essay is 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)

How to Write a Creative Essay: Your Fresh Guide

What Is a Creative Essay

Creative essay is a form of writing that combines elements of fiction, personal experience, and imagination.

Do you ever want to let your imagination loose in your school essays? Creative writing lets you do just that. It allows you to invent characters, places, and stories that might not exist in real life. This type of writing encourages you to play with words, structure, and style to stir emotions, provoke thoughts, or simply entertain your readers.

Unlike more formal writing like journalism or academic essays, creative writing is all about expressing yourself artistically. It gives you the freedom to showcase your personality through characters, stories, and plots that you create.

In this guide, our college essay writer will walk you through everything you need to know, from picking a great topic to putting your ideas down on paper. You'll find examples of creative essays, a template to help you organize your thoughts, and tips on how to make your writing more vivid and impactful.

How to Write a Creative Essay in 6 Steps

Let's go through the key steps for writing a creative essay. By breaking down the process into manageable parts, you'll find it more straightforward to develop engaging ideas and structure your essay effectively.

Meanwhile, check out our special article on how to write in cursive .

Write Freely

When you start writing, whether it's for essays or stories, it's best to sit down and jot down your first thoughts. Freewriting is a common technique among writers. It helps you start thinking and brainstorming ideas.

Freewriting does two main things:

• It keeps your ideas flowing so you don't forget any good ones.
• It improves your ability to write continuously for longer periods.

For essays, you can begin by writing the topic in the center of a page and then creating a mind map with any relevant ideas that come to mind. This can include different aspects of the topic you want to cover and examples or quotes you've come across.

Remember, this brainstorming session shouldn't take too long. Set a timer for about ten minutes, play your favorite music, and let your ideas flow naturally. This initial step is all about getting your thoughts out there without overthinking it.

Tell the Story in Three Parts

In storytelling, we often use a three-part structure: Setup, Confrontation, and Resolution. This approach is widely used in writing, movies, and TV shows. Unlike the acts in a play, these parts flow into each other seamlessly.

• Setup - Introduces the characters, their relationships, and the world they live in. Early on, there's usually an event called an 'inciting incident' (often around 19 minutes into a film) that sets the story in motion. The main character faces challenges and makes decisions that shape the rest of the narrative.
• Confrontation - The central problem emerges from the inciting incident, and the main character strives to resolve it. They encounter obstacles that test their abilities and resolve. For instance, in a detective story, this phase involves the detective uncovering clues and facing setbacks before reaching a breakthrough.
• Resolution - The story reaches its peak as the main conflict is confronted and resolved. Loose ends are tied up, and the characters' journeys conclude, leaving a sense of closure.

This structure helps writers build engaging narratives that keep audiences invested in the characters' journeys from start to finish.

Start with a Hook

In creative writing, it's often recommended to start with an exciting beginning. One good way is to begin with a 'conversation,' jumping straight into a lively talk to grab the reader's interest right away. For example, in a spy thriller, instead of easing into the story, the writer might open with agents arguing about a secret mission, setting the stage for suspense and excitement. The story could then unfold with more dialogue revealing the characters' motives and actions.

This method also works in essays, especially for certain topics. For instance, if you were writing about the ethical issues of cloning, rather than starting with a slow introduction to different viewpoints, you could begin with a conversation between scientists debating the consequences of cloning animals. Showing different opinions and ethical dilemmas through dialogue could engage readers and lead them into the broader discussion of bioethics and scientific advancements. This approach may not follow the usual essay structure, but it can make your writing more engaging and thought-provoking.

Add Rich Details

To keep your reader engaged, add vivid details about settings and locations, much like creative writers do. Essays can become dull if they only focus on academic concepts, but you can make them more captivating by including descriptive details.

While it can be challenging in essays with strict word limits or those focused on scientific topics, you can certainly incorporate relevant details in subjects like humanities, literature, theater, or history. For example, when analyzing a novel by Jane Austen, you might explore how societal expectations of the time shaped her portrayal of female characters.

By including these extra details and snippets of information, you not only maintain reader interest but also demonstrate your depth of understanding and independent study. This approach can impress your reader and potentially enhance your academic performance.

End Clearly

In creative writing, ambiguity can spark debate, but in essays, clarity is key. Unlike creative writing, in which open endings can be intriguing, essays require a clear conclusion.

Always ensure your essay concludes definitively. This shows your examiner what you've learned and your final answer to the essay question. Unlike creative writing, your goal is to demonstrate understanding and reach a clear conclusion to earn marks.

Make sure your conclusion is straightforward and easy to locate. With many essays to assess, clarity helps your teacher quickly identify your final thoughts. Avoid ambiguity or vague language, which can frustrate readers, including your examiner.

Revise and Improve

Most writers don't nail it on the first try. Editing is crucial, especially when trimming down your word count. It can be tough to cut out sections you've crafted carefully.

After completing your first draft, read through it critically. Consider the order of your points and ensure everything makes sense. With modern technology, editing is easier—you can rearrange sections by copying and pasting and refining your wording for smooth transitions. Once you've made these edits, give your essay a final read-through to polish the wording. Don't overlook proofreading to catch any spelling or grammar mistakes.

Outline for Creative Writing Essay

Here is an outline that will help you structure your creative writing essay, whether it's a poem, a personal essay, a short story, or a speech.

Types of Creative Essays 

Creative writing comes in many forms, each a great way to tell stories and express yourself. Here are 5 main types:

• Poetry uses short, powerful words to describe feelings, thoughts, and experiences. It can rhyme and have a beat or be more free-flowing. Poets play with language to create strong emotions and ideas, capturing moments in special ways.
• Personal essays mix memories, reflections, and stories to explore a person's experiences and what they learned. Unlike school essays, they focus on the writer's unique voice, using stories and thoughts to tell a narrative. They can be about almost anything, giving readers a glimpse into the writer's mind and feelings with the goal of connecting through shared experiences.
• Short stories can be very short or complete stories, but they have a word limit. This challenges writers to create interesting characters, plots, and settings using concise storytelling. Short stories come in all sorts of genres, like realistic fiction or fantasy, and aim to build suspense and give a satisfying ending in a short space.
• Novels are longer fictional works with complex characters, plots, and settings. They can be literary fiction, science fiction, romance, mysteries, or anything else, offering in-depth stories that unfold over many chapters. Writing novels requires planning and a strong understanding of storytelling to keep readers engaged with vivid worlds and compelling narratives.
• Speeches are written to be spoken aloud, with the goal of informing, inspiring, persuading, or entertaining listeners. They can be formal addresses or informal talks and use special writing techniques along with storytelling elements. Speechwriting is about crafting messages that resonate with listeners' emotions and minds, using stories and anecdotes to capture their attention and hold their interest.

20 Creative Essay Topics 

Before putting yourself into creative essay writing, you should pick among the creative writing essay topics that you will be talking about. Here, our paper writer prepared some fresh ideas to make your choice easier:

• Write about a time you overcame a challenge. What did you learn from the experience?
• Imagine you can talk to animals. What would you ask your pet?
• Describe a place that brings back special memories. What makes it so special?
• Create a story about a forgotten object. Where did it come from? Who used it?
• Write a letter to your future self. What are your hopes and dreams?
• If you could have any superpower, what would it be? Why?
• Imagine a world without technology. How would your life be different?
• What is the most important lesson you've learned in life so far?
• Describe a dream you'll never forget. What do you think it means?
• Write a story about a character who is very different from you.
• What historical figure do you find most interesting? Why?
• Create a dialogue between two unlikely characters.
• Imagine you could travel anywhere in the universe. Where would you go? Why?
• Write a story about a robot who wants to be human.
• What does friendship mean to you?
• Describe a work of art that you find moving. Why does it affect you?
• What is your favorite thing about nature? Why?
• Imagine you are invisible for a day. What would you do?
• Write a story about a creature from myth or legend.
• What do you think the future holds for humanity?

