The Creative Juices are on the Move!

A few months ago, an idea popped into my head about creating a blog.

Original destination

I am an amateur photographer: my chosen piece of equipment is my iPhone – that’s all. Some of my photos are good and it seems a shame to have them sitting on my phone. Sure, occasionally they go up on Facebook and Instagram, but other than my friends who is going to see them?

The blog is an idea to share my photo learnings with others and to showcase and hopefully sell some of my images. But, I didn’t want to start a blog and display it as a rambling mess.

I had a plan. The first step: find an online writing course. A friend suggested TAFE had a list of free courses. I checked and found: Statement of Attainment in Writing for the Media.

This short course covers writing for all sorts of media including blogs (yay) and creative writing for all sorts of mediums: novels, video games, film, journals etc.

The information is valuable, providing links for various subjects on the different aspects needed to produce a great story. As I proceed with the course, I often find myself following other links within the first link and then have to stop myself and bookmark it to read another time. (The list is huge and growing each day).

Detour

Now, my creative thoughts are seeping through from the back and I find myself taking down notes for two prospective short stories. One of these has the potential to be a novel, at the very least a novella.

My inspiration for that story is a photo I took a couple of weeks ago overlooking Hartley NSW: the valley’s luscious assortment of green after the devastating fires and much needed rain.

I had a first paragraph, a location, a protagonist and a vague idea of what was to happen, but couldn’t proceed. I had no direction; no ending.

One of the website links within a link was 10 Traits of a Great Protagonist a blog by Janice Hardy, (link is here) and just like that, I have guidance towards a direction for my main character. That combined with another link , What makes a Good Story? 10 Elements by Nownovel.com is helping me find direction for the rest of the story.

I know that I have more to learn. This course is giving me the much needed insight to help my stories and blog posts work.

I am proceeding with the rest of the four steps in my plan for the photography side of the blog. Step one is in progress. Though, there may be some more detours taken as I explore my writing side of creativity.

Did you take a detour from your original destination?

This is the link to my first photography post – Protecting Your Photos on Social Media.