Creative writing is an excellent outlet for imagination and creativity, no matter your age or level of writing! You also don’t need to want to pursue a degree in creative writing to learn more about it.
You can want to write for fun, as a side hustle, or simply learn the techniques to better help you in another area of your life, there are some things you can do to teach yourself how to be a better creative writer.
What Is Creative Writing?
Creative writing is essentially a form of writing that involves using your imagination and creativity to produce original written work that expresses deeper meanings.
Creative writing focuses on conveying information that the reader finds entertaining and engaging. It is fundamentally different from technical or academic writing which focuses on being precise, clear, and providing factual information. It provides the writer with a platform to explore intricate details such as themes, characters, and ideas more elaborately and unconventionally without being limited by strict rules like in technical or academic writing.
What Kinds of Creative Writing Are There?
With creative writing, you can build a fantasy world, retell a historical event, bend the known world with magical realism, and make the mundane interesting. You can also write children’s books to engage kids and spark a passion for reading.
Typically, creative writing refers to fiction and poetry, but it can be so much more than that.
Fiction
In the realm of fiction, you can write novels, graphic novels, novellas and short stories.
Think of world-building, magical realism, historical fiction, sci-fi, mystery, thriller, horror, and romance fiction.
Poetry
Poetry is an expansive playground for poets to explore. Write established poetry or make up your own style.
You can also write songs for musical artists, TV, movies, and more.
Scripts / Screenplays
You can write scripts for film (TV and movies) and for live performances.
Non-Fiction
Creative writing encompasses non-fiction, too! Write essays, articles, broadcast copy, biographies, memoirs, and other research-based books in interesting ways that immerse the reader, viewer, or listener.
"One day I will find the right words, and they will be simple."
Jack Kerouac, The Dharma Bums
Transferable Skills in Creative Writing
Learning how to be an effective creative writer is a great way to improve a lot of other areas of your life, as well.
Communication skills
Learn how to communicate ideas and emotions effectively through words. This skill can be transferred to other areas, such as marketing, PR, and customer service, where effective communication is key.
Not to mention that communication skills can help you with daily personal interactions as well!
Creative thinking
Coming up with unique story ideas, characters, and settings increases creative thinking. Professions where creativity is valued include advertising, graphic design, and product development.
Research and analysis
Many types of writing require research and analysis, whether it's for a historical novel, a journalistic article, or a technical manual. These skills can be valuable in any field that requires data analysis, such as marketing research, business analytics, or scientific research.
Attention to detail
As a writer, you have to be meticulous about grammar, spelling, and punctuation. This skill can be transferred to any job that requires attention to detail, such as editing, proofreading, or data entry.
You also need to keep a lot of information straight in your head as well (think of all the continuity issues that fans of a piece of work pick out immediately). Being able to remember a lot of things and keep them orderly in your mind and in practice is a highly valuable skill.
Adaptability
Writing requires a certain amount of flexibility, as you have to be able to adjust your writing style and voice to fit different genres, audiences, and mediums. This skill can be applied to any job that requires adaptability, such as customer service, sales, or project management.
Overall, the skills you develop as a creative writer can be valuable in many different fields, and can help you stand out as a versatile and well-rounded candidate in professional life.
The 10 Best Tips to Teach Yourself Creative Writing
1. Research Your Topic
Dive head first into research when you begin writing about something; even experts refer to other source materials from time to time!
As you practice researching, you’ll understand the best places to get the information you need, and you’ll know how to disregard information that you don’t.
Research how other people have written or spoken about your topic.
If you have a story in mind, research the people you are writing about or using as inspiration so you can learn their motivations and actions.
2. Read, Read, Read!
Make sure you keep reading other people’s works! You want to remain inspired, and reading is a great way to do that!
It doesn’t have to be the same type of work that you want to create. You can read anything! Look out for words, styles, phrases, and other literary attributes that either attract or repel you. Identify what about a work attracts or repels you, and adapt your works to either include or exclude those elements.
3. Write Daily
Find a way to write daily that works for you. Many people find “morning pages” to be quite helpful.
Whether you want to have a “writing sketchbook,” do a “brain dump” or freewriting where you just let your hands write or type and see where it takes you, or have a specific goal in mind (like a certain number of words for your novel), the most important thing is to just write.
Getting into the groove of spending time writing and becoming more comfortable with the process of writing makes you faster to put down words and helps your brain think of how to proceed with what you’d like to say more efficiently.
4. Utilise Writing Prompts and Exercises
If you’re finding it difficult to come up with something to write, you can find tonnes of prompts online to use.