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Example of a Creative Essay

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Wrapping Up

We hope you now understand what a creative essay is and how to write one. Some people find writing creative essays easier than others. By applying the tips mentioned above, you should be well-equipped to create work that you're proud of.

If you need extra guidance, consider working with our expert coursework writers . They have developed numerous academic essays with professionalism. Place an order today and experience our dedication firsthand!

Are You Short on Creative Writing Topics?

Whether you need a compelling personal statement, a thought-provoking argumentative essay, or a captivating narrative, we've got you covered.

If you feel like some questions were left unanswered, don't you feel disappointed just yet! Our dissertation writers for hire compiled the most frequently asked question on creative essay writing, so take a look for additional information:

What Are the 7 Types of Creative Writing?

What are the 5 c's of creative writing, is creative writing a skill.

is an expert in nursing and healthcare, with a strong background in history, law, and literature. Holding advanced degrees in nursing and public health, his analytical approach and comprehensive knowledge help students navigate complex topics. On EssayPro blog, Adam provides insightful articles on everything from historical analysis to the intricacies of healthcare policies. In his downtime, he enjoys historical documentaries and volunteering at local clinics.

• Added new examples, topics and FAQs
• Added new writing steps and an outline
• 7 Techniques from Creative Writing You Can Use to Improve Your Essays. (2014, June 21). Oxford Royale Academy. https://www.oxford-royale.com/articles/techniques-creative-writing-improve-essays/  
• (2023). Oxfordsummercourses.com. https://oxfordsummercourses.com/articles/creative-writing-techniques-to-improve-your-essays/  

Creative Writing: Definition, Types, Examples

Creative writing is the art of creating original works of self-expression that entertain and give voice to the human experience. Unlike technical or academic writing , the purpose of creative writing is not to present facts but to give rein to the writer’s imagination through poetics and storytelling. A creative writer invites the reader to step out of reality and enter a fantasy realm created by the writer’s own imagination.

Some of the techniques used by creative writers include plot and character development, underlying themes, vivid settings, point of view , dialogue, anecdotes , figures of speech , and emotional appeal.

Types of Creative Writing

One of the most popular and artistic types of creative writing, poetry uses the aesthetic and rhythmic characteristics of language, along with other linguistic and poetic devices (phonesthetics, meter, alliteration, assonance, rhythm, ambiguity , irony, symbolism , among others) to evoke an emotional response, suggest a variety of interpretations to words, or to achieve musical effects.

Below is an example of a lyric poem by the Romantic poet John Keats :

“O Attic shape! Fair attitude! with brede

Of marble men and maidens overwrought,

With forest branches and the trodden weed;

Thou, silent form, dost tease us out of thought

As doth eternity: Cold Pastoral!

When old age shall this generation waste,

Thou shalt remain, in midst of other woe

Than ours, a friend to man, to whom thou say’st,

“Beauty is truth, truth beauty,-that is all

Ye know on earth, and all ye need to know.”

A play is a work of literature that is performed on stage in a theater or on television, or heard on the radio. Plays have a dialogue between actors/characters and are watched/listened to rather than read by an audience. There are 6 major kinds of plays: tragedy, comedy, tragicomedy, melodrama, domestic drama, and symbolic.

Below is a soliloquy from Macbeth , a Shakespearean tragedy, when Macbeth learns of the queen’s death:

Life’s but a walking shadow, a poor player

That struts and frets his hour upon the stage,

And then is heard no more. It is a tale

Told by an idiot, full of sound and fury,

Signifying nothing.

A work of fiction is a piece of creative writing that portrays characters, events, or places in ways that are strictly imaginary rather than based on facts or history. A fictional narrative might be inspired by reality or contain some emotional truth, but the writer always seeks to take the reader to an imaginary place. Works of fiction generally use poetic and descriptive language. The term fiction is commonly used for written prose narratives such as novels, novellas, and short stories.

Below is an excerpt from J. K. Rowling ’s Harry Potter and the Chamber of Secrets :

October arrived, spreading a damp chill over the grounds and into the castle. Madam Pomfrey, the nurse, was kept busy by a sudden spate of colds among the staff and students. Her Pepperup potion worked instantly, though it left the drinker smoking at the ears for several hours afterward. Ginny Weasley, who had been looking pale, was bullied into taking some by Percy. The steam pouring from under her vivid hair gave the impression that her whole head was on fire.

A memoir is a personal narrative written about an important part of the author’s life. Unlike an autobiography, with which it is often confused, a memoir spans a specific period of time rather than the author’s entire life. Memoirists choose a critical period in their lives and narrate it from their perspective. Their thoughts and feelings are central to the narrative.

Famous memoirs (and memoirists) include:

• The Diary of a Young Girl by Anne Frank
• I Know Why the Caged Bird Sings by Maya Angelou
• All Creatures Great and Small by James Herriot
• Angela’s Ashes by Frank McCourt
• Becoming by Michelle Obama

5. Personal Essays

The personal essay (also known as a narrative essay ) is a piece of non-fiction writing that narrates an interesting, entertaining, humorous, or thought-provoking story based on the writer’s personal (or second-hand) experiences. The story in a personal essay must, in essence, be based in fact, even if the writer has modified conversations, condensed timelines, or changed names/descriptions to make the story more interesting or to protect identities.

Famous personal essays (and essayists) include:

• Goodbye to All That by Joan Didion
• Once More to the Lake by E. B. White
• Self-Reliance by Ralph Waldo Emerson
• The Death of a Moth by Virginia Woolf
• Shooting an Elephant by George Orwell

6. Screenplays

Screenwriters or script writers write screenplays for movies, television shows, or video games. They need to carry out research for the story, develop the narrative, write the script, screenplay and dialogues, and deliver the whole package in the requisite format to development executives. The creative direction and emotional impact of the screenplay and of the finished product largely depend on how well the screenwriter has done their job.

Songwriting is the process of creating a song. A songwriter is an artist who creates musical compositions and writes lyrics for songs. The 6 elements of songwriting are lyrics, melody, harmony, tempo, meter, and rhythm.

The list of most iconic songs of all time includes:

• Smells like Teen Spirit by Nirvana
• Imagine by John Lennon
• Bohemian Rhapsody by Queen
• Like a Rolling Stone by Bob Dylan
• Stairway to Heaven by Led Zeppelin

No matter what the genre, all types of creative writing allow writers to express themselves in unique, imaginative ways. Each of these employs a variety of techniques, serving to grip readers and keep them hooked throughout.

Creative Writing 101: Everything You Need to Get Started

Creative writing: You can take classes in it, you can earn a degree in it, but the only things you really need to do it are your creative thinking and writing tools. Creative writing is the act of putting your imagination on a page. It’s artistic expression in words; it’s writing without the constraints that come with other kinds of writing like persuasive or expository. 

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What is creative writing?

Creative writing is writing meant to evoke emotion in a reader by communicating a theme. In storytelling (including literature, movies, graphic novels, creative nonfiction, and many video games), the theme is the central meaning the work communicates. 

Take the movie (and the novel upon which it’s based) Jaws , for instance. The story is about a shark that terrorizes a beach community and the men tasked with killing the shark. But the film’s themes include humanity’s desire to control nature, tradition vs. innovation, and how potential profit can drive people in power to make dangerous, even fatal, decisions. 

