The impatience of some of these people commenting is a dead giveaway as to why they are here in the first place! There is always something to gain, and if you're truly interested in becoming a better writer, you need to stick around people! I found this incredibly helpful! Thank you very much for this.
ZanyProductionz Exactly how i feel. I've been a heavy procrastinator when it comes to writing, so much that it has depressed me. This video (especially its length, allowing for more detail) has made me feel a lot more confident about organizing my ideas, which is the ultimate goal when you feel you have creativity to share. If you don't have organization and persistence (both requiring patience), which this video stresses, then you won't find much success in taking advantage of your creativity. People took the "not writing while inspired' the wrong way, because i still write while inspired, but i don't ONLY write while inspired because then you slip into a habit of only writing when you feel "inspired," which isn't as often as many would like to admit.
There's the flaw limiting this video's commercial viability... It appeals to those who don't want to put a lot of time into writing on the back end, but requires they put in a lot of up front time watching the video! Probably great content, but going to lose a lot of viewers in the process... It's a sad state of affairs, us millennials don't have the patience it takes to truly develop skill at a new trade, but instead would rather be fed, Matrix style, all the tools necessary to be a master on the front end, with no back end work. Then when you write two pages and realize you suck, on the the next adventure!
I've heard several writing professors and authors, including Stephen King, give advice that is exactly the opposite of the strategies, and I've also heard several who totally agree with you. The problem is that people figure out something that works for them, and assume it'll work for everyone else. I think the key is for people to experiment with different strategies in order to figure out what works for them.
Saleem Karim which means the real key might be compiling all these different ideas and presenting them so would be writers can respond to what inspires THEM. There's your next book idea... Compiling all the different writing recommendations of successful authors and comparing and contrasting their views and challenging the readers to discover what works for them
A lifesaver! I'm currently taking a semester long creative writing class and unfortunately it never taught how to develop story ideas. I wish I'd found this earlier. I feel much more prepared for my final after watching your video.
This was one of the most helpful lessons I've ever received as an aspiring writer. Thank you so much. My writing has been prolific after learning this basic process - a process that so many other teachers just ASSUME the writer already knows. Thank you so much!
Thank you, Andrew, for sharing your knowledge! Even after hours and hours of self study, plus a recent college level creative writing class, story development has been extremely difficult for me. Your great teaching style is exactly what I've needed. It all makes sense now. I'm 56 years old...and very determined! :-)
I am only 20 minutes into this but I want say that it is very true, you cannot depend on inspiration. I tried writing a novel three years ago before I know ANYTHING about writing a short story purely off of inspiration and when I was not inspired, I got into drugs when I was hanging out with friends and listening to music and going for walks with thoughts just leaping out my head. Writing now is a labor and a serious career choice that can not be at the whim of some Greek Muse, great point
Hey dude, whatever anyone else says about this video just remember that it helped me and I think you done a great job on it. I feel like now that I've watched this video I've learned how to write a first story for beginners and thank you for this tutorial :D
This is a fantastic video! Andrew lays out what will make your writing shine and help you catch flaws in your story before you create them. This will save you time in the future from having to go back and do major revisions. My biggest problem with writing is not knowing where the story is going. This video helped me understand not only what makes a story work, but how to plan it out. That's planning, not outlining. I am confused, however, as to why people would complain about the length of this video. If you were to take a course on writing at a school, that would run hours over a period of weeks. If you were to sign up for a workshop at a conference, that could take up to two to three hours. Writing is not learned in 15 minutes. It takes a lot of time and a lot of practice. Your time is not that precious. You are not that privileged. But you are privileged, because you have people like Andrew who knows what they're talking about and are willing to take time out of their own day and share them with you. In this video he gives you gold. Appreciate it or keep scrolling.
Thank you, thank you, thank you for not doing another of those stupid 10min tutorials. This was really helpful, informative and profesional! For those who complain about the length of the video, this is meant to be a presentation and not a TH-camr Childish tutorial.
Thank you Charles. I'm so glad you liked the video and the book. I hope it helps a lot of people. Thank you so much for your kind words. Good luck with your own writing!
For someone who wants to teach how to write a short story, you should work on editing your tutorial down to a more concise video. One hour?! The information you cover in this video could be cut down to 20 minutes and you would see your views triple, and it would be a lot more useful. Plus, the length of this video someone damages your credibility as a short story author. Just cut everything that we already know, which in this case is what we already know or don't know about ourselves. Also, 10 minutes in, you're still talking about what this video isn't. Your video shouldn't take 9.5 minutes to get to your course's objectives. Cut out all the tangents, all the irrelevant perspective, that only dilute your teaching.
