three genres of creative writing

What Is Creative Writing? (Ultimate Guide + 20 Examples)

Creative writing begins with a blank page and the courage to fill it with the stories only you can tell.

I face this intimidating blank page daily–and I have for the better part of 20+ years.

In this guide, you’ll learn all the ins and outs of creative writing with tons of examples.

What Is Creative Writing (Long Description)?

Creative Writing is the art of using words to express ideas and emotions in imaginative ways. It encompasses various forms including novels, poetry, and plays, focusing on narrative craft, character development, and the use of literary tropes.

Table of Contents

Let’s expand on that definition a bit.

Creative writing is an art form that transcends traditional literature boundaries.

It includes professional, journalistic, academic, and technical writing. This type of writing emphasizes narrative craft, character development, and literary tropes. It also explores poetry and poetics traditions.

In essence, creative writing lets you express ideas and emotions uniquely and imaginatively.

It’s about the freedom to invent worlds, characters, and stories. These creations evoke a spectrum of emotions in readers.

Creative writing covers fiction, poetry, and everything in between.

It allows writers to express inner thoughts and feelings. Often, it reflects human experiences through a fabricated lens.

Types of Creative Writing

There are many types of creative writing that we need to explain.

Some of the most common types:

• Short stories
• Screenplays
• Flash fiction
• Creative Nonfiction

Short Stories (The Brief Escape)

Short stories are like narrative treasures.

They are compact but impactful, telling a full story within a limited word count. These tales often focus on a single character or a crucial moment.

Short stories are known for their brevity.

They deliver emotion and insight in a concise yet powerful package. This format is ideal for exploring diverse genres, themes, and characters. It leaves a lasting impression on readers.

Example: Emma discovers an old photo of her smiling grandmother. It’s a rarity. Through flashbacks, Emma learns about her grandmother’s wartime love story. She comes to understand her grandmother’s resilience and the value of joy.

Novels (The Long Journey)

Novels are extensive explorations of character, plot, and setting.

They span thousands of words, giving writers the space to create entire worlds. Novels can weave complex stories across various themes and timelines.

The length of a novel allows for deep narrative and character development.

Readers get an immersive experience.

Example: Across the Divide tells of two siblings separated in childhood. They grow up in different cultures. Their reunion highlights the strength of family bonds, despite distance and differences.

Poetry (The Soul’s Language)

Poetry expresses ideas and emotions through rhythm, sound, and word beauty.

It distills emotions and thoughts into verses. Poetry often uses metaphors, similes, and figurative language to reach the reader’s heart and mind.

Poetry ranges from structured forms, like sonnets, to free verse.

The latter breaks away from traditional formats for more expressive thought.

Example: Whispers of Dawn is a poem collection capturing morning’s quiet moments. “First Light” personifies dawn as a painter. It brings colors of hope and renewal to the world.

Plays (The Dramatic Dialogue)

Plays are meant for performance. They bring characters and conflicts to life through dialogue and action.

This format uniquely explores human relationships and societal issues.

Playwrights face the challenge of conveying setting, emotion, and plot through dialogue and directions.

Example: Echoes of Tomorrow is set in a dystopian future. Memories can be bought and sold. It follows siblings on a quest to retrieve their stolen memories. They learn the cost of living in a world where the past has a price.

Screenplays (Cinema’s Blueprint)

Screenplays outline narratives for films and TV shows.

They require an understanding of visual storytelling, pacing, and dialogue. Screenplays must fit film production constraints.

Example: The Last Light is a screenplay for a sci-fi film. Humanity’s survivors on a dying Earth seek a new planet. The story focuses on spacecraft Argo’s crew as they face mission challenges and internal dynamics.

Memoirs (The Personal Journey)

Memoirs provide insight into an author’s life, focusing on personal experiences and emotional journeys.

They differ from autobiographies by concentrating on specific themes or events.

Memoirs invite readers into the author’s world.

They share lessons learned and hardships overcome.

Example: Under the Mango Tree is a memoir by Maria Gomez. It shares her childhood memories in rural Colombia. The mango tree in their yard symbolizes home, growth, and nostalgia. Maria reflects on her journey to a new life in America.

Flash Fiction (The Quick Twist)

Flash fiction tells stories in under 1,000 words.

It’s about crafting compelling narratives concisely. Each word in flash fiction must count, often leading to a twist.

This format captures life’s vivid moments, delivering quick, impactful insights.

Example: The Last Message features an astronaut’s final Earth message as her spacecraft drifts away. In 500 words, it explores isolation, hope, and the desire to connect against all odds.

Creative Nonfiction (The Factual Tale)

Creative nonfiction combines factual accuracy with creative storytelling.

This genre covers real events, people, and places with a twist. It uses descriptive language and narrative arcs to make true stories engaging.

Creative nonfiction includes biographies, essays, and travelogues.

Example: Echoes of Everest follows the author’s Mount Everest climb. It mixes factual details with personal reflections and the history of past climbers. The narrative captures the climb’s beauty and challenges, offering an immersive experience.

Fantasy (The World Beyond)

Fantasy transports readers to magical and mythical worlds.

It explores themes like good vs. evil and heroism in unreal settings. Fantasy requires careful world-building to create believable yet fantastic realms.

Example: The Crystal of Azmar tells of a young girl destined to save her world from darkness. She learns she’s the last sorceress in a forgotten lineage. Her journey involves mastering powers, forming alliances, and uncovering ancient kingdom myths.

Science Fiction (The Future Imagined)

Science fiction delves into futuristic and scientific themes.

It questions the impact of advancements on society and individuals.

Science fiction ranges from speculative to hard sci-fi, focusing on plausible futures.

Example: When the Stars Whisper is set in a future where humanity communicates with distant galaxies. It centers on a scientist who finds an alien message. This discovery prompts a deep look at humanity’s universe role and interstellar communication.

Watch this great video that explores the question, “What is creative writing?” and “How to get started?”:

What Are the 5 Cs of Creative Writing?

The 5 Cs of creative writing are fundamental pillars.

They guide writers to produce compelling and impactful work. These principles—Clarity, Coherence, Conciseness, Creativity, and Consistency—help craft stories that engage and entertain.

They also resonate deeply with readers. Let’s explore each of these critical components.

Clarity makes your writing understandable and accessible.

It involves choosing the right words and constructing clear sentences. Your narrative should be easy to follow.

In creative writing, clarity means conveying complex ideas in a digestible and enjoyable way.

Coherence ensures your writing flows logically.

It’s crucial for maintaining the reader’s interest. Characters should develop believably, and plots should progress logically. This makes the narrative feel cohesive.

Conciseness

Conciseness is about expressing ideas succinctly.

It’s being economical with words and avoiding redundancy. This principle helps maintain pace and tension, engaging readers throughout the story.

Creativity is the heart of creative writing.

It allows writers to invent new worlds and create memorable characters. Creativity involves originality and imagination. It’s seeing the world in unique ways and sharing that vision.

Consistency

Consistency maintains a uniform tone, style, and voice.

It means being faithful to the world you’ve created. Characters should act true to their development. This builds trust with readers, making your story immersive and believable.

Is Creative Writing Easy?

Creative writing is both rewarding and challenging.

Crafting stories from your imagination involves more than just words on a page. It requires discipline and a deep understanding of language and narrative structure.

Exploring complex characters and themes is also key.

Refining and revising your work is crucial for developing your voice.

The ease of creative writing varies. Some find the freedom of expression liberating.

Others struggle with writer’s block or plot development challenges. However, practice and feedback make creative writing more fulfilling.

What Does a Creative Writer Do?

A creative writer weaves narratives that entertain, enlighten, and inspire.

Writers explore both the world they create and the emotions they wish to evoke. Their tasks are diverse, involving more than just writing.

Creative writers develop ideas, research, and plan their stories.

They create characters and outline plots with attention to detail. Drafting and revising their work is a significant part of their process. They strive for the 5 Cs of compelling writing.

Writers engage with the literary community, seeking feedback and participating in workshops.

They may navigate the publishing world with agents and editors.

Creative writers are storytellers, craftsmen, and artists. They bring narratives to life, enriching our lives and expanding our imaginations.

How to Get Started With Creative Writing?

Embarking on a creative writing journey can feel like standing at the edge of a vast and mysterious forest.

The path is not always clear, but the adventure is calling.

Here’s how to take your first steps into the world of creative writing:

• Find a time of day when your mind is most alert and creative.
• Create a comfortable writing space free from distractions.
• Use prompts to spark your imagination. They can be as simple as a word, a phrase, or an image.
• Try writing for 15-20 minutes on a prompt without editing yourself. Let the ideas flow freely.
• Reading is fuel for your writing. Explore various genres and styles.
• Pay attention to how your favorite authors construct their sentences, develop characters, and build their worlds.
• Don’t pressure yourself to write a novel right away. Begin with short stories or poems.
• Small projects can help you hone your skills and boost your confidence.
• Look for writing groups in your area or online. These communities offer support, feedback, and motivation.
• Participating in workshops or classes can also provide valuable insights into your writing.
• Understand that your first draft is just the beginning. Revising your work is where the real magic happens.
• Be open to feedback and willing to rework your pieces.
• Carry a notebook or digital recorder to jot down ideas, observations, and snippets of conversations.
• These notes can be gold mines for future writing projects.

Final Thoughts: What Is Creative Writing?

Creative writing is an invitation to explore the unknown, to give voice to the silenced, and to celebrate the human spirit in all its forms.

Check out these creative writing tools (that I highly recommend):

Read This Next:

• What Is a Prompt in Writing? (Ultimate Guide + 200 Examples)
• What Is A Personal Account In Writing? (47 Examples)
• How To Write A Fantasy Short Story (Ultimate Guide + Examples)
• How To Write A Fantasy Romance Novel [21 Tips + Examples)

Creative Writing Genre Guide – The Many Genres of Writing in The Creative Arts

Written by Scott Wilson

Like the hiss of a jagged sword slicing past your ear or the roar of a spacecraft entering the atmosphere of a strange planet, genre echos through every piece of creative writing.

Whether or not the author chooses consciously to conform to an existing genre or decides to break new ground, genre will attach to whatever they create. Even so-called non-genre, or literary, fiction is itself a sort of genre. Genre is a tool that is used by:

• Writers , to guide story and expectations
• Critics , to categorize and analyze creative works
• Publishers and Booksellers , to stock and market books to their target audiences
• Readers , to find and read works that align with their aesthetic preferences

Understanding and mastering genre is not optional for creative writers. But it’s not easy, either.

How Genre Defines Your Creative Writing Work

Genre is a hot topic in the world of creative writing. You won’t get far in the average creative writing program before you get into some kind of argument over how to classify some piece of work.

That’s because genre is necessarily subjective. There is no centralized Genre Board that puts a stamp inside the front cover of each new book that is released. The American Literature Association does not maintain an official list of genres that authors are required to choose from among before beginning their next story.

The reality of a serious writer is a reality of many voices, some of them belonging to the writer, some of them belonging to the world of readers at large. ~ Aberjhani

Our literary genres today are simply social conventions, conventions that evolve over time with community expectations and tropes. It’s impossible to come up with a genre writing definition that will satisfy everyone. At the same time, genre is descriptive enough to be indispensable for readers and writers alike.

Genre is so difficult to get a grip on because it is effectively a kind of rolling consensus.

Genre is defined by the authors themselves, by critics who seek to interpret works, by readers deciding what they like to read, and by publishers looking to market those works.

And those definitions change all the time.

The Rapid Evolution of Genre in Writing

Take the ancient and well-established genre of fantasy, for example. Myth and legend may be the oldest genres of fiction, stretching back to our earliest recorded works. The Epic of Gilgamesh and Beowulf both fall into the realm of fantasy.

But fantasy has evolved as its readers and writers have.

Fantasy writing today is nothing like what it was prior to Tolkien’s tales of Middle Earth reaching and shaping the expectations of readers. Epic works like The Lord of the Rings and the Chronicles of Narnia set a standard for their writing genre, and subsequent tales are inevitably judged by those standards.