A theme isn’t the only factor that defines creative writing. Here are other components usually found in creative writing:

• Connecting, or at least attempting to connect, with the reader’s emotions
• Writing from a specific point of view
• A narrative structure can be complex or simple and serves to shape how the reader interacts with the content.
• Using imaginative and/or descriptive language

Creative writing typically uses literary devices like metaphors and foreshadowing to build a narrative and express the theme, but this isn’t a requirement. Neither is dialogue, though you’ll find it used in most works of fiction. Creative writing doesn’t have to be fictional, either. Dramatized presentations of true stories, memoirs, and observational humor pieces are all types of creative writing. 

What isn’t creative writing?

In contrast, research papers aren’t creative writing. Neither are analytical essays, persuasive essays , or other kinds of academic writing . Similarly, personal and professional communications aren’t considered creative writing—so your emails, social media posts, and official company statements are all firmly in the realm of non-creative writing. These kinds of writing convey messages, but they don’t express themes. Their goals are to inform and educate, and in some cases collect information from, readers. But even though they can evoke emotion in readers, that isn’t their primary goal. 

But what about things like blog posts? Or personal essays? These are broad categories, and specific pieces in these categories can be considered creative writing if they meet the criteria listed above. This blog post, for example, is not a piece of creative writing as it aims to inform, but a blog post that walks its reader through a first-person narrative of an event could be deemed creative writing. 

Types of creative writing

Creative writing comes in many forms. These are the most common:

Novels originated in the eighteenth century . Today, when people think of books, most think of novels. 

A novel is a fictional story that’s generally told in 60,000 to 100,000 words, though they can be as short as 40,000 words or go beyond 100,000. 

Stories that are too short to be novels, but can’t accurately be called short stories, are often referred to as novellas. Generally, a story between 10,000 and 40,000 words is considered a novella. You might also run into the term “ novelette ,” which is used to refer to stories that clock in between 7,500 and 19,000 words. 

Short stories

Short stories are fictional stories that fall generally between 5,000 and 10,000 words. Like novels, they tell complete stories and have at least one character, some sort of conflict, and at least one theme. 

When a story is less than 1,000 words, it’s categorized as a work of flash fiction.

Poetry can be hard to define because as a genre, it’s so open-ended. A poem doesn’t have to be any specific length. It doesn’t have to rhyme. There are many different kinds of poems from cultures all over the world, like sonnets, haikus, sestinas, blank verse, limericks, and free verse. 

The rules of poetry are generally flexible . . . unless you’re writing a specific type of poem, like a haiku , that has specific rules around the number of lines or structure. But while a poem isn’t required to conform to a specific length or formatting, or use perfect grammar , it does need to evoke its reader’s emotions, come from a specific point of view, and express a theme. 

And when you set a poem to music, you’ve got a song. 

Plays, TV scripts, and screenplays

Plays are meant to be performed on stage. Screenplays are meant to be made into films, and TV scripts are meant to be made into television programs. Scripts for videos produced for other platforms fit into this category as well. 

Plays, TV scripts, and screenplays have a lot in common with novels and short stories. They tell stories that evoke emotion and express themes. The difference is that they’re meant to be performed rather than read and as such, they tend to rely much more on dialogue because they don’t have the luxury of lengthy descriptive passages. But scriptwriters have more than just dialogue to work with; writing a play or script also involves writing stage or scene directions.

Each type of script has its own specific formatting requirements. 

Creative nonfiction

Creative nonfiction covers all the kinds of creative writing that aren’t fiction. Here are some examples:

• Personal essays: A personal essay is a true story told through a narrative framework. Often, recollections of events are interspersed with insights about those events and your personal interpretations and feelings about them in this kind of essay. 
• Literary journalism: Think of literary journalism as journalism enhanced by creative writing techniques. These are the kinds of stories often published in outlets like The New Yorker and Salon. Literary journalism pieces report on factual events but do so in a way that makes them feel like personal essays and short stories. 
• Memoirs: Memoirs are to personal essays what novels are to short stories. In other words, a memoir is a book-length collection of personal memories, often centering around a specific story, that often works opinions, epiphanies, and emotional insights into the narrative. 
• Autobiographies: An autobiography is a book you write about yourself and your life. Often, autobiographies highlight key events and may focus on one particular aspect of the author’s life, like her role as a tech innovator or his career as a professional athlete. Autobiographies are often similar in style to memoirs, but instead of being a collection of memories anchored to specific events, they tend to tell the author’s entire life story in a linear narrative. 
• Humor writing: Humor writing comes in many forms, like standup comedy routines, political cartoons, and humorous essays. 
• Lyric essays: In a lyric essay, the writer breaks conventional grammar and stylistic rules when writing about a concept, event, place, or feeling. In this way, lyric essays are like essay-length poems. The reason they’re considered essays, and not long poems, is that they generally provide more direct analysis of the subject matter than a poem would. 

Tips for writing creatively

Give yourself time and space for creative writing.

It’s hard to write a poem during your lunch break or work on your memoir between calls. Don’t make writing more difficult for yourself by trying to squeeze it into your day. Instead, block off time to focus solely on creative writing, ideally in a distraction-free environment like your bedroom or a coffee shop. 

>>Read More: How to Create Your Very Own Writing Retreat

Get to know yourself as a writer

The more you write, the more in tune you’ll become with your strengths and weaknesses as a writer. You’ll identify the kinds of characters, scenes, language, and pieces you like writing best and determine where you struggle the most. Understanding what kind of writer you are can help you decide which kinds of projects to pursue. 

Challenge yourself 

Once you know which kinds of writing you struggle with, do those kinds of writing. If you only focus on what you’re good at, you’ll never grow as a writer. Challenge yourself to write in a different genre or try a completely new type of writing. For example, if you’re a short story writer, give poetry or personal essays a try. 

Need help getting started? Give one (or all!) of these 20 fun writing prompts a try .

Learn from other writers

There are lots of resources out there about creative writing. Read and watch them. If there’s a particular writer whose work you enjoy, seek out interviews with them and personal essays they’ve written about their creative processes. 

>>Read More: How to Be a Master Storyteller—Tips from 5 Experts 

Don’t limit yourself to big-name writers, either. Get involved in online forums, social media groups, and if possible, in-person groups for creative writers. By doing this, you’re positioning yourself to learn from writers from all different walks of life . . . and help other writers, too. 

I wrote something. Where do I go from here?

Give yourself a pat on the back: You did it! You finished a piece of creative writing—something many attempt, but not quite as many achieve. 

What comes next is up to you. You can share it with your friends and family, but you don’t have to. You can post it online or bring it to an in-person writing group for constructive critique. You can even submit it to a literary journal or an agent to potentially have it published, but if you decide to take this route, we recommend working with an editor first to make it as polished as possible. 

Some writers are initially hesitant to share their work with others because they’re afraid their work will be stolen. Although this is a possibility, keep in mind that you automatically hold the copyright for any piece you write. If you’d like, you can apply for copyright protection to give yourself additional legal protection against plagiarizers, but this is by no means a requirement. 

Write with originality

Grammarly can’t help you be more creative, but we can help you hone your writing so your creativity shines as brightly as possible. Once you’ve written your piece, Grammarly can catch any mistakes you made and suggest strong word choices that accurately express your message. 

How to Write a Creative Essay: Useful Tips and Examples

Samuel Gorbold

Essay creative writing is not always seen as fun by most students, but the realm of creative essays can offer an enjoyable twist. The inherent freedom in choosing a topic and expressing your thoughts makes this type of paper a creative playground. Engaging in composing a creative essay provides an opportunity to flex your creative muscles. Yet, if you're new to crafting compositions, it can pose a challenge. This article guides you through the steps to write an impressive creative essay, helping you navigate the process seamlessly. In a hurry? Our writing service is there for you 24/7, with guidance and practical help.

