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    The Mechanics of Creative Writing
    The Mechanics of Creative Writing
    The Mechanics of Creative Writing
    Ebook124 pages1 hour

    The Mechanics of Creative Writing

    By Ben Bennetts

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    About this ebook

    Do you fancy yourself as a creative writer? Do you enjoy composing great works of literary art—meticulous texts, elegant e-mails, scathing or amusing letters to an editor, scintillating blogs, entertaining short stories, erudite reference books, unputdownable novels? Is there even such a word as unputdownable? (There is now!)

    Is your grammar up to scratch? Do you copy edit your own compositions? Did you know there are no officially-sanctioned rules for English grammar? There is, however, a multitude of opinions on what constitutes correct usage, incorrect usage, and usage that will attract attention—to boldly go springs to mind.

    I use what I call the bish-bash-bosh style of creative writing: bish the words down into a Word file, bash them around, and bosh them to perfection. If this is your writing style, do you know how to manipulate your embryonic text into its final magnificent form using the hidden powers of Microsoft Word (Styles, Paragraph Marker, Find and Replace, Spellcheck and Autocorrect)? How about graphics? Do you understand the copyright infringement perils of copying and using images, and text, from websites for use in your scholarly production? Finally, when you've finished creating, do you know how to self-publish as an e-book, or even as a something-to-be-proud-of paperback or hardback book?

    So many questions; so little time. Read this book and gain a head start into the heady world of creative writing and self-publishing.

    LanguageEnglish
    PublisherBen Bennetts
    Release dateApr 23, 2018
    ISBN9781370237456
    The Mechanics of Creative Writing
    Author

    Ben Bennetts

    After retiring in December 2007 from a busy career as a consultant electronics engineer, I took up walking long-distance trails both in my home country (UK) and in other places such the Himalaya in Nepal, the Sierra Nevada in Spain, and the levadas in Madeira. These activities kept me physically fit. To stay mentally fit, I started a blog (https://ben-bennetts.com) and began writing books. To date (February 2021), I’ve published twenty-one books on topics as diverse as religion, winemaking, an erotic novel (using the pseudonym, J C Pascoe), two storybooks for children, various autobiographies, idiosyncrasies of the English language, long-distance walking, keeping fit as we age, how to create and self-publish either an ebook or a paperback book, a book of cartoons, and a series of blog collections. You can read more about the books on my website, ben-bennetts.com/books. The books are available as e-books on www.smashwords.com and in Amazon’s Kindle Store.Contact me at ben@ben-bennetts.com

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      Book preview

      The Mechanics of Creative Writing - Ben Bennetts

      The Mechanics of Creative Writing

      Ben Bennetts

      Summary

      Do you fancy yourself as a creative writer? Do you enjoy composing great works of literary art—meticulous texts, elegant e-mails, scathing or amusing letters to an editor, scintillating blogs, entertaining short stories, erudite reference books, unputdownable novels? Is there even such a word as unputdownable? (There is now!)

      Is your grammar up to scratch? Do you copy edit your own compositions? Did you know there are no officially-sanctioned rules for English grammar? There is, however, a multitude of opinions on what constitutes correct usage, incorrect usage, and usage that will attract attention—to boldly go springs to mind.

      I use what I call the bish-bash-bosh style of creative writing: bish the words down into a Word file, bash them around, and bosh them to perfection. If this is your writing style, do you know how to manipulate your embryonic text into its final magnificent form using the hidden powers of Microsoft Word (Styles, Paragraph Marker, Find and Replace, Spellcheck and Autocorrect)? How about graphics? Do you understand the copyright infringement perils of copying and using images, and text, from websites for use in your scholarly production? Finally, when you've finished creating, do you know how to self-publish as an e-book, or even as a something-to-be-proud-of paperback or hardback book?

      So many questions; so little time. Read this book and gain a head start into the heady world of creative writing and self-publishing.

      Note: the initial version of this book mentioned Amazon’s print-on-demand service, CreateSpace. CreateSpace has now been absorbed into Amazon’s e-book publisher, Kindle Direct Publishing, KDP, such that KDP now offers both e-book and paperback publishing services. This change has been reflected in this revised version of the book.