Chase Thomas H and congratulations. You're the 500th person that has said that since I put the video up 2 years ago, and the 356th person that has said that since I made an abbreviated version. You're always welcome to put in your 2 cents, but it's a little late. May I recommend getting a hobby?
Andrew Heath Just came across the video. It's clear, I offended you. My apologies, really. I meant it only to be constructive. I'd love to check out the other video, if you want to reply the url. And if you're getting hundreds of responses like mine, maybe you could add an embedded link to the abbreviated version. Sincerely, as a fellow educator, I respect your efforts. -- 500th person though, that's awesome!
Chase Thomas Hello, sorry, you caught me when I was irritated about something else. I made the numbers up, but they are still high. The video can be found at th-cam.com/video/bwXw-9nk71E/w-d-xo.html. Thank you.
No worries Andrew Heath. Reading it now, it does appear that I might have taken some of my own writing frustrations out on you in my comment . I'll check it out.
Really loved this presentation. It solved a lot of issues that have prevented me for even trying a short story and I think I can apply this to book length stories too. thanks
This is really, really helpful! I thought my idea was just in the really early stages but it's almost finished according to this, just about the middle of the adulthood phase. It also allowed me to recall some older ideas I had had and forgotten to write down
Writing while you're inspired does not hurt your writing. "Mania" is nothing more than an elevated intellectual and/or emotional state of being, which can inform your writing and assist writer's productivity, (especially those struggling with self discipline/motivation). When you write while you're uninspired, you tend to find the act of writing intellectually and emotionally stimulating anyway, right? Before long, writing *inspires* you to sit at the keyboard for longer than your initial 1 hour session. Your productivity increases, you accomplished more that day (word count/editing/etc). This is inspiration. It doesn't damage the quality of your work. In fact, I would argue the very opposite: that writing while uninspired is more damaging to the quality of your writing because if you force yourself to perform a task you don't want to do you're much more likely *not* to complete the task or to rush through it (completing it haphazardly). Lack of inspiration (along with inexperience) tend to make writers more impulsive: they rely on cliche rather than using their analytical faculties to exert brainpower when they don't want to. They'll write a derivative of someone else's work or they'll suffer from that real or imagined writing disease we call "writers block" where they can't seem to translate their thoughts into words. Your emotional state of mind also influences the tone and pacing of your work. If you're impatient to finish the work (or otherwise begrudge having to do it), your writing will contain hints of this irritation/impatience/bitterness--which may be inappropriate and have to be rewritten the next day. People in this state of mind are also more likely to misjudge their own writing (quality/decision making, etc). But on the flipside, the very *act* of writing tends to *inspire* interest and motivation in the writer...shifting their negative or disinterested mindset into something more suitable for writing. So I'm afraid I'm on the opposite side of the debate in that regard.
Absolutely wonderful! Thank you so much for your generosity in teaching the process of how to write. You hit the nail on the head by going right into the nuts and bolts of how to construct a story in such a thorough way with detailed explanations and guidance. Thank you and hope you'll be a famous author soon.
Andrew thank you so much for this video! It's the best video on story writing I've ever seen! In fact, I think it's better than most of the books I've read on writing. You've given me a simple way to start writing - the keyword being SIMPLE. I have actually followed this and written my first story that actually makes sense - nothing special but at least I have an understanding of how things are supposed to flow. I'm the kind of person who is very spontaneous and loves to improvise. However, your tutorial has given me a framework within which I can create freely, knowing that the final piece will make sense to the reader. Thank you once again! I finally believe I can actually write stories people will want to read. (My next project is to write a 100 stories in a hundred days, hopefully at the end of it I will become reasonably good :D )
Many thanks for this video! It's a very practical and pragmatic approach of story-telling! I especially enjoyed the part about ideas development, your advise on not writing under the influence of inspiration, and the necessity to place the story in a debatable area. Thank you Andrew! All the best, Matt.
Hardly. I'm just making a point, that's all. I have this perfectionist problem so I like to remind myself that to think there is some perfect story or painting or creation is to only set yourself up for disappointment.
