A good writer is by nature a reader. Reading keeps the mind alive and active and keeps the writer tuned into the ideas which are being presented by others. Do not copy others, but learn from what they do. There are some pointers below that we can think about and a short story that i would like to share.

Prose
Creative writing is intended to entertain. Good creative writing also contains a message - a statement about life or the nature of mankind. To entertain it must be interesting and “alive.”

For a story to entertain, several elements must be present. First, something must “happen.” In other words, there must be a situation which demands a resolution and the situation must be resolved. These elements are called the “plot” and the “resolution.” The moment of resolution is called the “climax.” The message is called the “theme.”

Example: A man watches as his neighbor and his cousin become entangled in a dangerous relationship which leads to three deaths.
This is, of course, the plot of The Great Gatsby, by F Scott Fitzgerald. What happens? This statement tells us. An author needs to understand what happens in the story in order to develop the plot.

What about the theme? That is the message about life or the nature of man.

Gatsby shows us that a man who truly loves another is willing to give his life and ask for nothing in return.

However
This is not to imply that writing a story must start with plot and theme. Creative writing is an individual pursuit, and each writer must find her or his own method within the process.The author may choose to start by creating characters and then deciding on a plot.

Characters
The characters are the people in the stories. There are many types of characters and the writer must be certain that she understands each character as a person and what each character does in the plot.

Narrator: The narrator tells the story to the reader.

Protagonist: A story must have a character who tries to accomplish something. Without this element nothing can happen. This character might be trying to win something,or find something, or defeat something. This character is the protagonist.

Antagonist: The antagonist tries to stop the protagonist. The antagonist wants something in opposition to the wants of the protagonist and both of them cannot win. Both, however, can lose. Here’s the tricky part - the protagonist and antagonist can be the same person.

Here’s how (example)

The protagonist wants a date with a newcomer to town. The protagonist is afraid to ask this newcomer to a movie or dance. The newcomer is willing, but the protagonist is not aware and, therefore, does not ask. The only thing which stops the protagonist from succeeding is her/his own fear of rejection.

Conflict
Conflict occurs when two forces (the protagonist and antagonist)) work against each other. Recognized conflicts include:

Man (the generic term for a protagonist) vs Man
Man vs Himself
Man vs Nature (weather, disease, etc)
Man vs the Supernatural (gods, ghosts, evil beings, etc)
Man vs Fate (a predestined course which cannot be changed)

Endings
An ending to a story is tricky business in that it must do two things which are difficult to accomplish together:

The ending must come as something of a surprise to the reader.
The ending must seem to be the only reasonable ending possible.

NOTE: Avoid trick endings. These are endings which are not reasonable in our world. Safes do not tend to fall from airplanes and land on bad guys who are escaping from the police.

Poetry
Poetry should say something about man’s situation or the nature of the world. This can be done through metaphors, allusions, images or other devices.Poetry should paint mental pictures. It should use sound to create mood.Poetry should avoid wordiness.Poetry need not rhyme, but may do so. If a poem rhymes, it should also have a steady meter.

There so much fun when we were kids. I can still smell the fresh grass and hear the swaying angsana trees in the approaching storm from a nearby park. I used to run through shrubs in the park, fighting imaginary enemies on my way to school. My primary school was set in an enchanted forest with lot of fruit trees that housed bats that flew noisily at night.

When the final period bell rang, we ran out of the classroom with no regrets behind and responsibilities before us. The open sky overhead us and afternoons that never ended is just like a parallel of our life. Life was really carefree then.

You have alot of expectations in life when you’re younger. However after a while, when you gets older, it doesn’t matter so much anymore what you have become. It’s more about being happy and being contented. I don’t know about you but I went from feeling like i had to do something to feeling like i don’t have to do anything. The more you try to changes things, the more they stay the same. Changes will come to you when you don’t even realize it and when it happens there is notting much you can do to stop it.

I came across this story from a random site, really inspiring and reminds us how our years of experience, the countless trials and errors,  knowledge that we accumulated and our efficiency, have often been overlooked with regards to the cost of a project. 

Story: 

Legend has it that Pablo Picasso was sketching in the park when a bold woman approached him.

“It’s you — Picasso, the great artist! Oh, you must sketch my portrait! I insist.”

So Picasso agreed to sketch her. After studying her for a moment, he used a single pencil stroke to create her portrait. He handed the women his work of art.

“It’s perfect!” she gushed. “You managed to capture my essence with one stroke, in one moment. Thank you! How much do I owe you?”

“Five thousand dollars,” the artist replied.

“B-b-but, what?” the woman sputtered. “How could you want so much money for this picture? It only took you a second to draw it!”

To which Picasso responded, “Madame, it took me my entire life.”

This week the Wall Street Journal ran a column exploring the additive qualities of the Internet and email. The article cited that in a recent study in the United States 20 Million Americans said that their relationships have suffered due to their excessive on-line time. And with 14% of these same respondents saying they would have trouble staying offline for more than a couple of days, it does begin to look like an addictive behavior.

While the experts claim it is far too early to name it an “official addiction” it is clear that the topic of excessive on-line usage is popping up with more frequency in the therapist office, and as a topic of many scientic papers published recently.

Psychologists suggest that the Internet fulfills the immediate gratifcation craving that humans have, providing everything from instant contact with others to instant information. As Dr. Elias Aboujaoude, a psychiatrist at Stanford’s Impulse control Disorders Clinic explains, “There is a desire for connectedness. People can find wonderful social interactions through the Internet.”

The good doctor then goes on to explain that if you experience restlessness and anxiety when you blocked from going on-line, that you might be on your way to a serious problem.

I for one, know that I suffer from CCD - Compulsive Connection Disorder. I LOVE to be connected, anytime - all the time. I am terrified that if I’m not, I will miss something. I know it would be healthier if I would just “turn off” my connection for some “me or we” time, but I’m not convinced I can do it.

I’d be curious what the rest of the world thinks and does.

Do you access your work email from home? If so when?

What is your guilty pleasure on-line (And please, we don’t want to hear about porn).

Do you have a policy about turning the world off, for some private or family time or are you “on call” 24/7?

I’d like to hear from anyone who has beat CCD - if you did, just click on Comments below and tell me how you did it?

I know we get used to it. But we shouldn’t.

We get used to living in back door apartments and not having another view but the windows around. And because there is no view, sooner or later we get used to not looking outside. And because we don’t look outside, sooner or later we get used to not opening the curtains.

And because we don’t open the curtains sooner or later we get used to turning on the light earlier. And by getting used to, we forget the sun, forget the air, and forget the magnitude.

We get used to waking up in the morning exasperated because it’s time. To rush into breakfast because we are late. To read newspapers while on the bus because we can’t spare any time. To eat a sandwich because we can’t stop for lunch. To go home because it’s already night. To fall asleep in the bus because we are tired. To go to bed early and sleep heavily without having lived the day.

We get used to waiting the whole day only to hear over the phone: today i can’t make it. We get used to it, so that we don’t get scratched by harshness, to preserve ourselves. We get used to it to avoid wounds, bleedings, to spare the heart. We get used to it to spare life.

Then little by little we wear out and wear out so much getting used to it, that we lose ourselves.

anonymous