In this post, you’ll learn 6 fun creative journaling techniques to help you leverage your reading habit and surprise yourself with what you already know how to write.
I don’t have to tell you that reading makes you a better writer. That it builds your vocabulary and gives you better sentence structure, style, and logic. Or that it’s an incredible way to travel to the land of words and pick up the art of storytelling like you grew up speaking it.
But how exactly do you go from reading a great book to actually writing something--that you like? That is the question.
Today you’ll discover 6 of my all-time favorite creative journaling techniques to help you go from reading to writing. These are fun, simple habits to add to your writing routine. Whether you are writing a blog for your business, or your next short story.
And if you’re writing in more than one language—or a language you’re learning? These are made for you.
These are strategies I’ve honed and developed in my 20 years of teaching writing—in a foreign language and multilingual settings.
I use these techniques myself as a creative writer and copywriter.
Because
I want to improve my writing--always.
I’ve learned that when I let go and write for fun instead of to finish something, it often turns out to be my best work.
This is a creative process for getting your words on the page that I love sharing. So if you read this and find yourself wondering how to put some of these strategies into place?
Jump on the newsletter and join me for my next live creative journaling session. I’m constantly weaving these kinds of prompts into my workshops. Or just ask me your question in the comments.
Creative journaling prompts to help you play with words, and improve your fluency, creativity, and vocabulary.
Creative journaling technique #1 Blackout & Collage poems
If you’ve followed this blog for a while--or my profile on Medium, you’ll know that
found, blackout and collage poems are some of my favorite ways to go from reading to writing--and I personally use them to write not just in English but in French and Spanish (which I’m still learning). You can find out how to use them here.
Strategies like blackout poetry have been made popular by poets like Austin Kleon. But they’ve been around for a very, very long time.
Blackout and collage poems are great for our writing fluency and creativity because they get you out of your head.
They take you away from perfectionism and give you a strange set of constraints that completely distract your inner critic.
In short, they invite you to stop worrying about being ‘good,’ experiment, and create something with just these words in front of you.
They’re also highly visual, and beautiful, and tap into other ways of thinking, reasoning, and creating--for those of us who have a more visual approach to the world.
And if you’re a multilingual writer, it can be wonderful to have all the words in front of you already…before you try to stare down the empty page and write!
Creative journaling technique #2: Take a found poem…and embellish it.
A found poem is a poem you ‘find’ in another piece of writing--or by combining other pieces of writing such as:
A newspaper article
Lyrics to a song
Ads, jingles, lines from movies
Words and phrases from a novel
Etc…
Blackout and collage are forms of found poems. And if you want to create an entirely found poem, you would use only words you found elsewhere and play with them until they look like a poem to you.
But since we’re experimenting, why not keep going?
In this case, I’m inviting you to take words and phrases you found in another piece of writing and then fill them in a bit, add your own words, and your own meaning, and create something different.
Keep this writing automatic and fun. Don’t overthink it.
Here is an example of an embellished found poem I wrote about an unusual weather phenomenon we have here in France--it came from a newspaper article.
How do found poems help you write (in any language)?
And it helps you avoid that sticky, frustrating feeling of searching for your words while you write. Blackout, found poems, and collage poems are basically chances to create something with word banks that are ready-made for you.
Creative journaling technique #3: write a word story.
Another creative journaling strategy I like to use as a multilingual writer and in the writing workshops I lead for others is the word story.
Simply put, you grab 5-10 words or expressions from whatever you’re reading and play at writing a short story with them. Remember, when you’re in ‘creative journaling mode,’ the idea is not to worry about a finished product or getting something done.
The idea is to help you get the words flowing in a much more effortless (and less painful) way. It’s a little like becoming fluent in a language.
As you let your subconscious figure out what these words have in common and create a story, you’re using a technique called free association--a known booster of creativity.
Depending on whether you’re working with a native language, a language you’ve mastered as an adult, or a language you’re actively learning, you’ll focus on different things.
You could focus on word choice, the tone, and the connotation of words, words you would never use, words with double meanings, or just words you had to look up while you were reading.
Creative journaling inspiration from stories, plot structures, and non-fiction.
These last few take a little practice—and I admit, I’ve incorporated them into my practice over years of teaching and writing. That said, there is the moment when you start—and then you just keep going.
I think you can do anything you set your heart to. And if you get stuck, I’m here to help. Ready to give these a try? Here’s how:
When you read, you’ll want to observe and ask yourself questions, of course. How does a story or novel begin? Does it start with the action? Are their flash-backs? Do characters correspond to each other using letters? These are your writing prompts.
Think of something you loved in your reading. And try it out. In the smallest way possible.
That last bit of advice is key. Really. Give yourself 10, or even 5 minutes to get started.
If you get ‘sucked in’ and want to keep going, great. If not, stop. And know you showed up and practiced. You’re doing exactly what you needed to do as a writer.
By giving yourself permission to write the small thing, you get the practice you need to write the big thing.
And…sometimes you sit down for 5-10 minutes, get sucked in, and just write the big thing. That happens too.
Creative journaling prompt #4: rewrite a scene from a book or story you love.
Take that latest novel you just read. Did a certain scene use such great details, metaphor, and storytelling that you felt like you were there? Did the prologue suck you in and make you want to read the entire book in one night?
For example, in a great prologue, you might learn about a character in crisis. But you may not know exactly how they got there--or what’s going to happen to them.
Take that small snippet of the book or story and use it for inspiration. Replace the characters, and put them in a different setting, time, place, and culture. Take as many steps away as you can from the story you’ve just read. But keep the elements you love.
Creative journaling prompt #5: take an inspiring piece of non-fiction and sample the structure.
If you read a book, chapter, article, or blog post that really speaks to you, ask yourself questions about the structure.
How does the author introduce the idea?
Are there parts to this piece? A first, second, third?
Is there a list behind built here?
Does the author introduce theory with a great story? Or use storytelling to illustrate?
Spend a couple of minutes writing down 3-4 things you love about the way this writer created whatever it is you are reading.
Your next creative journaling prompt is this (and only this): Brainstorm.
Create a list of 10-15 possible topics that you could write about using this structure.
And try to make them increasingly different from your example.
It’s a great idea to copy a structure or template. But what sometimes happens is that we end up sampling more than we mean to. To keep your writing yours and only yours, brainstorm new ideas for the topic until you feel confident that you’ve found something truly original.
Remember: the first few ideas on your list are absolutely allowed to be uncreative, boring, copycat ideas. Just write them down and have faith that the more you brainstorm, the better the ideas get.
And what if the 10-15 ideas aren’t fabulous?
Try this bonus creative journaling technique…
Creative journaling prompt #6: write…then move!
Write a question to your creative, innovative brain and tell it you need more ideas. Put that question right on the journaling page with your brainstorm.
Then do other things. A variety of things. Don’t just work all day and then collapse in front of Netflix. Spend time spacing out. Go on a drive, do the dishes, color, and doodle. Keep your journal with you.
Ideas tend to come up when you least expect them. Write them down.
That’s how you can go from sampling structures and outlines from your reading to becoming completely unique--a voice of your own.
And what if you joined us for a workshop or a writing prompt?
As a way of reaching out and bringing us together, I write prompts and hold live, free writing workshops--and book chats. If you’d like to get my prompts, invitations to my next live event, and a short and sweet series of prompts designed to get you writing something short and healing about your life and from the senses, be sure to join the newsletter.