What are creative writing principles?

You might have heard creative writing called many unique things. Traditionally described as ‘literature’, creative writing is an art – the art of ‘making stuff up’. It is writing performed in such a way that is not academic or technical but still draws an audience.

Although the explanation is somewhat loose, creative writing can, for the most part, be considered as any writing which is original and self-expressive. A news article, for instance, cannot be considered to be creative writing as its primary goal is to introduce facts and not to express the thoughts of the writer.

The different purposes of writing

While a news article could be entertaining, its primary purpose is to present the facts. The purpose of a creative writing piece is to both entertain as well as share human experiences, such as love or loss. Creative writers attempt to get at a truth about humanity through poetics and storytelling.

The creative writing principles are:

• Developing your writing style
• Creating realistic characters
• Writing convincing dialogue

Let’s explore these in more detail now.

Creating your writing style

To be great at creative writing, it’s not required to have a vivid imagination, although that assists a lot. Many terrific writers of the English Language weren’t especially creative. Instead, they honed their technique and style to create interest in their stories.

To be a great creative writer, the most vital thing is practice. There are four things that you need to keep in mind while writing a story or play. These are:

• Plot
• Characterisation
• Dialogues
• Theme

These are the essential elements required to write a story, but the tackling of the concept is where many would-be writers lag.

Developing one’s writing style requires time, patience and constant practice. Trying too much, or writing too consciously may hamper your prose nad not improve it. The following lists several ways in which you can improve your writing style and also add colour to your work:

• Read – Reading can help improve your writing style. There’s nothing wrong with being inspired by an individual author’s writing technique; in fact, you can even take a style a few steps further.
• Write – Without constant writing practice, you can’t expect your creative writing skills to improve. Constantly write, even if you think your work is terrible. You don’t need to stick to one genre even; experiment and innovate. There is a good possibility you’ll latch on to your unique style soon enough.
• Be natural – Use the language and words that come naturally to you. Opening a thesaurus and using difficult words will not make your writing better; in fact, it makes it pedantic and pretentious.
• Be concise and clear – nobody knows what you would like to say better than you do. Most of the time, simple, clear sentences make more of an impact as opposed to heavy, longwinded phraseology.
• Avoid being clichéd – try to craft unique new sentences. Avoid done-to-death wordings and metaphors. Create interest in your writing by being energetic, creative, and daring in your word choice.

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