What Is a Creative Essay

A creative essay is a form of writing that goes beyond traditional academic structures, allowing the author to express themselves more imaginatively and artistically. Unlike formal essays, creative ones emphasize storytelling, personal reflection, and the exploration of emotions. They often incorporate literary elements such as vivid descriptions, dialogue, and poetic language to engage readers on a more emotional and sensory level. Follow our creative essay tips to experiment with style and structure, offering a unique platform to convey ideas, experiences, or perspectives in a captivating and inventive way.

To answer the question what does creative writing mean, it’s necessary to point out that it departs from traditional academic writing, offering a canvas for artistic expression and storytelling. It diverges from the rigid structure of formal writings, providing a platform for writers to infuse their work with imagination and emotion. In this genre, literary elements such as vivid descriptions and poetic language take center stage, fostering a more engaging and personal connection with the reader.

Unlike a poem analysis essay , this form of writing prioritizes narrative and self-expression, allowing authors to delve into their experiences and perspectives uniquely. It's a departure from the conventional rules, encouraging experimentation with style and structure. Creative essays offer a distinct avenue for individuals to convey ideas and emotions, weaving a tapestry that captivates and resonates with readers on a deeper, more sensory level.

Creative Writing Essay Outline Explained From A to Z

Moving on, let's delve into how to write a creative writing essay from s structural perspective. Despite the focus on creativity and imagination, a robust structure remains essential. Consider your favorite novel – does it not follow a well-defined beginning, middle, and end? So does your article. Before diving in, invest some time crafting a solid plan for your creative writing essay.

Creative Essay Introduction

In creative essay writing, the introduction demands setting the scene effectively. Begin with a concise portrayal of the surroundings, the time of day, and the historical context of the present scenario. This initial backdrop holds significant weight, shaping the atmosphere and trajectory of the entire storyline. Ensure a vivid depiction, employing explicit descriptions, poetic devices, analogies, and symbols to alter the text's tone promptly.

Creative Essay Body

The body sections serve as the engine to propel the storyline and convey the intended message. Yet, they can also be leveraged to introduce shifts in motion and emotion. For example, as creative writers, injecting conflict right away can be a powerful move if the plot unfolds slowly. This unexpected twist startles the reader, fundamentally altering the narrative's tone and pace. Additionally, orchestrating a fabricated conflict can keep the audience on edge, adding an extra layer of intrigue.

Creative Essay Conclusion

Typically, creative writers conclude the narrative towards the end. Introduce a conflict and then provide its resolution to tie up the discourse neatly. While the conclusion often doesn't lead to the story's climax, skilled writers frequently deploy cliffhangers. By employing these writing techniques suggested by our write my college essay experts, the reader is left in suspense, eagerly anticipating the fate of the characters without a premature revelation.

Creative Writing Tips

Every student possesses a distinct mindset, individual way of thinking, and unique ideas. However, considering the academic nature of creative writing essays, it is essential to incorporate characteristics commonly expected in such works, such as:

• Select a topic that sparks your interest or explores unique perspectives. A captivating subject sets the stage for an engaging paper.
• Begin with a vivid and attention-grabbing introduction. Use descriptive language, anecdotes, or thought-provoking questions to draw in your readers from the start.
• Clearly articulate the main idea or theme of your essay in a concise thesis statement. This provides a roadmap for your readers and keeps your writing focused.
• Use descriptive language to create a sensory experience for your readers. Appeal to sight, sound, touch, taste, and smell to enhance the imagery.
• Play with the structure of your content. Consider nonlinear narratives, flashbacks, or unconventional timelines to add an element of surprise and creativity.
• If applicable, develop well-rounded and relatable characters. Provide details that breathe life into your characters and make them memorable to the reader.
• Establish a vivid and immersive setting for your narrative. The environment should contribute to the overall mood and tone.
• Blend dialogue and narration effectively. Dialogue adds authenticity and allows characters to express themselves, while narration provides context and insight.
• Revisit your essay for revisions. Pay attention to the flow, coherence, and pacing. Edit for clarity and refine your language to ensure every word serves a purpose.
• Share your creative writing article with others and welcome constructive feedback. Fresh perspectives can help you identify areas for improvement and refine your storytelling.
• Maintain an authentic voice throughout your essay. Let your unique style and perspective shine through, creating a genuine connection with your audience.
• Craft a memorable conclusion that leaves a lasting impression. Summarize key points, evoke emotions, or pose thought-provoking questions to resonate with your readers.

Types of Creative Writing Essays

A creative writing essay may come in various forms, each offering a unique approach to storytelling and self-expression. Some common types include:

• Reflects the author's personal experiences, emotions, and insights, often weaving in anecdotes and reflections.

Descriptive 

• Focuses on creating a vivid and sensory-rich portrayal of a scene, person, or event through detailed descriptions.
• Tells a compelling story with a clear plot, characters, and often a central theme or message.

Reflective 

• Encourages introspection and thoughtful examination of personal experiences, revealing personal growth and lessons learned.

Expository 

• Explores and explains a particular topic, idea, or concept creatively and engagingly.

Persuasive 

• Utilizes creative elements to persuade the reader to adopt a particular viewpoint or take a specific action.

Imaginative 

• These creative writing papers allow for the free expression of imagination, often incorporating elements of fantasy, surrealism, or speculative fiction.

Literary Analysis

• Learning how to write a creative writing essay, analyze and interpret a piece of literature, and incorporate creativity to explore deeper meanings and connections.
• Blends personal experiences with travel narratives, offering insights into different cultures, places, and adventures.
• Focuses on creating a detailed and engaging portrait of a person, exploring their character, experiences, and impact on others.

Experimental 

• Pushes the boundaries of traditional essay structures, experimenting with form, style, and narrative techniques.
• Combines elements from different essay types, allowing for a flexible and creative approach to storytelling.

As you can see, there are many types of creative compositions, so we recommend that you study how to write an academic essay with the help of our extensive guide.

How to Start a Creative Writing Essay

Starting a creative writing essay involves capturing the reader's attention and setting the tone for the narrative. Here are some effective ways to begin:

• Pose a thought-provoking question that intrigues the reader and encourages them to contemplate the topic.
• Begin with a short anecdote or a brief storytelling snippet that introduces the central theme or idea of your essay.
• Paint a vivid picture of the setting using descriptive language, setting the stage for the events or emotions to unfold.
• Open with a compelling dialogue that sparks interest or introduces key characters, immediately engaging the reader in the conversation.
• Incorporate a relevant quotation or epigraph that sets the mood or provides insight into the essay's theme.
• Begin with a bold or intriguing statement that captivates the reader's attention, encouraging them to delve further into your essay.
• Present a contradiction or unexpected scenario that creates a sense of curiosity and compels the reader to explore the resolution.
• Employ a striking metaphor or simile that immediately draws connections and conveys the essence of your creative essay.
• Start by directly addressing the reader, creating a sense of intimacy and involvement right from the beginning.
• Establish the mood or atmosphere of your essay by describing the emotions, sounds, or surroundings relevant to the narrative.
• Present a dilemma or conflict that hints at the central tension of your essay, enticing the reader to discover the resolution.
• Start in the middle of the action, dropping the reader into a pivotal moment that sparks curiosity about what happened before and what will unfold.

Choose an approach to how to write a creative essay that aligns with your tone and theme, ensuring a captivating and memorable introduction.

