Creative Writing: A Technical Approach

A course by Marshal D. Carper

with special thanks to Alan Natali

Property of Marshal D. Carper (marshaldcarper.com)

About Me

Four books with Victory Belt Publishing.

Editor-in-Chief of Lockflow.com.

Over 600 articles published through Lockflow.com, Ultimate MMA Magazine, Fight! Magazine, and the Escapist.

Wrote character dialogue for the Black Sigil, a Nintendo DS game.

Contact: mcarper@gmail.com or Facebook. Also willing to Skype.

Property of Marshal D. Carper (marshaldcarper.com)

Class Structure Week 1: Brainstorming and Drafting Week 2: Perspective, Organization, and Missed

Opportunities Week 3: Developing Scenes Week 4: Openings and Closings Week 5: Active Voice versus Passive Voice Week 6: Sentence Structure Week 7: Adjectives and Adverbs Week 8: Grammar and Usage

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Big to Small

Macro Micro

General

Plot

Organization

Sentence

Structure

Word Choice

Surface

Errors

The Revision Process

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Revision is a Philosophy

The bulk of the writing process should occur in revision.

Your first draft—and your second and your third—is a stepping stone, not a commitment.

“I believe more in the scissors than I do in the pencil.” –Truman Capote

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Creativity Creativity can be

learned. Imagination is about

possibilities. Immersing yourself

in other people’s creativity helps.

“Good writers borrow. Great writers steal.”

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Brainstorming Where do ideas come from? Good writers are curious

people. You could draw inspiration

from books, magazines, short stories, newspapers, movies, music, personal experiences, dreams, other people’s lives, fantasies, mythology, folklore, personal interests, current events, history—the whole of human existence is fair game and then some.

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Conflicts Man versus Man

Watchmen In Cold Blood

Man versus Nature Into Thin Air Old Man and the Sea

Man versus Himself Fight Club

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Training Wheels

Transplant your character into a new, unfamiliar setting or situation. Example: Lost in Translation

Take something away from your character and force him or her to cope. Example: The Great Gatsby

Conflicts stemming from love, fear, and betrayal are good places to start. Example: Hamlet

What if?

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Prewriting For nonfiction, an outline based on your

research notes is important. For fiction, an outline is not mandatory.* If you use an outline it does not have to be

your English teacher’s outline. You do not have to use Roman numerals and bullet

points. Developing an outline after you write your first

draft is sometimes more useful.

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Any Start is a Good Start

The blank page is your greatest enemy.

Do not fret over micro level concerns—sentence structure, word choice, surface errors—when you have not yet conquered the macro level.

Eliminate distractions; get away from your computer.

Write from start to finish without stopping or looking back. Skip to the next scene if you get stuck.

Property of Marshal D. Carper (marshaldcarper.com)

Assignments

Draft a Story Handwrite from start to

finish. Then type it up. Do not go back and

rewrite or fix anything, including mistakes. Move forward with a free writing mindset.

If you feel that you are in a corner, scribble in a dash, start a new paragraph, and skip to a new scene.

Length is not important. What is important: your story must have a beginning and an end.

Required Reading “The Most Dangerous

Game” by Richard Connell

Next week, we will be analyzing and discussing the organization and perspective used in “The Most Dangerous Game.”

We will also talk about identifying and exploring missed opportunities in your story.

Reading link: http://fiction.eserver.org/short/the_most_dangerous_game.html