Thanks for the lesson, you have teached me more on this subject than my narrative teacher did. I'm straight of to your website to read the short story you wrote!
I get your point about inspiration. When writing music I often churn out lots of shitty material when I'm excited and inspired and then discard most of it after the initial excitement passes. I've been making music for long enough that I can do it without being massively inspired at that moment. Inspiration doesn't help really. I find that if you just keep at it then eventually usable material will come and you can keep developing it into something.
I love your take on inspiration. I don't think I've ever heard anyone else make that connection between altered states and inspiration, but it seems obvious once you say it. I've experienced exactly what you describe -- some amazing idea that felt like a thunderbolt of pure creativity only to turnout to to be a static pop and fizzle when I went back to read it later. Good stuff. Keep it up!
Realizing this is an old video, please let me comment. I am the procrastinator type. Woke up this morning dreaming that a teacher was telling me that I had 24 hours to write a short story as an assignment. LOL Came here, after telling the teacher in my dreams that I did not think I could get it done in a day. I think I can do this.... LOL My editor is very excited to see more work from me. Thank you. The length was no issue at all, I had time to brain storm my idea while going through the presentation.
Andrew, I am a traditionally-published non-fiction author (I know, big deal, right?) but as one writer to another I wanted to let you know that I really enjoyed this. Your points are right on (for example, whenever I write while "inspired" I always have to go back the next day and rework the text!) and I find your tone and mannerism enjoyable. Please do more. I have subscribed and look forward to following you.
Sincere thanks. Your efforts are really appreciated. As a novice writer, I found your lesson extremely enlightening and very helpful. It is said, "when the student is ready.....the teacher arrives". Your kindness will be rewarded.
Thank you for posting this. All the advice given is really insightful for anyone new to creative writing. I tried to take everything mentioned to heart.
You're welcome Andrew. I also posted a link for the video over at an ebook site I frequent (they have a writer's forum) as well as one for your novel writing ebook. mobileread. It's a good site for both PD ebooks and new ones.
You really have a great point there, about inspiration. I have written whilst "inspired", banging on the keys and letting it all just "flow" and 100% of the time, I have re-read what I've puked out and thought "wtf is THIS?". I have since given up and the world is a safer place hahaha. Great tutorial :-).
Thank you so much Andrew. It was a really nice video. I'll make sure to use the pointers in my next story. I was actually surprised when I saw this because I was already doing most of the stuff you mentioned even before without even realizing I was doing it. I'd love to read your work. I hope I can get to it as soon as possible. Thanks for sharing your knowledge with us. :) All the best for your writing works!
I agree that we need to learn how to write without inspiration. But, inspiration can be predicted more than we think. I find inspiration in reading other books or watching movies, listening to music, being in nature, etc. It gives excitement to what I'm writing. We shouldn't be dependent on it, but definitely welcome it when it's there.
Right from the introdtion, this videos proves inevitably impotant, unlike the overwhelming majority of the other ones on can come across sometimes. Indeed, it deserves not only close attention but also a very great tribute. After all, who can speak of writing in more precise words than the writer himself? And it is for this that I would like to express my gratitude and my indebtedness to the author.
Thank you for making this video Andrew. I think the video could have been shorter. As someone who is busy and wants to get into short story writing i don't have 56 mins to sit here and watch long videos. I skipped to the ideas part of this video. It would be good to have a separate video about goals, writers block & procrastination. I saw the title and came here to learn 'how to write a short story in one hour'. I feel like I've learned a little something but not enough.
None of us are perfect, and we can all benefit from training by other writers. I appreciate the insights Andrew Heath offers in this just under 1 hour talk.
This was very helpful. I have wanted to be a writer for years but had no idea of how to turn a story idea into a real story. I think I'll definitely be able to put your process to good use.
Thank you for spending your time to create this presentation. I have written nothing but have good advice. Seems stories with living animated characters that people fall in love with and as many situations that cause any strong emotion in the reader equals success. Then if you add some concept that makes people think. Best seller! God bless.
Thank you Andy! Do I dare say you are inspiring and I'm inspired? Your depth of understanding and ability to impart your ideas about writing a short story are outstanding. I watched your condensed version first and went on to the long one. It was worth every minute and I took notes. In your longer version, the "Stages of Ideas" is refreshing and challenging. I have never heard them described like this and it filled in some gaps for me. I'm heading over to "thefictionsite.com" and hope it is still there. Thanks again. Warmly, Elaine in NM
Elaine Carrillo Thank you Elaine. I've actually taken down thefictionsite.com so unfortunately it's no longer available. I'm glad the video was helpful though. Thank you again.
