SED-ELEC 1: LECTURE

Lesson 4: Elements of Creative Writing

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ELEMENTS OF CREATIVE WRITING

1. NARRATIVE STRUCTURE

Narrative structure, also referred to as a storyline or plotline, describes the

framework of how one tells a story. It's how a book is organized and how the
CREATIVE WRITING

plot is unveiled to the reader.

Most stories revolve around a single question that represent the core of the
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story. Will Harry potter defeat Voldemort? Will Romeo and Juliet end up
together? Will Frodo destroy the Ring?

The series of events that follow in an attempt to answer this defining

question is what creates your narrative structure.
Various components work together to build a narrative structure, but it’s
mostly centered around the development of your plot and your main
character(s).

Types of Narrative Structure

Linear/Chronological: When the author tells a story in chronological order. This

structure can include flashbacks, but the majority of the narrative is told in the
order that it occurs. Most books tend to fall under this narrative structure.

Nonlinear/Fractured: A nonlinear structure tells the story out of chronological

order, jumping disjointedly through the timeline. David Mitchell’s Cloud Atlas is
MRS. JENNYFER M. SANTOS

an example of this narrative structure, as it switches between multiple

characters at different points in time.
FACULTY-IN-CHARGE

Circular: In a circular narrative, the story ends where it began. Although the
starting and ending points are the same, the character(s) undergo a
transformation, affected by the story's events. S.E. Hinton’s The Outsiders is an
example of circular narrative structure.

Parallel: In parallel structure, the story follows multiple storylines, which are
tied together through an event, character, or theme. F. Scott Fitzgerald’s The
Great Gatsby or the movie Finding Nemo are both examples of this structure.
Interactive: The reader makes choices throughout the interactive narrative,
leading to new options and alternate endings. These stories are most prominent
as "choose your own adventure" books.

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Lesson 4: Elements of Creative Writing

Stages of Plot
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Exposition: This is your introduction, where you introduce the characters, establish
the setting, and present the primary conflict.

Rising action: This second stage is where you introduce the primary conflict and set
the story in motion. Each succeeding event should be more complicated than the
previous, creating tension and excitement as the story builds.

Climax: This is the turning point in the story—the point of the highest tension and
conflict. This is the moment that should leave the reader wondering what’s next.

Falling action: In this stage, the story begins to calm down and work toward a
satisfying ending. Loose ends are tied up, explanations are revealed, and the reader
learns more about how the conflict is resolved.
Resolution: The main conflict gets resolved and the story ends.

Plot-Driven Narratives

When your focus is on plot, you should pay special attention to the events that will
occur in your story.

Plot-driven narratives are exciting, action-packed, and fast-paced. They compel the
reader to keep reading just to find out what will happen next.

When writing a plot-driven story, make sure all your plot points tie together
seamlessly to create a full narrative structure. As you focus on events, it’s easy to
forget about the characters and their motivations.

Remember: your story isn’t about things that are happening to the character, it’s
about how your character is reacting to and participating in these events.

While many of these events may be out of your character’s control, they should still
have an active role within them.

In every scene, you should be asking yourself these questions:

What is my character’s motivation?

Why is he/she making this decision and not another one?

What in the character’s background led them to make this decision?

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Lesson 4: Elements of Creative Writing

2. SYMBOLS
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Authors have long favored the use of symbols as a literary device. The importance of
symbolism can be seen in the earliest recorded forms of human storytelling—cave
paintings and hieroglyphics—which are quite literally symbols representing more
complex narratives or beliefs. Symbolism allows writers to express complex ideas
while giving the reader a visual, sensory experience.
Symbols are often characters, settings, images, or other motifs that stand in for
bigger ideas. Authors often use symbols (or “symbolism”) to give their work with more
meaning and to make a story be about more than the events it describes. This is one
of the most basic and widespread of all literary techniques.

Symbolism Type #1: Small Details

You can include symbolism in even the smallest of your story’s details. The colors
your characters wear. The movies they watch. The pictures they use to decorate their
apartments. All of these details offer the opportunity for symbolic resonance.

Symbolism Type #2: Motifs

A motif is a repeated design. In a story, a motif is an element repeated throughout
the narrative, often to obvious effect. Sometimes, however, it will be used in a less
conspicuous way that infiltrates the readers’ subconscious with a web of symbolic
cohesion.

