BYUH students and professor share their advice for writing creatively
Creative writing is a journey that develops through effort and dedication, BYUH students and a professor shared. From starting creative writing, looking for inspiration, finding uniqueness in a story, honing techniques for writing, developing a writer’s mindset and improving through feedback, they shared creative writing tips they gained from their experiences.
Just start reading and writing
Reading is the best way to start with creative writing, said Joseph Plicka, an associate professor in the Faculty of Arts & Letters. “Don’t start by asking, ‘How do I write a book?’ but gather your sources and knowledge,” he said. Learning and gathering information, such as reading more books, taking classes, and listening to creative writing lectures, are the first steps to take, he shared.
“If you want to write a book, you need to read a book–a lot of books,” Plicka said. He shared reading will improve an individual’s creative writing skills, and 80 percent of what students learn as writers is from teaching themselves by reading and observing the masters.
Juan Carlos De los Reyes, a senior majoring in English with a creative writing emphasis, shared to just start writing. He said to simply begin writing and not wait for the perfect moment to start. “Whatever you are doing right now, just drop everything and write,” he said. Writing gets better as soon as one starts writing, he shared.
A journey of dedication
When teaching students new to writing, Plicka shared he helps students recognize the importance of dedicating themselves to creative writing. “You don’t become a writer when you win an award. As soon as you start to write, you are a writer,” he said. Students perceiving themselves as writers can help them be more serious and committed to writing, he said.
“If you want your works published, it takes much dedication,” Plicka said. He shared dedication as a writer really just means consistency. For instance, to write a self-help book or a vampire novel, one should read about 50 books in that genre, he said. He added writers may need to go through a few unsuccessful attempts before creating the book only they can write. “Writing isn’t just a destination, but a journey developed through daily, weekly and monthly consistency,” he said.
“Suppose you could read for 30 minutes a day, like if you read one short story, two poems, or 10 pages of a novel. Imagine how much that would add up to over a year,” he explained. He said most people have jobs, schools and other responsibilities, so even a little bit every day is enough. He emphasized reading something that will feed one’s appetite and brain for writing daily.
While personal situations and managing responsibilities can make the daily time spent in writing differ from one another, he explained that consistency is the key. He said consistency varies between people–daily, weekly or yearly. “If you could do 30 minutes daily, amazing,” he said.
Eli Holmes, a junior majoring in English with a creative writing emphasis from the Philippines, said, “Continue to read and write until you see improvement in your writing.” Progress may not be immediately visible, but with constant dedication, he said one can realize how they improved as a writer compared to the past.
Holmes shared this process is similar to the principle of enduring to the end in the gospel of Jesus Christ. Like keeping his commandments and repenting daily through hardships, he explained writing is also a process that requires persistence through discouragements. “Even when you feel like you can’t write anymore, just write,” he said. Growth comes from enduring the tunnel of uncertainty, he shared.
For beginners, he shared the best advice is to write daily without overthinking—jot down thoughts, dialogues, or anything that comes to mind. He said reading extensively is also essential for development.
Finding inspiration through books and movies
De los Reyes said, “The more you read or watch, the more ideas you will get on how to form your story. Your imagination gets larger and wider.” He said he finds inspiration by watching various TV shows and movies, and reading books. Doing so makes it easier to write as there are many sources to draw from, he said. Turning to these sources helps him recharge his imagination when experiencing writer’s block or feels creatively drained, he said.
He also emphasized finding inspiration from real life to create a balanced, exciting and realistic story. “Finding inspiration only from real life will be boring because real life is not as exciting as a movie. But at the same time, solely getting inspiration from a film or a book might make the story too exciting, so it’s unrealistic,” he explained.
He said people will feel inauthenticity and have difficulty immersing themselves in the story. He also said creating extremely unrealistic situations and depicting human emotions as realistically as possible creates intriguing stories.
Writing a long romance story was one of the most challenging experiences he had, said De los Reyes. Not knowing how to write one, he said he watched a lot of romance movies with his best friend to learn how to write romance. “And then she became my fiancé. So, at that time, my worldview changed. Now I know what love and romance feel like,” he said. Gathering inspiration from romance movies and life experiences in love, he was able to apply it to the story, he said.
To create lively and realistic characters in the story, De los Reyes shared he finds different experiences and perspectives by interviewing people. When he was writing a short romance story, he shared he asked six people what they would do when their best friend they liked asked them out on a date. As the answers will vary by person, he said asking for their reactions and reasons is essential to make the characters as authentic as possible.
Holmes shared he focuses on reading consistently and finding books and genres that speak to him. “Find the books you can genuinely enjoy,” he shared. This can be difficult, but it gives the inspiration to write, he said. He shared he pays attention to how the authors structure their writing, including dialogue and descriptions, and adapts techniques to make them his own.
Finding your own story
When writing his first short story, Holmes shared he started by recreating a scenario from another story and adding his own twist. “As a beginner, try to imitate your favorite story and writer, and make the most out of it. It will show you the direction you need to go,” he said. He said as one grows as a writer, one will develop one’s own story and writing style.
Consuming media for inspiration, De los Reyes shared not everything has to be original. The story one is going to tell has probably been told before, but it’s the flavor of the story that matters, he shared. “Marvel movies are different from each other. But if you dissect their story roots, it’s basically just the same story. It is a story of a hero rising to the challenge, fighting a villain, and saving the day. But it’s in different flavors,” he said.
