I have been writing technical articles for a couple of years now. But creative writing is drastically different. In my first attempt, I brought quite a number of changes to my writing style and the overall process. Here are the lessons learned:

Pace

A general advice to pace your writing is to get to the point.

However, it’s a bit nuanced. We can’t always be direct, can’t always jump to conclusions, right? So, I like to think of pacing at two different levels.

At a macro level, we follow the above advice and structure our writing in a way that lets the reader glide through the article. Section after section, paragraph after paragraph, the story progresses quickly. At no point, the reader should feel being dragged.

However, at a micro level, the pacing should be varied. Inside those paragraphs, feel free to elaborate your ideas. Feel free to explain the why’s, the how’s of an event. Feel free to spend some time with the characters before moving the story forward.

Also keep in mind that not all ideas are equally important. Getting the lesser ones out of the way leaves the stage for the ones that you care about.

So at a micro level, the pace stretches and contracts. The core ideas get more time with the reader while the complementary ones are written in a line or two.

Narration vs Expression

Narration is easy, expression is hard. It’s easy to narrate the story as a series of events. But things get tricky when you need to express your perception of those events.

It’s hard to express emotions. It’s hard to articulate ideas, not in their true sense, but through the filter of your world view.

It’s hard because it’s prone to ambiguity. Readers may interpret it differently from what you intended.

So here’s what you can do:

1. Understand the idea at a deeper level.

2. Be honest. It’s important to tell the truth to yourself first. Only then you can explain it to others.

3. Articulate with utmost clarity. Need a backstory? Add it. Sounds confusing? Elaborate. Hard to grasp? Simplify.

Phrasing of words

Ultimately, any kind of writing boils down to the choice of words and how they are laid out in a sentence.

Choose the right words. Prefer simple, commonly used words over the fancy ones. Try not to repeat them often and you’re good to go.

Phrasing makes a big difference. Interesting sentences engage the reader. Boring ones can make them close the tab and switch to Instagram.

Here’s an example written by ChatGPT:

Plain sentence

“As the sun set, it cast a warm, golden glow over the sea. I admired the evening's beauty.”

Interesting sentence

"As the sun dipped below the horizon, it painted the sea with warm, golden hues. I marveled at the beauty of the evening."

Thanks for reading! I hope you found this issue insightful.

I intend to publish every week. Let’s see if I can keep up.

Cheers!
Aachman