The Call to Creative Writing-Finding Your Voice, Telling Your Story

You reading this is no coincidence. This is the call to creation—an invitation to explore one of the most powerful evolutionary tools we have harnessed as humans: storytelling.

Every living being on this planet has a story, and each story holds the key to new levels of awareness. Through stories, we can live countless lives while dreaming beyond our imagination. Stories have the power to inspire life or destroy it. 

How and why we tell stories will determine the fate of life on our planet. Perhaps you're wondering: What is creative writing? Do I have a story to tell and is it worth telling? Do I have the skills I need?

Explore this guide with creative writing tips that will help you identify and unleash the stories living inside you.

Finding Our Voices, Telling Our Stories

For many moons, my life has revolved around storytelling. First with the crafting and sharing of my story, “The Pathfinder Diaries: Tales Sculpted by Sea,” and then helping others tell their stories.

Many writers start but so few finish. Why? Because they don’t fully understand why they are writing their stories. They feel a burning desire to create but haven't investigated the origins of the call. This inspired me to develop the course, Finding Our Voices, Telling Our Stories, offered at University of California (UC), San Diego Division of Extended Studies.

The course focuses on helping students unearth the story that dwells deep in their psyche. How? By writing, reading, and changing their perception of themselves. If you want to become a writer, you must understand that you are not a "writer in progress." You are a writer, NOW. Being a writer doesn't happen when you publish a book; it begins when you approach writing as a sacred ritual, not an obligation. This life-changing process requires that you water your beliefs with action. Take ownership of your destiny and hold yourself accountable to fulfill your dream of creation.

If you are going to fully commit to telling your story, you must address the why. Why are you telling your story? Why make a commitment and sacrifice your free time? If the story you are working on doesn't provide a definitive answer, keep digging or find a more compelling story. Understanding the why requires you to set a clear intention for your story.

Why Tell Your Story

"Storytelling is sacred; it is how we keep the dead living, and the living thriving. It's how we show up as our most authentic self. It can permeate artificial boundaries of race, borders, gender, language, and unequal power. It is the language of the heart, reflecting the breadth of our humanity as individuals and as a collective."

—Fatou Wurie

My Peruvian friend, Jorge Pedraz–now deceased–once told me, “To change the world people need to do three things: plant one seed (tree), have just one child, and write a book." Imagine what the world would be like if we all did this. I know many people would ask, what if I don't have anything to write about? Well, it's time to change that.

A wise man once said, "There are still many chapters of history that have yet to be written. What is missing is someone to write them because those who can write them, don't have time to do so.” 

Making Time for Your Writing

Why should you prioritize your writing and storytelling? Because writing has so much to offer you, your community, and the world. 

• Healing. Writing is the cheapest therapist you'll ever meet. Research has shown that writing has tremendous health benefits and is an effective way to combat stress; writing is a way to identify, understand, and let go of negative thought patterns; it's cathartic. Journaling provides a safe and creative outlet to put the mind at ease, consider it a modern-day meditation for the hyper-active mind.
• Connection. In a world suffering from isolation and disconnection, writing offers a bridge back to humanity via connection. With a click of a button, your words can reach the farthest corners of the globe. A familiar voice returns to sabotage our momentum: Who would want to read your story? What my students discover is that an audience is waiting to be seen and feel heard through their stories.
• Generosity. Writing is a gift you give to the world. You write to spread the ancestral seeds of the story within you and leave something for the next generation. You write to educate your readers on the past and provide a blueprint for the future. You write to craft a story that will honor the life within, in awareness that there will never be another you.
• Joy. Writing grants access to the higher self. When you feel the flow of creation pass through you and onto the page, there is no greater joy. Crystal Carothers, published author, acclaimed blogger and praised writing instructor at UC San Diego Extended Studies captures this moment: "It was the first time in my life that I'd ever gotten into a deep state of flow, completely immersed in the creative process, completely forgetting about myself and my surroundings. The most amazing thing was how much I escaped a sense of time."
• Life Awareness. Crystal reflects on her journey writing her medical memoir, the story of how she used meditation and visualization to heal from a rare and aggressive bone cancer in her thirties, "I think when people tell their stories, it gives their life a deeper sense of meaning. Writing has helped me gain a deeper sense of awareness about myself, why certain things may have happened in my life, and I see the lessons much more clearly.” 
• Alchemy. My mentor, New York Times bestselling author John Perkins, taught me: "Writing is alchemy. As a writer, you have the power to change people's mindsets from lead to gold.” In his book, "Touching the Jaguar," he contributes these reflections: "Reality, as we know it from the standpoint of human institutions, is the result of our perceptions;" "By changing perceived reality, we transform objective reality;” “After enough people accept these ideas, they become reality." You might ask, how? By telling a compelling story that changes the narrative that people tell themselves about the world we live in.

But what makes a story compelling?

Elements of a Successful Story

"Make us Care"

—Anne Lamott

What is one thing the best stories in human history share? The ability to make us care.

