Creative Writing Tips for Novel Writing

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Since before Shakespeare was in love, writing has been held to be therapeutic to the soul. — Janis Joplin, Southern Illinois University

Editorial Note: This story includes life lessons that might be sensitive to some readers.

I’m in a session with my therapist. He asked me what I’d written this week. In the previous session, I had told him about the giant gorilla on my back from the second-worst period of my life — high school.

A year later, as I continue to write about my experiences, each of which I’ve worked on processing with a therapist, I’ve found not only one giant gorilla has jumped off, but all of his siblings, too. Over twenty of them in all.

Writing is good for you. Very good for you. “The results of meta-analyses showed that narrative writing significantly reduced depression compared to those in neutral writing or treatment as usual in both post-intervention and follow-up” (Porras-Segovia et al., 2024).

Additionally, the use of metaphors allows the writer to cushion the emotional effect of serious issues. Through metaphor, my cushion is transforming my issues into gorillas on my back. More about this later.

As an avid writer, I’ve found that creative writing has eased emotional pain and gripped my sense of humor to discover just how waggish life can be in its diverse salad of humor sometimes flippant and inappropriate, oh…but so much fun.

Recent research reveals that “creative writing can be used as a useful self‐help tool for patients between sessions, as a focused preparation for analyzing particular emotions and events in a therapy session, and as a discussion tool in the therapy session itself, allowing patients to analyze their emotions and discuss them with increased clarity, safety, and detachment” (Deveney and Lawson, 2022).

Now that more than a dozen gorillas have jumped off my being, my tranquility leaves me without them knowing they are free in the wild depths of a make-believe jungle. How pleasurable has it been to release them? Blissful and gratifying.

Creatively ranking the first five Twilight Zone-like situations (from most significant to least) has helped me gauge my mood and comfort with myself.

I’ve assembled a summary of the top five bittersweet stories I have penned, supported by reputable, professionally researched findings. Feel free to read them under my Medium handle, Creative Nonfiction, posted at the end of this article.

Twelve years ago, one of my brothers jumped off the sixth floor of his condo complex in a small Florida town. It was heartbreaking as he’d been my best pal since I was born. He had protected me from bullies while I was in school, showing up to seek revenge for those who had beaten me up. He announced to strangers on a cross-country trip that I was running for president while wading in the Colorado River. He gave me one beautiful niece and one fantastic nephew I smother with love as often as possible.

My brother was my hero, and in spirit, he still is.

After processing this event in many of my sessions, I still know that suicide is not painless, yet there is a proven method to soften its lasting effect on loved ones. “A study focused on a group of creative individuals with an existing interest in writing found that Creative writing offered emotionally therapeutic benefits that may be significant for people suffering from anxiety, depression, or the effects of past trauma. It may be beneficial in cognitive behavioral therapy (CBT), which emphasizes the link between thoughts, feelings, and behavior and helps to challenge ‘stuck’ thinking and encourage new perspectives” (Porras-Segovia et al., 2024).