      Ben Bennetts

      December 2018

      Copyright © 2018, Ben Bennetts

      Published by Atheos Books at Smashwords

      This e-book is licensed for your personal enjoyment. The e-book may not be re-sold or given away to other people. If you would like to share this book with another person, please buy an extra copy for each recipient. If you’re reading this book and did not buy it, or it was not bought for your use only, then please return to the retailer and buy your own copy. Thank you for respecting my hard work.

      Every effort has been made to trace all copyright holders of material, textual and graphical, quoted or otherwise used in this book. Any omissions will be acknowledged and included in future editions if application is made by e-mail to the author at ben@ben-bennetts.com

      ISBN: 9781370237456

      Table of Contents

      Dedication

      1. Introduction

      2. Grammar and Punctuation

      3. The Basic Tools of Writing

      4. Copy Edit: Polish, Polish, Polish

      5. Copyright: the Perils of Copy and Paste

      6. Publishing your Book: E-book or P-book?

      7. Creative Writing: Some Final Comments

      Further Reading

      Acknowledgements

      About the Author

      Atheos Books

      Dedication

      This book is dedicated to the small army of family and friends who helped me copy edit my earlier books. Like me, they did not find all the mistakes but, liked like me, they tried.

      1. Introduction

      "Grandpa, where do the stories come from?" asked Nikki, when both she and Tommy were sitting in Grandpa's kitchen one evening after school.

      "Oh, I don’t know.  Tommy has already asked me that question. Out of my head, I guess," replied Grandpa.

      "Who put them there?" asked Nikki.

      "Nobody that I know of.  They just happen."

      "Can you tell a story about anything?" said Tommy.

      "Pretty much.  I just need a few characters or a situation and, bingo, the story starts to take shape.  Then, all I require is an audience."

      Don't you write it down first? asked Nikki.

      No. In fact, I don't think I've ever written down a story before I told it. I might write it down afterwards but then it becomes a different story. I add extra characters, change the plot, add more detail, and so on.

      Yes, but I still don't understand how you can tell the story in the first place, said Nikki.

      Nor me, Nikki, nor me. As I said to Tommy, once I start talking the story 'just happens'. As I talk, I think about what's going to happen next, and so the story continues until I reach the end. Maybe I have a good imagination?

      Can we have a story now? asked Tommy.

      …

      Chapter 11, The Dream Guardian, Ben Bennetts, 2017

      I'm sometimes asked, How do you do it?

      Do what? I reply.

      Write all these blogs, stories, books, and oh-so-elegant e-mails. How do you get started? How do you know what to write? Where does the content come from? What's the process?

      I've no idea, I reply again, but I'll sure as hell tell you!

      Okay, it's not quite like that but I have been asked how I create blogs and books and I have pondered on the process of what many people call 'creative writing'. But, what do we mean by creative writing? A simple definition is anything that has not been written (created) before but that definition collapses if I was to offer The cat donned a purple coat and ate an apple before embarking on his world tour. I'm sure nobody has ever written this sentence before but is it creative? It depends on what follows.

      The Concise Oxford Dictionary defines creative as an adjective relating to or involving the use of imagination or original ideas in order to create something. My sentence fits this definition but would it hold your attention and motivate you to continue reading? Maybe; maybe not.

      Creative writing is more than just stringing words together in a way that intrigues, stimulates, and causes enjoyment. It's about writing something that endures over time and gives some sort of long-lasting pleasure to the reader. The Brontë sisters knew how to do it, as did William Shakespeare, Charles Dickens, Agatha Christie, Arthur Conan Doyle and a host of other now-deceased writers. John le Carré knows how to do it. Dan Brown, Robert Ludlum, Patricia Cornwell, Stephen King, Danielle Steel, Ken Follett… they all know how to spin a yarn that'll keep you turning the pages. Hilary Mantel, maybe. (I have difficulty with Hilary Mantel's complex intertwined plot lines but she sure knows how to write.) Some of these authors may not be to our

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