I found the video to be very interesting & useful. It's sort of like using building blocks or building a house. Each step building upon the previous one until you have a completed project. I also picked up a copy of your non-fiction book about writing a novel. Thanks for a great video and writing book.
gosh... somebody is kind enough to take the time to put all this information together and put it out there (obviously to help others) and people are criticizing it...?! If you find it useful, great! If you don't, move on....quietly!!!
Very imformative and well presented pps. I found it to be very helpful. Great for getting it from thought to reality. Like with anything, take what you need and discard the rest, and for what this presentation offers, it is helpful for things I was missing.
I have just started writing my story and its about two wolf pups called Ozzy and Skye. They are best friends but after a forest fire, both of their parents go missing and so Ozzy and Skye end up going on a quest to find their mum and dad. But after a while, Skye thinks they should give up but Ozzy wants to carry on. Until one day, the Wise old owl sees Ozzy and Skye trying to find their parents. So he goes down to tell them that their parents were killed in the fire by the hunters. So in the end, Ozzy and Skye get adopted by a lovely wolf pack that is one of the strongest in this forest. My story shall hopefully turn out well ;-)
Wonderful!...Thanks for the video...may I know where I can download the short story you've mentioned. The site seems under construction or development. Cheers
I really like this. One can tell Andrew Heath is a real writer who knows what the hell he's talking about. His credentials demonstrate the experience that your average English teacher isn't in a position to give
bludluva Thank you. English teachers can be a good start to a writing career much like business school is a good start to a business career. Once you have the basics, you must apply them and as you do you get better. Thank you for the nice words.
Im not sure about inspiration impeding writing, but I do believe that grinding on, day after day, is the only means of gaining it regularly enough to write professionally. If you turn up at your desk every day, so will the ideas.
Great, now after I've watched this I have 3:45 minutes to write my short story!
This is awesome
@@thatartgirl7214 whoosh.
@@UltimatePiccolo No
@@lynxz6702 whoosh.
@@UltimatePiccolo Stop
How to Write a Short Story in Three Hours*
1. Watch this video (1hr)
2. Plan your short story (1hr)
3. Write your short story (1hr)
so true
The impatience of some of these people commenting is a dead giveaway as to why they are here in the first place! There is always something to gain, and if you're truly interested in becoming a better writer, you need to stick around people! I found this incredibly helpful! Thank you very much for this.
ZanyProductionz Exactly how i feel. I've been a heavy procrastinator when it comes to writing, so much that it has depressed me. This video (especially its length, allowing for more detail) has made me feel a lot more confident about organizing my ideas, which is the ultimate goal when you feel you have creativity to share. If you don't have organization and persistence (both requiring patience), which this video stresses, then you won't find much success in taking advantage of your creativity. People took the "not writing while inspired' the wrong way, because i still write while inspired, but i don't ONLY write while inspired because then you slip into a habit of only writing when you feel "inspired," which isn't as often as many would like to admit.
There's the flaw limiting this video's commercial viability... It appeals to those who don't want to put a lot of time into writing on the back end, but requires they put in a lot of up front time watching the video! Probably great content, but going to lose a lot of viewers in the process... It's a sad state of affairs, us millennials don't have the patience it takes to truly develop skill at a new trade, but instead would rather be fed, Matrix style, all the tools necessary to be a master on the front end, with no back end work. Then when you write two pages and realize you suck, on the the next adventure!
so did I
Who knows...maybe they're working on 5 minute sets at comedy clubs where laughing will get patrons kicked out.😉
It was sooo worth the hour..I already wrote my first story from this. Thank you so much!♡
you did????????omg This can be all I waited to hear
I've heard several writing professors and authors, including Stephen King, give advice that is exactly the opposite of the strategies, and I've also heard several who totally agree with you. The problem is that people figure out something that works for them, and assume it'll work for everyone else. I think the key is for people to experiment with different strategies in order to figure out what works for them.
Saleem Karim which means the real key might be compiling all these different ideas and presenting them so would be writers can respond to what inspires THEM. There's your next book idea... Compiling all the different writing recommendations of successful authors and comparing and contrasting their views and challenging the readers to discover what works for them
A lifesaver! I'm currently taking a semester long creative writing class and unfortunately it never taught how to develop story ideas. I wish I'd found this earlier. I feel much more prepared for my final after watching your video.
