1. Songs

Many individuals believe that writing a song is giving a pure musical form to a creative expression. As a matter of fact, if you’re writing the lyrics for a song, you’re doing some creative writing. Lyrics of a song are quite similar to poetry and can have many forms.

The most common form of lyrics is the rhyme scheme. When you go through the lyrics of songs, you’ll see that they have a rhyme scheme in them.

2. Poetry

You’ll find dozens of different poetic forms today ranging from haiku to sonnets. Many of the recent poems don’t even follow a specific form. The key to writing a good poem is to make every word count and create evocative images. Besides writing about nature and love, you can also write for special occasions. They include a funeral or a wedding ceremony.

3. Vignettes

Vignettes are used for setting up a scene for readers. They’re a short form of fiction or creative non-fiction. There might not be any characters or a central conflict in vignettes that drive the story forward. The length of vignettes can range from a paragraph to a few pages. Usually, the entire event takes place at a single location. In Our Time by Ernest Hemingway has many examples of vignettes.

4. Short Fiction

By writing short stories, you can learn a lot about how to structure fiction. It would teach you how to create a plot, settings, characters, and conflict. Short fiction provides more of a story than a vignette. There are many writers who make a considerable amount of money by writing short fiction. One of the best examples is A&P, which was written in 1961 by John Updike.

5. Scripts

Yet another form of creative writing is a script. The length of a script can vary. When it comes to scripts, the words you write would be recited by the actors and recorded. The audience may or may not get to view what’s written. Scripts are written for everything from plays to television commercials and movies.

6. Novels

Novels are a long form of fiction. They give you enough time to explore their characters, plot, and other elements. A novel is the most popular form of fiction in the world. You’ll come across many different genres in a novel, such as science fiction, romance, and thriller.

Writing a novel is a great way to improve your writing skills. It usually takes a lot of time and effort to write and finish a novel. When you’re writing a novel, you may also have to research on several aspects.

7. Novellas

A novella generally goes into greater detail about all the elements of the story. It is not as long as a novel but is certainly longer than a short story. One good example of a novella is Heart of Darkness by Joseph Conrad.

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All through the decades, the world of literature has explored the changes that took place in human societies. Literary greats from the Naturalist and Beat movements had responded to the rapidly increasing industrialization in the Western world.

Virginia Woolf and a few other poets were instrumental in transforming poetry. Creative writing has the ability to describe the world through an unfiltered and honest lens. This would give you an idea about its importance in today’s world.

How creative writing enhances your job prospects

Those who are in the field of creative writing are the advocates for the creation of a better society. You may be writing for yourself or to share your writing with a wider audience. Either way, you’re contributing towards making the world a better place with your writings.

Creative writing is not a science, technology, engineering, or mathematics discipline. This is why many people think that learning creative writing won’t enhance their job prospects. They wonder what’s the use of learning such a thing when there’s such a low probability of making money.

It would come as a surprise to them that creative writing skills can actually get them many jobs. Here are some of the jobs that are ideal for creative writers:

1. Novelist

Becoming a novelist is an admirable career option and also requires the most writing work. To write and sell one’s own books would be a dream job for many writers. If you want to be a novelist, you’ll have to do many things besides writing.

Among them are marketing yourself in the literary world and maintaining your social presence. This raises a certain degree of curiosity in the publishers and readers to read your work. Although this is a tough task, it’s quite rewarding.

2. Copywriter

Copywriting involves writing a mix of styles and forms to help companies in their branding and marketing efforts. Among the types of content that a copywriter might write are blogs, emails, website content or an ad copy. You can flex your writing muscles in new and challenging ways, communicating the company’s voice and purpose.

As excellent blog, website, or ad copy carries the potential of increasing sales of a company. This is why copywriters are always in great demand.

3. Communications specialist

A communications specialist helps in creating a positive image of their company among the prospective customers. They try to achieve this through blogs, social media posts, and journalist outreach. This is similar to copywriting in many ways.

4. Grant Writer

The research facilities and non-profits are in need of national and local grants to finance their projects. It is the job of grant writers to secure funds for them. The most engaging grants tell the story of the organization in a tailored, engaging, and convincing manner.

Creative writers would never miss the opportunity to tell a meaningful story. As grant writers, they can also create a positive change in the community with their words.

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Well, these are only your imaginations, as the best writing courses are pretty much rooted in reality. The skills that you gain during such courses would be of immense help in your daily life as well. Now, let’s go through some of the reasons why you should learn creative writing:

1. Improved writing and communication skills

Upon taking a creative writing course, you’ll see a significant improvement in your writing skills. These improvements would also make you a stronger communicator. The writing courses involve finding the right word in a story or a poem.

While doing this, you’d be engaging the parts of your brain used in writing and speaking every day. Self-advocacy and the use of precise language will translate well into working environments and interpersonal relationships.

2. Improvement in thinking

Whatever the type of writing you want to pursue, learning how to write also involves learning how to think. Strong writing would therefore lead to strong thinking abilities. Your thoughts won’t form without language. Of course, you won’t require a language to think ‘I like birds’ or ‘I am hungry’. However, when it comes to abstract concepts, language is certainly needed.

You can’t think about things like justice, equality, or revenge without having words to express them. When you learn creative writing, you’ll develop the ability to find specific words. Your improved skills in effective storytelling and rhetoric will improve your ability to think.

3. Success in your job

Excellent writing would also lead to a considerable degree of success in your job. Every job undoubtedly needs some form of written work. It can be a simple communication in writing or something elaborate, such as marketing materials or publishing data. It’s pretty obvious that your superior won’t expect you to write emails in the form of a short story.

Your job won’t necessarily involve creative writing. Despite this, you can make a good impression on your superiors by writing excellently with precise grammar. This requires a good amount of practice, which you’ll get during your creative writing classes. By sharpening your writing skills, you may also have the chance to grab your next promotion.

4. Develops compassion

When you read or write stories, you tend to put yourself in the shoes of the story’s characters. Similarly, when reading or writing poems, you navigate through emotions with the help of language. The process of reading and writing rely on empathy to some extent. You practice empathy when you’re listening to the story of another individual.

So, when your colleague or client tells you about something and you’re listening carefully, you’re practicing empathy. When you write, you also develop your ability to listen and speak well. This makes you more compassionate and effective in your communication.

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