Creative Essay Formats

Working on a creative writing essay offers a canvas for writers to express themselves in various formats, each contributing a unique flavor to the storytelling. One prevalent format is personal writing, where writers delve into their own experiences, emotions, and reflections, creating a deeply personal narrative that resonates with readers. Through anecdotes, insights, and introspection, personal essays provide a window into the author's inner world, fostering a connection through shared vulnerabilities and authentic storytelling.

Another captivating format is the narrative, which unfolds like a traditional story with characters, a plot, and a clear arc. Writers craft a compelling narrative, often with a central theme or message, engaging readers in a journey of discovery. Through vivid descriptions and well-developed characters, narrative articles allow for the exploration of universal truths within the context of a captivating storyline, leaving a lasting impression on the audience.

For those who seek to blend fact and fiction, the imaginative format opens the door to vivid exploration. This format allows writers to unleash their imagination, incorporating elements of fantasy, surrealism, or speculative fiction. By bending reality and weaving imaginative threads into the narrative, writers can transport readers to otherworldly realms or offer fresh perspectives on familiar themes. The imaginative essay format invites readers to embrace the unexpected, challenging conventional boundaries and stimulating creativity in both the writer and the audience. Check out our poetry analysis essay guide to learn more about the freedom of creativity learners can adopt while working on assignments. 

Creative Essay Topics and Ideas

As you become familiar with creative writing tips, we’d like to share several amazing topic examples that might help you get out of writer’s block:

• The enchanted garden tells a tale of blooms and whispers.
• Lost in time, a journey through historical echoes unfolds.
• Whispering winds unravel the secrets of nature.
• The silent symphony explores the soul of music.
• Portraits of the invisible capture the essence of emotions.
• Beyond the horizon is a cosmic adventure in stardust.
• Can dreams shape reality? An exploration of the power of imagination.
• The forgotten key unlocks doors to the past.
• Ripples in the void, an exploration of cosmic mysteries.
• Echoes of eternity are stories written in the stars.
• In the shadow of giants, unveils the unsung heroes.
• Can words paint pictures? An exploration of the artistry of literary expression.
• Whispers of the deep explore the ocean's hidden stories.
• Threads of time weave lives through generations.
• Do colors hold emotions? A journey of painting the canvas of feelings.
• The quantum quandary navigates the world of subatomic particles.
• Reflections in a mirror unmask the layers of identity.
• The art of silence crafts narratives without words.
• The ethereal dance explores movement beyond the visible.
• Can shadows speak? Unveiling stories cast in darkness.

Examples of Creative Writing Essays

We've added a couple of brief creative writing essays examples for your reference and inspiration.

Creative Writing Example 1: Admission Essay

Creative writing example 2: narrative essay.

What Are the Types of Creative Writing Essays?

What is a creative writing essay, how to start a creative writing essay, what are some creative writing tips.

Samuel Gorbold , a seasoned professor with over 30 years of experience, guides students across disciplines such as English, psychology, political science, and many more. Together with EssayHub, he is dedicated to enhancing student understanding and success through comprehensive academic support.

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How to Write a Creative Essay: Tips, Topics, and Techniques

What is a creative essay, if not the way to express yourself? Crafting such a paper is a task that allows you to communicate your opinion and tell a story. However, even using your imagination to a great extent doesn’t free you from following academic writing rules. Don’t even get us started about other components of papers. With tools like research paper title page generators available, it only proves to be a serious business.

Confused yet?

No need to be! Creativity can be worked into many different types of essays. You just have to know how to write a creative essay deftly, thus:

• paying attention to your reader;
• using an essay structure;
• incorporating details and metaphors;
• don’t be afraid to speak your mind!

Turn to our writers when in doubt or read the rest of the article for more recommendations.

🎨 Types of Creative Essays

🧩 creative essay format, 🖌️ how to write a creative essay, 📜 creative essay topics.

Where analysis ends, creativity begins!

You can include creative expression in an essay or paper you write. Yet, some pieces are designed specifically to allow you to be creative. You can choose a topic that will set your imagination free.

Here are a few types of creative essays you can embrace:

• Narrative Essay :

The narrative essay is much like novel writing. This essay type can be used to discuss either real or imaginary events. The key in this type is that you have to show, not tell. For you to accomplish this, your essay will need a plot, many descriptive details, and well-written prose.

• Admission Essay :

The admission essay is becoming increasingly popular. When it is well-written, it allows you to stand out among thousands of students who are vying for admission to a particular program. The admission essay is a way for you to talk about yourself and why you would make a great addition to a program. Essentially, you are advertising yourself to show that you are the best choice.

• Personal Essay :

The personal essay is similar to the admission essay but less aggressive. This form of essay is used to talk about yourself and your experiences, trying to persuade the reader that a particular event or aspect of your personal life is significant in some way. Consider this form of creative writing essay a self-portrait that you paint with words.

• Descriptive Essay :

You can choose any topic you wish for the descriptive essay. The key is that the central idea should be of interest to or affect the reader. Once you select one, describe it throughout your essay, stating why it is crucial to you.

• Lyric Essay:

This is very much like the descriptive essay, except that it makes greater use of imagery and description.

• Americanism Essay :

The Americanism essay is popular with scholarship committees. This is the “why I am proud to be an American” essay.

• Reflection Essay:

The reflection essay offers you a way to provide feedback on an event or other topic with which you are not happy, or it bothers you in some way.

Victor Valley College and the University of Vermont offer some great advice on writing creative essays. Now let’s look at some techniques that will help you write creatively.

Creative essays usually follow the three-act story structure . It is a classic writing technique commonly used in storytelling, screenwriting, and drama. It divides a story into three parts: the setup , confrontation , and resolution . The three-act story structure allows for the effective development of characters and conflicts, which leads to more compelling writing.

Check out the creative essay format below.

The stage is set in this initial part of the story where the main characters, setting, and central conflict are introduced. Readers are given a glimpse into the story’s world and get to know the characters and their motivations. The setup establishes the foundation for the narrative, laying out the groundwork for the conflicts that will unfold.

Confrontation

Confrontation is where the story’s central conflict develops and the tension rises. Obstacles and complications that arise during that stage are meant to test the characters, pushing them to their limits. The confrontation is filled with rising action as the characters face increasingly difficult challenges.

The story reaches its climax, and the conflicts are brought to a head. The tension built up in the previous stage comes to its peak as the characters confront their challenges head-on. The resolution provides closure to the story, ties up loose ends, and resolves the central conflict.

The Oxford Royale Academy offers useful creative writing tips that can easily be applied to creative nonfiction.

The key is:

Creative writing is not solely about putting words on a page in a way that presents imaginative prose. You need to consider your writing in a certain way and structure it properly if you want to pull off an excellent creative essay.

Here are some tips and techniques for any creative nonfiction writing you do:

• Consider the reader: As with any other form of writing, you must consider the reader above all else. You have to have a deep understanding of who your audience is so you can pique their interest and hold it throughout the paper.
• Start it off right: You need to start your paper off with a bang! That means you have to have an opening to your essay or paper that will grab the attention of whoever reads it. This could be a bold phrase, the description of something that happened, or some profound or persuasive words. Your opening needs to scream, “Keep reading!”
• Use the traditional creative structure: Traditionally, creative essays are divided into three acts: the setup, the confrontation, and the resolution. In the first one, you will introduce the leading players and the situation. The confrontation will allow you to shift into the main issue. The resolution is the climax, during which the issue is resolved.
• Use metaphors: A metaphor is effective in any form of writing. In a creative essay writing, use an analogy to help provide the reader with a clear image. It should make them understand a concept you are explaining at a deeper level.
• Provide details: Details are everything when writing creatively as they tug at the readers’ emotions. Without them, your essay can be stale and boring, providing only one fact. Detail spruces it up and makes it come alive in the readers’ minds.
• Edit, edit, edit: Make sure to edit your work after you have written it. A writer rarely gets it right the first time.
• Think out of the box: Finally, here it comes—the piece of advice that every successful assignment demands. Try to approach the issue from an unusual angle!