With the pace of publishing increasing rapidly and the ease of finding literature to taste getting easier and easier, genre is evolving at a lightning pace.

Writing Sub-Genres Have Become Ever More Niche With the Internet

That kind of specificity comes with very distinctive expectations, however. Niche works are often expected by readers to follow a very specific formula—hit a certain set of plot points, come in at a particular word-count, feature a distinctive type of characters. If you’re aiming for success in the Highlander romance niche, you had better have an evil Englishman somewhere in the story—and heaven help you if there’s not a shirtless man in a kilt on the cover.

While this kind of narrow, formulaic approach is seen as a constraint by some authors, it represents a kind of feedback loop that allows writers to reach very specific audiences. If you plan to make a career out of creative writing, understanding and selling to the market is door you’ll need to open. Genre expectations give you the key.

The genre of writing you pick for any given story you choose to tell will define how it is viewed and what readers expect before you even put down the first word. So understanding how genres in writing work and how to use them in your own pieces is a key part of being a creative writer today.

Picking a Writing Genre Can Be Empowering for Creative Writers

Understanding what genre is and how genres are defined is the only way that you can understand how your own work will be perceived. And developing that kind of knowledge allows your writing to grow and operate on multiple levels as your stories unfold. Genre offers subtext to your stories. Adding a new entry to the catalog of any particular genre expands what the field has to say.

The many types of genres in writing offer an avenue for every writer to explore and expand their craft.

Equally important for some writers is the sense of context that genre creates for their writing. Not only can it help shape creative works by offering standards to aim at, but it also provides a set of expectations that can be subverted to critical effect. For example, The Red Badge of Courage by Stephen Crane would not have had the effect on readers that it did without a long tradition of glorious war stories from a genre that it mimicked, then up-ended with the hero’s cowardice.

Pure formless creativity and invention are wild and dangerous things. To develop a coherent story and a world that is true enough for readers to believe is a tricky business. Having a set of general rules to follow and expectations to meet brings focus.

Beyond that, the very act of channeling your imagination into a defined form and to tell your own story within those rules is a challenge that rewards the creative spirit. Finishing a novel can feel very much like clicking the last piece into place on a jigsaw puzzle. The picture on that puzzle is the genre. When everything lines up to match, your sense of satisfaction and accomplishment is immense.

Writing Genres Give Readers the Stories They Are Looking For

Those stores, and the publishers who print novels and magazines, live and die by genre sales. Some publishers either specialize in or dedicate certain of their imprints to particular genres. Editors, illustrators, and agents may also specialize by genre. Critics, industry awards, and writing groups are often dedicated to different genres. Even creative writing programs offer specializations or concentrations in certain writing genres.

Ultimately, however, genre in writing persists and is needed for the reader. The evolution of genres in writing has largely been in the hands of publishers and book sellers, all seeking to match works with groups of readers who will find them appealing.

Genre in Writing May Be Determined in Different Ways

Genres in writing are not absolutes. Any given work can fall into many different genres depending on how the term is being applied. For example, the two big categories of writing are the genres of poetry and prose. Every work will fall into one of those, as well as others.

The most common ways of categorizing genre are:

• By literary technique and style
• By setting or character type

Each of these different genres of writing will share certain characteristics, but may diverge through other categories. For example, there are works that have a common science fiction theme, but use technique and style more common to literary fiction. The Handmaid’s Tale , by Margaret Atwood, is one example… set in a dystopian future, it nonetheless develops characters and explores deep themes common to other classic works of literature.

In addition to crossing genres, creative writing works also may fall into sub-genres. The most writing genres evolve branches over time. In fact, science fiction, one of the biggest and most popular genre examples in writing today, is simply a sub-genre of the larger category of speculative fiction.

Sub-Genres Sprout From Pop-Culture in Unexpected Ways to Offer Something Uniquely Tailored to Every Audience

To give just one example of this process, consider the evolution of the genre of steampunk.

Steampunk is a sub-genre of cyberpunk, which already lies at the bottom of a long list of other sub-genres of fiction:

In addition, steampunk works almost all fall into the addition speculative fiction category of alternate history, since they imagine a historical era not as it was, but as it might have been. Some can be called Westerns; others are post-apocalyptic, taking another bite out of the dystopian genre apple.

The first proto-steampunk works were published in the ’70s and ‘80s by authors such as Tim Powers and James Blaylock, but it was 1990’s The Difference Engine , by William Gibson and Bruce Sterling that really kicked off steampunk as a genre—probably because Gibson and Sterling were also two of the prime movers in cyberpunk itself.

As steampunk caught on and became more popular, not only did newer works emerge to expand the genre (including its own sub-genres), but older novels that included or inspired the same elements were sometimes described as steampunk. Seminal works like H.G Wells’ The Time Machine and Jules Verne’s Twenty Thousand Leagues Under the Sea are sometimes found in lists of steampunk works.

Why not just do away with genre, and consider each piece on its own merits? Ultimately, many scholars and creative writing professionals are able to do just that.

In the same way that a rock musician can understand, appreciate, and adapt techniques from the classical world, good writers recognize and respect good writing craft, regardless of genre.

But genre is also a part of artistic judgement. A creative work can be assessed by how well or poorly it conforms to the expectations of the genre it is aimed at.

How To Succeed as a Creative Writer in Different Types of Writing Genres

To be clear, you don’t need to pick a genre lane if you don’t want to. Iain Banks had no problem at all jumping back and forth between epic sci-fi novels, psychologically complex literary fiction, rollicking travelogues, and even poetry. All of it earned critical acclaim.

When J.K. Rowling decided she needed a break from fantasy, she picked up the pen name of Robert Galbraith and popped over into crime fiction instead.

But most creative writers aren’t made of the same stuff as Banks or Rowling. It may be that a particular genre is what inspires you to write in the first place. Perhaps it’s a fascination with the subject matter that draws you in to a particular kind of world. Or maybe it’s just a raw commercial calculation, playing to the market and what is most publishable.

In any case, deciding the genre or genres you are interested in writing in is only one part of the process. Each genre has its own unique path to success.

The Many Genres of Writing in English Literature

To help you get started, we’ve got a whole list of writing genre guides that take you step-by-step through the process of becoming a successful writer in that field.

Literary Fiction

Literary fiction is the non-genre genre of creative writing. It includes works that are too non-traditional to fit cleanly in existing genres or that focuses on characterization and exploration of deep truths over conventional plot or narrative structures. Much of the pantheon of great novels and works that are used in teaching creative writing fall into the literary fiction genre.

Fantasy authors excel in creating imaginary worlds where fantastic creatures roam, magic and the supernatural shape character’s lives, and medieval settings call classic mythology to mind. Fantasy is one of the oldest of genres in both Eastern and Western writing traditions, and its popularity continues to ensure steady careers for well-trained fantasy writers.

There is a fascination with the macabre and surreal that keeps horror novels on the top-seller lists year after year. From Anne Rice to Stephen King, some of the most commercially successful modern authors have chosen this genre. And with classics from Shelley and Poe as part of the enduring tradition of literature, a career in horror offers creative writers a shot at both fortune and fame.

Mystery, or crime, fiction embraces a whole spectrum of entertaining works from Agatha Christie’s classic detective novels to the hard-boiled works of Dennis Lehane. Writers who have the talent to deliver an intricate plot and keep readers engaged with a steady stream of clues, but still make the reveal and resolution a rewarding surprise, have a bright future in the mystery genre.

The Western genre is both relatively new and distinctively American in nature. Following in the footsteps of Louis L’Amour and Max Brand is no easy task, but there is plenty of life in the humble Western, as works by Cormac McCarthy and Larry McMurtry have shown. Western writers may or may not need a ten-gallon hat, but the definitely need story-telling skills and a strong set of research skills.

Young Adult

Young adult works often combine other genres into stories that deal particularly with the interests and concerns of teenagers. Whether it’s a mix of fantasy and school, like Harry Potter , or pure works that explore contemporary problems and challenges like the classic The Outsiders , young adult novels can shape the perspectives and growth of a generation. Young adult writers have to develop not only a knack for telling stories cleanly and understandably, but also for tapping into the zeitgeist of their target audience. 

Science Fiction (Sci Fi)

Science fiction uses the prism of technology and time to explore both exciting theoretical science and social mores and consequences of humanity today. Science fiction is a genre that has a robust demand and strong traditions. Although it can be tough to break into sci-fi, studying creative writing offers the kind of analytical tools and techniques that can make it happen.

Short Story

The genre of short story is one rooted in length rather than subject. A short story can be told in almost any of the other genres listed here, but it is a form that requires its own set of skills and sensibilities. Creative writing degrees are one of the best places for writers to polish up their ability to deliver the crisp, clear, meaningful prose that is needed to build a successful short story.

Making people laugh is a rare skill in any kind of artistic endeavor. Comedic writing has a long and honorable history in the world of dramatic literature, serving as one of the first genres recognized by the Greeks. Comedy often crosses other genre boundaries, with tendrils in horror, science fiction, and crime. But pure comedies in the form of satire and parody serve important roles in social commentary as well as entertainment.

Historical Fiction

Writing historical fiction comes with a set of guard rails that play directly to the strengths of creative writers: research offers a glimpse of the world as it once was, and imagination fills out the humanity of those times. While the historical setting can be one grounded firmly in reality, like Hilary Mantel’s acclaimed Wolf Hall , it can also serve as a portal to the fantastical, as in Susanna Clarke’s incredible Jonathan Strange & Mr. Norrell .

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Last updated on Feb 14, 2023

10 Types of Creative Writing (with Examples You’ll Love)

A lot falls under the term ‘creative writing’: poetry, short fiction, plays, novels, personal essays, and songs, to name just a few. By virtue of the creativity that characterizes it, creative writing is an extremely versatile art. So instead of defining what creative writing is , it may be easier to understand what it does by looking at examples that demonstrate the sheer range of styles and genres under its vast umbrella.

To that end, we’ve collected a non-exhaustive list of works across multiple formats that have inspired the writers here at Reedsy. With 20 different works to explore, we hope they will inspire you, too. 

People have been writing creatively for almost as long as we have been able to hold pens. Just think of long-form epic poems like The Odyssey or, later, the Cantar de Mio Cid — some of the earliest recorded writings of their kind. 

Poetry is also a great place to start if you want to dip your own pen into the inkwell of creative writing. It can be as short or long as you want (you don’t have to write an epic of Homeric proportions), encourages you to build your observation skills, and often speaks from a single point of view . 

Here are a few examples:

“Ozymandias” by Percy Bysshe Shelley

Nothing beside remains. Round the decay Of that colossal Wreck, boundless and bare The lone and level sands stretch far away.

This classic poem by Romantic poet Percy Shelley (also known as Mary Shelley’s husband) is all about legacy. What do we leave behind? How will we be remembered? The great king Ozymandias built himself a massive statue, proclaiming his might, but the irony is that his statue doesn’t survive the ravages of time. By framing this poem as told to him by a “traveller from an antique land,” Shelley effectively turns this into a story. Along with the careful use of juxtaposition to create irony, this poem accomplishes a lot in just a few lines. 

“Trying to Raise the Dead” by Dorianne Laux

 A direction. An object. My love, it needs a place to rest. Say anything. I’m listening. I’m ready to believe. Even lies, I don’t care.

Poetry is cherished for its ability to evoke strong emotions from the reader using very few words which is exactly what Dorianne Laux does in “ Trying to Raise the Dead .” With vivid imagery that underscores the painful yearning of the narrator, she transports us to a private nighttime scene as the narrator sneaks away from a party to pray to someone they’ve lost. We ache for their loss and how badly they want their lost loved one to acknowledge them in some way. It’s truly a masterclass on how writing can be used to portray emotions. 

If you find yourself inspired to try out some poetry — and maybe even get it published — check out these poetry layouts that can elevate your verse!

