7 Forms of Creative Writing

Creative writing is a form of writing that is fuelled by imagination, embellished or out-of-the-box thinking toward the subject under consideration. Academic, technical, and news writing, on the other hand, demand facts and is frequently devoid of humor.

You should not be surprised to find out that people relate creative writing with fiction and poetry. It is important that we should not forget creative nonfiction as it is important due to its wide-range coverage in the field of creative writing.

What forms can creative writing take?

Now that you know that creative writing is mostly based on experimentation and innovation of ideas, it should not surprise you that creative writing has taken quite a number of different forms.

Let’s find out the difference between the key expressions of the various forms of creative writing.

#1. Poetry

Poetry has evolved into one of the most complicated genres of creative writing, ranging from popular haikus and sonnets to the likes of sestinas, elegies, and villanelles.

You’ll learn that, unlike many other poets, verse writers are free to experiment with less conventional forms such as prose poetry or free verse, whereas many other poets must adhere to strict rhyme, rhythm, and subject matter requirements.

If you look deep into poetry, you will find out that it is may likely not follow the strict punctuation rules. It may also be uniquely formatted as it is common with blackout poetry.

#2. Short fiction

Short stories found their way into the mainstream due to the immense growth in literary magazines which became popular in the 19^th century.

It is widely accepted that the length of short stories should remain under 7000 words. You will find flash fiction as well as microfiction having shorter stories that emphasize the telling of stories with very few words.

Short fiction is all about intensely compressing and distilling narratives.

#3. Novels

One of the major forms of creative writing which are popular among people is the ‘novels.’ Narrative arc using prose is usually followed by novels. It is commercially lucrative since readers pay a lot of money to buy and read novels.

Novellas and novelettes are shorter novels with slightly more words and a different narrative scope than short stories.

Some practical examples are:

• Dominicana by Angie Cruz is a full-length novel.
• Ethan Frome is a novella by Edith Wharton.
• Of mice and men is a novelette by John Steinbeck.

#4. Plays and screenplays

This form of creative writing consists of dialogue and stage directions.  One of the common forms of creative writing is scriptwriting, which relies heavily on subtext. The majority of the things not uttered by the characters, the spaces that appear between what they expressly say, can be discovered in scriptwriting.

A script is meant for actors, directors, designers, etc. these people are going to interpret it to the respective audience.

Tony Kushner’s Angels in America and Phoebe Waller-Fleabag Bridge are two excellent examples of plays and screenplays.

#5. Comics, graphic novels, and graphic narratives

Another great form of creative writing is in combining illustrations or visuals with text.  These visual modes of expressing stories greatly rely on dialogue to establish convincing characters. Unlike scripts, description to narrate stories is not off-limits here.

Batman and Alice Oseman’s Heartstopper series are two excellent examples of this type of creative work.

Keep in mind that this type of creative writing includes a wide range of illustrations, styles, and tales.

#6. Personal essays

Personal essays are thoughtful, reflective pieces of writing that most times follow a narrative arc. It explores a person’s inner thoughts and feelings on matters that are personal to them.

Instead of simply keeping records of the writer’s experiences, personal essays mostly use an artifact, book, or news development as a jump-off point which is used to widen the extent of their story.

You can write personal essays on travel and food, as well as writing pieces that greatly rely on a personal perspective.

#7. Humor writing

Humor writing is one of the forms of creative writing described with its casual form of expression. It is used to make the readers reason differently about politics, current events, and observed human behavior. Its main goal is to create laughter.

You will easily find humor writing in humor websites or sections of popular magazines such as The New Yorker’s ‘Daily Humor’