This was one of the most helpful lessons I've ever received as an aspiring writer. Thank you so much. My writing has been prolific after learning this basic process - a process that so many other teachers just ASSUME the writer already knows. Thank you so much!
Thank you, Andrew, for sharing your knowledge! Even after hours and hours of self study, plus a recent college level creative writing class, story development has been extremely difficult for me. Your great teaching style is exactly what I've needed. It all makes sense now. I'm 56 years old...and very determined! :-)
I am only 20 minutes into this but I want say that it is very true, you cannot depend on inspiration. I tried writing a novel three years ago before I know ANYTHING about writing a short story purely off of inspiration and when I was not inspired, I got into drugs when I was hanging out with friends and listening to music and going for walks with thoughts just leaping out my head. Writing now is a labor and a serious career choice that can not be at the whim of some Greek Muse, great point
Hey dude, whatever anyone else says about this video just remember that it helped me and I think you done a great job on it.
I feel like now that I've watched this video I've learned how to write a first story for beginners and thank you for this tutorial :D
This is a fantastic video! Andrew lays out what will make your writing shine and help you catch flaws in your story before you create them. This will save you time in the future from having to go back and do major revisions. My biggest problem with writing is not knowing where the story is going. This video helped me understand not only what makes a story work, but how to plan it out. That's planning, not outlining.
I am confused, however, as to why people would complain about the length of this video. If you were to take a course on writing at a school, that would run hours over a period of weeks. If you were to sign up for a workshop at a conference, that could take up to two to three hours. Writing is not learned in 15 minutes. It takes a lot of time and a lot of practice. Your time is not that precious. You are not that privileged. But you are privileged, because you have people like Andrew who knows what they're talking about and are willing to take time out of their own day and share them with you. In this video he gives you gold. Appreciate it or keep scrolling.
Thank you, thank you, thank you for not doing another of those stupid 10min tutorials. This was really helpful, informative and profesional! For those who complain about the length of the video, this is meant to be a presentation and not a TH-camr Childish tutorial.
Thank you Charles. I'm so glad you liked the video and the book. I hope it helps a lot of people. Thank you so much for your kind words. Good luck with your own writing!
For someone who wants to teach how to write a short story, you should work on editing your tutorial down to a more concise video. One hour?! The information you cover in this video could be cut down to 20 minutes and you would see your views triple, and it would be a lot more useful. Plus, the length of this video someone damages your credibility as a short story author. Just cut everything that we already know, which in this case is what we already know or don't know about ourselves. Also, 10 minutes in, you're still talking about what this video isn't. Your video shouldn't take 9.5 minutes to get to your course's objectives. Cut out all the tangents, all the irrelevant perspective, that only dilute your teaching.
Chase Thomas H and congratulations. You're the 500th person that has said that since I put the video up 2 years ago, and the 356th person that has said that since I made an abbreviated version. You're always welcome to put in your 2 cents, but it's a little late. May I recommend getting a hobby?
Andrew Heath Just came across the video. It's clear, I offended you. My apologies, really. I meant it only to be constructive. I'd love to check out the other video, if you want to reply the url. And if you're getting hundreds of responses like mine, maybe you could add an embedded link to the abbreviated version. Sincerely, as a fellow educator, I respect your efforts. -- 500th person though, that's awesome!
Chase Thomas Hello, sorry, you caught me when I was irritated about something else. I made the numbers up, but they are still high. The video can be found at th-cam.com/video/bwXw-9nk71E/w-d-xo.html. Thank you.
No worries Andrew Heath. Reading it now, it does appear that I might have taken some of my own writing frustrations out on you in my comment . I'll check it out.
+Chase Thomas so much respect in youtube comments. very cool
Have no idea why people are complaining about the length of the video. It has a lot of thought provoking information. Just saying.
yea at first I thought it might be a bit boring but i quite liked it it was interesting.
Great lecture! Taught by a talented, practicing writer, detailed and illustrated by examples - exactly was I was looking for.Thank you so much!
Thank you for your comment. It means a lot to me 😊
I was gonna watch this but then i saw it is an hour.
Soap no.. Actually that's what i was thinking.. But its worth to watch. I really learned and its relevant.
