Creative Writing Online Resources

I recently suggested some items you can purchase in your bookstore, as well as a few online web resources that can aid the beginning writer in honing their craft or answering nagging questions. But there is another powerful resource (beyond simply reading, of course!) that is easily discovered and plentiful in nature.

While you wouldn't think the quality would be there (and in some cases, it's not, make no mistake) there is a TON of quality information on YouTube, of all places. From beginning concepts to character honing, you can truly find a full education's worth of information to sort through.

So if you are of a visual-learning mindset and want something a bit less dry than some static books or websites, why not take a browse through the list of videos available to your beck and call, 24 hours a day? If you find a particular video you like, make sure to check if that person has a series on writing- you may find your very own online mentor!

• YouTube Creative Writing Resources

Feeding Your Creative Beast

If you're into writing, you are going to, under all circumstances, get writer's block.

Accept that now.

Once you've accepted that, the next most important step is to NOT PANIC when you get it. You're not the only person in history to get stuck, or have their muse go on a seemingly indefinite vacation. Just take a deep breath, regroup and consider all of your options.

First off, make sure you're feeding your creativity beast. Yes, your beast requires a constant stream of sustenance, and if you're not providing it any new sources of tasty creative juices, it will turn on you, snacking on what's left of your imagination until it is distracted with new food.

As a writer, you must make sure you are also reading. Reading is a fundamental aspect of writing. Not only does it get those juices flowing, but it continues to teach you more about the art of writing and perhaps even help to hone your own writing skills. If you are already reading plenty, don't neglect other sources of inspiration- painting, music, dance, gaming... anything that tickles your fancy will help keep you inspired.

Once you've made sure you've fed the beast, you can turn to resources at your local bookstore or even online to help give you a boost. In your local bookstore's writing section you'll find a few dozen writer's block books and kits, all designed in different ways to give you a spark. Some provide exercises, some a simple word, phrase or idea to run with. After all- just because you're writing a science fiction novel doesn't mean that starting to write anything you can come up with off of the word "ball" won't apply. Perhaps you use that keyword to start talking about a ball bouncing down a flight of stairs, which leads to you alter it to be a ball of energy that powers a spaceship- and, wait! The engineer's trainee dropped it during maintenance... and if the crew doesn't get it back in storage soon, it will melt through the ship's hull! Suddenly, you're back on track- just from seeing the word "ball". Don't underestimate the appeal of randomly writing from seemingly unrelated topics!

If you want help of the free variety, there are resources online- besides countless forums and writing blogs, there are tips, tricks and aides to be found anywhere and everywhere you can search. Take some time to see what's on the net- some of it is quite valuable information!

For instance, here's a great list of tips on solving writer's block.

So remember- just because you've been staring at the same page for five hours or five days, it doesn't mean you should give up altogether. You can always get back on track in order to let your creative beast run wild.

Death of the English Language

"You teach a child to read, and he or her will be able to pass a literacy test."
~ President George W. Bush, Feb. 21, 2001

I'm afraid I have bad news to pass on. One of our most beloved companions has passed away. For many of us, this companion allowed us to talk to other members of our nation and other people throughout the world. With this tragic passing, our ability to communicate- in a clear and concise manner- is now in dire jeopardy.

English Language
R.I.P.
5th Century - 21st Century

Yes, I'm being facetious here, but my point is quite valid. There is a conscious mindset in the (American) English speaking world, predominately by the younger generations, that being able to spell or speak the language properly is not important, especially once you begin discussing language online. With this uncaring mindset, the death of the language begins.

While online in games or on forums, you can't throw a letter Q without seeing countless atrocious errors in spelling and grammar. No one is perfect when it comes to spelling, and when you're talking about the online experience, typos are to be expected. The only danger in always ignoring your errors is when you do need to be perfect, perhaps in school but more importantly the professional environment, you will find yourself falling into the same habitual errors you are used to shrugging off. You will not simply cease all of your bad grammar habits magically.

