Creative writing is a process which improves over time, but it can be a disappointing experience if you are starting to do creative writing. Creative writing is not as difficult as it seems; you can improve it by learning some creative writing techniques. These techniques can equip you with the right kind of approach creative writers need for writing marvellous pieces of writing. This article will guide you about creative writing techniques.
What Is Creative Writing?
Before getting into the specifics of creative writing techniques, it is important to know what creative writing is. Creative writing is a form of writing that is entirely different from academic and formal writing. Creative writing involves writing in different genres and styles. It encompasses fictional and non-fictional writing. It is a form of expression based on a writer’s imaginative thinking. Creative writing refers to storytelling, playwrights, prose and poetry, satire, and journalistic writing. The definition of creative writing can be quite broad, but essentially creative writing refers to the type of writing which is original and expressive. In academic writing, you can identify creative writing based on the narrative, character development and plot.
What Are The Different Creative Writing Techniques?
First, it is important to consider that there is no magic formula for creative writing. Creative writing is an imaginative process and requires a great deal of imagination and creativity. But there are a few creative writing techniques shared below that you can follow to write exceptional pieces of creative writing.
Know Your Audience
Gathering knowledge about your audience is among the first and foremost creative writing techniques. It is important to know about your audience before you write something creative. Every great story begins with a target audience in mind. For example, children will be your target audience if you want to write about magical stories and fairy tales. Once you have a clear idea about your audience, you can personalize your writing to cater for a specific group of people. For example, if you have a knack for writing crime stories, you must keep a specific audience in mind for whom you are writing. So, every creative writer should have a clear idea about the audience and make a plan according to that. It will guide your writing and help you write in an appropriate flow to your audience.
Write About Real-Life Or Personal Anecdotes.
Sometimes the best stories emerge from your personal experiences. Many great and successful authors wrote stories based on their real-life experiences. They also wrote about what they observed in real society. Writing on real-life experiences or personal anecdotes is among the most effective creative writing techniques. You can write a story genre in creative writing based on your personal life experiences. You can write it in an impersonal manner by changing the names of the characters and places. Creative writing that emerges out of personal experiences is the most authentic and imaginative story.
Use Language Devices
Using language devices is one of the most effective creative writing techniques that you can use. Creativity is the key to creative writing and is possible with the help of language devices. To write effectively, you can use metaphors, similes, hyperboles, alliteration, allegory, allusion, flashback imagery, and symbolic language. The use of language devices is important for creating a writer’s effect.
The writer’s effect pertains to the kind of impact a writer wants to have over the audience with the help of language devices. For example, the authors use various language devices to appeal to people’s five senses. Authors use such words and phrases that appeal to the five senses. Imagery is also very important in creative writing because it is essential to create a picture in the readers’ minds. The readers must be able to visualize the narrative and events if they read a creative story.
Use Your Subjective Imagination
One of the great things about creative writing is that there are no rules and regulations like academic writing. You are free to write what you want and use your subjective imagination to interpret the events around you and write them in the form of a story. Using your subjective imagination is among the most effective creative writing techniques. So, you must push your imagination beyond the limits and provide twists and interesting turnarounds to attract the reader’s attention. You can mould and shape the narrative and provoke the thoughts of your readers.
Build Well-Developed Characters
One of the important things is to polish your skills of character development. Character development is among the most useful creative writing techniques. You must build strong, well-rounded, and realistic characters. The characters must have an in-depth personality with different shades and aspects. It is important to develop realistic characters in creative writing because your writing must reflect authenticity.
Plot Development
Plot development has crucial importance in creative writing. You must understand how to develop a plot sequenced around different events and logically connected. Logical connectivity in plot development is among the important creative writing techniques. The plot must have a logical structure, and the events and ideas must flow naturally out of each other.
Point Of View
Point of view is important when it comes to creative writing. A point of view refers to the perspective which explains the narrative to the audience. It signifies who is the narrator and how the author conveys the information to the readers. Writers usually use the protagonist as the main narrator of a creative story.
Dialogue
Creative writing about story genres must display dialogue between the characters. So, conducting a dialogue between different characters in the story is one of the most important creative writing techniques. Create a dialogue between the characters and make it seem real as if people are talking to each other in a real-life setting.
Conclusion
Creative writing is an imaginative process that cannot be learned overnight. It is a step-by-step procedure and requires practice. It entails employing language and using words to express deep emotions and creating a picture in the minds of readers. Writers use various language devices and creative writing techniques for writing exceptional pieces of creative writing.