Lazy
Really loved this presentation. It solved a lot of issues that have prevented me for even trying a short story and I think I can apply this to book length stories too. thanks
Thanks, It was very helpful for a beginner like me.
This is really, really helpful! I thought my idea was just in the really early stages but it's almost finished according to this, just about the middle of the adulthood phase. It also allowed me to recall some older ideas I had had and forgotten to write down
Yes, the blog came down temporarily, but it is back up. Thank you for letting me know.
Beautiful explanation. Thank you very much.
Really well done. Exactly the motivation I was hoping for. Thank you!
Writing while you're inspired does not hurt your writing. "Mania" is nothing more than an elevated intellectual and/or emotional state of being, which can inform your writing and assist writer's productivity, (especially those struggling with self discipline/motivation).
When you write while you're uninspired, you tend to find the act of writing intellectually and emotionally stimulating anyway, right? Before long, writing *inspires* you to sit at the keyboard for longer than your initial 1 hour session. Your productivity increases, you accomplished more that day (word count/editing/etc). This is inspiration.
It doesn't damage the quality of your work. In fact, I would argue the very opposite: that writing while uninspired is more damaging to the quality of your writing because if you force yourself to perform a task you don't want to do you're much more likely *not* to complete the task or to rush through it (completing it haphazardly). Lack of inspiration (along with inexperience) tend to make writers more impulsive: they rely on cliche rather than using their analytical faculties to exert brainpower when they don't want to. They'll write a derivative of someone else's work or they'll suffer from that real or imagined writing disease we call "writers block" where they can't seem to translate their thoughts into words.
Your emotional state of mind also influences the tone and pacing of your work. If you're impatient to finish the work (or otherwise begrudge having to do it), your writing will contain hints of this irritation/impatience/bitterness--which may be inappropriate and have to be rewritten the next day. People in this state of mind are also more likely to misjudge their own writing (quality/decision making, etc).
But on the flipside, the very *act* of writing tends to *inspire* interest and motivation in the writer...shifting their negative or disinterested mindset into something more suitable for writing.
So I'm afraid I'm on the opposite side of the debate in that regard.
+Me Myself and I I couldn't agree more. I actually thought I was getting trolled when I reached this part of the video.
Absolutely wonderful! Thank you so much for your generosity in teaching the process of how to write. You hit the nail on the head by going right into the nuts and bolts of how to construct a story in such a thorough way with detailed explanations and guidance. Thank you and hope you'll be a famous author soon.
Andrew thank you so much for this video! It's the best video on story writing I've ever seen! In fact, I think it's better than most of the books I've read on writing.
You've given me a simple way to start writing - the keyword being SIMPLE. I have actually followed this and written my first story that actually makes sense - nothing special but at least I have an understanding of how things are supposed to flow.
I'm the kind of person who is very spontaneous and loves to improvise. However, your tutorial has given me a framework within which I can create freely, knowing that the final piece will make sense to the reader. Thank you once again!
I finally believe I can actually write stories people will want to read. (My next project is to write a 100 stories in a hundred days, hopefully at the end of it I will become reasonably good :D )
Many thanks for this video! It's a very practical and pragmatic approach of story-telling! I especially enjoyed the part about ideas development, your advise on not writing under the influence of inspiration, and the necessity to place the story in a debatable area. Thank you Andrew! All the best, Matt.
Really helpful video.
Plz make more videos sharing you insights of story writing.
Hardly. I'm just making a point, that's all. I have this perfectionist problem so I like to remind myself that to think there is some perfect story or painting or creation is to only set yourself up for disappointment.
True
Thanks for the lesson, you have teached me more on this subject than my narrative teacher did. I'm straight of to your website to read the short story you wrote!
Great vid. I plan to write my novel as a short story first then add meat to the bones to end up with more action and story.
Thats pretty genius. I'll try that.
I get your point about inspiration.
When writing music I often churn out lots of shitty material when I'm excited and inspired and then discard most of it after the initial excitement passes. I've been making music for long enough that I can do it without being massively inspired at that moment. Inspiration doesn't help really. I find that if you just keep at it then eventually usable material will come and you can keep developing it into something.
I love your take on inspiration. I don't think I've ever heard anyone else make that connection between altered states and inspiration, but it seems obvious once you say it. I've experienced exactly what you describe -- some amazing idea that felt like a thunderbolt of pure creativity only to turnout to to be a static pop and fizzle when I went back to read it later. Good stuff. Keep it up!
