Creative writing hacks

-

 Here are some lesser-known but powerful creative writing hacks that go beyond the usual “write every day” advice:

1. Write the “wrong” scene first
If you’re stuck, skip to the scene you’re most excited to write, even if it’s out of order. Momentum matters more than chronology—you can stitch it together later.

2. Use “whiteboard drafting”
Write your scene in bullet points first, with no grammar, no punctuation rules, and no filter. Then expand into full sentences. This helps you dodge perfectionism and focus on ideas.

3. Steal a rhythm, not words
Pick a passage from a writer you admire and mimic its sentence length and rhythm with your own content. It’s like playing scales on a piano—you train your ear for flow.

4. Work in “constraint sprints”
Force a rule on yourself for one scene: no adjectives, only one-syllable words, or dialogue-only narration. Constraints force your brain to problem-solve in fresh ways.

5. Write in a font you hate
Switch your document to something ugly like Comic Sans or Papyrus while drafting. It tricks your brain into caring less about how “polished” it looks, which frees you up to write faster.

6. Replace editing with “scene surgery”
Instead of line-by-line tinkering, copy the scene into a new doc and rewrite it from scratch. You’ll keep the essence but shed the baggage of the old draft.

7. Use “micro-lies” for character depth
Have your characters say or think something slightly false. Readers instinctively want to resolve the gap between truth and lie, which makes them lean in.

8. Stop mid-sentence
End a writing session in the middle of a sentence (or even a word). Your brain hates unfinished business—when you come back, you’ll start instantly instead of warming up.

9. Externalize the mood
Before writing, listen to a soundtrack, smell a candle, or change lighting to match your scene’s emotion. Environmental cues help your tone stay consistent.

10. Throw in a “wild card” object
Give a scene an unrelated prop (a balloon, a broken watch, a jar of olives) and force yourself to work it in. This often sparks surprising plot turns or metaphors.

If you want, I can put together a one-page printable “creative writing hack sheet” with these boiled down into quick prompts so you can keep them at your desk. That way, you can pull one at random when you’re stuck.

Comments

Post a Comment

Popular posts from this blog

پاکستان میں کھجور کی کاشت

-
Image
سلمان عطا پاکستان میں کھجور کی کاشت تعارف کھجور کا شمار ان چند درختوں میں ہوتا ہے جو قدیم انسان نے اپنی خوراک کیلئے کاشت کرنا شروع کئے۔ موہنجو داڈو میں ملنے والے پانچ ہزار سال پرانی گٹھلیاں اس بات کی طرف اشارہ کرتی ہیں کہ برِصغیر میں یہ درخت ہزاروں سالوں سے موجود ہے۔ یہ درخت نہ ہوتا تو شائد عرب کے صحراؤں میں زندگی کا پنپنا ممکن نہ ہوتا۔ اس کا شمار فی ایکڑ سب سے زیادہ خوراک پیدا کرنیوالے پودوں میں ہوتا ہے . کجھور میں نر اور مادہ درخت علیحدہ علیحدہ ہوتے ہیں۔ ایک درخت تقریبا" سو سال تک ہر سال 70 سے 150 کلو تک کھجور پیدا کر سکتا ہے اور فی ایکڑ 150-120 پودے لگائے جا سکتے ہیں۔ پانی کی قلت اور نمکیات کی زیادتی کو بہت حد تک برداشت کرنے کی صلاحیت رکھتا ہے البتہ پانی جتنا زیادہ ہو گا اتنا بہتر پھل دے گا۔ غذائی اعتبار سے دیکھا جائے تو کھجور فائبر، وٹامنز (خصوصا" بی کیمپلیکس)، اور منرلز (کیلشیم، آئرن، پوٹاشیم زنک وغیرہ) کا بہت اچھا ذریعہ ہے۔ کھجور کی پیداوار کے اعتبار سے مصر، ایران، سعودی عرب، متحدہ عرب امارات اور پاکستان دنیا کے پانچ بڑے ممالک ہیں۔ پاکستان میں مکران (خاص اقسا...
Read more

Research Process in Social Sciences

-
Image
Short introduction to Research Process in Social Sciences  Part 1 Salman Ata The   research process   is an organized, systematic way to state and answer questions and to solve problems. It involves different steps in a cyclic form which implies that it is a continuous process. There is no single “official” way to determine the steps in the research process and it is also difficult to assess where the actual research process begins. However before data collection a research problem, and indeed a research question should be defined without which data collected will likely be imperfect or useless. Moreover, decisions about the social setting intended for observation, sampling procedures and techniques should be made. The research process also differs somewhat from one discipline to another. There is no single “official” way to determine the steps in research process; however, outlines below do help to describe how research is done A) ...
Read more

PARADIGMS OF SOCIAL RESEARCH

-
Image
PARADIGMS OF SOCIAL RESEARCH (Draft only) Mental model or frames of reference (belief system) (to organize observation and reasoning) shape our research designs. These frames or mental models are known as paradigms ( Bhattacherjee, 2012 ). It is a way to describe a worldview, informed by some philosophical assumptions about the nature of (social) reality ( Chilisa and Kawulich , 2012) . They are like colored glasses that control what we see and how we organize our thoughts about the observed world. According to Schwandt (2001), “ a paradigm is a shared worldview that represents the beliefs and values in a discipline and that guides how problems are solved ”. Different people have a different views of the observed phenomenon because they see social reality in different ways. For example, liberals and conservatives proposed different poverty reduction strategies as they see governments’ roles differently. To create a better economy, conservative may propose lowering taxes while...
Read more