Learn the definition of creative writing. View examples of creative writing while learning the various types, elements and techniques of creative writing.
Updated: 11/21/2023
Creative Writing | Definition, Techniques & Examples
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Creative Writing: Writing Prompts
The below writing prompts allow students to flex their creative writing muscles by experimenting with different types of creative writing genres and reflecting on their finished product and writing process.
Prompt 1: Poetry
Write a poem about a common, everyday object like a pencil, a spoon, a t-shirt, or a water bottle. Think about how to create striking imagery and emotion in your work—you may take time to brainstorm possible words you can use to create a visually and emotionally engaging work. In addition, your poem should include at least two metaphors or similes. After writing your poem, which should be at least ten lines long, answer the questions that follow.
- Reflect on your writing process. How did you prepare to write your poem? Did you think about the major theme(s) you wanted your poem to address before you started writing?
- Explore the techniques you used in your poem: how did you create setting? How did you establish point-of-view? How did you appeal to your audience's emotions?
Prompt 2: Short Story
In at least 750 words, write a short story about an unlikely friendship. Before writing your short story, consider tracing a plot diagram that sketches out the story's exposition, rising action, climax, falling action, and resolution. After writing your story, answer the questions that follow.
- What is the basic plot of your story? (Consider: exposition, rising action, climax, falling action, and resolution)
- How did you develop the characters in your story?
- How did you use dialogue in your story? (If you didn't use any dialogue, describe what effect this choice has on your audience.)
- What literary devices did you include in your story and what is their overall effect? (e.g. metaphor, personification, alliteration, etc.)
- What is the overall theme of your story? How do you communicate this theme to your audience?
What are the 8 elements of creative writing?
The eight elements of creative writing that are used in short stories and novels are character development, setting, plot, conflict, theme, point of view, tone, and style. Some of these elements are also often used in poems and works of creative nonfiction such as memoir and personal essay.
What is creative writing and its purpose?
Creating writing is a means of using written language to tell an interesting or enjoyable story that will engage, inspire, excite, or surprise a reader, evoking emotions and provoking thought. Its purpose is to artfully educate, entertain, or inform in a meaningful way that the reader will find enjoyable.
What are the 4 forms of creative writing?
The four forms of creative writing are fiction, creative nonfiction, poetry, and scriptwriting which is sometimes called screenwriting or play writing. Creative nonfiction can take several forms such as memoir and personal essay.
What is an example of creative writing?
One example of creative writing is fiction writing. Fiction includes traditional novels, short stories, and graphic novels. By definition, fiction is a story that is not true, although it can be realistic and include real places and facts.
Table of Contents
ShowThe invention of the written word, sometime around 3200 B.C., launched creative writing with the recording of stories like The Odyssey and tales of Norse gods. Over time, the stories morphed and the skill of storytellers improved as well. Today, over three-fourths of the population can read and write. Oral storytellers have been using elements like voice and personality to entertain and convey human experience. But what is creative writing? Although the craft has taken many forms from the poem to the novel, the core purpose of conveying human experience remains. Indeed, many of our oldest stories still inspire modern-day storytellers such as Christopher Tolkien and his famous Lord of the Rings trilogy.
The dictionary defines creative writing as writing that displays imagination or invention. Creative, artistic writing uses words to convey emotion or feeling. One must use imaginary scenarios invented by themselves. Rather than being limited to academic or technical subjects, which shun first-person voice and emotion, creative writing uses elements such as character development, plot, and the lyricism of words to share the author's emotion with the reader. Academic writing is different in its essential purpose because it does not allow the author to share emotion. Good creative writing does this best, as we will see in later examples.
Types of Creative Writing
There is an infinite number of ways to convey human experience using words. This is the fun of the craft. Here are some of the most common types of creative writing and their general form:
- Autobiography/Memoir - Narrative writing based on the author's memories.
- Flash Fiction - Offers character and plot in extreme brevity, with a word count of six to one thousand words.
- Novel - Long work of narrative fiction, typically with a word count of eighty-thousand to one-hundred-thousand words.
- Novella - Narrative prose of shorter length, with a word count of ten-thousand to forty-thousand words.
- Play - Work of drama consisting of mostly dialogue intended for theatrical performance.
- Poetry - Uses aesthetic and often rhythmic qualities of language to convey meaning. Poems may not follow a narrative structure.