Song Lyrics

Poetry’s closely related cousin, song lyrics are another great way to flex your creative writing muscles. You not only have to find the perfect rhyme scheme but also match it to the rhythm of the music. This can be a great challenge for an experienced poet or the musically inclined. 

To see how music can add something extra to your poetry, check out these two examples:

“Hallelujah” by Leonard Cohen

 You say I took the name in vain I don't even know the name But if I did, well, really, what's it to ya? There's a blaze of light in every word It doesn't matter which you heard The holy or the broken Hallelujah 

Metaphors are commonplace in almost every kind of creative writing, but will often take center stage in shorter works like poetry and songs. At the slightest mention, they invite the listener to bring their emotional or cultural experience to the piece, allowing the writer to express more with fewer words while also giving it a deeper meaning. If a whole song is couched in metaphor, you might even be able to find multiple meanings to it, like in Leonard Cohen’s “ Hallelujah .” While Cohen’s Biblical references create a song that, on the surface, seems like it’s about a struggle with religion, the ambiguity of the lyrics has allowed it to be seen as a song about a complicated romantic relationship. 

“I Will Follow You into the Dark” by Death Cab for Cutie

 ​​If Heaven and Hell decide that they both are satisfied Illuminate the no's on their vacancy signs If there's no one beside you when your soul embarks Then I'll follow you into the dark

You can think of song lyrics as poetry set to music. They manage to do many of the same things their literary counterparts do — including tugging on your heartstrings. Death Cab for Cutie’s incredibly popular indie rock ballad is about the singer’s deep devotion to his lover. While some might find the song a bit too dark and macabre, its melancholy tune and poignant lyrics remind us that love can endure beyond death.

Plays and Screenplays

From the short form of poetry, we move into the world of drama — also known as the play. This form is as old as the poem, stretching back to the works of ancient Greek playwrights like Sophocles, who adapted the myths of their day into dramatic form. The stage play (and the more modern screenplay) gives the words on the page a literal human voice, bringing life to a story and its characters entirely through dialogue. 

Interested to see what that looks like? Take a look at these examples:

All My Sons by Arthur Miller

“I know you're no worse than most men but I thought you were better. I never saw you as a man. I saw you as my father.” 

Arthur Miller acts as a bridge between the classic and the new, creating 20th century tragedies that take place in living rooms and backyard instead of royal courts, so we had to include his breakout hit on this list. Set in the backyard of an all-American family in the summer of 1946, this tragedy manages to communicate family tensions in an unimaginable scale, building up to an intense climax reminiscent of classical drama. 

💡 Read more about Arthur Miller and classical influences in our breakdown of Freytag’s pyramid . 

“Everything is Fine” by Michael Schur ( The Good Place )

“Well, then this system sucks. What...one in a million gets to live in paradise and everyone else is tortured for eternity? Come on! I mean, I wasn't freaking Gandhi, but I was okay. I was a medium person. I should get to spend eternity in a medium place! Like Cincinnati. Everyone who wasn't perfect but wasn't terrible should get to spend eternity in Cincinnati.” 

A screenplay, especially a TV pilot, is like a mini-play, but with the extra job of convincing an audience that they want to watch a hundred more episodes of the show. Blending moral philosophy with comedy, The Good Place is a fun hang-out show set in the afterlife that asks some big questions about what it means to be good. 

It follows Eleanor Shellstrop, an incredibly imperfect woman from Arizona who wakes up in ‘The Good Place’ and realizes that there’s been a cosmic mixup. Determined not to lose her place in paradise, she recruits her “soulmate,” a former ethics professor, to teach her philosophy with the hope that she can learn to be a good person and keep up her charade of being an upstanding citizen. The pilot does a superb job of setting up the stakes, the story, and the characters, while smuggling in deep philosophical ideas.

Personal essays

Our first foray into nonfiction on this list is the personal essay. As its name suggests, these stories are in some way autobiographical — concerned with the author’s life and experiences. But don’t be fooled by the realistic component. These essays can take any shape or form, from comics to diary entries to recipes and anything else you can imagine. Typically zeroing in on a single issue, they allow you to explore your life and prove that the personal can be universal.

Here are a couple of fantastic examples:

“On Selling Your First Novel After 11 Years” by Min Jin Lee (Literary Hub)

There was so much to learn and practice, but I began to see the prose in verse and the verse in prose. Patterns surfaced in poems, stories, and plays. There was music in sentences and paragraphs. I could hear the silences in a sentence. All this schooling was like getting x-ray vision and animal-like hearing. 

This deeply honest personal essay by Pachinko author Min Jin Lee is an account of her eleven-year struggle to publish her first novel . Like all good writing, it is intensely focused on personal emotional details. While grounded in the specifics of the author's personal journey, it embodies an experience that is absolutely universal: that of difficulty and adversity met by eventual success. 

“A Cyclist on the English Landscape” by Roff Smith (New York Times)

These images, though, aren’t meant to be about me. They’re meant to represent a cyclist on the landscape, anybody — you, perhaps. 

Roff Smith’s gorgeous photo essay for the NYT is a testament to the power of creatively combining visuals with text. Here, photographs of Smith atop a bike are far from simply ornamental. They’re integral to the ruminative mood of the essay, as essential as the writing. Though Smith places his work at the crosscurrents of various aesthetic influences (such as the painter Edward Hopper), what stands out the most in this taciturn, thoughtful piece of writing is his use of the second person to address the reader directly. Suddenly, the writer steps out of the body of the essay and makes eye contact with the reader. The reader is now part of the story as a second character, finally entering the picture.

Short Fiction

The short story is the happy medium of fiction writing. These bite-sized narratives can be devoured in a single sitting and still leave you reeling. Sometimes viewed as a stepping stone to novel writing, that couldn’t be further from the truth. Short story writing is an art all its own. The limited length means every word counts and there’s no better way to see that than with these two examples:

“An MFA Story” by Paul Dalla Rosa (Electric Literature)

At Starbucks, I remembered a reading Zhen had given, a reading organized by the program’s faculty. I had not wanted to go but did. In the bar, he read, "I wrote this in a Starbucks in Shanghai. On the bank of the Huangpu." It wasn’t an aside or introduction. It was two lines of the poem. I was in a Starbucks and I wasn’t writing any poems. I wasn’t writing anything. 

This short story is a delightfully metafictional tale about the struggles of being a writer in New York. From paying the bills to facing criticism in a writing workshop and envying more productive writers, Paul Dalla Rosa’s story is a clever satire of the tribulations involved in the writing profession, and all the contradictions embodied by systemic creativity (as famously laid out in Mark McGurl’s The Program Era ). What’s more, this story is an excellent example of something that often happens in creative writing: a writer casting light on the private thoughts or moments of doubt we don’t admit to or openly talk about. 

“Flowering Walrus” by Scott Skinner (Reedsy)

I tell him they’d been there a month at least, and he looks concerned. He has my tongue on a tissue paper and is gripping its sides with his pointer and thumb. My tongue has never spent much time outside of my mouth, and I imagine it as a walrus basking in the rays of the dental light. My walrus is not well. 

A winner of Reedsy’s weekly Prompts writing contest, ‘ Flowering Walrus ’ is a story that balances the trivial and the serious well. In the pauses between its excellent, natural dialogue , the story manages to scatter the fear and sadness of bad medical news, as the protagonist hides his worries from his wife and daughter. Rich in subtext, these silences grow and resonate with the readers.

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Perhaps the thing that first comes to mind when talking about creative writing, novels are a form of fiction that many people know and love but writers sometimes find intimidating. The good news is that novels are nothing but one word put after another, like any other piece of writing, but expanded and put into a flowing narrative. Piece of cake, right?

To get an idea of the format’s breadth of scope, take a look at these two (very different) satirical novels: 

Convenience Store Woman by Sayaka Murata

I wished I was back in the convenience store where I was valued as a working member of staff and things weren’t as complicated as this. Once we donned our uniforms, we were all equals regardless of gender, age, or nationality — all simply store workers. 

Keiko, a thirty-six-year-old convenience store employee, finds comfort and happiness in the strict, uneventful routine of the shop’s daily operations. A funny, satirical, but simultaneously unnerving examination of the social structures we take for granted, Sayaka Murata’s Convenience Store Woman is deeply original and lingers with the reader long after they’ve put it down.

Erasure by Percival Everett

The hard, gritty truth of the matter is that I hardly ever think about race. Those times when I did think about it a lot I did so because of my guilt for not thinking about it.  

Erasure is a truly accomplished satire of the publishing industry’s tendency to essentialize African American authors and their writing. Everett’s protagonist is a writer whose work doesn’t fit with what publishers expect from him — work that describes the “African American experience” — so he writes a parody novel about life in the ghetto. The publishers go crazy for it and, to the protagonist’s horror, it becomes the next big thing. This sophisticated novel is both ironic and tender, leaving its readers with much food for thought.

Creative Nonfiction

Creative nonfiction is pretty broad: it applies to anything that does not claim to be fictional (although the rise of autofiction has definitely blurred the boundaries between fiction and nonfiction). It encompasses everything from personal essays and memoirs to humor writing, and they range in length from blog posts to full-length books. The defining characteristic of this massive genre is that it takes the world or the author’s experience and turns it into a narrative that a reader can follow along with.

Here, we want to focus on novel-length works that dig deep into their respective topics. While very different, these two examples truly show the breadth and depth of possibility of creative nonfiction:

Men We Reaped by Jesmyn Ward

Men’s bodies litter my family history. The pain of the women they left behind pulls them from the beyond, makes them appear as ghosts. In death, they transcend the circumstances of this place that I love and hate all at once and become supernatural. 

Writer Jesmyn Ward recounts the deaths of five men from her rural Mississippi community in as many years. In her award-winning memoir , she delves into the lives of the friends and family she lost and tries to find some sense among the tragedy. Working backwards across five years, she questions why this had to happen over and over again, and slowly unveils the long history of racism and poverty that rules rural Black communities. Moving and emotionally raw, Men We Reaped is an indictment of a cruel system and the story of a woman's grief and rage as she tries to navigate it.

Cork Dork by Bianca Bosker

He believed that wine could reshape someone’s life. That’s why he preferred buying bottles to splurging on sweaters. Sweaters were things. Bottles of wine, said Morgan, “are ways that my humanity will be changed.” 

In this work of immersive journalism , Bianca Bosker leaves behind her life as a tech journalist to explore the world of wine. Becoming a “cork dork” takes her everywhere from New York’s most refined restaurants to science labs while she learns what it takes to be a sommelier and a true wine obsessive. This funny and entertaining trip through the past and present of wine-making and tasting is sure to leave you better informed and wishing you, too, could leave your life behind for one devoted to wine. 

Illustrated Narratives (Comics, graphic novels)

Once relegated to the “funny pages”, the past forty years of comics history have proven it to be a serious medium. Comics have transformed from the early days of Jack Kirby’s superheroes into a medium where almost every genre is represented. Humorous one-shots in the Sunday papers stand alongside illustrated memoirs, horror, fantasy, and just about anything else you can imagine. This type of visual storytelling lets the writer and artist get creative with perspective, tone, and so much more. For two very different, though equally entertaining, examples, check these out:

Calvin & Hobbes by Bill Watterson

"Life is like topography, Hobbes. There are summits of happiness and success, flat stretches of boring routine and valleys of frustration and failure." 

This beloved comic strip follows Calvin, a rambunctious six-year-old boy, and his stuffed tiger/imaginary friend, Hobbes. They get into all kinds of hijinks at school and at home, and muse on the world in the way only a six-year-old and an anthropomorphic tiger can. As laugh-out-loud funny as it is, Calvin & Hobbes ’ popularity persists as much for its whimsy as its use of humor to comment on life, childhood, adulthood, and everything in between. 

From Hell by Alan Moore and Eddie Campbell 

"I shall tell you where we are. We're in the most extreme and utter region of the human mind. A dim, subconscious underworld. A radiant abyss where men meet themselves. Hell, Netley. We're in Hell." 

