The 30 DAY Creative Writing Challenge!

Welcome to the 30 Day Creative Writing Challenge!

For the next 30 days, I will essentially serve as your creative writing personal trainer, helping to ensure that you make it all the way to the finish line.

Whether you are just getting your feet wet as a writer or are a seasoned veteran looking to find a little inspiration and feel reinvigorated, I promise that you will be so happy that you decided to take this challenge on.

No matter your experience level, you will feel so incredibly proud of yourself when you finish and can look back over the portfolio of work that you have created over the past 30 days.

The pieces you write can be in any genre you like and can be any length you like - but ALWAYS try to complete your idea. Follow your inspiration!

Completing the challenge on time is the perfect way to jump start your process of creating a new lifelong habit of behavior.

You've got this!

Before we hit the challenge, here are a few reminders about how Udemy works.

Writing takes SO much discipline, doesn’t it?

It is incredibly hard to force yourself to write each and every day. But that is a big part of what this class is all about - proving to yourself that you have what it takes to complete 30 days of writing EACH AND EVERY day!

Through this class you will also find the inspiration to create 30 new pieces of creative writing.

Remember - You CAN write every day for 30 days. If you didn’t have it in you, you wouldn’t have decided to take this course.

I even have an extra incentive INCLUDED for you when you finish the class - So keep at it!

I said you could work in any of the genres of creative writing, but what are the four genres of creative writing anyway?

They are:

• Fiction

• Drama

• Poetry

• Creative Non-Fiction

You may know exactly what you want to write OR you might want to try a few different genres on for size and see how they fit.

The next few videos are here to help you do just that.

At its simplest, fiction is just telling a made-up story in prose rather than dialogue or poetry.

But, there are - of course - a lot of elements to consider when writing fiction.

We don't have time to cover them all, but at a minimum, take time to consider:

• Plot

  • Exposition

  • Inciting Incident

  • Rising Action

  • Climax

  • Falling Action

  • Resolution

• tone/mood

• setting

• chain of events

• dialogue

• character development

• vivid language?

• overall diction

There’s a lot to think about when writing fiction and we’re really just scratching the surface here, but hopefully these are a good reminder of some basics!

What stories do you have lurking within you waiting to come out in the 30-Day Challenge?

So what’s the obvious difference between writing fiction and writing drama?

DIALOGUE!

Whether you want to write plays or screenplays or just write engaging characters in your works of fiction, good dialogue is crucial!

Not only is dialogue the most realistic form of writing, but ven if you never try to write a screenplay or play and only want to write in prose for the rest of your life – you still need killer dialogue.

Expertly drawn characters REQUIRE it!

• How will you ensure your characters each have a unique voice of their own?

• How should you use punctuation effectively?

• How should your dialogue sound when read aloud?

• How can your characters use silence to get what they want?

What techniques will you employ as you create your own original dramatic writing for the 30-Day Challenge?

So what exactly is poetry, anyway?

Poetry is a type of literature based on the interplay of words and rhythm. But My Definition is simpler....

Poetry is... saying a lot in a few words.

Prose (by contrast) says a little in a lot of words

Today we think about poetry as a means of personal expression, but that was not always the case.

What are different poetic styles and what rules should you follow as you write your own original poetry for the 30-Day Challenge?

What Is Creative Non-Fiction?

Contemporary writers sometimes blur the line between fiction and reality and combine traditional forms for a fresh way of reflecting on life.

Writers of creative nonfiction use standard elements of fiction to write about real life events.

The sub-genres in creative non-fiction include:

• personal essay

• memoir

• travel/place essays

• literary journalism (expanding on topics in news)

• new journalism

• food writing

• nature essays

• non-fiction novels

• and more

You have probably read more creative nonfiction than you realize.

What are the qualities that you will bring to your creative non-fiction writing for the 30-Day Challenge?

We all hope that we will always feel fully inspired by every piece of writing that we do and let the amazing creativity just flow out of us.

The reality, however, is that this level of creative flow usually only happens when we take the time to analytically plan our course of action (and yes, I do see the irony in creativity requiring analysis).

By taking a little more time to plan at the start of a project, we can usually save ourselves a LOT of time when we start revising AND ensure that we have the freedom to be completely creative when doing the actual writing because we don't have to worry anymore about structure or form.

Total win-win!

Every writer struggles with finding what they call “their voice” - essentially just a euphemism for who they are as a writer.

To figure that out you need to ask yourself a few questions...

• What feel do you want your work to have?

• What sort of language do you want to use?

• What type of a voice do you want to cultivate?

• What different sorts of tones can you create in your writing?

Good writers usually don’t always sound like themselves, but instead imbue their creations with different styles as they deem appropriate.

How ironic is it that endings are both so important AND so hard to write?

Know the type of ending you want to be heading towards all while you are writing.

We'll look at the five basic types of endings so you can make intelligent choices in your work.