Creative Writing Tip Sheets by Gill James
Creative Writing Tip Sheets by Gill James
ifty-seven easy to use fact sheets that cover all that you need to know if you are relatively new to writing. Ideal too for the creative writing teacher.
Topics include:
- story structure
- poetry forms
- presentation of work
- how to get your work out there
- script writing
- networking
- organisations that can help
- self-publishing
- getting new ideas
- building characters
Gill James Writing Tips Review
Valuable tips and links for all writers!
Gill James is a creative writing lecturer and English teacher with years of experience and a lot of books under her belt! (Apologies for the cliché.) I’ve really enjoyed this book of tips; I’ve learnt so much. You will too!
This book contains 57 pages of amazing writing tips for writers. Whether you write fiction, educational text, poetry, children’s book or plays, there will be a tip sheet here that you’ll want to pin somewhere so you can see it.
Tip sheets on story structure: Will help you plan your short story or novel. Whether you use the Three Act Structure as a basic model for your story; use Vladimir Propp’s story structure functions or dig deeper into Beat Sheets, Plots and sub-plots; there is a tip sheet to help you decide the best place to explode that bomb or introduce a new romantic interest.
There are plenty of examples showing how famous writers of fiction or film have used these writing techniques. I’ll definitely use them as a step-by-step guide to help outline a plot, then refer to the tips on characterisation when forming characters. Some things you will already know but may have forgotten, other tips will light the writer’s bulb in your head providing one of those ‘eureka’ moments we all love that fuels inspiration.
This section also provides exercises for you to apply to your own work.
Character sheets: Provide insights into how well-rounded characters are formed. Questions you need to ask about your characters, and exercises you can do to help give them depth.
Editing and formatting: One you’re happy with your story/novel/text, there are some handy sheets on how to edit and format your work for publication. Self-editing a novel may not mean it won’t need a professional edit but it will certainly save you money if they have less to fix!
Script writing tips: Don’t overlook these just because you don’t write plays; they had some of the best insights into writing for expression and using the character’s body language to convey a message or emotion.
Facial expressions and voice tone that express many things including discontent and suspicion. For example, a quiet one-word answer to a question implies that the speaker is lying and that they don't want to say the true answer.
An actor may never speak your words on stage, but you can still ‘show’ their expression and convey their tone for your readers to infer how they are feeling or what they are trying to convey.
Writing for Children: These sheets provide plenty of tips and advice on the conventions of writing for children and young adults.
Some organisations that might be helpful: This is especially useful with links to the appropriate websites and organisations for writers of fiction, poetry, video scripts, educational text and children’s books.
From improving short stories, non-fiction text or poems, to plotting your next great novel, these valuable snippets of wisdom will be in your writing arsenal for years to come.