Symbolism Type #3: Metaphors

Motifs can also be metaphors. Indeed, some of the best symbols in literature are
visual metaphors for thematic elements. You may choose to use fire to represent a
character with a hot temper. Running water may become a symbol for purification.
Illness might represent sin or corruption.

Symbolism Type #4: Universal Symbols

Some symbols are ingrained so deeply in our social psyche that they are used in
practically every story. The power of these symbols lies in the fact that they will
already have been accepted deep into your readers’ subconscious minds. (Their
potential weakness, of course, is that their very prevalence can make them seem like
clichés.)

Symbolism Type #5: Hidden Symbolism

Some types of symbolism will be so deeply buried within your story that your readers
may not recognize them at all. Obviously, the value of hidden symbolism is
significantly less than that of other types. After all, what good is something if the
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reader never notices it?
Lesson 4: Elements of Creative Writing

3. IMAGERY
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Imagery is language used by poets, novelists and other writers to create images in the
mind of the reader. Imagery includes figurative and metaphorical language to improve
the reader’s experience through their senses.
Types of Imagery

a. Visual Imagery

Visual imagery describes what we see: comic book images, paintings, or images
directly experienced through the narrator’s eyes. Visual imagery may include:

 Color, such as: burnt red, bright orange, dull yellow, verdant green, and
Robin’s egg blue.

 Shapes, such as: square, circular, tubular, rectangular, and conical.

 Size, such as: miniscule, tiny, small, medium-sized, large, and gigantic.
 Pattern, such as: polka-dotted, striped, zig-zagged, jagged, and straight.

b. Auditory Imagery

Auditory imagery describes what we hear, from music to noise to pure silence.
Auditory imagery may include:

 Enjoyable sounds, such as: beautiful music, birdsong, and the voices of a
chorus.

 Noises, such as: the bang of a gun, the sound of a broom moving across the
floor, and the sound of broken glass shattering on the hard floor.
 The lack of noise, describing a peaceful calm or eerie silence.

c. Olfactory Imagery

Olfactory imagery describes what we smell. Olfactory imagery may include:

 Fragrances, such as perfumes, enticing food and drink, and blooming flowers.

 Odors, such as rotting trash, body odors, or a stinky wet dog.

d. Gustatory Imagery

Gustatory imagery describes what we taste. Gustatory imagery can include:

 Sweetness, such as candies, cookies, and desserts.

 Sourness, bitterness, and tartness, such as lemons and limes.

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 Saltiness, such as pretzels, French fries, and pepperonis.

 Spiciness, such as salsas and curries.

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Savoriness, such as a steak dinner or thick soup.
Lesson 4: Elements of Creative Writing

e. Tactile Imagery

Lastly, tactile imagery describes what we feel or touch. Tactile imagery includes:

 Temperature, such as bitter cold, humidity, mildness, and stifling heat.

 Texture, such as rough, ragged, seamless, and smooth.

 Touch, such as hand-holding, one’s in the grass, or the feeling of starched

fabric on one’s skin.
 Movement, such as burning muscles from exertion, swimming in cold water, or
kicking a soccer ball.
4. RHYTHM
In writing, rhythm is defined by punctuation and the stress patterns of words in a
sentence. Long sentences sound smoother, while short sentences make your content
snappier.
Writing with Rhythm
1. Alternate Sentence Length
Vary the word count for your sentences — not mathematically, not analytically, but
naturally, organically. Introduce a comical character with a statement that resembles
a clumsy person stumbling down a stairway — then bring the headlong descent to a
sudden stop with a concise comment. Describe a tortuous bureaucratic procedure
with a run-on-and-on sentence, and then figuratively snap your fingers at it with a
brusque reaction.
For inspiration, listen to a musical composition, noting the variety of measures. Do
the same with recordings of speeches or comedy routines, and with scenes from films
or television programs (fact and fiction alike) — and, of course, with fiction and
nonfiction writing.

