Writing Creatively?
Much like the design of buildings, the design, composition and execution of the written word can take many shapes. Also like architecture, the quest for great prose can be elusive. How best to seek and find unique, personal approaches in our writing? Where can we find the skills and knowledge to produce “creative writing?” Creativity is where find it and where you make it.
One of the first places to start is to make your writing uniquely yours. By finding and speaking through your own unique voice (or that of your firm) writers will be well armed to say their piece in novel, rewarding and appealing ways. And just where does one find their voice? First, by knowing themselves. “Write like you speak” the greats say. If you are terse, direct and to the point, write that way. If you prefer to wax poetically, muse philosophically or pontificate polysyllabically when you speak, then write that way. Regardless of which style suits you, if you write as you think and speak you’ll increase your odds of being good, masterful, and creative as you attempt it.
Next, write about what you know and love. For most designers, who are already doing what they love, that should be easy. But, how to be “creative” in your written endeavors?
Start by considering your content from fresh, new perspectives. Why is that important? Because if you say things in the same old ways, they contain no new information. There is little to intrigue or entice the reader to read on. No surprise, no emotion, merely repetition and hearing things in the same old way. Tell your tale in reverse. Show it through specific detail and use of the senses. Be bold.
Beyond phrasing and word choice, other ways of exploring new perspectives come from viewpoint. Are you speaking from 3rd person (e.g. “they”), 2nd (e.g. “you”)” or 1st (e.g. “I”). Each of these voices carries a distinct active or passive voice that has varying abilities to engage readers.
Another powerful tool is to enter a time warp. Explore time travel via use of past, present or future tense. Each holds great power. Consider which serves best and be consistent. Together, these tools combine with composition, structure, style and syntax to offer unlimited potential for creative compositions.
Having mastered these skills, creative writers use their life experiences, powerful narratives, and zingy, zooty vocabularies. They rely on devices such as metaphor, simile, alliteration, irony and surprise in never-before-seen combinations and sequences to create passages that are novel, fun, and engaging. Because of their life experience they have something to say and are artisans at saying it in clear compelling ways. Try telling your story backwards to let it unfold in new ways. Challenge readers to discover new meanings in unconventional ways. Turn things inside out and upside down. Follow a factual list with a florid passage. Shock and awe and amuse and enlighten with words. And kill the cliches, adverbs and extra words.
Like great musicians and composers, creative writers vary their pace and tempo. Moving from a well placed stop to a deliberate crawl to a fast paced staccato delivery can provide readers with variety and the pause that refreshes with the anticipation and exhilaration of motion.
And the last tip - one shared by all great writers: Hoarding, scavenging, capturing and stealing. In mind of future written works, the best writers work hard at constantly looking, listening, seeking - and when they find them - those tiny golden nuggets, words, phrases, thoughts, and anecdotes - scribbling them in tiny notebooks, scraps of paper or tucking them away for later use or adaptation.
Want to write creatively? Want to be a creative writer? Try these tips:
Find your voice.
Write like you speak.
Write what you know and love.
Learn and master voice, tense, person vocabulary and all of writing’s tools.
Put things together that haven’t been before.
Live. Soak in life and professional experience to have something to say.
Read and write obsessively. You’ll have more to draw upon and be more practiced.
Vary your pace for interest and variety.
Hoard and scavenge. Steal and save. Adapt and make small fragments yours.
Be, as Mark Twain called it: “a keener observer of life.”
Michael LeFevre, FAIA Emeritus
Managing Editor, DI Media Group Publications | Principal, DesignIntelligence Strategic Advisory