The Oxford Royale Academy also has some great information on general essay writing that is sure to help!

Now, let’s take a look at some creative writing topics you might be able to use.

The goal behind any writing assignment that calls for creativity is simple. You have to express your feelings and opinions on a particular topic so that it captivates the reader. These creative papers and essays are not dry and boring the way most of us imagine academic works.

But what should you write about? You need some creative essay ideas. Whether the topic is assigned or you choose it yourself, you’ll have to decide how to approach it. If you pick an issue yourself, the options might be overwhelming.

With that in mind:

Let’s start on a journey to find fun essay topics! You can:

• Choose something you are interested in by making a list of issues or problems that matter to you.
• Narrow down a broader issue.
• Find inspiration from materials and records to which you have access or from your coursework.

There are plenty of topics for narrative essays and other creative writing essays on the Internet. Here are some great ideas for nonfiction writing topics to get your imagination moving:

• Describing thoughts inspired by a picture.
• Are art and nature vital parts of human life?
• Creativity can change the world.
• What is pride?
• The desire to travel lives in every person.
• My visit to Rio de Janeiro .
• Is it a good idea to be a stay-at-home mother?
• Various feelings about cheating .
• Is early marriage a good or a bad thing?
• The importance of the Era of Good Feelings for American history.
• What will your future be in five years?
• Family fitness night is a great way to unite a family.
• Bachata as a music genre.
• How do you understand love ?
• The role of money issues in strong relationships.
• What person can be a true friend?
• The definition of jealousy .
• Is creativity a panacea from depression?
• Emotional intelligence is crucial for healthy relationships.
• Postmodernist and experimental dance forms.
• How I trained my dog at home.
• Poetry as a way to express emotions .
• What makes a strong marriage?
• Photography as a professional art and creative hobby.
• Problems in the neighborhood and how to deal them.
• Why do Carolina dogs make great pets?
• Feeling of joy and its value for people .
• How emotional intelligence can help me to become a great leader.
• The role of conservatism in preservation of traditional American culture.
• What can a freelancer do to stay creative?
• A memorable event from my past.
• Peculiarities of friendship in the age of media.
• Interconnection between emotions and memories.  
• Is consumerism a part of American culture?
• Different understanding of art.
• What can do to save lakes and oceans wildlife?
• Examples of the emotion of sadness in art.
• The creative way to organize a workplace at home.
• Emotions that paintings stir in people.
• Why Dresden is a great place to travel.
• How to fight the feeling of powerlessness .
• Personal experience adopting a pet from Humane Society.
• Is it possible for computers to have independent feeling?  

That’s it! When it comes to creative writing, you can do it! For more help on writing essays, check out this video.

If you still feel the task is too much to handle, you can turn to a custom writing service. Share the article with those who may need our advice and happy writing!

• Essays: Creative Nonfiction
• Overview of Creative Nonfiction: Purdue Online Writing Lab, College of Liberal Arts, Purdue University
• A Complete Guide to Writing Creative Nonfiction: MasterClass
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it was fascinating….but still you need to add more..tackle more on the format of a creative essay

Thank you for your detailed comment. Our team will take it into account.

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Creative Writing Essays: Tips, Examples, and Strategies

Creative writing essays are a unique type of academic writing that lets you show your creativity and imagination while still following the rules of academic writing. Creative writing essays are not like other types of essays that rely heavily on research and facts. Instead, they depend on your ability to tell a story, create vivid images, and make your readers feel something.

Writing creatively is important for anyone who wants to express themselves in a unique and interesting way, not just fiction and poetry writers. Whether you are writing a personal essay , a descriptive essay, or an argumentative essay, adding creative elements can help make your writing more interesting and memorable.

In this article, we’ll talk about what to do and what not to do when writing a creative essay . We’ll look at tips, examples, and ways to write well. By following these rules, you can learn how to write creatively while still meeting the requirements of academic writing.

What You'll Learn

Understanding Creative Writing Essays

To write a good creative writing essay, you need to know how this unique type of academic writing works.

A creative writing essay is a type of academic essay that uses elements of creative writing, like telling a story, building characters, and using literary devices. The goal of a creative writing essay is to get the reader’s attention and hold it while still getting the message or argument across.

There are different kinds of creative writing essays, such as personal essays, essays that describe something, and essays that tell a story . Each of these types of essays needs a different way of writing them, but they all need to include creative elements.

Dos of Creative Writing Essays

Here are some dos of creative writing essays to keep in mind when writing:

1. Choosing a strong and interesting topic: Choose a topic that is interesting to you and that will engage your readers. This will help to keep your writing focused and engaging.

2. Developing a clear and engaging thesis statement: Your thesis statement should clearly convey the message or argument you are making in your essay . It should be engaging and capture the reader’s attention.

3. Creating well-rounded and dynamic characters: Characters are an important part of any creative writing essay. Develop characters that are well-rounded and dynamic, with their own unique personalities, motivations, and flaws.

4. Using sensory details to enhance the story: Sensory details, such as sights, sounds, smells, tastes, and textures, can help to bring yourwriting to life and create a more immersive experience for your readers. Use vivid and descriptive language to evoke the senses and create a more vivid world for your readers to imagine.

5. Incorporating dialogue effectively: Dialogue can be a powerful tool for conveying information and developing characters. Use dialogue to reveal character traits, advance the plot, and create tension.

6. Utilizing literary devices to enhance the story: Literary devices like metaphors, similes, symbols, and images can make a story more interesting and help the reader understand it better. Use these tools sparingly and on purpose to make your effect stronger.

By using these dos in your creative writing essay, you can make it more interesting, easy to remember, and effective.

To write a good creative writing essay, you need to use your imagination, skills, and knowledge. By learning the basics of this unique type of writing and following the dos in this article, you can make a more interesting and effective creative writing essay. Remember to pick a strong and interesting topic, make characters that are well-rounded, use details and dialogue well, and use literary devices to make the story better.

Don’ts of Creative Writing Essays

To avoid common pitfalls when writing a creative writing essay, here are some don’ts to keep in mind:

1. Overusing adjectives and adverbs: While descriptive language is important in creative writing, overusing adjectives and adverbs can make your writing feel cluttered and overwhelming.

2. Using cliches and predictable plot lines: Creative writing is all about bringing something new and fresh to the table. Using cliches and predictable plot lines can make your writing feel unoriginal and uninspired.

3. Writing flat and uninteresting characters: Characters are an important part of any creative writing essay. Flat and uninteresting characters can make your writing feel dull and unengaging.

4. Forgetting to revise and edit: Like any form of academic writing, it is important to revise and edit your creative writing essay to ensure that it is polished and error-free.

5. Using weak verbs and passive voice: Weak verbs and passive voice can make your writing feel flat and uninteresting. Use strong and active verbs to create a more dynamic and engaging narrative.