How do you make someone care? Emotion. Emotion moves us. Emotion is the glue that holds the story together. Emotion starts with you the writer. If you don't care about the story, why should the reader? Write about what matters most in your world, our world.

Clear images drive emotion. You must engage the senses to trigger the readers’ imagination, so they can truly live your stories.

What's the best way to prime the reader's emotion? Invite them to make meaningful connections with the main character. The readers must see aspects of themselves in the protagonist's world. Archetypes allow them to experience moments of, "I know someone like that."

Here are some key elements that will help your story captivate your audience. 

• The protagonist is the heart of the story and the vehicle for emotion. Everything you include in the story must impact the protagonist's journey. Otherwise, it's just a distraction. Too many distractions kill the story.

• Story structure fuels emotion through a series of escalating conflicts. The stakes need to rachet up in intensity with every decision the protagonist makes.When you foreshadow–impregnate the present with possibilities--you encourage the reader to predict what happens next. By weaving setups and payoffs into your narrative, you transform your story into an adrenaline-filled guessing game that allows readers to live your story as if it were their own.

• Scene structure. During any scene, readers should be able to answer two questions: How does this relate to the protagonist's journey? What are the stakes?

• Desire and conflict. The protagonist must want something, and something must stand in his or her way. This resistance creates a question: What will the protagonist be willing to risk to achieve the goal? Struggle, the lifeblood of story, compels your character to change and determines the pacing-time between conflicts. If we don't have enough tension, we lose the reader. If we have too much tension throughout, the reader is overwhelmed and puts the book down. Subplots, backstories, and flashbacks are storytelling tools writers use to break the tension.

• Time. This malleable illusion sets the story in motion. There’s nothing like a deadline to force the protagonist to act. Writers have the power to stretch moments to eternity or accelerate them faster than the speed of light.

• Writing structure. Varying sentence structure creates rhythm and allows your story to dance across the page. Writing is musical. Each period, a breath. Each sentence, a beat. Each scene, a verse. Each chapter, a song. Each story, an album. John Perkins says, “It's not about the words; it's about how you use them."

Fancy words don't tell stories. People do. And storytelling is about delivery. On the first page we make a promise to the reader–and on the last page we deliver. In my course, Finding Our Voices, Telling Our Stories, we focus on crafting that first page promise to hook the reader, and hooking you, the writer, to finish it.

Taking the First Step

You might be asking, where do I start?

• Tell the stories residing in your heart! Get your words out in whatever way inspires you: pen on paper, small or large journal, laptop or computer, dictation into an app, or in other ways that work well for you. Writing prompts, character journals, book reviews, and freewriting are journaling strategies that have helped our students overcome writer's block.

• Read your work aloud. Do your characters come alive? Does your story have tempo and flow? If a line disrupts the flow, let it go. Experiment. Trust your inner voice and give your characters the freedom to dance into new ways of being.

• Consider joining a writing community. As Crystal Carothers reflects on her writing classes, "What I love (about teaching writing) is that this diversity of students provides a dynamic learning experience—everyone has something to bring to the table, and everyone has someone they can learn from." 

• Take creative writing courses. A structured environment and assignments can help you create a regular practice to push past limits and discomforts. This action can help you produce work. UC San Diego Extended Studies has creative writing courses and a certificate program to nurture your writing skills and goals.

• Share your work. Each quarter, students mention that one of their favorite parts of the program is the feedback from their classmates and the instructor. Through consistent feedback, writers learn how others experience their words which helps them hone their voice.

• Submit your work. In my course, we examine the path to publication. Students will learn the advantages and disadvantages of self-publishing versus traditional publishing. They will also receive guidelines and a template for nonfiction book proposals.

Creative Writing Classes at UC San Diego Extended Studies

"What if the source of creativity is always there, knocking patiently on the doors of our perception, waiting for us to unbolt the locks."

—Rick Ruben

As the greatest stories in human history have shown, it's not about whether the protagonist accomplishes his or her quest, it's about the person who emerges in the process. When you fall in love with the process, you become the reward.

I invite you to unbolt the locks, open the doors, and answer the call by enrolling in one of the many creative writing courses that UC San Diego Extended Studies offers. Classes can be taken individually or as part of the Creative Writing Certificate Program.

Here's what Students of UC San Diego Extended Studies Creative Writing Courses Say:

"After this course, I believe in myself as a writer, and it feels great."-–Hayley

“It's been wonderful to receive feedback on my work and escape my own isolated bubble. The momentum of writing weekly and surrounding myself with writers has propelled my writing forward, for which I am grateful."-–Gene

"I feel inspired to work on my novel again after a few years off. I think making time every day is important. I also feel that taking classes pushes me to "work on the work."-–Katie

"I also found the guidance on refining my voice and balancing description with maintaining reader interest very helpful. I now look at my previous writing with a fresh perspective."-–Anu

About the Author

Ready to start your creative writing journey? Learn more about our Creative Writing program and register today.