Very well done. Thank you for taking the time for posting what is certainly a valuable lesson for many.
It is a very good video on writing.
Thank you, very valuable presentation
Excellent and very helpful for those like me, clueless about where to start. Thanks for sharing it.
Oh please. Inspiration is a great thing. Without it I wouldn't be writing at all.
Thank you. I'm glad you enjoyed it. I hope it has been helpful to more people than it hasn't been helpful to.
I loved your video and took lots of notes. I hope you post more videos on writing. You're a great teacher!
Great video! Exactly the kind of info I was looking for. Thanks!
Realizing this is an old video, please let me comment. I am the procrastinator type. Woke up this morning dreaming that a teacher was telling me that I had 24 hours to write a short story as an assignment. LOL Came here, after telling the teacher in my dreams that I did not think I could get it done in a day. I think I can do this.... LOL My editor is very excited to see more work from me. Thank you. The length was no issue at all, I had time to brain storm my idea while going through the presentation.
Great video and thank you for this. Much appreciated.
I'm certainly gain something with the presentation, especially the "Idea stages' part". You make it looks easy to be creative. Thank you.
I've been published already, but still found this extremely helpful. Thanks for sharing!
Andrew, I am a traditionally-published non-fiction author (I know, big deal, right?) but as one writer to another I wanted to let you know that I really enjoyed this. Your points are right on (for example, whenever I write while "inspired" I always have to go back the next day and rework the text!) and I find your tone and mannerism enjoyable. Please do more. I have subscribed and look forward to following you.
For a person like me, who's very new to the whole story-telling process, this was very helpful, thanks!!
This was very helpful. Thank you for sharing your knowledge.
Sincere thanks. Your efforts are really appreciated.
As a novice writer, I found your lesson extremely enlightening and very helpful. It is said, "when the student is ready.....the teacher arrives".
Your kindness will be rewarded.
I just found this but I still want to thank you for putting this out. I really enjoyed it and am learning a lot.
Thank you for posting this. All the advice given is really insightful for anyone new to creative writing. I tried to take everything mentioned to heart.
You're welcome Andrew. I also posted a link for the video over at an ebook site I frequent (they have a writer's forum) as well as one for your novel writing ebook. mobileread. It's a good site for both PD ebooks and new ones.
You really have a great point there, about inspiration. I have written whilst "inspired", banging on the keys and letting it all just "flow" and 100% of the time, I have re-read what I've puked out and thought "wtf is THIS?". I have since given up and the world is a safer place hahaha. Great tutorial :-).
Thank you so much Andrew. It was a really nice video. I'll make sure to use the pointers in my next story. I was actually surprised when I saw this because I was already doing most of the stuff you mentioned even before without even realizing I was doing it.
I'd love to read your work. I hope I can get to it as soon as possible.
Thanks for sharing your knowledge with us. :)
All the best for your writing works!
Anu Priya Thank you Anu. I appreciate your support and am glad you were able to validate the points in the video.
I agree that we need to learn how to write without inspiration.
But, inspiration can be predicted more than we think. I find inspiration in reading other books or watching movies, listening to music, being in nature, etc.
It gives excitement to what I'm writing. We shouldn't be dependent on it, but definitely welcome it when it's there.
Amazing, thank you.
Andrew,
Great informative video! Thanks!
I'm not sure I agree with, or understand, not writing while inspired, but the rest was very helpful!
Thanks
Short stories aren’t my strongest craft, but I’m practicing to get better. Nice video! 👍
This was a good video, thanks for sharing it!!!
Thank you for making this video!
The key is change throughout the story, not just wake up in the final chapter and go, "Hey, I want to do something different."
Right from the introdtion, this videos proves inevitably impotant, unlike the overwhelming majority of the other ones on can come across sometimes. Indeed, it deserves not only close attention but also a very great tribute. After all, who can speak of writing in more precise words than the writer himself? And it is for this that I would like to express my gratitude and my indebtedness to the author.
This helped a lot thank you. I feel more sure of myself.
Thank you for making this video Andrew. I think the video could have been shorter. As someone who is busy and wants to get into short story writing i don't have 56 mins to sit here and watch long videos. I skipped to the ideas part of this video.
It would be good to have a separate video about goals, writers block & procrastination.
I saw the title and came here to learn 'how to write a short story in one hour'. I feel like I've learned a little something but not enough.
