in these examples the CD of music, and the slices of bread. But what's missing is a way to channel the electricity in a meaningful and useable way to allow the raw material to become what you want it to become.

That's what your CD player and your toaster are for.

So how does this apply to your creative writing?

The situation is very similar. You have the raw power in the form of your writing talent and potential. You have the raw material, the words and letters. What you need now is a way to channel that raw power to shape the letters and words into something meaningful, something useful.

Creative writing prompts and exercises are a great way of doing this. They give you that channel, that conduit you need to allow your writing talent to create wonderful formations and sequences of words. If you don't have that initial prompt or exercise as a way to channel your writing talent, it's just going to sit there inside you doing nothing. In the same way electricity just sits there waiting in the sockets. It doesn't start flowing until something is plugged in and switched on.

So plug in and switch on your creative writing today by using prompts and exercises!

Creative Writing Prompts - How To Use Prompts To Help Your Creative Writing Flourish

So you want to become a better creative writer? But you feel short of ideas, lacking in inspiration, and just don't know where to start your next piece of writing. You know deep down that you have a lot of potential as a writer, you enjoy writing and have written pieces in the past that you've been proud of.

But lately, the words are just not coming. What can you do?

Creative writing prompts are one of the best ways to get your creative juices flowing and unlock all that untapped potential.

A writing prompt is simply a word, phrase, picture or idea to stimulate your creativity and start you writing. Where you go with your writing after that is entirely up to you, the prompt just gives you that little push, that glimmer of inspiration you've had difficulty finding lately.

Many writers feel that using a writing prompt might be cheating or taking a short cut, and means you're not producing work that's all yours. Remember, the prompt is just a starting point. YOUR unique creativity does the rest.

Think of using writing prompts like this:

Imagine there's a huge wonderful garden, every last square inch heaving with the most gorgeous and bountiful blooms. There are many different areas within that garden, each with their own theme and design.

For example, there's the Victorian English garden, the dense tropical Amazonian rainforests, the Dutch tulip fields of every colour imaginable, and the sweeping majesty of the undiscovered Alaska. If you looked hard enough, you'd probably even find the hanging gardens of Babylon!

It's a big garden! Infinitely big in fact.

All around this glorious garden is a 20 foot high brick wall, with a gate every few metres or so. You can just about see enough through the gates to know there's plenty to be explored inside, but they're all locked and there seems no way of opening them.

Then, you realise, just beside each gate is a little red box. You open the box and inside is a key. The key for the gate, the key to entering this incredible garden. You take the key, open the gate, and you're in, off on your adventure...

So, how does this relate to writing prompts and being afraid to use them because they're not all your own, or because you feel you're cheating?

A creative writing prompt is the key to the garden. It's not the actual garden.

The garden is already within you. It's all the amazing, rich and emotive stories, poems, songs and novels you haven't yet written but are perfectly capable of writing. Use a creative writing prompt, take the key that's been offered, and start to explore that wonderful creative garden within you... You, and your future audience, deserve to experience that garden in its fullest bloom...

Creative Writing Secrets - Have More Ideas Than You Thought Possible For Your Creative Writing

One of the biggest obstacles to writing consistently and freely is not having enough ideas. If you felt you had plenty of ideas to work with and to develop, then writing would be exciting and motivating and become the pleasure and adventure it should be. Trying to write without any ideas to develop is like trying to build a house without any bricks.

They're the raw material you need to build upon. A lack of ideas leads inevitably to a lack of confidence in your creativity. When you feel you never have any ideas, you write less often. And the less often your write, the more difficult it is when you DO come to write.

So how can you generate more ideas out of thin air? The answer is you don't need to. The problem lies not with the fact that you don't HAVE enough ideas. The problem is you don't CAPTURE enough ideas.

If you have nothing in place to record your ideas as they come to you, then they don't hang around, they just evaporate as quickly as they came, leaving you with that frustrating "just out of your grasp" feeling where you know you had a great idea, you just haven't a clue what it was! When you use an ideas journal or an ideas book - which can be just a simple pocket notebook you carry with you at all times to jot down your ideas - you give out a very strong message to your creative mind.

The signs you're emitting are saying "All ideas welcome here! Come inside - hot meal and cosy, comfortable bed provided. Stay as long as you like. All travellers welcome..."

You gain a reputation for being somewhere that ideas are valued and taken care of, given shelter from the cold outside. And the more ideas you capture, the more ideas you attract.

Before, by not capturing your ideas, you were like a hotel out in the middle of nowhere with no signs. Hardly anyone knew you were there, and the odd idea that did happen to stumble across your door was turned away back into the cold, neglected and unwanted. This whole concept comes down to giving your creative mind PERMISSION to be creative, allowing yourself to have a constant flow of ideas.

If you went to a hotel where you were welcomed in like a long lost family member returning home, and genuinely made to feel like this was a place you could stay and be happy for as long as you wanted, you'd recommend it to your friends, wouldn't you?

That's what happens when you use an ideas journal or notebook, the ideas are welcomed in, they tell their friends, more ideas come, and in a short space of time your hotel is thriving with all sorts of wonderful creative ideas, all intermingling and sparking off even more ideas.

So start using a writing ideas journal today.

It's the secret to having all the creative ideas you'll ever need, and could well be the best action you've take to stimulate your creative writing in a long time.