The Creative Writing Toolkit

1. Introduction: Hello, and welcome to the Creative Writers Toolkit. My name is Nia Hogan, and I'm a multi published author and educator. If you've taken one of my many writing and publishing courses here on Skillshare, welcome back. And this is our first class together, it's a pleasure to have you. I created this course with creative writers in mind to share popular resources and tools writers like you can benefit from. If you're a writer of non fiction, this course may still be a good use of your time, but please keep in mind the instruction is fiction focused. Included in this course is a free printable PDF, your very own toolkit reference sheet that you can keep and update as you come across new tools and resources. Please download the creative writers toolkit from the project section. If you're ready to dive in, let's begin with the first lecture, the creative writing toolkit. I'm in my tenth year of classroom teaching, and one thing we talk about in my field often is the teacher toolbox. Every teacher's kit looks a little different based on your grade level, years of experience, and teaching style. But everyone's toolbox serves the same purpose to be an arsenal of resources that we can fall back on when we need it. In the same way, as a freelance writer, I realize that creative writers also benefit from having a toolbox. My years in the industry have taught me that writing is not what I thought it was as a teenager aspiring author. Turns out there are layers to the business of writing and everyone's journey and needs are different. Having a writer's toolkit can ensure you have the resources and support you need to be successful on your path to becoming the creative writer you wish to be. Inside of your toolbox, you should have at least one tool that inspires, motivates mentors, educates, corrects, celebrates you, connects you, tracks, organizes, saves and supports. Please use the reference sheet to help you take notes during this course. If you have a resource that you really love, please mention it in the discussion section of the corresponding lecture to help your peers fill their toolboxes. Now, let's move on to the first lecture. 2. Inspires: Inspire. Creative writers are tasked with coming up with ideas worthy of reading. Staying inspired isn't always easy. The good news is that most story ideas are recycled concepts and themes of the past with a new and unique perspective on them. Writers block has come to visit most writers, so that's why keeping a few inspirational tools in your box is a wise idea. You may not wake up feeling inspired, so turning to your list of inspirational resources can help jump start your creative juices. Here are four resources to get you started. The creativity portal has a generators tab. There you'll find the Imagination prompt generator with a randomized writing task. There's 365 pictures, which adds a new image every day to inspire thought process, and they also have several different genres of writing prompts to choose from. Positive writer is a website with tons of inspirational writing posts and provides links to books that you can add to your library for a dose of inspiration as well. Languages a virus offers interactive creative writing games. There are various writing exercises and techniques you can try out. There's also a feature where you can fill in words of different parts of speech in the style of Mad Libs, and it uses those to generate a writing sample. Consider what inspires you. This can be different from person to person. For me, I'm inspired by images. I like to go to websites like Pinterest to create mood boards. If you're struggling with descriptive writing, sometimes I type in a phrase that would describe the mood of that scene and see what images come up to inspire my thought process. Maybe you find inspiration through things not found on the Internet, such as experiences. You can create a destination or activity wish list. Maybe there are places you feel inspired in or want to visit to help you with a writing piece. Write down those locations as a field guide for yourself. Maybe there's an experience you want to have that your character does, such as axe throwing or running a marathon. If reading or films inspire you, make a list of your favorites. This running list can be your go to place for inspiration to keep your momentum. Now that you have a few tools to inspire you, let's discuss some motivational tools to add to your kit. 3. Motivates: Motivates. Just like inspiration varies from person to person, so do motivational factors. Let's discuss extrinsic and intrinsic motivations. In your toolkit, have a section for both. In the intrinsic motivation section, state your writing goals. These can be short or long term. What are the desires of your heart that you want to remember when you're feeling unmotivated to write? Consider what will make you feel successful and your voice worthy. For extrinsic motivation, remember that some of the things mentioned in this lecture may not apply to you. The idea here is to think about what will encourage you to keep going so you can best equip yourself for challenging times. For example, are you motivated by meeting deadlines? Having a reward system in your tool kit will require discipline in order to be effective motivation. Rewards don't have to be expensive or even tangible, but it's important to be honest about your progress. What incentives do you consider motivational? Maybe it's purchasing a software subscription because you've shown consistency using the tools you already have. Think about how companies provide loyalty points to earn big rewards or how games provide badges for accomplishments. You can create your own set of badges that signify your progress for certain tasks. You could use a punch card system with a reward once all slots are punched out. The punches can