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Creativity is a Medicinal Product

It’s a curious fact that I feel better at age 79 than I did at age 70. Here is the true-life story of how that happened.
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The First Five Years
In 1994 at the age of 70, I elected to try my hand at writing. I felt confident I could create a story although I had no plot, no story line, and worst of all, no instruction manual.

“I would write,” I said, “if only I knew how to start.”

I searched for guidance and dedicated myself to learning. I took two correspondence courses on creative writing, and read many books. After five years, I self-published two full-length novels, The Naked Jaybird and Bent Coin both of which received creditable reviews.

My Turning Point
In 2001, I published my third novel called Lost River Bridge. My marketing efforts lead me to a bookseller in Branson, Missouri where I offered my books to the passing parade. Many people were curious; how did I, a civil engineer well into my seventies with no previous writing experience, manage to write and publish three books? The answer was a fourth book called Creative Writing for Seniors. Soon after I published it, requests to speak at writers’ conferences began arriving. This resulted in a change of focus.

Creative Writing Workshops
My speaking engagements lead me to develop my Creative Writing Workshops that have become my ministry. I offer a four-hour session with the first half devoted to creating stories and the second to writing techniques. Following a presentation about a year ago, one attendee described my presentation as “the best conference I ever heard,” an incredible laudatory comment. My lectures are free to public libraries and private groups. I ask only for repayment of my travel and living expenses, and for the privilege of selling my work - at 60% off the retail price - at the event. If the sponsors want to charge an admittance fee, that is their business, not mine.

Basic Idea of Story Creation
Story creation begins by defining an inequity that is the cause of the story problem. Every character in the story must have a personal goal relating to that problem. For example, if the story problem is to find a buried treasure, then a secondary character might be an anthropology student who signs on to the expedition because he wants firsthand experience on which to base his thesis. In addition, every character in the story must have a motivation, a flaw and an opponent or opposite. Thus, the characters come in pairs: protagonist opposes antagonist; main character opposes obstacle character; sidekick opposes skeptic; and so on. One of the biggest mistakes made by aspiring writers is to give characters problems unrelated to the story problem.

Scenes
The purpose of a scene is to move the story forward by providing a path strewn with obstacles that must be overcome to solve the story problem. Not only does conflict lie at the heart of every story, but confrontation lies at the heart of every scene. Without conflict, there is no story. The author must use descriptive phrases and graphic verbs to express human senses and physical, emotional and psychological qualities of the characters. If a story is to succeed, it must overflow with emotional impact. Scenes are the basic building blocks that reveal these qualities to a reader.

Creativity is a Medicinal Product
In April 2002, I was stricken with cancer that dictated a serious operation. At a medical examination six months later, my doctor expressed amazement at my high-energy level and resilience. “You are living proof of the well-established theory that creativity is a tonic for longevity,” he told me. Writing and teaching, combined with daily physical exercise, are a whole lot cheaper than prescription medicines. And the beauty is anyone can learn to write given a minimum of proper instruction. Getting published is an entirely different subject; creativity is the cure; marketing is the frustration. Through the spiritual euphoria of using my God-giving talents for others, not only did I overcome a serious disease, I experienced a dramatic improvement in my well being.

Related Reading:
Success to significance
Live a life of purpose
Need advice? Ask us.

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Stephen P. Byers was born in Montreal, Quebec in 1924. After war service in the European theater during World War II, he obtained a Civil Engineer degree from McGill University in 1949. He devoted his working years to industrial construction participating in a wide variety of projects in Canada until 1972 when he relocated to Kansas City to work on a major commercial project in Missouri. Sixteen years later he retired to Arkansas where he became involved in storytelling and writing. In 1948, he married Mary Elspeth Rankine. They have four children, and six grandchildren.To visit his website, click here.