Don't believe me? Turn on cable news and watch nothing but the ticker for half an hour. I know one day I counted no less than 24 errors in spelling, grammar and omissions. 24 errors in half an hour? On a major news source? No boss in any environment will find that acceptable. Nor should you. There are examples of this kind everywhere you look- schools, billboards, TV shows... just listen to any single speech by our current President! Fair or not, people do judge other people's writing and speaking as a large indicator of their level of intelligence.

You don't agree? Tell me, which of the following people would you assume is more intelligent, if you'd never met them and just read the following conversation online:

Person A.) "u no I can spell great when I want too- its not like i do this in the workplace."
Person B.) "I'm afraid that's untrue. If you're used to making those types of errors, you'll make them in other areas of your life, costing time- which is money."

Obviously, not only is person "B" far more clear in your ability to understand, you absolutely will believe that person is more intelligent. It's not to say they are, but the judgment will occur. And who wants to present themselves to others as stupid? This is all something that is easy to overcome! With the spell checking tools available online, many of these simple spelling errors can be eliminated without taking more than six or eight clicks of the mouse! Often you don't even have to retype a word- just click and select the correct spelling! The point is- you should WANT to correct your spelling errors.

What of grammar, though? Spell checkers do not catch the majority of grammar errors. This is shown all too often in those who rely on them to solve all of their writing woes. A quick solution for improvement is making sure you understand homonyms and possessives.

Let's start with homonyms. Homonyms are words that sounds alike but mean different things. For instance, steak and stake. I don't know about you, but I certainly wouldn't wish to try eating a stake. Even with ketchup. There are many homonyms in English, but you can vastly improve your language skills simply by knowing just the top five most used ones.

At the top of that list? Words such as there / their / they're. If you're going to travel to another destination, you're going to go there. If someone has or owns something, it is their item. And if your friends went to the bar an hour ahead of you, they're likely already drunk. Sound insulting and basic to you? Look around online- you'll be surprised how common these words are incorrectly substituted for each other.

Possessives are also constantly being misused. One of my biggest pet peeves is the lack of knowledge surrounding your and you're. It's extremely easy to master this, and makes you instantly look 100 times more intelligent! You're is a contraction. It stands for you are. Tell me- when you consider that, does it make any sense at all to see the sentence, "Your stupid!" Absolutely not! When I see someone say something of the sort, my first response is "I don't own a stupid!" or "My stupid did what?" Not so coincidentally, the original speaker never quite understands my response. Get in the habit of reading contractions out in your head- when you see "you're" your mind should be auto-translating to "you are". Once you begin doing this, you'll rarely make mistakes of this sort again.

Where is this laziness towards proper spelling and grammar coming from? Poor education? Lack of interest? I feel it's a simple artifact of the new mindset of the young. Having grown up inundated with information bombarding them constantly, there's a need to shorten everything into small, manageable bursts. That's why another pet peeve of mine, content length, is an additional casualty of the new broken-English language. Brevity has its place in professional settings, where word space is limited and costs money. But why is there anger present when someone on a message board leaves commentary longer than two paragraphs? I certain I've lost several readers because this post was longer than a few sentences. If the "short" content mindset continues to prevail, future online communications will consist of nothing more than one to five word "bursts" and emoticons.

There's no problem in having length to your online discussions! Even a lengthier entry like this shouldn't take you longer than a minute or two to read at most. If it does, you need to work on your reading skills! It simply doesn't take any time to read ten or twelve paragraphs of information and still comprehend it! The more you read, the faster you'll learn to read. If you continue to read nothing but two paragraph blasts with smiley faces, you'll cause yourself to become stagnant with a limited vocabulary- and, you're not going to be getting any decent content out of those blurbs while you stunt your linguistic skills.

Consider your personal good and bad habits concerning English, particularly online. Ask yourself if you're helping maintain the traditional rules and structure- necessary for understanding each other- or helping the language die its quick death.

In the meantime, I'll go by some "flours" to place by my dear English language's early grave.