Mara RennNov 5, 2022
#writingcommunity hello. I am an ex academic who is now taking a course of creative writing. I'd love to know if someone else here has experience in converting academic writing to creative writing ✍️
Show threadAstrobach Nov 5, 2022

@mararenn I was creative writer all my life, but for over a decade I did technical writing for safety systems and programs. I quit and have been trying to win back my creative words.

Not a direct fit, but in some respects, I know that experience.

Show threadMara RennNov 5, 2022
@rorystarr that's very interesting when you say: I've been trying to have my creativity back.
I wonder how one can achieve that
Show threadAstrobach Nov 5, 2022

@mararenn I think it helps to remember that creative writing is more a thing a reader feels than specifically analyzes. Where as more professional writing must stand up to detailed scrutiny.

One little exercise I did a few times to try and break that habit to define and explain was imagine I was 8 years old and trying to explain my feelings to a stranger. It doesn't create great prose, but it is mindset shift that can help build a new habit around prose.

Show threadMara RennNov 5, 2022
@rorystarr thanks for that tip. Similar than when they ask academics to communicate as you were explaining something to a child, in order to reduce technical slangs and improve clarity in the message.
Kids language, it is ;)
Show threadAstrobach 

@mararenn Yes and it is to remember how to let your heart speak without forcing it to frame or justify itself.

Feelings are as real as thoughts, but they are more timid and it takes a lot to coax them out when you've been building a wall between them and your prose for so long. For myself, I had to work at eroding that wall as un-self-consciously as possible. Maybe that is also the case for you.

Nov 5, 2022 at 10:30pmWeb