be for different things like the numbers of consecutive writing days or reaching a certain word count in your manuscript. Positive feedback is a good way to keep you motivated. Something to consider is collecting positive reviews, comments or feedback on your writing, or even who you are as a person and saving it to your toolbox. This can be a physical box where you save notes or printouts, or a digital folder that's a collection of all the wonderful things people have had to say about you or your writing. If you don't have any positive reviews or critiques yet, ask for them. You can even explain that you're looking to put together a wall of positivity for yourself to reference as a Pima. These statements can help you stay motivated when you're feeling unappreciated or invisible as a writer. If competition or challenges incentivize you, find some to participate in. Writing challenges are easy to come by. Research a writing challenge and find one that fits the style of writing and length of completion that best suits you. Finding a new competition where you can connect with other writers can help keep your spirits up. The idea is not to burn yourself out trying to compete against others or yourself. It's about finding a fun way to maintain the passion in writing. Think about people who will push you, people with similar goals, people who will uplift and inspire you. Find accountability partners and add a way to connect them into your toolkit. Accountability partners can be used for just about anything. Keeping a running list of people to lean on and build community with is important. The writing industry can get lonely at times, and it's important to remember that you're never alone. The same struggles you're facing are things fellow writers are also experiencing. In the same way, they are writing experts who are willing to give advice and encouragement because they can relate to you. Consider meaningful ways to pick yourself up and create motivation in your creative life. 4. Mentors: Now, let's switch gears and talk about ways that outside influences can help you as a writer. This lecture is called mentorship. When you hear the word mentorship, a formal arrangement with another person might come to mind. While a mentor can be an experienced and trusted advisor, it also can be tools that offer advice or training. Most successful writers have had mentors. Like all industries, you can save yourself a lot of time and money by connecting with professionals in your field. They have already walked a similar path as you. You can learn from their mistakes. They have trusted resources and tried methods that you can implement into your business practices. They also likely have connections that can help you on your journey. Having a mentor does not come with any guarantees, but if you do have one or someone in mind that you'd like to reach out to, add their contact information to your toolkit. The next thing to consider is what do you need advice or training on. This will help you to build a list of websites and resources that can help advise and train you to become a better writer. Make a list of areas you'd like to improve or be trained in and create a list of websites to help you get what you need. Consider signing up for newsletters from writers and authors whose opinions and advice you trust and respect. Having their idea sent straight to your inbox might be helpful. They may also provide you with links to resources and connect you with other writers. Here are some suggestions for websites you might be interested in. Almost an author offers a wide range of topics and articles that can provide you with the support you need. Association of writer and writing programs does have some locked features, but their website contains programs, career advice, and information on conferences and other writing related opportunities. Daily writing tips is one of many websites that you find that does exactly what the title says. In case you're wondering, mentoring texts that you come across can be placed in this section or in the next section we're getting ready to cover. 5. Educates: Next in your toolbox, educational materials. Lifelong learning is necessary for your writing career or passion for the craft. You may not always know what areas to strengthen, so be open to anything. This section of your toolbox can contain a variety of resources. In my toolbox are books titles, workshops, courses, websites, relevant podcasts, subscription services I'm considering, articles, and blogs. Consider what materials or resources you find helpful. This is a running document that can be updated as often as you see fit. I suggest revisiting your educational materials quarterly. Some popular suggested reading materials for writers if you need a place to start. 99 ways to tell a story. Exercises in style by Matt Madden has a 4.5 star rating on Amazon. This book tells the same story 99 times, showing the full range of possibilities within storytelling. How to tell a story, the essential guide to memorable storytelling by the Moth and other authors, has a 4.6 rating on Amazon and is a New York Times best seller that helps you write more personal stories. Even if you're not looking to write from personal experience, it's a good way to learn how to write authentically and create unique storylines. Stephen King on writing is always recommended reading for obvious reasons, and is one of the first books on writing that I ever read. I stand by the content, and so do thousands of people, which gives it a 4.7 rating. I will also suggest that you think of authors that you admire and see if they have published any craft books. It's a good way to see what advice writers you trust have to offer. Save the Cat, writes a novel. The last book on novel writing you'll ever need by Jessica Brody is the highest rated book on this list and for good reason. It's a comprehensive guide to story structure. Even if you're not looking to write a novel, it teaches you how to create solid structure that is the book for that. One of my favorite websites for creative writers is reads.com. They also have a podcast, and I have listened to every single episode. I highly recommend you do the same. When you're ready to create your learning path, these resources can help you to determine a timeline of exploration. The growth opportunities are exponential, and this reference guide that comes along with the course can help you set goals for your learning. 