Comics aren't just the realm of superheroes and one-joke strips, as Alan Moore proves in this serialized graphic novel released between 1989 and 1998. A meticulously researched alternative history of Victorian London’s Ripper killings, this macabre story pulls no punches. Fact and fiction blend into a world where the Royal Family is involved in a dark conspiracy and Freemasons lurk on the sidelines. It’s a surreal mad-cap adventure that’s unsettling in the best way possible. 

Video Games and RPGs

Probably the least expected entry on this list, we thought that video games and RPGs also deserved a mention — and some well-earned recognition for the intricate storytelling that goes into creating them. 

Essentially gamified adventure stories, without attention to plot, characters, and a narrative arc, these games would lose a lot of their charm, so let’s look at two examples where the creative writing really shines through: 

80 Days by inkle studios

"It was a triumph of invention over nature, and will almost certainly disappear into the dust once more in the next fifty years." 

Named Time Magazine ’s game of the year in 2014, this narrative adventure is based on Around the World in 80 Days by Jules Verne. The player is cast as the novel’s narrator, Passpartout, and tasked with circumnavigating the globe in service of their employer, Phileas Fogg. Set in an alternate steampunk Victorian era, the game uses its globe-trotting to comment on the colonialist fantasies inherent in the original novel and its time period. On a storytelling level, the choose-your-own-adventure style means no two players’ journeys will be the same. This innovative approach to a classic novel shows the potential of video games as a storytelling medium, truly making the player part of the story. 

What Remains of Edith Finch by Giant Sparrow

"If we lived forever, maybe we'd have time to understand things. But as it is, I think the best we can do is try to open our eyes, and appreciate how strange and brief all of this is." 

This video game casts the player as 17-year-old Edith Finch. Returning to her family’s home on an island in the Pacific northwest, Edith explores the vast house and tries to figure out why she’s the only one of her family left alive. The story of each family member is revealed as you make your way through the house, slowly unpacking the tragic fate of the Finches. Eerie and immersive, this first-person exploration game uses the medium to tell a series of truly unique tales. 

Fun and breezy on the surface, humor is often recognized as one of the trickiest forms of creative writing. After all, while you can see the artistic value in a piece of prose that you don’t necessarily enjoy, if a joke isn’t funny, you could say that it’s objectively failed.

With that said, it’s far from an impossible task, and many have succeeded in bringing smiles to their readers’ faces through their writing. Here are two examples:

‘How You Hope Your Extended Family Will React When You Explain Your Job to Them’ by Mike Lacher (McSweeney’s Internet Tendency)

“Is it true you don’t have desks?” your grandmother will ask. You will nod again and crack open a can of Country Time Lemonade. “My stars,” she will say, “it must be so wonderful to not have a traditional office and instead share a bistro-esque coworking space.” 

Satire and parody make up a whole subgenre of creative writing, and websites like McSweeney’s Internet Tendency and The Onion consistently hit the mark with their parodies of magazine publishing and news media. This particular example finds humor in the divide between traditional family expectations and contemporary, ‘trendy’ work cultures. Playing on the inherent silliness of today’s tech-forward middle-class jobs, this witty piece imagines a scenario where the writer’s family fully understands what they do — and are enthralled to hear more. “‘Now is it true,’ your uncle will whisper, ‘that you’ve got a potential investment from one of the founders of I Can Haz Cheezburger?’”

‘Not a Foodie’ by Hilary Fitzgerald Campbell (Electric Literature)

I’m not a foodie, I never have been, and I know, in my heart, I never will be. 

Highlighting what she sees as an unbearable social obsession with food , in this comic Hilary Fitzgerald Campbell takes a hilarious stand against the importance of food. From the writer’s courageous thesis (“I think there are more exciting things to talk about, and focus on in life, than what’s for dinner”) to the amusing appearance of family members and the narrator’s partner, ‘Not a Foodie’ demonstrates that even a seemingly mundane pet peeve can be approached creatively — and even reveal something profound about life.

We hope this list inspires you with your own writing. If there’s one thing you take away from this post, let it be that there is no limit to what you can write about or how you can write about it. 

In the next part of this guide, we'll drill down into the fascinating world of creative nonfiction.

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What is Creative Writing? A Key Piece of the Writer’s Toolbox

Not all writing is the same and there’s a type of writing that has the ability to transport, teach, and inspire others like no other.

Creative writing stands out due to its unique approach and focus on imagination. Here’s how to get started and grow as you explore the broad and beautiful world of creative writing!

What is Creative Writing?

Creative writing is a form of writing that extends beyond the bounds of regular professional, journalistic, academic, or technical forms of literature. It is characterized by its emphasis on narrative craft, character development, and the use of literary tropes or poetic techniques to express ideas in an original and imaginative way.

Creative writing can take on various forms such as:

• short stories
• screenplays

It’s a way for writers to express their thoughts, feelings, and ideas in a creative, often symbolic, way . It’s about using the power of words to transport readers into a world created by the writer.

5 Key Characteristics of Creative Writing

Creative writing is marked by several defining characteristics, each working to create a distinct form of expression:

1. Imagination and Creativity: Creative writing is all about harnessing your creativity and imagination to create an engaging and compelling piece of work. It allows writers to explore different scenarios, characters, and worlds that may not exist in reality.

2. Emotional Engagement: Creative writing often evokes strong emotions in the reader. It aims to make the reader feel something — whether it’s happiness, sorrow, excitement, or fear.

3. Originality: Creative writing values originality. It’s about presenting familiar things in new ways or exploring ideas that are less conventional.

4. Use of Literary Devices: Creative writing frequently employs literary devices such as metaphors, similes, personification, and others to enrich the text and convey meanings in a more subtle, layered manner.

5. Focus on Aesthetics: The beauty of language and the way words flow together is important in creative writing. The aim is to create a piece that’s not just interesting to read, but also beautiful to hear when read aloud.

Remember, creative writing is not just about producing a work of art. It’s also a means of self-expression and a way to share your perspective with the world. Whether you’re considering it as a hobby or contemplating a career in it, understanding the nature and characteristics of creative writing can help you hone your skills and create more engaging pieces .

For more insights into creative writing, check out our articles on creative writing jobs and what you can do with a creative writing degree and is a degree in creative writing worth it .

Styles of Creative Writing

To fully understand creative writing , you must be aware of the various styles involved. Creative writing explores a multitude of genres, each with its own unique characteristics and techniques.

Poetry is a form of creative writing that uses expressive language to evoke emotions and ideas. Poets often employ rhythm, rhyme, and other poetic devices to create pieces that are deeply personal and impactful. Poems can vary greatly in length, style, and subject matter, making this a versatile and dynamic form of creative writing.

Short Stories

Short stories are another common style of creative writing. These are brief narratives that typically revolve around a single event or idea. Despite their length, short stories can provide a powerful punch, using precise language and tight narrative structures to convey a complete story in a limited space.

Novels represent a longer form of narrative creative writing. They usually involve complex plots, multiple characters, and various themes. Writing a novel requires a significant investment of time and effort; however, the result can be a rich and immersive reading experience.

Screenplays

Screenplays are written works intended for the screen, be it television, film, or online platforms. They require a specific format, incorporating dialogue and visual descriptions to guide the production process. Screenwriters must also consider the practical aspects of filmmaking, making this an intricate and specialized form of creative writing.

If you’re interested in this style, understanding creative writing jobs and what you can do with a creative writing degree can provide useful insights.

Writing for the theater is another specialized form of creative writing. Plays, like screenplays, combine dialogue and action, but they also require an understanding of the unique dynamics of the theatrical stage. Playwrights must think about the live audience and the physical space of the theater when crafting their works.

Each of these styles offers unique opportunities for creativity and expression. Whether you’re drawn to the concise power of poetry, the detailed storytelling of novels, or the visual language of screenplays and plays, there’s a form of creative writing that will suit your artistic voice. The key is to explore, experiment, and find the style that resonates with you.

For those looking to spark their creativity, our article on creative writing prompts offers a wealth of ideas to get you started.

Importance of Creative Writing

Understanding what is creative writing involves recognizing its value and significance. Engaging in creative writing can provide numerous benefits – let’s take a closer look.

Developing Creativity and Imagination

Creative writing serves as a fertile ground for nurturing creativity and imagination. It encourages you to think outside the box, explore different perspectives, and create unique and original content. This leads to improved problem-solving skills and a broader worldview , both of which can be beneficial in various aspects of life.

Through creative writing, one can build entire worlds, create characters, and weave complex narratives, all of which are products of a creative mind and vivid imagination. This can be especially beneficial for those seeking creative writing jobs and what you can do with a creative writing degree .

Enhancing Communication Skills

Creative writing can also play a crucial role in honing communication skills. It demands clarity, precision, and a strong command of language. This helps to improve your vocabulary, grammar, and syntax, making it easier to express thoughts and ideas effectively .

Moreover, creative writing encourages empathy as you often need to portray a variety of characters from different backgrounds and perspectives. This leads to a better understanding of people and improved interpersonal communication skills.

Exploring Emotions and Ideas

One of the most profound aspects of creative writing is its ability to provide a safe space for exploring emotions and ideas. It serves as an outlet for thoughts and feelings , allowing you to express yourself in ways that might not be possible in everyday conversation.

Writing can be therapeutic, helping you process complex emotions, navigate difficult life events, and gain insight into your own experiences and perceptions. It can also be a means of self-discovery , helping you to understand yourself and the world around you better.

So, whether you’re a seasoned writer or just starting out, the benefits of creative writing are vast and varied. For those interested in developing their creative writing skills, check out our articles on creative writing prompts and how to teach creative writing . If you’re considering a career in this field, you might find our article on is a degree in creative writing worth it helpful.

4 Steps to Start Creative Writing

Creative writing can seem daunting to beginners, but with the right approach, anyone can start their journey into this creative field. Here are some steps to help you start creative writing .

1. Finding Inspiration

The first step in creative writing is finding inspiration . Inspiration can come from anywhere and anything. Observe the world around you, listen to conversations, explore different cultures, and delve into various topics of interest.

Reading widely can also be a significant source of inspiration. Read different types of books, articles, and blogs. Discover what resonates with you and sparks your imagination.

For structured creative prompts, visit our list of creative writing prompts to get your creative juices flowing.

Editor’s Note : When something excites or interests you, stop and take note – it could be the inspiration for your next creative writing piece.

2. Planning Your Piece

Once you have an idea, the next step is to plan your piece . Start by outlining:

• the main points

Remember, this can serve as a roadmap to guide your writing process. A plan doesn’t have to be rigid. It’s a flexible guideline that can be adjusted as you delve deeper into your writing. The primary purpose is to provide direction and prevent writer’s block.

3. Writing Your First Draft

After planning your piece, you can start writing your first draft . This is where you give life to your ideas and breathe life into your characters.

Don’t worry about making it perfect in the first go. The first draft is about getting your ideas down on paper . You can always refine and polish your work later. And if you don’t have a great place to write that first draft, consider a journal for writing .

4. Editing and Revising Your Work

The final step in the creative writing process is editing and revising your work . This is where you fine-tune your piece, correct grammatical errors, and improve sentence structure and flow.

Editing is also an opportunity to enhance your storytelling . You can add more descriptive details, develop your characters further, and make sure your plot is engaging and coherent.

Remember, writing is a craft that improves with practice . Don’t be discouraged if your first few pieces don’t meet your expectations. Keep writing, keep learning, and most importantly, enjoy the creative process.

For more insights on creative writing, check out our articles on how to teach creative writing or creative writing activities for kids.

Tips to Improve Creative Writing Skills

Understanding what is creative writing is the first step. But how can one improve their creative writing skills? Here are some tips that can help.

Read Widely

Reading is a vital part of becoming a better writer. By immersing oneself in a variety of genres, styles, and authors, one can gain a richer understanding of language and storytelling techniques . Different authors have unique voices and methods of telling stories, which can serve as inspiration for your own work. So, read widely and frequently!

