What is Creative Writing?

Creative writing is adding your touch to writing. It is you using your imagination to write a piece that feels like you or portrays your thoughts and feelings.

Creative writing is a form of writing that goes beyond the boundaries of technical, academic, and professional writing. It is particularly not bound by any standard convention. It covers a range of genres such as storytelling, poetry, and prose amongst others.

This is different from the general content writing you are probably aware of. When it comes to creative writing, emphasis is placed on narrative crafts and elements such as character development, narrative, and plot whilst infusing it all with imagination and invention.

What are the Types of Creative Writing?

It has been said previously that creative writing covers a range of genres which can be majorly grouped into fiction and nonfiction. They are as follows:

• Biographies
• Fiction: Novels, novellas, short stories, etc.
• Poetry 
• Scriptwriting
• Personal essays 

What Makes a Good Piece of Creative Writing?

Creative writing stems from your imagination and people think differently. There’s no perfect structure to follow when it comes to writing a good creative piece. However, there are a few general principles that can guide you toward writing a good creative piece.

1. Know Who You are Writing For

Understanding your audience would help you tailor your writing to suit their taste. As a creative writer, you are to write with your target audience in mind. That way you don’t direct the right piece to the wrong audience and vice versa.

2. Write on Relatable Topics

There’s something in you being able to relate to/with what you write. You don’t have to write about your life, but draw inspiration from what you know (knowledge). That way, your creative piece has elements of realism and originality.

3. Infuse Creativity

Add your flair to your writings and infuse a unique touch. This doesn’t mean it has to be something out of Earth and from Saturn. You can just think in a different direction sometimes. Make use of literary devices like sarcasm and irony, amongst others to touch up your writing as a creative writer.

4. Create a Chronological Plot

Even though creative writing has loose bounds, it is better for you as a creative writer to create a step-by-step plot that will help give your piece direction and purpose to do away with any unnecessary content.

Elements of Creative Writing

Some of these elements include:

• Character Development – This is a process that involves the building of a character into a realistic one who has a personality and motivation.
• Plot Development – This deals with your whole piece, and how it develops, unfolds, and progresses.
• Point of View (POV)- This implies the perspective from which a narrative is being told; who is telling the story and how it is being told to the reader. Examples include first-person POV, second-person POV & third-person POV.
• Dialogue – This refers to the conversations that occur between characters. The sort of language used by these characters would help define the reader’s perception of them.
• Literary Devices – Some literary devices have been mentioned before, others include simile, hyperbole, etc. They help make a creative piece more vivid, interesting, and engaging.

Tips on Starting Creative Writing

Are you having problems starting on your creative writing journey, here are some tips to help you do just that:

1. Be an avid reader

As a creative writer, inspiration can come from any source, especially what you read. You can start by reading genres that you tend to find interesting and then move on to other genres. This will help you know what to build on and give you ideas of what to write on.

2. Start to journal

This helps you cultivate the art of writing. It is you writing about anything and everything that may have happened to you in a day. It is more of an unfiltered way of writing, i.e raw creativity. You just might not know, one of your entries might serve as an inspiration for a new piece.

3. Study the craft

This is the process of learning that never ends. It can be you signing up for a creative writing newsletter or attending a workshop. It is your continued participation in activities that will help you to further sharpen your writing skill.

4. Practice the use of literary devices

They are tools that help writers hint at larger themes and meaning in a story. Literary devices such as sarcasm, metaphor, and irony can help you write a vivid and descriptive piece. Practicing their usage will help you get better at creative writing.

5. Write consistently

Write, write, and write. Whether you have an idea or not, you have to write. Look for possible things you can write about when you are short of ideas. It is your consistency at it that will help you hone your craft.

Consistency is key to becoming a good creative writer.

Conclusion

Creative writing is a form of literature that requires you to use your creativity and imagination to express a message or emotion. It is not bound by conventional principles and it’s subjective to your perception. 

If you are venturing into this, you must submerge yourself in the world of reading and writing, as it is this world that would help you upskill yourself.

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