Blog: Take Your Writing Ideas to the Next Level

Creativity. We all have it. But we don’t all use it.    

I teach creative writing. My students come with projects in mind, varying from documenting family history to writing a novel. And I give them all the same assignment: Start.

That advice is sometimes met with a snicker or a moan. Perhaps they were expecting more from me? They don’t say. But I know, the best way to get it done is to start writing. And it doesn’t have to be perfect. In fact, aiming for perfection is likely the reason many don’t start in the first place.   

Confidently position your fingers on the keyboard; you don’t have to know your story’s ending or have your characters all figured out. We don’t live that way, do we? We can’t. We keep going forward, getting to know the real characters in our lives, seeing what happens next and making numerous decisions along the way.  And we can change our minds.    

There is a parallel here with creative writing. We start writing, and we see what happens. Sure it helps if you have a complete story in mind. If you do, well, chances are you can finish quicker. But interesting things happen when you start writing. Ideas come that you didn’t expect. And they only come when you are actively in the process.   

Not all your ideas work out in your writing. And not all your ideas in your life work out either. It doesn’t matter. You simply try something else.

The first lines of this blog are not the first lines I wrote. I didn’t like my first sentences. So I kept writing. Just start by letting your thoughts flow. They begin to take shape. Don’t critique your writing as you’re writing. Give your words and ideas a fighting chance. Bend ‘em, shape ‘em, delete and add. You’ll get there.   

But you have to start.

Dorothy Spirus teaches Creative Writing through the City of Newport Beach Recreation Dept.  She is currently performing a one-woman comedy she wrote, “The Secret Key,” at the Found Theatre in Long Beach through April 1.

• Creative Writing (Class #582620) held at Rancho Senior Center, 3 Ethel Coplen Way in Irvine in session Tuesdays, April 17 -May 29 (skipping 5/8). Classes are held from  7:30 - 9:00 pm. $130 for 6 classes, students must be over 18. Pre-registration required through the City of Newport Recreation Dept.