Inspiring Creative Writing Essay Examples

To gain a better understanding of what makes a successful creative writing essay, here are some inspiring examples to analyze:

1. The Yellow Wallpaper” by Charlotte Perkins Gilman

2. “The Tell-Tale Heart” by Edgar Allan Poe

3. “The Lottery” by Shirley Jackson

4. “A Good Man is Hard to Find”by Flannery O’Connor

5. “The Cask of Amontillado” by Edgar Allan Poe

6. “The Secret Life of Walter Mitty” by James Thurber

7. “The Garden Party” by Katherine Mansfield

8. The Road Not Taken” by Robert Frost

9. The Love Song of J . Alfred Prufrock” by T.S. Eliot

10. “To His Coy Mistress” by Andrew Marvell

By looking at these examples, you can see that symbolism, foreshadowing, and irony are often used in creative writing essays that work well. They also have well-thought-out characters, interesting plots, and language that evokes the senses and helps the reader picture a vivid world.

Each of these examples shows a different side of what it means to be human and helps us learn more about the world around us. These essays show how creative writing can captivate and interest readers, whether it’s about love, death, or what it’s like to be human.

Some of the most important things to learn from these examples are how important it is to have strong characters, use descriptive language well, and use literary devices to make the story better. By looking at these good examples of creative writing essays, writers can learn how to use the same techniques in their own work to make essays that are more interesting and effective.

How to Start a Creative Writing Essay with a Bang

Starting a creative writing essay in a way that captivates your reader is crucial for the success of your essay. Here are some different strategies you can use to start your essay with a bang:

1. Using attention-grabbing hooks to draw in the reader: Start with a provocative statement, a surprising fact, or a rhetorical question to pique the reader’s interest.

2. Crafting a strong opening sentence or paragraph: Create a vivid image or use descriptive language to set the scene and draw the reader into the story.

3. Starting in the middle of the action: Begin your story in the middle of a dramatic or exciting scene to immediately engage your reader.

4. Using an anecdote: Start with a personal anecdote that relates to the theme or message of your essay to draw the reader into your story.

By using attention-grabbing hooks and crafting a strong opening sentence or paragraph, you can hook your reader from the beginning and keep them engaged throughout your essay.

Elements of a Successful Creative Writing Essay

To write a successful creative writing essay, it is important to incorporate certain elements into your writing. Here are some elements to keep in mind:

1. Developing a strong plot and narrative structure: Your essay should have a clear beginning, middle, and end, with a well-developed plot that keeps the reader engaged.

2. Creating compelling and relatable characters: Your characters should be well-rounded, withunique personalities, motivations, and flaws that make them relatable and interesting to the reader.

3. Using descriptive language and sensory details: Use vivid and sensory language to create a world that the reader can imagine and visualize. This can enhance the reading experience and make your writing feel more immersive.

4. Incorporating dialogue and literary devices effectively: Dialogue can be a powerful tool for conveying information and developing characters. Literary devices like metaphor, simile, and symbolism can also be used to enhance the story and create deeper meaning.

5. Crafting a satisfying ending : Your essay should have a satisfying and conclusive ending that ties up loose ends and leaves a lasting impression on the reader.

To write a good creative writing essay, you need to use your imagination, skills, and knowledge. Use hooks and a strong first sentence or paragraph to get people interested in your essay right away. To make sure your story is successful, include things like a strong plot and story structure, interesting characters, descriptive language and sensory details, good dialogue and literary devices, and a satisfying ending. With these tips and elements in mind, you can write a powerful and memorable creative writing essay that engages and inspires your readers.

Creative Writing Essay Format

When it comes to formatting a creative writing essay, there are a few guidelines to keep in mind:

1. Use a standard font, such as Times New Roman or Arial, in 12-point size.

2. Double-space the text and use 1-inch margins on all sides.

3. Include a header with your name, the title of your essay , and the page number.

4. Use paragraph breaks to separate different ideas or sections of your essay .

5. Use italics or quotation marks to indicate dialogue or emphasize certain words or phrases.

Proper formatting is important to ensure that your work looks professional and is easy to read. By following these guidelines, you can create a polished and well-formatted creative writing essay.

When organizing and structuring your essay , consider using a clear and logical structure. This can include an introduction, body paragraphs, and a conclusion. You may also want to use headings and subheadings to break up your writing into sections and make it easier to follow.

Creative Writing Essay Topics

Generating creative writing essay topics can be a fun and creative process. Here are some brainstorming techniques and examples to help you come up with ideas:

Brainstorming Techniques:

1. Freewriting: Set a timer for 10-15 minutes and write down whatever comes to mind. Don’t worry about grammar or spelling, just write freely.

2. Mind Mapping: Start with a central idea and branch out with related ideas. This can help you visualize connections between ideas and spark new ones.

3. Listing: Make a list of words or phrases that relate to a central theme or idea. This can help you see patterns and connections between ideas.

Examples of Creative Writing Essay Topics:

1. A childhood memory that shaped who you are today.

2. A personal essay about overcoming a challenge.

3. A fictional story set in a dystopian society.

4. A character study of a family member or friend .

5. A descriptive essay about a memorable place .

6. An exploration of a unique hobby or interest.

7. A persuasive essay about a social or political issue .

8. A narrative essay about a journey or adventure .

9. A creative nonfiction essay about a historical event or person.

10. A personal essay about your relationship with nature .

11. A fictional story about a time traveler.

12. An essay about a defining moment in your life .

13. A character study of a famous historical figure .

14. A descriptive essay about a favoritefood or dish.

15. A personal essay about your experience with mental health .

16. A fictional story about a haunted house.

17. A persuasive essay about the importance of education .

18. A narrative essay about a difficult decision you had to make.

19. A creative nonfiction essay about a place that has special meaning to you.

20. A personal essay about your experience with a different culture.

21. A fictional story about a person with a superpower.

22. A character study of a famous author or artist.

23. A descriptive essay about your favorite season.

24. A persuasive essay about the benefits of exercise.

25. A narrative essay about a trip that changed your perspective.

26. A creative nonfiction essay about your first job .

27. A personal essay about your experience with discrimination .

28. A fictional story about a post-apocalyptic world.

29. A character study of a famous musician or athlete.

30. A descriptive essay about a favorite childhood memory.

It is important to choose a topic that is both interesting and manageable. Consider your interests and passions, as well as the audience you are writing for. Remember that a well-chosen topic can make your writing more engaging and effective, while also making the writing process more enjoyable and fulfilling.

Tips for Making Your Creative Writing Essay Interesting

– Using descriptive language and sensory details

– Incorporating conflict and tension into the story

– Developing complex and dynamic characters

– Using humor, irony, or suspense to engage the reader

To make your creative writing essay interesting and engaging, consider the following tips:

1. Use descriptive language and sensory details: Creating a vivid world for the reader to imagine can enhance the reading experience and make your writing more immersive.

2. Incorporate conflict and tension into the story: Conflict drives the narrative forward and creates tension that keeps the reader engaged.

3. Develop complex and dynamic characters: Characters with unique personalities, motivations, and flaws can make your story more relatable and interesting.

4. Use humor, irony, or suspense to engage the reader: Adding a touch of humor, irony, or suspense can make your writing more engaging and keep the reader hooked.

By using these techniques, you can make your creative writing essay more interesting and memorable for your readers.

Revision and Editing Tips for Creative Writing Essays

Revision and editing are important steps in the writing process. Here are some tips for revising and editing your creative writing essay:

1. Take a break: Step away from your writing for a few hours or days to gain a fresh perspective on your work .

2. Read your work out loud: This can help you catch errors and awkward phrasing that may not be immediately apparent when reading silently.

3. Get feedback from others: Share your work with others and ask for constructive criticism and feedback.

4. Look for common mistakes: Pay attention to common mistakes such as grammar and spelling errors, repetition, and inconsistencies.

5.Focus on clarity and conciseness: Ensure that your writing is clear and concise, and that your ideas are presented in a logical and organized manner.

