Many people think “I wasn’t born with the gift of creativity; I’ll never be a good writer” – and just give up. This is not a good mind-set. Everybody has creative potential, and they just need to work on it to unleash their creativity and develop their skills.

Regardless of the career path you’re aiming for, creative thinking and writing skills are necessary for success:

• You must already know creative writing skills are important for your academic life.
• Creative people are able to come up with unique concepts, ideas and solutions.
• Creativity is essential for problem solving, which is a skill highly valued in any line of work.
• Whatever the career you’re aspiring to may be, you will need to sell something – services, products, your skills, your ideas, etc. Without creativity, it will be very difficult to succeed in promoting yourself or your services/products.

But how do you improve your creative writing skills? While there is no magic recipe that will help you become a brilliant creative writer overnight, with patience and hard work, you will get there! Use these 5 tips below, be perseverant and ready to invest a bit of effort, and you will succeed.

1. Always Remember That Creativity Doesn’t Just Happen

There may be a few lucky people out there who just come up with an awesome piece as soon as they put pen to paper (or fingers to keyboard). But for most of us, creativity doesn’t just happen – we usually need to try a little harder.

Don’t be discouraged if you don’t get any ideas as soon as you start working on your project. Take some time to analyze the requirements, the problem, and the solution you must deliver. Think about the information you already have and look for multiple angles to approach your project. Do some research to see what others have to say about the matter at hand and consider what your audience may expect of you.

If you’re still stuck, how about doing some exercises to boost your creativity? Not only will they get your brain moving, but taking your mind off the matter at hand for a short while may be exactly what you need to let your subconscious work in the background and find that perfect idea you’ve been longing for.

Here are just a few exercises you could try:

• Doodles – Letting your mind wander while drawing random sketches will allow you to tap into your subconscious, relax, concentrate better, and generate new ideas.
• Sculpture of matches – Get a box of matches and some glue or sticky tape and make any sculpture you wish, as literal or abstract as you like. Don’t worry too much about the final outcome – just let your imagination run free and enjoy the moment.
• 666 – No occult references, we promise! Here’s what the exercise is really all about: take the 6th book you have on your bookshelf, open it to the 6^th page, and read the 6^th sentence there. Beginning with that sentence, come up with a short poem or story and limit it to – you guessed right – 6 lines.
• Made-up definitions – Get a dictionary and open it to a random page. Look for a word that you don’t know what it means and come up with an imaginary definition for it, based on how it sounds to you or what it inspires in you. A great exercise to trigger your creativity!

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Try out various such tricks to figure out what works best for you, and you will see that the perfect idea will come along the way.

2. Get Organized

As mentioned, creative writing is not an event – it’s a process. To prevent your ideas from getting in a total mess, get organized and develop your writing in stages:

• Gather any necessary data and analyze it carefully.

• Brainstorm (either by yourself or in a group) – remember to not pass judgement on any idea before the brainstorming session is over. Every idea is potentially good at this point, so do not criticize or even discuss them before the end of the session. Even bizarre or foolish concepts can trigger brilliant solutions.

• Plan a good structure for your content – you can use regular outlines, mind mapping, tables, graphics or whatever else helps you keep your ideas well organized.

• Start the actual writing – remember to keep a good, coherent flow and that comprehensibility is key.

• Don’t forget that once you’re done writing, it’s not over – proofreading, editing, and listening to constructive criticism are also essential.

3. Admit That You Need Help

 Even the best writers get stuck sometimes and are faced with what is known as “writer’s block.” You may suddenly realize that you cannot finish your task because you simply have no idea how to tackle the issue.

Instead of just giving up, ask someone knowledgeable for advice or a few pointers, or you can even outsource your project to professional writers.

If your task is urgent or too overwhelming, the latter can be your best solution, provided that you find the right service. You can hire reputable online writing services such as Assignment Masters and let specialists show you how quality creative writing should look like, allowing you to develop your own skills for the future.

4. Show No Mercy

Don’t get too attached to your first draft, as you may need to change it and cut it down mercilessly. Unnecessary adjectives and complex sentences can suffocate your content and make it look pretentious, so be prepared to get rid of redundant parts and edit quite a bit to make your content clean, clear and enticing. A few pointers you should keep in mind here are:

• Do not revise your draft immediately after finishing it. It is still too fresh in your mind for you to be able to spot all potential problems. Have a break and go do something else to get your mind off it – call a friend, check your email, walk your dog, or maybe even do the dishes (we know you’ve been postponing this!)

• Read your draft out loud – it will help you more easily spot anything that sounds off. Better yet, you might find it even more useful to ask a friend to read the work to you. Hearing the content in someone else’s voice will distance you from it and help you assess it more objectively.

• Revise your work in hard copy – it is easier on the eyes and will help you spot issues you might miss when reading on the computer screen.

• Put yourself in your audience’s shoes – always remember one big, essential question: Can someone unfamiliar with you and your subject understand what you’re trying to say?

5. Take Advantage of Online Tools 

Nowadays, there are numerous online tools that can help your creativity and writing process. The ones below are great examples in this regard, so don’t be shy to check them out.

• ZenWriter – An ingenious tool to help you fight procrastination and distractions
• Bubble.us – Great for mind mapping and brainstorming
• HemingwayApp – It helps you make your sentences simpler and clearer and to get rid of those redundant bits we talked about earlier.

Keep the above tips in mind, practice to improve your skills, and you’ll realize you’re a much better creative writer than you thought you were!

About the Author: Kate Simpson is a young and talented contributor for Assignment Masters writing service. She strives to find and create projects where inspiration can be found from unusual sources, and has also recently been writing reports for the AM news column.