3 Easy Steps to Inspired Creative Writing

by | creative writing

If you have a burning desire to share your stories with the world, but you don’t know the steps to inspired creative writing, this video is for you. 

Today, I’m pulling back the curtain on my EXACT step-by-step process for writing with more creativity and flow.

My process breaks out into three stages. I’ve learned it’s crucial that you fire up the right parts of your brain for each stage and task. 

When you know how to do that, writing is going to be so much easier…

The steps for inspired creative writing are:

  • Pre-writing
  • Drafting
  • Shaping

Listen in as I walk you through each step in this video.

 

In this episode, besides the 3 easy steps to inspired creative writing, you’ll learn:

 

  • My favourite tool for the pre-writing stage.
  • The step to start focusing and finish a solid draft.
  • How to avoid overwhelm when drafting your story.
  • Why we aren’t re-writing “Once upon a time”
  • Why it’s necessary to access the right mode at the right time for creative writing.

Resources Featured In This Episode:

 

Your key takeaways from ‘3 easy steps to inspired creative writing’.

 

Let’s dive directly into what the three stages of inspired creative writing are and how you can use them to craft powerful stories to share with the world. 

 

Step #1: Pre-writing

 

This first step is all about generating and gathering all the pieces as starting points for your work. Your creative brain is great at finding links and patterns once you have some material to work with.

My favourite tool for the pre-writing stage is mind mapping. It’s like a creative brain dump but represented visually on a page. Check out the video resources on this page for an example in case you’ve never seen a mind map before.

I use mind maps to help me gather all my free-floating ideas connected to a story – important memories, phrases, songs, dreams, images, symbols. I also use mind mapping throughout the process if I feel stuck. Using a mind map actually helps you to see connections you haven’t made before. 

This next step is going to help you start to focus and finish a solid draft

 

Step #2: Drafting your story

 

At this stage you have some ideas that you can further develop and use as building blocks of your story. For me, the key is to choose some kind of structure for my story that works as a container, for the story fragments I want to work with from step 1.

For example, I might decide that my story can only be 1500 words and has to be written in two sections. Now I have to decide what two scenes are going to make up this story. I can make some decisions about what to include and what to leave out as material for another story. I’m starting to bring some shape to my story idea.

Some writers tell you not to worry about a story’s form until later in the drafting process, but I find it helps me get through a draft to make some decisions early on about the structure. It also helps me avoid overwhelm because the structure helps me focus my piece.

 

The final step to inspired creative writing: Shaping 

 

In this last stage, we’re going to start tapping into the logical part of the brain which is perfect for the task of revision.

If you’re working with a draft that has several sections in the shaping stage you’ll decide what order they belong in. It may not be chronological. You can start with a strong image, a moment of conflict. Start with impact! We aren’t re-writing “Once upon a time”. You can start your story wherever the energy is.

The writing process requires moving back and forth between the more logical brain and more creative intuitive brain; it’s all about accessing the right mode at the right time.

Ready to write powerful stories with 1:1 feedback on your work? Get on the waitlist for the Spark Your Story Intensive!

 

I want in!