Creative Writing
If it isn’t creative, it isn’t writing
You don't have to be a bestselling novelist or published poet to consider yourself a creative writer, because by using the right words anyone can tell a story with the potential to change the world.
We all contain a lifetime's worth of material, informed by the people, the places and the passions that have shaped us. Through a mix of diligence and devotion, creative writing can become a means to transform the deeply personal into something universal.
There's more to written storytelling than just pretty prose, however, as expressive writing can also help process traumatic experiences or soothe a troubled soul.
Whether it's making a daily entry in a journal, sharing an interest or hobby in a blog, scribbling a limerick on a napkin, or embarking on the first chapter of your magnum opus, the very act of picking up a pen or tapping at a keyboard to unleash your emotions can provide endless therapeutic possibilities.
So, whatever your motivation in learning to develop your literary voice, contact I Before E today and stoke your passion for the power of the written word.
The Great Invasion
A flash fiction piece on one man’s experience of a personal war…
Bad Dad
A short memoir on parenting throughout the ages…
Angel of the Lobby
A flash fiction account of private anguish in a public place…
Parental Controls
In a technological world, you can keep in touch with family at the touch of a button - regardless of when they died…
A Cat’s Search For Meaning
The cat was a deconstructionist, and its latest masterpiece was left splattered across the back yard…
The Lonely God
A micro fiction meditation on the writer’s divine powers of life and death…
Northern Discomfort
Blather, blood and the black stuff all flow in this alphabetised poem to the Northern Irish celebration of St Patrick’s Day…
GTA: Santa’s Sleigh
Two little boys risk the naughty list when they decide to take a joyride on Christmas Eve…
Soul to Soil
This funereal fragment was composed for a poetry class on Edgar Allan Poe’s The Raven.
The Evil Orange Penguin
A typical Sunday dinner with the in-laws becomes a waking nightmare for Kurt when the evil orange penguin pays a surprise visit…
(Shortlisted for the Fish Publishing Short Story Prize 2022)
Granny’s Favourite
It’s just a dark room. But he’s just a young child. And there’s something in the shadows, something with a dreadful need…
(Part of a creative writing workshop on horror stories)
The Auld Lad
It doesn’t happen very often, but sometimes me and the auld lad really see eye to eye…
(Shortlisted for the Fish Publishing Flash Fiction prize)
Broken Old Things
It was just an old ornament that was broken - so why was the old man so upset?
(Longlisted for the Michael Mullan Charity Fund Flash Fiction Competition)
Every Word Counts
The longest book in the world contains over 17 million words - but, as Ernest Hemingway is said to have proved in a barroom bet, you can tell a complete story in as little as six.
My favourite type of short creative writing - or flash fiction - is the two-line horror story, which often follows the same set-up/punchline structure as a traditional joke.
If horror isn’t to your taste, you can write a two-line story about anything, and it’s a quick and effective way of sharpening up how you shape your message while having some fun with words.
Two-line stories are a brilliant creative writing exercise that gets you thinking about the importance of every word in your narrative.
And best of all, you can practise them anywhere.
Write your story
If you’re a group of like-minded people, either in the business, community or public sector, and want to learn how to use creative writing to tell your story, then get in touch with I Before E today.
Online classes are available, and onsite classes in the Laois area.
For more details, get in touch now.