Practice Regularly

Like any skill, creative writing improves with practice. Consistently writing — whether it be daily, weekly, or monthly — helps develop your writing style and voice . Using creative writing prompts can be a fun way to stimulate your imagination and get the words flowing.

Attend Writing Workshops and Courses

Formal education such as workshops and courses can offer structured learning and expert guidance. These can provide invaluable insights into the world of creative writing, from understanding plot development to character creation. If you’re wondering is a degree in creative writing worth it, these classes can also give you a taste of what studying creative writing at a higher level might look like .

Joining Writing Groups and Communities

Being part of a writing community can provide motivation, constructive feedback, and a sense of camaraderie. These groups often hold regular meetings where members share their work and give each other feedback. Plus, it’s a great way to connect with others who share your passion for writing.

Seeking Feedback on Your Work

Feedback is a crucial part of improving as a writer. It offers a fresh perspective on your work, highlighting areas of strength and opportunities for improvement. Whether it’s from a writing group, a mentor, or even friends and family, constructive criticism can help refine your writing .

Start Creative Writing Today!

Remember, becoming a proficient writer takes time and patience. So, don’t be discouraged by initial challenges. Keep writing, keep learning, and most importantly, keep enjoying the process. Who knows, your passion for creative writing might even lead to creative writing jobs and what you can do with a creative writing degree .

Happy writing!

Brooks Manley

Creative Primer  is a resource on all things journaling, creativity, and productivity. We’ll help you produce better ideas, get more done, and live a more effective life.

My name is Brooks. I do a ton of journaling, like to think I’m a creative (jury’s out), and spend a lot of time thinking about productivity. I hope these resources and product recommendations serve you well. Reach out if you ever want to chat or let me know about a journal I need to check out!

Here’s my favorite journal for 2024: 

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Inspiring Ink: Expert Tips on How to Teach Creative Writing

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Types of Creative Writing: A Detailed Explanantion

Read the blog and discover different Types of Creative Writing offering insights and examples to help you navigate the world of literary creativity. Explore various forms such as poetry, fiction, non-fiction, and scriptwriting. Discover how each style offers unique ways to express creativity, tell stories, and engage audiences.

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Creative Writing is a diverse and exciting art that demands Writers to look into their imagination and express their thoughts in unique ways. From short stories to poetry, different   Types of Creative Writing which cater to different styles and preferences. In this blog, we will delve into the different Types of Creative Writing, offering insights and examples to help you navigate the world of literary creativity.

Table of Contents

1) What are the various Types of Creative Writing?

     a) Fiction writing

     b) Poetry

     c) Song lyrics

     d) Journals and diaries

     e) Drama and playwriting

      f) Screenwriting

      g) Experimental writing

      h) Novels

2) Techniques used in Creative Writing

3) Conclusion

What are the various Types of Creative Writing?

 Let’s discuss the various Types of Creative Writing:

Fiction writing 

Fiction writing is one of the captivating Types of Creative Writing that transports readers into imaginary worlds, introduces them to memorable characters, and explores numerous emotions and themes. Within fiction, there are several distinct forms that Writers can explore to weave intricate tales. These forms include:

Fiction writing is a captivating part of Creative Writing that transports readers into imaginary worlds, introduces them to memorable characters, and explores an array of emotions and themes. Within fiction, there are several distinct forms that Writers can explore to weave intricate tales:

a) Short stories:

Short stories are concise yet potent narratives that distil the essence of a single plot, theme, or character arc. Writers craft short stories to deliver a powerful impact within a limited word count. The brevity of the format challenges Authors to make every word count, focusing on evoking emotions, building tension, and delivering a satisfying resolution in a short span of time.

Novels offer the canvas for Writers to embark on extended journeys of storytelling. With ample space to develop complex characters, intricate plotlines, and detailed settings, novels invite readers to immerse themselves in the fictional world fully. Writers can explore a myriad of themes, emotions, and conflicts, delving deep into the psyche of their characters and creating a lasting impact on the reader.

c) Flash fiction:

Flash fiction is the art of storytelling distilled into its most concise form. Writers embrace the challenge of telling a complete story within just a few hundred words. This form demands precision and creativity, forcing Writers to capture the essence of a narrative in a condensed space.

d) Fan fiction:

Fan fiction is a fascinating genre that allows Writers to extend and reimagine existing fictional universes. Writers create new stories, scenarios, and adventures featuring beloved characters from books, movies, TV shows, or video games. By building upon established foundations, Writers engage in a creative dialogue with the original creators and fellow fans.

d) Historical fiction:

Poetry 

Poetry is the language of emotions, a lyrical form of expression that transcends conventional prose. It's one of the most interesting and beautiful  Types  of Creative Writing that condenses thoughts, feelings, and imagery into evocative verses.

It invites readers to experience the world through a different lens. Within the realm of poetry, various forms and styles allow poets to experiment with rhythm, sound, and language, resulting in a rich tapestry of literary artistry that involves the following:

Haiku, originating from Japan, is a minimalist form of poetry that captures the essence of a moment in just three lines. With a syllable structure of 5-7-5, haikus distil nature's beauty and human experiences into concise verses. They often focus on capturing fleeting moments, seasons, and emotions, inviting readers to pause and reflect on the subtleties of life.

The sonnet is a structured and elegant poetic form dating  back to the Renaissance. Typically composed of 14 lines, sonnets follow specific rhyme schemes, such as the Shakespearean (ABABCDCDEFEFGG) or the Petrarchan (ABBAABBACDCDCD). Sonnets explore themes of love, beauty, mortality, and the complexities of human emotion.

c) Free verse:

Free verse poetry breaks away from traditional rhyme and meter patterns, allowing poets to experiment with line breaks, rhythm, and imagery. This form gives poets the freedom to let their thoughts flow naturally, creating unique and organic rhythms that reflect the pace of modern life.

d) Limerick:

Limericks are playful and humorous five-line poems with a distinct AABBA rhyme scheme. These witty verses often feature light-hearted language and unexpected twists, making them a favourite for conveying amusing anecdotes and quirky observations.

e) Epic poetry:

Epic poems tell grand narratives of heroes, gods, and legendary quests. With their lengthy verses and intricate storytelling, epic poems like Homer's "The Iliad" and "The Odyssey" have shaped cultures and inspired countless works of literature. These narratives delve into themes of heroism, fate, and the human condition, offering readers an immersive journey through time and imagination.

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Song lyrics

If you like writing poetry or you think that it can be your forte as a Creative Writer, then you can also try your hand at writing song lyrics. Song lyrics are another one of the most popular Types of Creative Writing. 

Practising writing song lyrics is one of the best ways to bring out your creativity, especially if you have a knack for music. Although it sounds interesting and fun, matching the lines in a song lyric can be a challenging task.

You need to think about maintaining not only the intent of the song but also the kind of audience you’ll be approaching. Your song lyrics need to be tangible and understandable, and most importantly, they need to carry out a story and song at the same time.

If you don’t have any proper knowledge of music, then you can try getting help from your friends or peers who have a good knowledge of music and see if your lyrics are going well with the music.

Journals and diaries

Practicing journaling is a good way of regulating someone’s emotions and understand their feelings. If you are unsure what Type of Creative Writing you want to pursue, you can simply start by jotting down the events of your day.

Understanding what you go through every day, not only helps you in your personal development, but also help you to become a good Creative Writer. You can even publish your works as we have seen so many famous people publishing their diary entries. If you want to know where to start, there are several journal entries by famous people, whose works can inspire you to start Writing.

Keeping a journal or diary, is crucial for your mental health, as it helps you to express your feelings in a constructive manner. This also gives you another boost to your writing skills, if you are a budding Writer

Drama and playwriting 

Drama and playwriting are artistic forms of Creative Writing that bring narratives to life through the dynamics of performance. These forms of creative expression explore the intricacies of human interaction, emotion, and conflict within the context of staged productions. Let's delve into the world of drama and playwriting, where characters come alive on the stage:  

a) Tragedy:

Tragedy is a dramatic genre that delves into the darker aspects of human nature and the inevitability of suffering. Tragic plays often revolve around protagonists who face moral dilemmas, internal struggles, and external forces that ultimately lead to their downfall. Tragedies offer audiences a cathartic experience, allowing them to confront and process complex emotions while reflecting on the human condition.

Comedy is the art of entertainment through humour and light-heartedness. Comedic plays explore the absurdities of human behaviour, social conventions, and misunderstandings. These works aim to amuse and uplift audiences, often featuring witty dialogue, situational comedy, and humorous characters. From slapstick to sattire, comedies provide a diverse range of comedic experiences.

c) Monologues:

Monologues are powerful soliloquies delivered by a single character on stage. They offer insight into the character's thoughts, emotions, and motivations, allowing the audience to connect deeply with their inner world. Monologues provide actors with opportunities to showcase their talent and capture the essence of a character's complexity.

d) Dialogues:

Dialogues are the heart of dramatic interaction. They reveal the relationships between characters, advance the plot, and convey emotions and conflicts. Well-crafted dialogues create tension, build connections, and propel the narrative forward, immersing the audience in the unfolding drama.

e) Experimental theatre:

Experimental theatre pushes the boundaries of traditional forms and conventions. This genre encourages innovative approaches to staging, narrative structure, and performance. Playwrights and directors experiment with non-linear narratives, multimedia elements, immersive environments, and audience interaction to challenge perceptions and evoke thought-provoking responses.

Screenwriting 

Screenwriting is the art of crafting stories specifically for the visual medium of film or television. It's a dynamic and collaborative form of writing that serves as the foundation for the creation of compelling on-screen narratives. Here are some key elements of screenwriting:

a) Writing for film:

Film screenwriting involves creating scripts that serve as blueprints for movies. ScreenWriters translate their ideas into a structured format that includes scenes, dialogues, actions, and descriptions. They must balance engaging storytelling with the technical aspects of filmmaking, considering camera angles, pacing, and visual cues.

b) Television scripts:

Television scripts are tailored to episodic formats, such as TV series or miniseries. Writers develop characters, story arcs, and dialogue that span multiple episodes, allowing for character development and plot progression over time. Each episode contributes to the overarching narrative while maintaining its own distinct identity.

c) Adaptation:

Adaptation involves transforming existing source material, such as books, plays, or real-life events, into screenplay format. Writers must distil the essence of the original work while making necessary changes to suit the visual medium and the constraints of time.

d) Dialogue and action:

Effective screenwriting places a strong emphasis on dialogue and action. Dialogue conveys characters' personalities, motivations, and conflicts, while action descriptions provide visual cues for directors, actors, and crew. Both elements work together to create a seamless and engaging on-screen experience.

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Experimental writing 

Experimental writing defies traditional conventions, pushing the boundaries of language and structure to create innovative literary works. It challenges readers to engage with unconventional formats, fragmented narratives, and abstract concepts. 

Through a stream of consciousness, collage writing, and visual poetry, experimental writing offers a fresh perspective, inviting readers to explore new realms of thought and emotion. It's a playground of creative freedom where Writers experiment with words as artists do with colours, producing compositions that evoke intrigue, reflection, and a deeper understanding of the limitless possibilities of language.

It is often said that good Writers are voracious readers. Well, if we take that into consideration, then there have many times where you might have loved reading novels. All the novels that you have read, or you know of, are one of the premium examples of Creative Writing.

They may vary in length, depending on the subject or genre that you choose to write on. If you are writing a long form novel, then they are divided into number of chapters. If you have a big idea waiting to be broken down into many chapters, then novels are for you.

Techniques used in Creative Writing

If you are wondering how to begin Creative Writing, you can start by following these techniques:

1) Narrative

Determining the narrative of your story is extremely important. If you control the narrative in your story, you can hold your audience’s attention for a long time, whether you are writing novels, novellas, or even short stories. In general, you should remember that whether you are doing Creative Writing or Non-fiction Writing, deciding on a narrative and then maintaining that throughout is crucial.

2) Characterisation

Characterisation is vital in building your story. If you don’t provide the details of your characters and describe their physical features, background, past, etc., you cannot help your reader imagine the situation. It is a crucial step in Creative Writing, enabling you to drive the plot forward and allow your story to build more layers.