- Screenplay - Written work by screenwriters intended for film, television, or a video game.
- Short Story - Prose fiction typically read in one sitting, between five thousand to ten thousand words.
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Elements of Creative Writing
The purpose of creative writing elements is to aid in the conveyance of aesthetic or symbolic meaning. Different types of creative writing use different elements. However, these elements are used universally within their form and are all critical components of good creative writing. The most helpful elements to learn and perfect are as follows:
- Action - Movements that characters undertake in the story.
- Character - Used to progress the plot and establish inner or outer conflict.
- Conflict - Challenges, suspense, and uncertainty for whether the goal will be achieved.
- Dialogue - A verbal exchange between characters.
- Pacing - The speed at which a story is told.
- Plot - The sequence of a story's events.
- Scene - Dramatic sections in a story within a specific time and place.
- Setting - Time and location in the narrative.
- Suspense - The anticipation of an outcome or plot.
- Theme - Central topic or message of a narrative.
- Tone - The narrator's attitude toward the subject matter.
- Voice - The manner of expression.
Creative Writing Techniques
Unlike elements, creative writing techniques are not universal. They are going to be unique to each author and story. The combination of different techniques will yield different results. Some techniques work better for specific stories and styles of creative writing than others.
- Considering the Audience - When the author appeals to the expectations and emotions of the readership.
- Genre - Determined by technique, tone, content, and sometimes length. Mainly used for marketing purposes.
- Metaphor - Figure of speech meant to address an abstract concept.
- Narration/Point of View - Who is telling the story: first-person (I chased after the dog), second-person (You chased after the dog), third-person (He/she chased after the dog).
- Rhyme - Used to appeal to senses and unify stanzas.
- Structure - Common methods of building stories that specifically address adventure, suspense, and resolution.
- Style - Unique choice of words, tone, and grammar used to affect readers.
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The best creative writing examples use the elements and techniques mentioned above to entertain and at the same time convey a meaningful, timeless message to the reader. Some writers choose to lean on the side of creative writing that is more eloquent and harder to read. In contrast, others prefer to have the meaning of their prose easy to understand. This is typically the difference between poetry and longer-form fiction. Below are some creative writing examples that show the different elements and techniques we've covered at use.
- Fire and Ice:
"Some say the world will end in fire,
Some say in ice.
From what I've tasted of desire
I hold with those who favor fire.
But if it had to perish twice,
I think I know enough of hate
To say that for destruction ice
Is also great
And would suffice."
This poem by Robert Frost effectively uses rhyme, metaphor, and juxtaposition to evoke emotion in the reader. In keeping with the creative writing tradition, this poem by Robert Frost was inspired by an earlier work by Dante Alighieri titled Inferno. The use of rhyme unites key stanzas such as lines one, three, and four, which elaborate upon the meaning of the world ending in fire. This poem is brief and calls for a reread almost immediately, inviting the reader to analyze the text deeply and draw out meaning. The ultimate message commonly interpreted from this poem by Frost is that, although the two elements of fire and ice appear entirely different, their potential destructive force is much the same. At the same time, Frost establishes a metaphor between these natural forces and human emotions of desire and hate.
- Excerpt from The Catcher in the Rye:
"There were never many girls at all at the football games. Only seniors were allowed to bring girls with them. It was a terrible school, no matter how you looked at it. I like to be somewhere at least where you can see a few girls around once in a while, even if they're only scratching their arms or blowing their noses or even just giggling or something."
This novel excerpt for J.D. Salinger's most celebrated novel is a great display of character voice used within setting and context to progress the plot and establish a theme. The novel is about a young boy who is kicked out of his private school because he does not get good grades and the following journey home to his parents' house. Holden hates this school and is probably glad to go home, no matter what. In this section at the beginning of the story, we are getting to know the main character Holden, and in this passage, we learn a lot about his outlook on the world. We know that Holden, like many teenage boys, is more interested in the girls than anything, which might be a reason why he got kicked out of the school in the first place. Moreover, the nonchalant tone of Holden's storytelling and his use of average and repeated words makes the reader feel like they know Holden in an intimate way, making them more invested with his actions and journey back to his parents' home.