To create originality, De los Reyes said to put a unique flavor based on personal experiences. He shared his current writing is a superhero story where the main character is a member of the Church, and his mentor is one of the three Nephites who gives weapons from the Book of Mormon. Inspired by various superhero stories, particularly the template of wtier Joseph Campbell’s Hero’s Journey, he shared the main character loses his powers if he loses faith. “It’s the same story, but it has an LDS flavor because I’m a member of the Church,” he said.
Sharpening skills for writing
De los Reyes said the most challenging part of his creative writing journey was to use new and elaborate vocabulary to depict the story. Even as a native English speaker, one needs to expand and weaponize the English language to send it into the battlefield of storytelling and be able to create an impact on the reader, he shared.
To improve sentence composition, De los Reyes emphasized consistent effort in the sentence according to the genre. “Write the same sentences in five different ways, and then choose the best sentence,” he said. Even though one will never notice the improvement, he said keeping up with the practice will make a visible result in the long term.
De los Reyes said a sentence can have the same meaning but a different impact through the arrangement. For example, he said, “‘The door opened, and the monster came in, and it was surprising because she was relaxed.’ You can put the impact on the last part to create a thrill in the sentence, such as, ‘She was relaxed, but then she was surprised when the monster came in.’” In this writing process, he said to imagine oneself as the reader and question if the reader will experience the maximum effect in the sentence.
To keep creativity alive, he encouraged students to continue writing and experimenting. People think creativity is a bank, but creativity never runs out, he said. People have been saying that 50 years ago movies were all the same, and moviemakers are running out of ideas, he said. On the contrary, nowadays, more movies have been made with new ideas, he shared. He said as time passes and the world changes, new ideas are presented and people integrate them into their lives. “Creativity never stops. It only stops when you stop,” he said.
De los Reyes added to write down every idea that comes to mind. “Always have a notebook with you, ask questions, and get ideas into one place so that you can source a pool of ideas for your writing,” he said.
Plicka also shared there is a way of reading like a writer. “It means you’re not just reading for pleasure or discovering its meaning. It’s about paying attention to words, sentences, plot, characters, and setting,” he said. He emphasized the importance of having the right questions and focusing on details when reading. If the story is compelling, have curiosity in the character development and plot structure rather than the more profound meaning or the context of the piece, he said. “Look at the technique and the writer’s word choices,” he added. Plicka said questioning the length of paragraphs and sentences or the word choice is beneficial. “Just having this mindset, you’ll start to notice things you wouldn’t notice if you were just reading on the beach to be entertained,” he said.
The writer mindset
Plicka shared students ask if their writing is good, but it’s the wrong question. “It’s about what can be done better. I never talk about things in terms of being complete or perfect,” he said. Writing is a never-ending process that always leaves room for modification, he said.
He added the importance of respecting the uniqueness of each work. He said each piece has its purpose, and how well it fulfills that purpose is subjective. In his class, he said students analyze each other’s writing and appreciate the uniqueness of each piece. “Every piece is going to be different, and we discuss it in terms of being better and what’s missing,” he said. Creative writing is not about judging but improving it, he shared.
As a writer, “One crucial ability is to push through discouragement and rejection,” said Plicka. He shared it’s easy to be hard on oneself in creative writing. At first, writers are rejected by themselves, and eventually, when writers send their works to editors, they will be rejected by magazines and publishers, he explained.
Having a cousin who has published multiple books, Plicka shared his cousin told him her most valuable skill as a writer was her ability to take rejection and keep going. “Instead of falling apart, she just kept going,” he said.
Not only in terms of professional publication, but he also shared accepting criticisms and being strong in developing oneself is included in this attribute. “Sometimes, students can get sensitive to criticism. You can take it personally and think ‘I’m not good,’ or you can take it professionally and think, ‘I can do better and work more’,” he said.
Plicka noted it’s crucial to appreciate and give you and your work credit. “Anybody who writes a poem and turns out to be not that good is still doing better than the person who thinks about writing a poem but doesn’t because they’re afraid it’ll be bad,” he said. It’s just about doing it, he shared.
Accepting criticisms
Porter Carr, a sophomore from Utah majoring in biology with a creative writing minor shared the best way to improve in creative writing is to ask for others’ honest opinions. He shared when one keeps their story to themselves, they are likely to get lost in finding improvements and give up on the piece. He encouraged students to find a supportive outlet to share their creative writing. “By sharing with others, you can find what needs to be fixed and what is missing. This will keep you writing because you know which direction you need to go,” he said.
“If you want to show the world what you’ve written, then you must be ready to receive criticism,” Carr added. Accepting criticism is hard but worth it, he said. “If you are talking with someone who’s coming out of a place of love and genuine thought, that’s what makes their criticism constructive,” he said. In this case, Carr shared one should accept it as it is meant to lead to improvement.
Overcoming the barriers of criticism, Carr explained online and offline communities supported him. “Even with good concepts, you can feel like you’re stuck. Talking with other people gives you a path you have never thought of before,” he said. As a member of the Kula Manu program, students learn how to evaluate pieces and give effective feedback to each other one-on-one, he said. In the online group, he shared he regularly meets with them, sharing ideas and providing helpful insights on how to build the pieces.