A predicament pertaining to creative writing...

Liber8or

I am currently experiencing an inability to write creatively. For the last year, I have been thinking about a novel set in a fantasy world, very different to ours, but I am finding it very hard to come up with a consistent level of language to use.

For a year now, I have been typing down snippets of ideas, characters, locations, items, mythology and history of this world, but when it comes to putting it all together in prose and producing, even a page, I become frustrated and angry at myself for being unable to do so. Overly critical is also a feature of this.

I am currently in my 2nd Year of studying English and History in University and it has become apparent to me that there are two types of English language when writing. One is the critical, academic and technical aspect that one can not apply to the other; the creative, rich, beautiful and naturalistic language of English. Clearly, I want to delve deep within the latter of both worlds so I can fully develop and enrich the reader with a precise description of various elements in my novel, but I find myself struggling to come up with the words or flow for such an endeavour.

To give you a bit of history about me as a writer, I have written for competitions which I won during my years in Secondary School and privately in my own spare time but only shared some of the work with close family or friends. I excelled at writing creatively in school and preferred it to writing critically, where as my University essays are generally 2:1 or 1:1 results. So, I, and others, feel I can write sufficiently, yet I lack the prowess.

I have a feeling that this simply boils down to what I am reading, which happens to be books orientated towards academic study. Therefore, it becomes harder for me to "let go" and allow a more creative approach to take over. So, my question to all you talented writers ( I have been reading some of your works so far ) is, how can I "let go"? How can I stop being overly critical of my work? How can I find a nice methodology to approaching this novel of mine which really feels like something promising?

Is it possible that the nature of my novel is not complimentary towards my style of writing or is it something more?

I would be very grateful if people could share their common experiences or advice on how to get past this conundrum.

EileenG

If I understand you, the problem is that you have a story in mind, but you want a series of names of people and places, and possibly aspects of your fantasy world?

My suggestion is that you start writing, and either leave blank or use ordinary names for now. As you go, you may well find that you naturally develop a system of names that work.

If not, then it's probably a good idea to look at foreign words or place names, and adapt them. One advantage of this is that they will be cohesive and should work with each other. Just make sure if you use foreign words that they won't be easy to recognise. Harry Harrison used to use Irish when he wanted his aliens to speak to each other, which worked great everywhere except in Ireland.

I would really just start writing, even if it's only bits of scenes. You'd be surprised how often they just naturally lead on to the next bit.

PurpleBee

I would say don't try to be too clever.

~Rebel~

Would agree with purple bee above. From your OP, i get the impression you're trying way too hard, but the key to writing for the mass market, and to writing a good story, is in getting your point and vision across using largely clear simple language. You'll find the flow you mention will improve automatically when the reader never needs to stumble through overly elaborate prose. Easier said then done though!

claire h

Your post is a little formal, slightly overwritten and at times unclear (you lack the prowess yet you also note excelling? You point to excellent essay results as indicative of preferring creative writing to critical writing?); this may be something that you've picked up from academic writing or what you feel academic writing should be. It doesn't need to be. That being said...

Academic writing is not creative writing, and it's not a very good preparation for creative writing either. My suggestion: keep your 'creative writing time' as separate as possible. Try to find a day in the week just for creative writing, and work around that. Let it be your day for reading 'fun' books, making maps, writing your book.

And don't put too much pressure on yourself - keep remembering that you're working on an early draft, not something that you're going to have to hand up with footnotes in a week, which is often the case for things you're working on for college.