Try looking up “Promptober,” an online month-long event that anyone can take part in.
You can take on the National Novel Writing Month (NaNoWriMo) challenge at any time and see if that helps spark creativity in you.
Other exercises you can use to practice writing and ignite creativity include:
- Writing a well-known story from a different point of view
- Use “story starters” to give you some direction
- Write a letter to your younger self
- Write “flash fiction:” a complete short story in less than 500 words (try to see if you can do it in less than 10 minutes!)
5. Try a Different Medium
The wonderful thing about art is that even though two things can be completely different from one another, they’re both still art and they both nourish the creative side!
If you’re feeling stuck, try any other kind of art in the world and see if it helps.
Try writing something else, watching a movie, sketching a flower, colouring your tennis shoes with markers, putting on a full face of bold makeup, stacking some rocks, paper mache-ing something, or cutting a paper snowflake… your options are endless!
6. Seek and Embrace Critics
Criticism is a hard thing to take, especially if you’re just starting out and don’t have a lot of confidence yet. But don’t let that stop you from allowing others to give you insights on how you can improve. You can’t get better if you don’t know how others are perceiving your work!
Find supportive friends or family, a teacher, or an online community and ask them for honest feedback. Remember that these people, whom you already trust, want to help you, not hurt you. You can even seek the help and opinions of English tutors who can not only critique your work, but help you learn how to fix and improve your errors.
7. Just Write! Perfect Comes Later
Just do it!
This idea goes hand in hand with writing daily and using prompts to help you. The first step to becoming a good writer is becoming a prolific writer. You have to let yourself write poorly so that you can improve. Even if your first few works are not up to your own standard, it’s okay! They are the stones on which you need to walk to go further on your writing path.
Write a lot, and quality will come later.
8. No Such Thing As Too Many Drafts
Don’t worry too much about grammar, spelling, and word choice on your first draft of any project.
Most authors go through three, four, or ten drafts of a novel before it is published! And even then, mistakes can make it through, but it’s okay!
Many authors have stated that they write prolifically, and then work on cutting away everything that isn’t the story away. Like a sculptor removing the parts of the marble that aren’t the sculpture inside.
Unlike sculpture, you can always add things back in later if you need to, so don’t worry about shaping your novel in many directions before reaching the final draft.
9. Learn About Storytelling
Of course, you need to know the fundamentals of writing in order to write in ways that other people will enjoy!
Make sure you understand the elements of storytelling: plot, setting, characters, point of view, and conflict. You’ll also want to be familiar with things like symbolism, theme, tone, imagery, personification, and other techniques for interesting writing.
How do you set a pace? How do you show character development? How do you embody “show, don’t tell”?
There are a lot of techniques and tools for writers to use in their work. Learn about them from reading other authors and researching.
If you are looking for private English teachers in Australia, visit Superprof and enter "english tutors melbourne" or any city, and you will have access to a long catalogue of tutors based in your area.
10. Learn to Overcome Writer’s Block
One thing is absolutely certain: You will face writer’s block many, many times in your writing journey.
Whether it’s a lack of creativity, a sense of overwhelm, not knowing how to choose an ending, or worrying too much about that what-ifs to decide what is (looking at you, Patrick Rothfuss), there will be times when you feel stuck in a rut.
Finding techniques that work to jolt you out of it is essential so you can keep going!
Try some of these techniques for pulling yourself out of writer’s block:
- Change your environment
- Try a different art form (the “Try a Different Medium” trick listed above!)
- Write a short poem or limerick
- Take a walk or exercise
- Take a shower
- Clean something in your home
- Do something that makes you laugh - a LOT
- Find out what time of day you are most productive and write during that time
- Change your writing tools (ex: switch from typing on a computer to writing on paper, or vice versa)
- Meditate
- Scream and dance
Come up with solutions that work for you and keep them in mind for when you have a block. You can write them down on little pieces of paper and pull them out of a hat if you can’t choose what to do!
Becoming a serious creative writer takes a lot of work and dedication. You can absolutely teach yourself a lot on your own with these techniques. If you want to pursue it more seriously, you can enrol in a university programme, certificate course, or workshop. You can also find a tutor who specialises in writing tutorials whom you’d like to work with.
Further, if you are looking for VCE tutors online or preparation for any exam, visit Superprof and enter english vce tutor and you will have access to a catalogue of tutors ready to help you.
No matter your path, creative writing is an amazing endeavour to go towards and it can be great fun and rewarding!
Learn how to write the way you dream of with English tutoring online via Superprof!
Enjoyed this article? Leave a rating!
Loading...