2. Relocate Words and Phrases

English is a flexible language. Exploit that fact. Though parts of speech have set
interrelationships, the relative positions of words representing the categories are
negotiable. Shift words and phrases around until the parts of a sentence seem to fall
into their preordained places. How? Read your writing aloud, of course.
Note, too, that writers are inclined to introduce the most important element of a
sentence at the beginning; the key component should be provided early on, right?
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Wrong. Where does the punchline go in a joke? Correction: When you tell a joke,
where’s the punchline? (Doesn’t that revision read more smoothly?)

3. Embrace Sentence Fragments

The law against incomplete sentences was repealed a long time ago. A very long time
ago. As a matter of fact, there never was such a regulation, except in the hidebound
handbooks of grim grammarians. No kidding. People speak in sentence fragments and
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incomplete sentences all the time, and although writing, except for the most informal
Lesson 4:prose,
Elements of Creative
should reflect aWriting
more carefully constructed communication, in all but the most
formal writing, judiciously employ truncated statements. Over and out.
4. Match Rhythm to Mood
Let the length and rhythm of a sentence match the mood you wish to impart. A
description of a beautiful landscape or an account of a rapturous experience should
cascade like a rippling waterfall or undulate with the peaks of valleys of sensual
imagery. Longer sentences punctuated with alliteration and assonance and laced with
metaphors evoking physical sensations will help readers immerse themselves in the
places and events you describe.
Conversely, the sentence structure describing a sequence of events in a thriller or a
passage detailing an exciting incident is probably most effective in brief bursts of
short, simple words.

5. Apply Tension and Release

Many musical compositions are paced on the principle of building up to peaks of stress
or emotion and a counterpointing relief from that ascent. Writing benefits from the
same approach to carrying the reader along on waves of tension and release.

5. TEXTURE AND TONE

Texture
Texture is a word that use to describe the combination of word choice, mood, and
what the authorial lens focuses on in a piece. You can tell the exact same story ten
different ways without ever changing the events, and produce ten stories that feel
different

Texture to is layering and deepening the color of the story, using vivid language,
strong emotion, dynamic characters and plot lines that build one conflict or point on
another. Texture is meant to be felt. We want readers to feel the weave and enjoy
the tapestry of the story because they can sense where the threads are knotted
together and where they overlap. They aren't snagged or created happenstance but
form a clear and beautiful picture.
This means that texture has to do with using the senses to their fullest and drawing
readers into the mind of the POV character so that they are also seeing, hearing,
tasting, touching and smelling all that the character is experiencing. The author must
focus on details, not for the sake of providing information the reader might not know
but to reflect the history, the setting, and the experiences through the eyes of the
person living it. People react differently to smells, touch, tastes. What you consider a
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pleasure might not be a pleasure to me. Characters react the same, and as they
interact with the stimulus around them, their reactions add texture and depth to the
story.
Tone
Tone is the way you as the author approach your story and readers. It is created
through word choice, sentence structure, character actions, and descriptions and is
SED-ELEC very similar to tone of voice – it’s not what you write, it’s how you write it. Some
1: LECTURE
Lesson 4:example
Elementstone words are
of Creative whimsical, urgent, nasty, pensive, flippant, earnest, bitter,
Writing
concerned, awestruck, and sentimental.
The tone an author uses in a piece of writing can evoke any number of emotions and
perspectives. Tone can also span a wide array of textual styles, from terse to prosaic.
Tone is what helps terrify the reader in Poe’s “The Tell-Tale Heart,” and it helps
convey the point of view of an old man in “After Apple-Picking” by Robert Frost.
Furthermore, certain attributes of your writing—including voice, inflection, cadence,
mood, and style—are related to tone.

18 Examples of Tone Words in Writing

The function of tone in a piece of creative writing is much like the effect of your tone
of voice when you speak or your body language around another person. Honing your
prose tone depends on what effect you wish to achieve. What overall tone do you
want to set? What feelings or mood do you want to evoke? What kind of language will
best deliver the story you want to tell? If you’re drafting a novel, short story, or
poem, you might consider your writing tone to be one or more of the following:

1. Cheerful

2. Dry

3. Assertive

4. Lighthearted

5. Regretful

6. Humorous

7. Pessimistic

8. Nostalgic

9. Melancholic

10.Facetious

11.Joyful
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12.Sarcastic

13.Arrogant

14.Persuasive

15.Uneasy

16.Regretful

17.Reverent
18.Inspirational