Before you build your story, you need to have a solid plot to make your story upon. It is a blueprint to help you establish your story's theme agenda. It can also be referred to as a series of events that will help you build up the narrative. The plot has five parts: exposition or introduction, complications or rising action, climax, slow revelations and then the conclusion. The more solid your plot will be, the more you can create beautiful stories.

From the whimsical realms of children's literature to the thought-provoking depths of creative non-fiction, this blog about the different Types of Creative Writing has unveiled a world of literary possibilities. As pens meet paper and imaginations take flight, we hope this blog will guide you on your journey to weave tales that leave an indelible mark on hearts and minds.

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Frequently Asked Questions

Incorporating Creative Writing skills will help you in your professional growth. Creative Writing helps in effective communication, improved problem-solving abilities, increased empathy, improved mental health, and enhanced creativity.

The factors which influence the organisational structure in various types of Creative Writing are genre, style, narrative, expectations from the audience, length, point of view, cultural and historical context, character development, and more.

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Elements of Creative Writing

J.D. Schraffenberger, University of Northern Iowa

Rachel Morgan, University of Northern Iowa

Grant Tracey, University of Northern Iowa

Copyright Year: 2023

ISBN 13: 9780915996179

Publisher: University of Northern Iowa

Language: English

Formats Available

Conditions of use.

Learn more about reviews.

Reviewed by Robert Moreira, Lecturer III, University of Texas Rio Grande Valley on 3/21/24

Unlike Starkey's CREATIVE WRITING: FOUR GENRES IN BRIEF, this textbook does not include a section on drama. read more

Comprehensiveness rating: 4 see less

Unlike Starkey's CREATIVE WRITING: FOUR GENRES IN BRIEF, this textbook does not include a section on drama.

Content Accuracy rating: 5

As far as I can tell, content is accurate, error free and unbiased.

Relevance/Longevity rating: 5

The book is relevant and up-to-date.

Clarity rating: 5

The text is clear and easy to understand.

Consistency rating: 5

I would agree that the text is consistent in terms of terminology and framework.

Modularity rating: 5

Text is modular, yes, but I would like to see the addition of a section on dramatic writing.

Organization/Structure/Flow rating: 5

Topics are presented in logical, clear fashion.

Interface rating: 5

Navigation is good.

Grammatical Errors rating: 5

No grammatical issues that I could see.

Cultural Relevance rating: 3

I'd like to see more diverse creative writing examples.

As I stated above, textbook is good except that it does not include a section on dramatic writing.

Table of Contents

• Introduction
• Chapter One: One Great Way to Write a Short Story
• Chapter Two: Plotting
• Chapter Three: Counterpointed Plotting
• Chapter Four: Show and Tell
• Chapter Five: Characterization and Method Writing
• Chapter Six: Character and Dialouge
• Chapter Seven: Setting, Stillness, and Voice
• Chapter Eight: Point of View
• Chapter Nine: Learning the Unwritten Rules
• Chapter One: A Poetry State of Mind
• Chapter Two: The Architecture of a Poem
• Chapter Three: Sound
• Chapter Four: Inspiration and Risk
• Chapter Five: Endings and Beginnings
• Chapter Six: Figurative Language
• Chapter Seven: Forms, Forms, Forms
• Chapter Eight: Go to the Image
• Chapter Nine: The Difficult Simplicity of Short Poems and Killing Darlings

Creative Nonfiction

• Chapter One: Creative Nonfiction and the Essay
• Chapter Two: Truth and Memory, Truth in Memory
• Chapter Three: Research and History
• Chapter Four: Writing Environments
• Chapter Five: Notes on Style
• Chapter Seven: Imagery and the Senses
• Chapter Eight: Writing the Body
• Chapter Nine: Forms

Back Matter

• Contributors
• North American Review Staff

Ancillary Material

• University of Northern Iowa

About the Book

This free and open access textbook introduces new writers to some basic elements of the craft of creative writing in the genres of fiction, poetry, and creative nonfiction. The authors—Rachel Morgan, Jeremy Schraffenberger, and Grant Tracey—are editors of the North American Review, the oldest and one of the most well-regarded literary magazines in the United States. They’ve selected nearly all of the readings and examples (more than 60) from writing that has appeared in NAR pages over the years. Because they had a hand in publishing these pieces originally, their perspective as editors permeates this book. As such, they hope that even seasoned writers might gain insight into the aesthetics of the magazine as they analyze and discuss some reasons this work is so remarkable—and therefore teachable. This project was supported by NAR staff and funded via the UNI Textbook Equity Mini-Grant Program.

About the Contributors

J.D. Schraffenberger  is a professor of English at the University of Northern Iowa. He is the author of two books of poems,  Saint Joe's Passion  and  The Waxen Poor , and co-author with Martín Espada and Lauren Schmidt of  The Necessary Poetics of Atheism . His other work has appeared in  Best of Brevity ,  Best Creative Nonfiction ,  Notre Dame Review ,  Poetry East ,  Prairie Schooner , and elsewhere.

Rachel Morgan   is an instructor of English at the University of Northern Iowa. She is the author of the chapbook  Honey & Blood , Blood & Honey . Her work is included in the anthology  Fracture: Essays, Poems, and Stories on Fracking in American  and has appeared in the  Journal of American Medical Association ,  Boulevard ,  Prairie Schooner , and elsewhere.

Grant Tracey   author of three novels in the Hayden Fuller Mysteries ; the chapbook  Winsome  featuring cab driver Eddie Sands; and the story collection  Final Stanzas , is fiction editor of the  North American Review  and an English professor at the University of Northern Iowa, where he teaches film, modern drama, and creative writing. Nominated four times for a Pushcart Prize, he has published nearly fifty short stories and three previous collections. He has acted in over forty community theater productions and has published critical work on Samuel Fuller and James Cagney. He lives in Cedar Falls, Iowa.

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What are the Genres of Creative Writing?

The Black Bear Review boasts about accepting work in all four literary genres, but what does that mean? In simplest terms, genres are used to organize, categorize, and classify literature. The four primary genres of creative writing are fiction, creative non-fiction, poetry, and drama.

Fiction:  The fiction genre includes all works conceived primarily out of the writer’s imagination. Although fiction may include some elements of reality (names of real-life towns or natural phenomena), it relies on make-believe events to drive plots that often parallel, rather than recite, real-life circumstances. Some examples of fiction form are the novel, short story, or novella.

Creative Non-Fiction:  Writers of creative non-fiction develop stories based on true to life events but often infuse their own personal views and experiences in their work. Creative non-fiction pieces go beyond fact to appeal to readers through story, experience, and imagery. Some examples of creative non-fiction forms are personal essays, book reviews, memoirs, interviews, and cultural criticisms.

Poetry:  Poetry includes writing meant to be heard out loud as well as read on the page. Although poetry can take many forms, its foundation is built on a balance of rhythm, imagery, metaphor, and other techniques used to communicate abstract ideas to readers. Poems may be structured (haikus, and sonnets), unstructured (free verse), or even appear to read as a narrative (prose poems).

Drama:  The genre of drama can include both the fictitious and the fact. In a drama, the story is primarily conveyed through dialogue between characters. It may reference sound and movement, but much is left to reader’s imaginations. Drama includes movie scripts, ten-minute plays, screenplays, and written stage productions.

* Much of the information in this article has been taken from “Imaginative Writing: The Elements of Craft” by Janet Burroway and “Write Moves” by Nancy Pagh. We recommend looking into these books for yourself. They’re excellent resources to add to any writer’s toolbox!

Copyright © 2020 Black Bear Review

14 Types of Creative Writing

by Melissa Donovan | Apr 6, 2021 | Creative Writing | 20 comments

Which types of creative writing have you tried?

When we talk about creative writing, fiction and poetry often take the spotlight, but there are many other types of creative writing that we can explore.

Most writers develop a preference for one form (and genre) above all others. This can be a good thing, because you can specialize in your form and genre and become quite proficient. However, occasionally working with other types of writing is beneficial. It prevents your work from becoming stale and overladen with form- or genre-specific clichés, and it’s a good way to acquire a variety of techniques that are uncommon in your preferred form and genre but that can be used to enhance it.

Types of Creative Writing

Free writing: Open a notebook or an electronic document and just start writing. Allow strange words and images to find their way to the page. Anything goes! Also called stream-of-consciousness writing, free writing is the pinnacle of creative writing.

Journals: A journal is any written log. You could keep a gratitude journal, a memory journal, a dream journal, or a goals journal. Many writers keep idea journals or all-purpose omni-journals that can be used for everything from daily free writes to brainstorming and project planning.

Diaries: A diary is a type of journal in which you write about your daily life. Some diaries are written in letter format (“Dear Diary…”). If you ever want to write a memoir, then it’s a good idea to start keeping a diary.

Letters: Because the ability to communicate effectively is increasingly valuable, letter writing is a useful skill. There is a long tradition of publishing letters, so take extra care with those emails you’re shooting off to friends, family, and business associates. Hot tip: one way to get published if you don’t have a lot of clips and credits is to write letters to the editor of a news publication.

Memoir: A genre of creative nonfiction , memoirs are books that contain personal accounts (or stories) that focus on specific experiences. For example, one might write a travel memoir.

Essays. Essays are often associated with academic writing, but there are many types of essays, including personal essays, descriptive essays, and persuasive essays, all of which can be quite creative (and not especially academic).

Journalism: Some forms of journalism are more creative than others. Traditionally, journalism was objective reporting on facts, people, and events. Today, journalists often infuse their writing with opinion and storytelling to make their pieces more compelling or convincing.

Poetry: Poetry is a popular but under-appreciated type of writing, and it’s easily the most artistic form of writing. You can write form poetry, free-form poetry, and prose poetry.

Song Lyrics: Song lyrics combine the craft of writing with the artistry of music. Composing lyrics is similar to writing poetry, and this is an ideal type of writing for anyone who can play a musical instrument.

Scripts: Hit the screen or the stage by writing scripts for film, television, theater, or video games. Beware: film is a director’s medium, not a writer’s medium, but movies have the potential to reach a non-reading audience.

Storytelling: Storytelling is the most popular form of creative writing and is found in the realms of both fiction and nonfiction writing. Popular forms of fiction include flash fiction, short stories, novellas, and full-length novels; and there are tons of genres to choose from. True stories, which are usually firsthand or secondhand accounts of real people and events, can be found in essays, diaries, memoirs, speeches, and more. Storytelling is a tremendously valuable skill, as it can be found in all other forms of writing, from poetry to speech writing.

Speeches: Whether persuasive, inspirational, or informative, speech writing can lead to interesting career opportunities in almost any field or industry. Also, speech-writing skills will come in handy if you’re ever asked to write and deliver a speech at an important event, such as a graduation, wedding, or award ceremony.

Vignettes: A  vignette is defined as “a brief evocative description, account, or episode.” Vignettes can be poems, stories, descriptions, personal accounts…anything goes really. The key is that a vignette is extremely short — just a quick snippet.

Honorable Mention: Blogs. A blog is not a type of writing; it’s a publishing platform — a piece of technology that displays web-based content on an electronic device. A blog can be used to publish any type of writing. Most blogs feature articles and essays, but you can also find blogs that contain diaries or journals, poetry, fiction, journalism, and more.

Which of these types of creative writing have you tried? Are there any forms of writing on this list that you’d like to experiment with? Can you think of any other types of creative writing to add to this list? Share your thoughts by leaving a comment, and keep writing.

20 Comments

What is “flash” writing or stories.

Flash fiction refers to super short stories, a few hundred words or fewer.

its very helpful especially to those students like me who wasn’t capable or good in doing a creative writing

I’m glad you found this post helpful, Elena.

I also found this to be very helpful, especially because I don’t do very well at writing.

Thanks for letting me know you found this helpful. Like anything else, writing improves with practice.

Thank you Melissa. It’s very helpful!

You’re welcome!