6. Corrects: Moving on to our next lecture, correction. Being open to feedback and correction will increase the quality of your writing. Having the right tools to freshen up your writing is a must. In your toolbox, I would include resources, services, or subscriptions to help with improving your writing and editing. Pro writing aid is advertised as a grammar checker, style editor, and writing package in one. Who wouldn't want that? You can use it for free, but they do have affordable premium and premium P plans with a lot to offer. I'm partial to grammarly because I use that daily at work and in my personal writing, but it also uses personalized AI guidance and text generation to set themselves apart. They have free plans, but when I'm working on an important project, I'm sure to pay for the monthly subscription to unlock those premium features because I love it so much. I use it for editing purposes, but some writers might find it helpful for reworking sections of text to improve readability. Speaking of Wordtun also uses AI to suggest rewrites and to diversify your vocabulary to improve your overall writing. If you have sentences that are important to the plot that just don't feel right, Word tune might come in handy. Scribner is novel writing software that focuses on formatting and style. If that is important to your book, this website offers many features that you can try before you buy the license. Autocrt helps you quickly self edit your manuscript. The website also offers services blogs, support, courses, and more at competitive prices. Book butchers helps with all forms of editing, and is more so for people looking to outsource their editing to a real person. There are other services offered on their website. If you have a little more money to spend and want a real person helping with your editing, then this is a great option. Finally, the Hemingway app is a simple editing tool that uses AI to help with yourself editing. There are a ton of other tools and resources I could recommend, but I'd love to hear from you. What are your favorite resources that you'll be adding to your toolkit? 7. Celebrates: Next up, celebrate. Don't wait for others to give you your flowers. Celebrate yourself, your wins, no matter the size, and uplift yourself for the hard work and words you've put into the world. Create a list of ten free things you can do to celebrate a writing goal you've set and five things that cost money that you would love to earn. Rewarding yourself doesn't have to be expensive, nor does it have to be writing related. Be thoughtful when choosing incentives. If you know that buying coffee every morning is something you're going to do regardless of if you meet your goal the night before, this isn't a good reward. Upgrading the size of your coffee might be a better reward. Only going to a concert you've already bought tickets for if you meet your goal might not be something you'll hold yourself accountable with. Consider what is special to you. Maybe setting aside extra time to watch a TV show or driving out of your way to visit a place you don't frequent could be worth working towards. Next, decide the value of these rewards. What do you need to do to choose this celebration? I like to order my rewards from least value to greatest and write it down kind of like a progress bar. This visual allows me to shade in my accomplishments and see what I have earned for my hard work. Also, think of ways you can share your success with others. Social media posts will allow your followers and community to celebrate with you. Calling a writing friend to share the news is a great conversation starter. Taking a picture to remember the moment, even if it's just for yourself, can help you to memorialize a milestone. How about publishing a blog to capture the feeling? The possibilities are endless. 8. Connects: Our next lecture is all about connection. Connection is a precious tool that we should not take for granted. Making connections and staying connected will help you to grow and flourish as a writer. Building a network of writers is valuable human currency. Make a list of writers you'd like to connect with. You'd be surprised how many established authors will respond to personal messages. Sign up for their newsletters, email list, or follow their social media pages, if that applies. Make a goal of the number of writer connections you'd like to make in a certain time frame. Collecting business cards does no good if you don't do anything with them. Don't get so overwhelmed with quantity and focus on the quality of those relationships. Finding writers to connect with isn't difficult. Just go where writers go. Social media is easy because there's already an established writing community on all of the existing platforms. Majority of writers you come across are going to have ways that you can contact them. So reach out. Make a list of conferences you'd like to attend. You can look on Association of writer and writers programs. Most will come with a registration fee, but the networking, knowledge, and experience may be well worth it. Create a list of networking events that will help you grow. Some might be regular local events, and they don't all have to be writing specific. They might be things happening out of town that you compare with a vacation or a