Why We Need Creative Writing

Here's why:

Happiness is being creative

Find out more at the Happiness Is page at Facebook.

Stories Have to Be Told

Some words of wisdom from Sue Monk Kidd:

Stories have to be told or they die,

and when they die,

we can't remember who we are

or why we're here.

Why I Write

Resharing this post upon hearing the news of Elie Wiesel's death. Requiescat in pace. The world will miss him.

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I saw this quote as Jon Winokur's Twitter. You can find out more about Elie Wiesel at Wikipedia.

I write to understand as much as to be understood.

Here is the quote in context, Elie Wiesel's essay, "Why I Write."

While writing, I question them as I question myself. I believe I said it before, elsewhere: I write to understand as much as to be understood. Will I succeed one day? Wherever one starts from one reaches darkness. God? He remains the God of darkness. Man? Source of Darkness. the killers' sneers, their victim's tears, the onlookers' indifference, their complicity and complacency, the divine role in all that: I do not understand. A million children massacred: I shall never understand. 

Jewish children: they haunt my writings. I see them again and again. I shall always see them. hounded, humiliated, bent like old men who surround them as they to protect them, unable to do so. They are thirsty, the children, and there is no one to give them water. They are hungry, the children, but there is no one to give them a crust of bread. They are afraid, and there is no one to reassure them.

Word Art: LIFE

I thought this animated gif was a lovely example of "word art" ... animated! I'm not sure who the creator is; it was making the rounds at Google+ in early August, which is where I saw it. If you have the patience to make the individual graphics with PhotoShop or something similar, this kind of animated gif would not be all that hard to create! Just create the graphics by adding one word at a time, and then turn it into an animated gif. :-)

The road to Hell is paved with adverbs.

I adapted this from Jon Winokur's Twitter, using a Stephen King portrait made out of book covers. To find out more about just why Stephen King is so against adverbs, check out this blog post by Maria Popova with extensive quotes from King: Stephen King on Writing, Fear, and the Atrocity of Adverbs.

The road to Hell is paved with adverbs. Stephen King.

Putting the Creativity in Creative Writing

This wonderful graphic might "free your mind" so that you can indeed connect the dots in new ways — in your own creative ways — when you write. :-)

Writing and Revision

As you can guess from the way this class works, I put a high value on the revision process, which is something that is often neglected in the writing people do for college classes. As writers, we are lucky to have the opportunity to revise our writing, and then revise it again, and yet again... unlike, say, a brain surgeon!

The beautiful part of writing is that you don't have to get it right the first time, unlike, say, a brain surgeon. Robert Cormier

Save your money / words.

You know I advocate "short and sweet" writing, so of course I like this graphic. It comes from one of my favorite Oklahoma tweeters: Kenna Griffin. If you are interested in writing tips and related topics, she is a great person to follow: @profkrg.

Put Your Notes Away

Put your notes away before you begin a draft. What you remember is probably what should be remembered; what you forget is probably what should be forgotten. — Donald Murray (Advice to Write)

Image source.

Choose to Create

I really like this graphic from Keetons Office Supplies, and the use of pencils is a good reminder that writing is a creative act.

When life gets complicated, choose to create.

John Cleese on Creativity

Nothing will stop you being creative so effectively

as the fear of making a mistake. — John Cleese

Thanks to Jon Winokur ("Advice for Writers") for the quote! Photo of the Ministry of Silly Walks graffiti in Graz by southtyrolean.

Joss Whedon

The quote is from Joss Whedon, creator of Buffy the Vampire Slayer:

I write to give myself strength. I write to be the characters that I am not. I write to explore all the things I'm afraid of.

Plot Twist

Yes, you can use your writing skills to change your life:

When something goes wrong in your life,

just yell, "Plot twist!" and move on.

Wonderful Writing

Writing

does not have to be perfect

to be wonderful.

(image source)

I was inspired to make this graphic by this item which I found online:

Neil Gaiman: Angels, Dreams, and Hope

A lovely quote from the author Neil Gaiman: A world in which there are monsters, and ghosts, and things that want to steal your heart is a world in which there are angels, and dreams, and a world in which there is hope.

Voyage of Discovery

I found this quote from the author Henry Miller at Jon Winokur's Advice to Writers blog:

Writing, like life itself, is a voyage of discovery. The adventure is a metaphysical one; it is a way of approaching life indirectly, of acquiring a total rather than a partial view of the universe. The writer lives between the upper and lower worlds: he takes the path in order eventually to become that path himself.

The painting is by George Gregory, showing the Lady Blackwood.

The Stories Only You Can Tell

Advice from Neil Gaiman: But, as quickly as you can, start telling the stories that only you can tell — because there will always be better writers than you, there will always be smarter writers than you … but you are the only you.

More advice from Neil Gaiman (photo) at Brainpickings.

Hemingway’s Advice to Aspiring Authors

As a writer you should not judge. You should understand.

for more: How to Be a Writer:
Hemingway’s Advice to Aspiring Authors

(Ernest Hemingway Writing at Campsite in Kenya)

A story has no beginning or end

The words are from Graham Greene, and you can see more quotes from Graham Greene here: Writers Write Creative Blog.

A story has no beginning or end:
arbitrarily one chooses that moment of experience
from which to look back or from which to look ahead.