Over all good list. Yes blogs can be publishing platforms but only if something is written first. I read what you wrote on a blog.

Thanks a lot Good job

Are these types of creaitve writing the same or different if I need to teach children’s creative writing? Can you recommend a website to teach these?

Hi Marie. Thanks for your question. I’ve come across many websites for teaching children’s creative writing. I recommend a search on Google, which will lead you to a ton of resources.

these are very helpful when it comes to getting in college or essays or just to improve my writing

Thanks, Donte. I’m glad you found this helpful.

Free writing really helps me get going. For some reason my prose are much better when I am not beholden to an overall plot or narrative with specific defined characters. I like to free writer “excerpts” on theprose.com. It allows me to practice writing and receive feedback at the same time. I am also trying to blog about writing my first novel, both for writing practice and to keep myself accountable. It really helps!

I feel the same way. Free writing is always a fun and creative experience for me.

Was trying to give an inservice on writing skills and the different types of writing.

Your wok here really helped. Thanks.

You’re welcome.

Hi, Melissa can you assist me ? I’m trying to improve my writing skills as quickly as possible. Plz send me some more tips and trick to improve my writing and communication skills.

You are welcome to peruse this website, which is packed with tips for improving your writing. I’d recommend focusing on the categories Better Writing and Writing Tips for writing improvement. You can also subscribe to get new articles send directly to your email. Thanks!

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Types of Writing Genres: A Short Guide

• Post author By admin
• October 11, 2022

In this blog, we will discuss the different types of writing genres. Every genre of writing has its mindset and set of expectations. Genres are the tool for creativity and provide various perspectives to tell your story in different ways. 

As a writer, your work will fit into a certain genre whether you want it or not, and that is purely based on what you are creating. On one side, some work may fit into one Genre. On the other hand, some may have different genres.

There are three different types of writing genres that we will take a look at in this blog. We have separated writing genres like Professional Writing, Literary Writing, and, lastly, Academic Writing.

If you’re wondering which one is right for you then this is the right place for you. 

Here we will discover different writing genres that you need to know!

So, without further ado, let’s dive into it!

Table of Contents

What is the Need for Types of Writing Genres?

They Help Writers Sort Out Their Ideas and Feelings : When writers know what kind of writing they are doing, they can use the rules of that kind of writing to help them organize their writing. This can speed up the writing process and help writers make work simpler and more sense.

They Help People Know What to Expect From a Piece of Writing : When a reader knows the genre of a piece of writing, they can guess what they know about it to guess what the piece is about. This can help people read faster and better understand what they are reading.

They Help Writers Connect With the People Who Read Their Work : When writers choose the right type for their readers, their writing is easier to understand and more interesting to read. This can help writers connect with their readers and reach their goals for dialogue.

Aside From These General Benefits: there are other reasons to use different types of writing. For example, expository writing can help writers explain complicated ideas clearly, while descriptive writing can help writers paint detailed pictures in the minds of their readers. Narrative writing can help writers tell stories that entertain and teach, while persuasive writing can help writers persuade readers to do something.

They Can Help a Writer Find His or Her Voice : By trying different types of writing, writers can find the type that fits their style and attitude the best. This can help writers find their style, which will help them connect with their readers.

They Can Help Writers Come Up With Better Ideas : Writers can stretch their creative skills and develop new ideas if they try to write in different styles. This can make writers more creative and help them develop more original ideas.

They Can Help Writers Get Better at What They Do :  Writers can improve their skills by learning the rules of different types of writing. This can help writers write better and make their work look more polished.

In the end, there are different types of writing because they are used for different things. If writers know the rules for each type, they can choose the right one for their purpose and audience. This will help them write in a clear, powerful, and interesting way.

What are Writing Genres?

The writing Genre is mostly called the name of Literary Genre. It is a type of narrative that can be used or written. Mostly, it is used for one purpose only to share emotions, ideas, and news with other people. Writing Genre is used to tell the story interestingly. 

Writing within each Genre will reflect a whole new story and share several features like rhyme, image, and stylistic devices. The main focus of each Genre is to describe the events, theory, and several ideas in certain ways. In other words, the aim of each writing genre is how the elements are conveyed and described. 

What are the Different Types of Writing Genres?

Three main types of Writing Genres are as follows:

• Professional Writing.
• Literary Writing.
• Academic Writing.

Professional Writing Genre (Types of Writing Genres)

Social media .

Social Media is a growing genre in business communication. The level of discussion in social media may vary depending on the topic and audience. Well-considered successful post on social media to help understand how it’s used to reach a wider target audience.

Business Letters

It can be both formal and informal. A perfectly written business letter shows the reader why it is important. If you want successful communication, then a structured approach is very important.

Memos 

Well, Memos provide a clear summary, and the most crucial information is given at the beginning, but Paper Memos are no longer used nowadays. A positive tone is used to help the reader understand what the author is trying to say, making it appropriate for the users. 

In the past, memos were considered the best business correspondence. The Main Guideline of the memo still exists, even if the median of the paper memo has been changed. 

Meeting Minutes

Meeting Minutes include dates, times, attendees, and location. This is the standard format of Meeting Minutes. It is also important to record the most crucial details to avoid any misunderstanding later.

As a result, there are many ways involved in recording meeting minutes. The minutes should be uniform with the location and names. Unnecessary information should be avoided so that it can not cause any difficulty later.

This is the end of the Professional writing genre. Now we move to the Literary writing genre, and lastly, we will continue with the Academic Genre. 

Literary Writing Genre (Types of Writing Genres)

Mystery .

This Genre is mostly associated with crime, mainly murder, but it does have to be. Any story which involves the unraveling of a secret or mystery would be considered within this Genre. 

This Genre often describes a criminal investigation or legal case. Well, the most popular novel is The Sherlock Holmes Story. Mystery novels are a genre that typically has a problem to solve. 

Category of Mystery Genre:

• Locked-room mysteries.
• Historical mysteries.
• Police procedural whodunit. ( A story about a murder in which the identity of the murderer is hidden at the end )

Literary nonfiction

Literary nonfiction is all about real events and people. Nonfiction can be found in magazines like The Atlantic, The New York, and Harper’s Magazine. 

This type of Genre is associated with creating feelings of fear and dread. Some of you might think of this Genre as full of “blood and gore”. Anything which creates negative feelings about something will come under the category of Horror. 

Horror is the genre of film, literature, and TV shows. The main aim of the horror genre is to create fear. 

Gothic novels are an example of ancient horror literature. On the other hand, Stephen King is considered the father of modern horror literature. Well, nowadays, new writers have pushed the boundaries of horror stories. Writers include John Langan, Stephen Graham Jones, and many more.

In the Historical Genre, the story takes place in the past. Sometimes real people are included to interact with the fictional character to create a sense of realism. 

Romance 

This Genre deals with the love stories between two people. The element of romance can be found in many types of literature. Romance has been there since ancient times, but time travels so fast, and the paranormal romances have become more popular nowadays. 

Science Fiction

As the name suggests, Science Fiction is the genre that deals with science and technology in society. Science fiction is a special type of Genre that includes elements of time travel, futuristic societies, and space. People often call Science Fiction ( Sci-Fi ) . 

Magical realism

Magical realism is a type of literature in which the real world is depicted with an influence of magic and fantasy. In magical realism, the stories may occur in the real world but with some supernatural elements. Magical realism has close ties with Latin American Authors. Magical realism is used by literature from around the globe.

Fantasy novels are fiction stories that are set in imaginary universes. This Genre is inspired by folklore and mythology that is enjoyed by both children and adults 

Dystopian novels are about futuristic and oppressive societies. In other words, the Dystopian novel features some political and social unrest. It can help us examine real types of fear like mass surveillance by the government.

Graphic Fiction

Graphic Fiction is the category of Graphic Novels and Comic Books.

Short Stories

Well, this type of Genre may fit into any number of genres. In Short stories, there is only one plot to it, no subplot in this Genre. 

Tall Tales stories are not realistic or don’t try to become realistic. 

Academic Writing Genre (Types of Writing Genres)

Analytical writing.

In Analytical writing, the author has a chance to include persuasive writing. A common layout uses the structure of methods, results, introduction, summary, and discussion. 

Professional Writing 

Professional Writing is a wide category that includes emails, studies, reports, business letters, and summaries. If you are writing for a client, then it is beneficial for you to follow the style rule of the company. 

Argumentative Writing

Argumentative writing is a type of academic essay. In this, the writer breaks down an idea into its parts and then offers evidence for each part. This writing is mostly based on understanding and reading fiction or nonfiction texts. 

Argumentative writing has three sections:

• Evidence or supporting point.
• Conclusion.

Most Common Types of Writing Genres That You Should Know

Descriptive writing .

In Descriptive writing, the author writes about every aspect of the person, place, or event and describes all aspects in detail. 

Example of Descriptive Writing:

• Narrative Nonfiction.
• Fictional Stories.

Expository Writing

Expository writing is used to educate the reader. So the main goal of expository writing is to teach the reader rather than entertainment.

Example of Expository Writing:

• Technical Writing.
• Recipes writing.

Narrative Writing

Narrative Writing is used to tell people what happens somewhere or with someone. Narrative Writing includes Fiction and nonfiction. Whereas nonfiction is based on real events, and fiction writing is completely made up. 

Example of Narrative Writing:

• Short-story.
• Presentations
• Speeches, and many more.

Persuasive Writing

Persuasive writing is used to convince the reader about something. This type of writing is written when the author has a strong opinion on something. It is used to encourage people to take action regarding any issue. 

Example of Persuasive Writing:

• An opinion piece in the newspaper.
• Sales writing.

Read more about writing styles: Different Types Of Writing Styles

Now you know the different types of writing genres and their most used forms. So which Genre or form is close to you, and which one do you use the most. In this blog, we provide you with a short guide to types of writing genres, with the most common Genre that you should know. 

I hope you like it!

Frequently Asked Questions

Q1.what are the seven styles of writing.

The seven most common types of essay writing Narrative Descriptive Expository Persuasive Compare  Reflective Personal

Q2. What are the three main genres of literature?

The three major genres are: Drama Poetry Prose

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3.2: Rhetoric and Genre- You’ve Got This! (Even if You Don’t Think You Do)

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Tiffany Rousculp

It’s your first day of your first semester of college. You settle into an uncomfortable seat in a fluorescent-lit room, glance around at other students hypnotized by their phones, and wait for the teacher to begin. The LCD projector hums above as it warms to display the syllabus and the teacher begins to talk:

“Welcome to English Composition. In this class, you’ll learn about rhetoric. We will learn how to use genre to navigate different writing situations …”

Hmm. You thought this was a writing class.

Rhetoric? Genre?

Am I in over my head?

Not to worry. You’re totally fine. You’re in the right place. These terms, rhetoric and genre , are words that may be unfamiliar to you, but you already know a lot about what they represent.

Rhetoric and genre are, at the same time, very simple and very complex concepts. There are other excellent readings in the Open English@SLCC collection that share their complexities with you, like Lisa Bickmore’s “Genre in the Wild” and Lynn Kilpatrick’s “Definitions, Dilemmas, Decisions” ; but for now, let’s start simple. Let’s start with what you already know.

Pop Quiz: Rhetorical Analysis

Your friend, Noor, has been in a romantic relationship with Amor for the past two years. A few months ago, Noor moved to another city and, after trying to have a long-distance relationship, has decided to break up with Amor. Noor wants to break up in writing because they are scared that they won’t be able to go through with it in person (or over the phone) because Amor will talk them out of it. Noor still loves Amor and wants this to be as painless as possible for both of them.

If you answered B or D, you are in agreement with nearly everyone else who has ever or who would ever take this quiz. (If you answered E, you’re probably from Generation Z, but let’s see what you think by the end of this reading. You might change your mind.)

That was a pretty easy Pop Quiz. And your response shows that you already are quite skilled at using rhetoric and genre. Sometimes encountering new words (i.e. vocabulary), like those found in a syllabus, can make you feel insecure or unsure of your abilities. That’s normal. There are steps we can take to move past those feelings so you can get started learning.