solo writing retreat. Remember that connection does not have to come in the form of human interaction. There are ways to stay connected to the industry without having to speak to anyone. Reading books, listening to podcasts, subscribing to magazines and blogs are all great ways to keep up with current trends in the industry as well as changes. Good reads is a great way to connect with the writing community, but you can also educate yourself on new publications, see how they're performing, and how the reading community feels about it. Writers Digest covers information about writing, publishing, and the community. Electric literature, insecure writers support group, literary hub, the writing cooperative, writing.com are just a few resources to get you started and help you stay connected and up to date with news and find people that you can network with. 9. Tracks: While tracks may be the title of one of my books, I promise this lecture is not about self promotion. It's about tracking you. Tracking your writing habits has numerous benefits. We track goals and habits to examine our progress and see how far we've come. Looking back on what you've accomplished can be motivating and can help you with expanding your portfolio. Tracking can also help you to track patterns. Some patterns may need adjustment, and others just might reveal things about you that you weren't aware of, such as the time of day you write best, and this information can help you to improve your writing over time and help you to target those areas of concern. If you're trying to be more consistent in your journey, this tool will hold you accountable and takes the guesswork out of what you need to do. If you're anything like me, checking something off your to do list is a dopamine hit. Finding a tool that allows you to stay on track and feel fulfilled is worth investing in. Do you prefer a digital tracker or something paper based? There are many ways you can track your progress, but which ones are you actually going to use? Here are a few recommendations to add to your toolbox. If you prefer journals, Tiffany Lewis, LCSW published the Habit Tracking Journal. This year I will, a 52 week guided journal to achieve your goals is another, and the author success planner provides structure through goal setting and productivity tools. If you prefer apps, the Hyper graphia app is a paid automatic habit tracker that tracks all your online writing and analyzes your progress and consistency. Writing habit through Google tracks words written, active time, words per minute, and it does goal forecasting. Writing analytics helps you develop a writing habit and provides a wonderful visual aid to see your progress. Trello is a subscription productivity and project management tool. You can keep it simple or pay for a service. Just consider what will benefit you the most. 10. Organizes: It's time to get organized. Are you ready? Staying organized in all areas of our lives increases our productivity. In your toolbox, you need a way to keep track of notes, ideas, story fabric, and your writing. These tools can be digital or paper based, but having an organization system will only make you a strong, more productive writer. If you don't have existing systems in place to keep track of your writing and resources, the creative writing toolbox is a great start. For this section of your toolbox, though, I want you to think about ways you can keep your story ideas, projects, and notes organized so you can easily find and preserve your writing. Here are some organizational tools you might want to consider adding to your toolbox. The app writers Companion helps you plan, organize and goal set. ScappL is a mapping software for organizing story notes and included is their Plot factory, which helps with world building, development, and plotting. Novel factory is a scene organizational tool and helps with the overall novel writing process. For more complicated stories, Eon Timeline can help you plot events and story arcs, and plotter acts as a corkboard for your notes. However you choose to get organized or improve your existing systems, remember that there's a tool for everything you could possibly need help organizing. Make your life easier by ensuring these tools are ones that you'll actually use. 11. Saves: Moving on to tools that save you. Once upon a time in the year 2014, I drove 40 minutes to a coffee shop downtown to try their highly rated vegan menu. As soon as I paid for my very expensive coffee and bagel, my laptop toppled off the table and the hard drive was ruined. I lost almost all of my story ideas five years in the making. I was devastated. The technicians said there was a chance they could recover all of my documents, but it would cost me. Now I know better. Of course, you can save things locally on your computer using word processing tools and offline modes or software. But keep in mind that there is a lot of risk to losing your files. Had my files been saved to a cloud based storage, I wouldn't have had to worry about it. Saving your documents and keeping them private has many options. Using a cloud based storage can help you save and sync your files, so they are accessible everywhere. My sister insists that the time someone hacked into her personal email, they got the passwords to her Google Drive account and have been stealing story ideas ever since. There may be some truth to that since four story ideas being turned into feature films seems more like a coincidence, but the world may never. Fear not, though, there are many ways to keep your documents confidential and stored online. I personally use Dropbox One Drive, and Google Drive. I don't pay for any of these online services, and I feel pretty confident they won't disappear or be hacked. Encrypting your files with a strong password before you upload them to a storage service like a Cloud can help you to keep