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While it often has beautiful and awe-inspiring elements, creative writing is best defined as using words to convey emotion to the reader through imagination and invention. Creative writing can include facts about the world but must use them in a made-up fashion to create a unique message. The primary four forms of creative writing are fiction, non-fiction, poetry, and screenwriting. Writers will use a mixture of creative elements and techniques to tell a story or evoke feelings in the reader. The main elements used include:
- Character development
- Setting
- Plot
- Conflict
- Theme
- Point of View
- Style
- Tone
The best creative writers combine all or most of these elements with a story that resonates with audiences of the present and future. When an author uses these elements and techniques effectively and speaks the truth from their heart, the message conveyed is timeless.
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Video Transcript
Defining Creative Writing
You might have heard it called different things. Traditionally referred to as literature, creative writing is an art of sorts - the art of making things up. It's writing done in a way that is not academic or technical but still attracts an audience. Though the definition is rather loose, creative writing can for the most part be considered any writing that is original and self-expressive. A news article, for example, cannot be considered creative writing because its main goal is to present facts and not to express the feelings of the writer. While a news article can be entertaining, its main purpose is to present the facts.
The purpose of creative writing is to both entertain and share human experience, like love or loss. Writers attempt to get at a truth about humanity through poetics and storytelling. If you'd like to try your hand at creative writing, just keep in mind that whether you are trying to express a feeling or a thought, the first step is to use your imagination.
Types of creative writing include:
- Poetry
- Plays
- Movie and television scripts
- Fiction (novels, novellas, and short stories)
- Songs
- Speeches
- Memoirs
- Personal essays
As you can see, some nonfiction types of writing can also be considered creative writing. Memoirs and personal essays, for example, can be written creatively to inform your readers about your life in an expressive way. Because these types are written in first person, it's easier for them to be creative.
Techniques used in creative writing include:
- Character development
- Plot development
- Vivid setting
- Underlying theme
- Point of view
- Dialogue
- Anecdotes
- Metaphors and similes
- Figures of speech
- Imaginative language
- Emotional appeal
- Heavy description
Examples of Creative Writing
Poetry and Songs
A poem or a song tends to be more elusive, or mysterious, because it has limited space. Because of its spatial limitations, however, it can make leaps in subject and time, and it doesn't have to rely on narrative structure. In poetry and songs, literary devices, like similes and metaphors, can be used to take the readers to surprising places. A good example of this is the opening of the poem 'A Life' by Sylvia Plath:
'Touch it: it won't shrink like an eyeball,
This egg-shaped bailiwick, clear as a tear.
Here's yesterday, last year ---
Palm-spear and lily distinct as flora in the vast
Windless threadwork of a tapestry.'
Note how shocking the comparison is, how it immediately captures the reader's attention. The goal of this poem's image is to build from this idea of life as an eyeball and makes the reader really try to visualize it.
Fiction and Plays
A novel or a play, on the other hand, has plenty of time to unfold. Therefore, fiction usually contains plot and character development. As a creative writer, you want your story to captivate readers. You also want to create a relationship between the readers and the characters. This requires both physical and emotional details so that readers will empathize with the action and whatever pain or pleasure the characters undergo. To use as an example, read the following excerpt from the novel Great Expectations by Charles Dickens:
'There either is or is not, that's the way things are. The colour of the day. The way it felt to be a child. The saltwater on your sunburnt legs. Sometimes the water is yellow, sometimes it's red. But what colour it may be in memory, depends on the day. I'm not going to tell you the story the way it happened. I'm going to tell it the way I remember it.'
The character's voice in this quote is really captivating. It sounds honest and thoughtful and also a little haunting. The foreshadowing of what truly happened will want to make a reader continue forward, and the character being developed is one that readers will want to learn more about.
Lesson Summary
Creative writing is the art of using words to make things up. However, a good creative writer makes things up that people will want to read. To do this, you have to use your imagination and try to capture an emotion or a human truth, like love or loss. This does not include academic or technical writing because these types of writing cannot include made-up material nor are their purposes to express the writer's feelings.
Creative writing's goal is to captivate an audience and create an emotional or thoughtful appeal, although the type of writing will determine how it will do so. Some types of creative writing, like poems and songs, have limited space, and therefore tend to be more mysterious and less narrative. Types like novels and plays have room to explore character and plot development. Anyone can write creatively; all it takes is imagination and having something to say!
Learning Outcomes
Once you are finished, you should be able to:
- Recall the purpose of creative writing
- List some of the common techniques used in creative writing
- Describe some types of creative writing
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Creative Writing | Definition, Techniques & Examples
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