Understanding New Words: Rhetoric and Genre

First, let’s look at those words.

[REH · tr · uhk] Middle English: from Old French via Latin from Greek, ‘art of speaking or writing effectively’

At its most basic, in terms of reading, writing, and English composition classes, rhetoric is the analytical study of communication. In composition, that communication tends to consist of print, digital, visual, and sometimes audio documents and texts. (Rhetoric is also used to study spoken texts as well, but that tends to happen more in communication classes.) Rhetorical analysis asks you to examine texts in terms of purpose , author , audience , and context (or situation ).

[ZHAAN · ruh] early 19th century: French, literally ‘a kind’

Genre is one element of rhetoric. Genre, in its most basic meaning, means “a type, or kind” of text. Texts can be described as, or categorized into, genres. The effectiveness or appropriateness of a specific genre of text depends on the situation in which it is occurring.

Next, let’s take these definitions to analyze how you came to your decision about what genre Noor should use to break up with Amor.

Thinking “rhetorically”

You may not believe this, but your brain conducted a instinctive rhetorical and genre calculation to come to your decision. It may have only taken a second or two, but you and your brain sorted through all of the (implicit) elements of rhetoric to make a pretty solid decision on which was the most appropriate genre.

Here’s what your brain did, though not necessarily in this precise order.

Considering the entire situation : your brain noticed who the author was (Noor) and who the audience was (Amor), and what kind of relationship they had: romantic, long-term, now long-distance, and they still love each other. You noticed that the author had a specific purpose for writing: to break up.

Then, your brain noticed that the author had another purpose (to make it as painless as possible). With this in mind, your brain eliminated public genres (Instagram posts or tweets) because it would be cruel to do something so private and emotional with another audience watching. The genre needs to fit the purpose.

Your brain probably paused for a moment when it noticed the scientific report and the business memo genres because they were unexpected; you may have thought they were funny or strange, but then discarded them as realistic options.

With three genres left, your brain re-analyzed the author’s purpose to look for possible ways to eliminate any of them. You noticed that the author was afraid that the audience would try to argue against the break-up. Knowing that having a real-time conversation is more likely in texting than through email (and impossible in handwritten letters), your brain turned to the final two options.

So which one? A handwritten letter or an email?

Your brain likely went through another round of calculation: A handwritten letter may have felt more personal and caring, which would have been a good choice considering one of author’s purposes. But, a handwritten letter, in this digital era, could come across as more distant, which could feel cold and uncaring. Your brain may have wanted more information about the author and the audience, but the situation didn’t provide it. Because of this, you may or may not have come to a strong decision on which genre was best to use.

Your brain did all of this, and it did so very, very quickly. Your brain is an extraordinary rhetorical analysis machine.

In academia, “rhetorical analysis” involves much more explicit maneuvers than the ones demonstrated in the pop quiz above, but they build on strategies we instinctually employ in everyday life. The terms rhetoric and genre , and others that often go along with them, can feel intimidating when you encounter them, and it will likely take some time for you to feel confident using them to analyze and produce your own. Until you get there, remember that your brain is already doing a form of rhetorical analysis work, all the time, whenever you are in a situation that involves communication. In a writing course, your task is to pay closer attention to it.

Take notice when you make a decision about your writing based on who you ( author ) are writing to ( audience ), or why you are writing ( purpose ), or the circumstances of your writing ( context/situation ), or what “type or kind” of writing you thought would be best to use ( genre ). You make dozens (or hundreds or thousands!) of large and small decisions each time you write, regardless of whether it’s an essay for a college class, a text to a friend, or a late-night journal entry to yourself. Your brain is doing the work. Watch closely and you’ll see.

You’ve got this. You really do.

“ Rhetoric & Genre: You’ve Got This! ,” by Tiffany Rousculp is licensed under a Creative Commons Attribution-NonCommercial 4.0 International License , except where otherwise noted.

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Three Genres: The Writing of Literary Prose, Poems and Plays 9th Edition

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• ISBN-10 0205012752
• ISBN-13 978-0205012756
• Edition 9th
• Publisher Pearson
• Publication date January 27, 2011
• Language English
• Dimensions 1.1 x 5.9 x 8.9 inches
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From the back cover.

Stephen Minot’s THREE GENRES provides creative writers with a

solid foundation to understand and study fiction, nonfiction, poetry, and

drama. Full of expert advice and complete works as examples, this classic

book is the ultimate guide for creative writers at all levels. Each section is

comprehensive, and draws on Professor Minot’s many years of experience

as a teacher and professional writer to supply creative writers with the skills

necessary to produce their own works. Professor Minot eagerly encourages

creative writers to write on their own because “there is no better way to

increase your understanding of poetry, literary prose, or drama than to

write them.”

About the Author

About Stephen Minot

Stephen Minot, Professor Emeritus of the Creative Writing Department at the University of California, Riverside, has taught creative writing for over thirty years. Over the span of his very successful career, Professor Minot authored three novels, two collections of short stories, and three textbooks including Reading Fiction and Literary Nonfiction, The Fourth Genre . His short stories have appeared in a variety of magazines and literary quarterlies including The Atlantic, Harpers, The Kenyon Review, The Virginia Quarterly Review, and the Sewanee Review , just to name a few. Professor Minot’s work has also appeared in the O. Henry Prize Stories collection and The Best American Short Stories . He is also the recipient of the Atlantic First Award, the Saxton Memorial Fellowship, and the National Endowment for the Arts Fellowship for writing. Professor Minot and Virginia, his wife, split their time between California and Maine.

About Diane Thiel

Diane Thiel is the author of eight books of poetry, nonfiction and creative writing pedagogy, including Echolocations , Resistance Fantasies, Winding Roads: Exercises in Writing Creative Nonfiction, Cross Roads: Creative Writing in Four Genres, and Open Roads: Exercises in Writing Poetry. Thiel’s translation of Alexis Stamatis’s novel, American Fugue , received an NEA Award. Her work appears in many journals, is re-printed in over fifty anthologies, and has been translated widely. She has received numerous awards, such as the PEN Translation, Robert Frost, and Robinson Jeffers Awards, and was a Fulbright Scholar. Thiel has taught creative writing for twenty years and is a Professor at the University of New Mexico.

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4 Reasons to Start Using Claude 3 Instead of ChatGPT

Quick links, claude is better at creative writing, claude offers multimodality for free, larger context window, more messages per hour.

• Claude excels at creative writing, producing engaging and natural-sounding content with less clichés.
• Claude offers free multimodal features, while ChatGPT requires upgrading for similar capabilities.
• Claude boasts a larger context window and potentially more messages per hour than ChatGPT.

In the AI chatbot space, ChatGPT has been the undisputed leader since its launch in November 2022. However, with the release of Claude 3, it is increasingly looking like ChatGPT might be losing that title. Here are four reasons you should consider switching from ChatGPT to Claude.

Besides occasional science homework, programming tasks, and fun games, one of the most popular use cases of AI chatbots is creative writing. Most users use AI chatbots to help draft an email , cover letter, resume, article, or song lyrics—basically one creative write-up or another. While ChatGPT has clearly been the favored option owing mostly to its brand name and publicity, Claude has consistently delivered top-notch results even in earlier iterations of the AI chatbots. But it's not just about providing top-notch results. Claude, especially backed by the latest Claude 3 model , outperforms ChatGPT in a wide range of creative writing tasks.

As someone who has consistently used both chatbots since their launch, Claude, although not necessarily the overall better model, is significantly better at creating write-ups that better mimic human "creativity and imperfections." Putting both chatbots to the test, ChatGPT's write-ups, although grammatically correct, were full of tell-tale signs of an AI-written piece. Claude's write-ups read more naturally and sound human. Although not perfect, they are likely to be more engaging and creative.

Too frequently, ChatGPT falls victim to the use of so many clichés and predictable word choices. Ask ChatGPT to write about some business topics, and there's a good chance you will see words like "In today's business environment," "In recent history," and "In the fast-paced digital landscape" in the starting paragraphs.

Putting our theory to the test, it was just as predicted. ChatGPT (GPT-3.5 and GPT-4) used cliché intros in five out of five trials. Here are the first three samples:

Claude, on the other hand, produced varying results four times out of five trials, avoiding the cliche on the first trial:

Besides cliché, ChatGPT, more than Claude, tends to fall victim to the sporadic use of joining words like "in conclusion," "as a result," and a tendency for unnecessary emphasis where emphatic words like "undisputed, critical, unquestionable, must" etc., are used.

But besides these flaws, how do write-ups from each chatbot sound from a holistic point of view?

To top off the comparison, I asked both chatbots to produce rhyming rap lyrics on the theme "coconut to wealth." Claude seems the better option, but I'll let you be the judge.

Here's ChatGPT's take:

And here's Claude's take:

Early adopters of ChatGPT probably have a deep-rooted preference for the AI chatbot, but when it comes to creative writing, ChatGPT has some serious catching up to do in many areas.

Besides Google's Gemini AI chatbot, there are hardly any major AI chatbots in the market that offer Claude's multimodal features for free. With the free version of ChatGPT, all you get is text generation abilities, and that's it. No file uploads for analysis, no image processing, nothing else! On the other hand, Claude offers these premium features on its free tier. So, you can use image prompting or upload files for analysis on the chatbot for free if you use the free beta version of the bot.

Context window is the limit of text data an AI chatbot can process at a go. Think of it as how many things you can keep in your memory (and be able to recall) at a time.

Depending on the version of ChatGPT you use, you should get anywhere between 4k, 8k, 16k, 32k, and 128k context windows. For clarity, a 4k context window can accommodate around 3,000 words, while a 32k window can accommodate around 24,000 words. With the ChatGPT free tier, you get the lowest limits of the context window options (4k or 8k), meaning a few pages of text. You can access the 16k and possibly 32k options on ChatGPT Plus or Team plans, while the 128k context window seems to be an exclusive reserve of the ChatGPT Enterprise plans.

Whereas Claude has a 200k context window on its free and premium plans—a significant improvement from ChatGPT's 4k or 8k window.

Why does this even matter? Well, the larger the context window, the more text data you can process at a time without the AI chatbot making things up. Claude's 200k context window is equivalent to around 150,000 words. Yep, it means you'll theoretically be able to process 150,000 words simultaneously with Claude, while ChatGPT could cap you out at 24,000 words even on its premium tier. You see? The difference is like night and day—at least in theory.

Rate limits can be a pain. You're in the middle of an interesting prompting session, you get an alert that you've reached your limit and have to wait (sometimes hours!) to get a reset. It's a huge joy killer and can set your work back hours. However, this happens both on ChatGPT and Claude, so it's an even ground on that point.

ChatGPT offers 40 messages every three hours on the Plus plan, while Claude offers 100 messages per eight hours. If you're not lost in the optics and do the math, ChatGPT's message limits are slightly better than Claude's. But there's more to it.

OpenAI dynamically throttles your usage limits. This means the limit you see isn't what you'll always get. It depends on the demand, as per OpenAI . On the other hand, despite having slightly lower usage limits, Claude can actually be more liberal with the limits depending on how much text you use per message.

So, if, for instance, you send around 2,000 words (around 200 English sentences of 15–25 words each), you should be able to get "at least" the 100 messages per 8-hour limit. Two thousand words per prompt is a generous number; only a few people get that wordy when doing basic prompting. If you use a lower number of words per prompt, you should be able to get a larger number of messages per hour theoretically.

So, while ChatGPT might seem more generous on the outside if you use both chatbots daily, Claude seems to be the more generous option, although not necessarily at all times.

While early adopters may have a sentimental attachment to ChatGPT, it's becoming increasingly clear that Claude is a force to be reckoned with. As the AI landscape continues to evolve, it will be fascinating to see how these titans of conversational AI push each other to new heights, ultimately benefiting users with ever-improving and more capable chatbots. The future of AI-powered interactions has never been more exciting.