Creative Writing: Everything You Need to Know
This is a form of writing that is usually based on the history and personal experiences of a writer. In other words, creative writing refers to the artistic expression in words, where the author writes without the constraints that are integral to other forms of writing like expository or persuasive. Forms of creative writing include drama, fiction, and poetry.
Creative writing aims to evoke the reader’s emotion by communicating a theme. In the context of storytelling, including movies, literature, graphic novels, etc., the theme stands for the central meaning the work conveys. For instance, in Peter Benchley’s novel Jaws (on which the film by the same name is based), the story revolves around a shark that threatens a beach community and the men who try to kill it. However, the novel’s central themes include tradition vs. innovation, the desire of humans to control nature, and how prospective profit can push people to make dangerous, even lethal, decisions.
Creative writing isn’t solely defined by a central theme. Several other elements too can be noticed in such writing, such as:
- Building or attempting to build a connection with the reader’s emotions
- Setting the text around a narrative framework, which is either simple or complex, and helps in shaping how the reader interacts with the content
- Writing based on a particular point of view
- Using descriptive and/or imaginative language
Typically, creative writing uses literary tools like foreshadowing and metaphors to create a narrative and convey the theme, but this isn’t a mandatory requirement. Even dialogues aren’t compulsory, though most fictional works have them. It’s not essential for creative writing to be fictional. Dramatized presentations of memoirs, true stories, and observational humor pieces are all forms of creative writing. However, analytical essays, research papers, and personal and professional communications (such as official emails, social media posts, etc.) aren’t creative writing. Though such forms of writing convey specific messages, they often lack a central theme. Additionally, their primary goal is to inform, educate, and sometimes, collect information, not evoke emotion in readers.
To excel in creative writing, students should focus on the vital elements that will make their write-up great. These include:
- Creating a unique plot
- Proper character development to tell the story
- Focusing on an underlying message or theme
- Using visual and vivid descriptions
- Deciding on the point of view (first, second, or third person)
- Leveraging imaginative language with the use of anecdotes, metaphors, similes, etc.
- Evoking reader’s emotions