None of us are perfect, and we can all benefit from training by other writers. I appreciate the insights Andrew Heath offers in this just under 1 hour talk.
This was very helpful. I have wanted to be a writer for years but had no idea of how to turn a story idea into a real story. I think I'll definitely be able to put your process to good use.
This is exactly what I needed to help me with all the stories I started then left as I fell right off the brick road lost and confused
Really good stuff. I can't wait to read your short story now that I see how much knowledge you posses on writing.
Would Stage 3 be a good time to backtrack and add hints or foreshadowing aspects to help set up the story for the reader?
Thank you for spending your time to create this presentation. I have written nothing but have good advice. Seems stories with living animated characters that people fall in love with and as many situations that cause any strong emotion in the reader equals success. Then if you add some concept that makes people think. Best seller! God bless.
your super - the best writing help i heard yet
Thankyou very much this has helped alot! You are awesome!!!:-D
The idea stages help me so much.
Half way through vid and already best vid on fundamentals and theory on writing
Thank you Andy! Do I dare say you are inspiring and I'm inspired? Your depth of understanding and ability to impart your ideas about writing a short story are outstanding. I watched your condensed version first and went on to the long one. It was worth every minute and I took notes. In your longer version, the "Stages of Ideas" is refreshing and challenging. I have never heard them described like this and it filled in some gaps for me. I'm heading over to "thefictionsite.com" and hope it is still there. Thanks again. Warmly, Elaine in NM
Elaine Carrillo Thank you Elaine. I've actually taken down thefictionsite.com so unfortunately it's no longer available. I'm glad the video was helpful though. Thank you again.
I found the video to be very interesting & useful. It's sort of like using building blocks or building a house. Each step building upon the previous one until you have a completed project. I also picked up a copy of your non-fiction book about writing a novel. Thanks for a great video and writing book.
It was helpful thnx a lot
Thank you for a very helpful system!
really informative video! keep up your tutorials!!
gosh... somebody is kind enough to take the time to put all this information together and put it out there (obviously to help others) and people are criticizing it...?! If you find it useful, great! If you don't, move on....quietly!!!
Where can I find your works? The links that you've provided isn't working
Please no death threats. That was funny.
Very helpful information! Thank you!
Thank you this video helped and encouraged me to write a story. I'm 11 years old bot I want to become author at a young age.
Very imformative and well presented pps. I found it to be very helpful. Great for getting it from thought to reality. Like with anything, take what you need and discard the rest, and for what this presentation offers, it is helpful for things I was missing.
Andrew! The work you put into the video is great and very professional. Much appreciated, all the best!
Great video. It got me inspired. Oh wait, I shouldn't be writing now :c.
Great stuff, I'll will use this info for sure.
One question though, I like to write slice of life stories. How does this work for that?
I have just started writing my story and its about two wolf pups called Ozzy and Skye. They are best friends but after a forest fire, both of their parents go missing and so Ozzy and Skye end up going on a quest to find their mum and dad. But after a while, Skye thinks they should give up but Ozzy wants to carry on. Until one day, the Wise old owl sees Ozzy and Skye trying to find their parents. So he goes down to tell them that their parents were killed in the fire by the hunters. So in the end, Ozzy and Skye get adopted by a lovely wolf pack that is one of the strongest in this forest.
My story shall hopefully turn out well ;-)
thanks
but you have un examples de short histories and put this elements please, thaks
Wonderful!...Thanks for the video...may I know where I can download the short story you've mentioned. The site seems under construction or development.
Cheers
I really like this. One can tell Andrew Heath is a real writer who knows what the hell he's talking about. His credentials demonstrate the experience that your average English teacher isn't in a position to give
bludluva Thank you. English teachers can be a good start to a writing career much like business school is a good start to a business career. Once you have the basics, you must apply them and as you do you get better. Thank you for the nice words.
Where can I find the slides you used in this?
I made them from PowerPoint. To be honest I don't even know where they are now. Or if I still have them.
Is it possible to turn a short screenplay?
Very useful, loved it. Thank you
She has really good advise! Thank you
thank you so much!! this was actually really really helpful :)
nice...valuable
i really appreciate people sharing there experiences with others
liked your lesson a lot sir
love you sir
may god bless u
Im not sure about inspiration impeding writing, but I do believe that grinding on, day after day, is the only means of gaining it regularly enough to write professionally. If you turn up at your desk every day, so will the ideas.