Accessing Your Creative Muscles When Writing Fiction

A successful fiction writer has to have many traits. But one of the more important traits that she needs is a sense of creativity. Lack of it or an inability to access it is a prime cause of writer's block. If you have written at all, a lack of creativity is most likely not your problem. Difficulty in being able to access one's creativity on demand, however, is a problem that many would be authors have.

Fortunately, there are many methods to help jump start your creativity. One of the best ways, and one used by many famous authors, is to take events from their own past. Most people, by the time they are in their early twenties have already had thousands of experiences.

Typically, at every major phase of a person's life he or she will show some growth. From their life as a child, to an adolescent, to a teenager, and to a young adult - each phase has caused them to, consciously or subconsciously, reevaluate the beliefs that they had thought to be true at the earlier stage of their life. Many of the events and feelings that they have gone through have been unique to them. While others have been experiences that they have shared with thousands of others. They important factor is that any of these experiences are valid experiences to use as a jumping off point for their fiction.

When writing fiction, young writers often look to their older peers for advice. And, consistently, one of the most common things that these authors will tell younger fiction writers is to write about what they know. In essence, they are telling you to write about your past. When you write this way, even though you may fictionalize certain aspects of your story, your writing can't help but to take on a feeling of realness - because it comes from real events.

But, you can use more than past events to create your story. You can also use past emotions. If you have ever been hurt in love, you can take that feeling of pain that you felt at that moment and place it in your story to show a character's hurt. You can do the same with feelings of joy, jealousy, anger, and so on.

When you come to the realization that you can use past events and feelings in your life as you write fiction, a whole new world will open up to you. No longer will you fear looking at a blank sheet of paper. You no long have to worry about trying to be creative. In most cases, once you free up your mind to think about your past experiences. the writing will just come naturally

And the events in your life that you draw from don't have to be dramatic events. Even the seemingly most mundane events of your life can seem fascinating once you put them on paper. Because, once you have the idea, your skill with words is what will ultimately determine how your readers react to your story. And, even if you are one of the few natural born writers, your skill with words is something that will improve the more that you practice.

By: Martha Liu

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