your documents confidential. Having worked with hundreds of writers in my freelance days, many of my older clients feared their stories would be stolen from the Cloud and refused to type it up on the computer. There's no guarantee that your account won't be hacked, but many of these services require two step verification and strong passwords. Kika is a tool to password protect your files, as well as one password. Clouds like Dropbox and OneDrive have vaults with a second level of protection to add a security level that also requires additional passwords. There are more private and encrypted options if you prefer extreme privacy. Standard notes and obsidian are two options. Flash drives are another alternative, but keep in mind that they can corrupt. This has happened to me as well, sadly. My cute little penguin flash drive won't read on any computer, but the good news is that all those story ideas that were saved on there have been printed out. So while I don't have the original digital files, I do have them stored safely in a binder. External hard drives are an alternative option for those who like their work stored offline, but still want to write on the computer. You can also use this as a backup method. Some people like emailing their files to themselves. I personally do this from time to time. Hopefully, you're already saving your files safely and securely. But if not, please start today. There is nothing worse than the sinking feeling of losing all of your progress. The level of security you choose depends on your specific wants and needs. Do your research, know that you don't have to spend money to store your information. Consider the risks, your comfort level, and the level of security that you need. 12. Supports: Everybody needs support. Let's talk about some tools and resources that can support you. The final tool for your kit is one that supports you. This goes deeper than networking. This is about building a village around you to keep your hobby, passion or writing career vibrant. If you're looking for an online writing community, consider absolute write water cooler. They have an active community that discusses all things writing. You can take part in the conversations or just look. If you're looking to publish, Agent Query Connects is a forum with good information on querying agents and how to take part in the process of publishing and promoting your work. Engaging in a community of like minded people can help you to grow and feel a part of something bigger than yourself. Every year, you can join thousands of writers in camp nano Rimo. If you're looking for people to share your writing with for feedback, critique Circle allows you to exchange feedback with other writers. There's WPAD and Good Reads, but don't forget your own personal network. Your family and friends can support and uplift you, lean on your village, ask your thoughts, vent, involve them in your process. I'm sure they're proud of you and want you to be a successful author, so allow them to support you. This may sound crazy, but stick with me. Dive into your love languages and see how you can add tools to your box that speak to how you feel supported. If you're a words of affirmation person, consider saving affirming quotes. Turn comments, feedback or praise into affirmation cards. Solicit feedback. It can be about you or your writing to save to your toolbox to refer back to. If you're an active service person, create a list of people you've worked well with in the past, people you look forward to working with, and people in your network who you know can support you in different areas that you'll need on your journey. Editors, formatters, graphic designers, literary agents, et cetera. Invite these people to support you so they'll be ready to get to work when you need them. Reaching out early is also a good way to get them excited as well. They might check in on you to show their support. If you love gifts, create a resource wish list. You might put paid subscriptions, books, or bookish swag on there. Consider things that will support your journey or motivate you. If you feel supported through quality time, then invite friends over for coffee or maybe a writing session or a treat or even a brainstorm Zoom call. You can find a writing accountability partner who can do writing challenges with you. Physical touch can't be put in your toolbox, but brainstorm things that will make you feel supported, a hug after a rejection email, a fist bump after you finish a first draft, or even a pat on the back when you've met a goal. Share this with your village. If you live with someone, express how that touch will make you feel. If you have a writing buddy, let them know how important expressing those feelings of excitement or disappointment through touch will make you feel. This industry can be cold, seek and accept all the support you can get. 13. Conclusion: Filling up your toolbox ensures that you have everything you could need at moment's notice to support yourself. The writing industry evolves and you never know what resources will come in handy. Achieving your goals and exploring your creativity should be fun. Having the right tools to support your efforts will continue to make creative writing a fun experience. In this course, we covered how to fill your creative writing toolbox in a way that works for you. I hope the resources I suggested are things you find useful. Hopefully you heard of some new tools that you didn't know existed that you'd like to keep on hand for when you need them. If you found this course useful, please leave a glowing review for other creative writers to find me. If you have personal questions or concerns, I can be reached at novel writing for beginners@gmail.com. My name once again is Nia Hogan and it's been a pleasure to help you create your writing toolbox until we meet again in the classroom. Happy writing.