6. Make sure your characters are consistent: Ensure that your characters’ actions, motivations, and personalities are consistent throughout the story.

7. Cut unnecessary words and phrases: Eliminate unnecessary words and phrases to tighten your writing and make it more impactful.

8. Check for pacing: Ensure that your story is paced well and that it moves at a pace that keeps the reader engaged.

9. Pay attention to the ending: Ensure that your ending is satisfying and that it ties up loose ends in a way that leaves a lasting impression on the reader.

By revising and editing your creative writing essay, you can improve the overall quality of your work and ensure that it is polished and error-free.

Frequently Asked Questions

1. what is a creative writing essay.

A creative writing essay is a type of essay that allows writers to express their creativity and imagination. It can take many forms, including personal essays , short stories, poetry, and more.

2. What are the elements of a creative writing essay?

The elements of a creative writing essay include a strong plot and narrative structure, compelling and relatable characters, descriptive language and sensory details, effective use of dialogue and literary devices, and a satisfying ending.

3. How do I make my creative writing essay interesting?

You can make your creative writing essay interesting by using descriptive language and sensory details, incorporating conflict and tension into the story, developing complex and dynamic characters, and using humor, irony, or suspense to engage the reader.

4. What is the best way to start a creative writing essay?

You can start a creative writing essay with a provocative statement, a surprising fact, or a rhetorical question to pique the reader’s interest. Alternatively, you can create a vivid image or use descriptive language to set the scene and draw the reader into the story.

5. How can I revise and edit my creative writing essay effectively?

To revise and edit your creative writing essay effectively, take a break, read your work out loud, get feedback from others, look for common mistakes, focus on clarity and conciseness, ensure consistency in character development, cut unnecessary words and phrases, check for pacing, and pay attention to the ending.

In conclusion, a creative writing essay is a powerful way to express your creativity and imagination. By incorporating the elements of a strong plot and narrative structure, compelling characters, descriptive language and sensory details, effective use of dialogue and literary devices, and a satisfying ending, you can create a memorable and impactful piece of writing. To make your essay interesting , consider using descriptive language, incorporating conflict and tension, developing complex characters, and using humor, irony, or suspense. When revising and editing your essay, take a break, read your work out loud, get feedback, and pay attention to common mistakes.

We encourage you to start your own creative writing essay and explore the many possibilities that this type of writing offers. Remember to choose a topic that is both interesting and manageable, and to let your creativity and imagination shine through in your writing. With these tips and techniques in mind, you can create a powerful and memorable creative writing essay that engages and inspires your readers.

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How to Write a Creative Essay | 07 Techniques, Types & features

A creative essay is a form of writing that blends imagination with storytelling, allowing writers to express themselves in a unique and artistic way. How to Write a Creative Essay is a common question in literature;

Table of Contents

How to Write a Creative Essay

Understanding the essay prompt and coming up with ideas are the first steps in writing a creative essay. To keep focused and arrange your thoughts, create an outline for your essay.

Throughout the writing process, stay true to your own voice and style, and carefully edit your essay for impact and clarity.

Types of Creative Essays Source

1. personal essay.

An autobiographical piece that delves into a specific experience or subject from the writer’s life is called a personal essay. It frequently considers one’s own emotions, ideas, and revelations.

Personal essays can address a variety of topics, such as relationships or particular occurrences, as well as personal development and reflection.

By sharing their own viewpoints and experiences, writers can establish a personal connection with readers through this kind of essay writing.

A memoir is a type of autobiographical writing that concentrates on a particular time or event in the writer’s life, much like a personal essay. Memoirs, on the other hand, are usually more organized and concentrated, frequently according to a timeline.

Memoirs can give readers more in-depth understanding of the author’s life and experiences while also crafting a gripping story that is both personal and reflective.

3. Descriptive Essay

Write a descriptive and creative essay involves using vivid language and sensory elements to paint a vivid picture of a subject, subject matter, or place. The goal of descriptive essays is to create vivid imagery in the reader’s head so they can easily picture the topic of the essay.

In creative writing, this kind of essay is frequently employed to provide the reader a deep and engaging experience.

4. Narrative Essay

A narrative essay narrates a tale, frequently from the author’s perspective. Typically, narrative essays have a beginning, middle, and end and can be either fictional or based on actual events.

These essays have the ability to captivate readers with strong characters, surprising turns of events, and intense drama.

07 Best Techniques To Write A Creative Essay

1. start with a strong introduction.

Immediately capture the interest of your audience with a compelling introduction. A compelling question, a fascinating fact, or an engaging description might pique their interest and encourage them to read on.

If you’re writing an essay about a personal experience, for instance, you may begin with a dramatic passage that establishes the tone for the entire piece.

2. Use Vivid Imagery

Use vivid imagery to help your words paint a picture. Write scenes, characters, and emotions in a way that makes them easy for readers to picture. This will make your essay more interesting and lively.

For example, you could say, “It was a sunny day,” but instead you could describe the warmth of the sun on your skin, the way it was streaming through the foliage, and the sound of birds chirping.

3. Show, Don’t Tell

Use vivid language and specific examples to illustrate what is occurring to your readers rather than just telling them what is happening. Your writing will become more captivating and lively as a result.

As an alternative to stating “she was sad,” you may characterize her slouched shoulders, moist eyes, and tremulous voice.

4. Develop Interesting Characters

Creating compelling and likable characters is crucial for both fiction and non-fiction writing. Make sure your characters propel the story along by giving them nuance and complexity.

You can accomplish this by giving a realistic and approachable description of their goals, conflicts, and motives.

5. Experiment with Structure

Don’t be scared to experiment with your essay’s structure. You can make your writing more interesting and complex by utilizing flashbacks, non-linear storylines, or various points of view.

To illustrate how it all began, you could, for instance, begin with a scenario from the middle of the narrative and then go back to the beginning.

6. Use Dialogue

Your writing will seem more authentic and your characters will come to life through dialogue. Make sure it progresses the story or reveals something significant about the characters when using it sparingly. Dialogue is another tool for evoking feelings and creating conflict between characters.

7. Revise and Edit

After writing your essay, give it a thorough editing and revision. Make sure your writing is clear and succinct, and proofread it for grammar and spelling mistakes.

This will guarantee that your essay is well-written and polished. You can also ask a friend or member of your family to read your essay and offer suggestions for improvement.

Features Of Creative Essays

Writers can express their creativity and artistic flare through creative essays. These pieces strive to enthrall readers with distinctive storytelling and emotional depth, going beyond simple facts and data. Let’s examine the salient characteristics of creative essays:

1. Creativity

Creative writings serve as a creative outlet. It is recommended of writers to think creatively and to use original concepts and words to create a gripping story.

Creativity is the key to a great creative essay, whether it is rethinking a commonplace event or delving into a magical realm.

2. Emotional Impact

The capacity of a creative essay to arouse readers’ emotions is one of its distinguishing features. Writers have the ability to evoke strong feelings in their readers by using evocative language and poignant narratives.

Any emotion—happy, sad, fearful, nostalgic—can be evoked in readers by a well-written creative essay.

3. Unique Voice

Every writer has a distinct voice, and creative essays provide them a chance to show it out. Your work has a unique personality and style that come from your voice, which makes it stand out from other writing.

Your distinct writing style gives your creative essay depth and authenticity, whether you’re writing with wit, humor, or poignancy.

How Can You Write A Creative Essay Like A Pro

11 Creative Essay Topics

Advice Before Writing Creative Essay

To keep on track, it’s a good idea to fully understand the essay prompt before starting on your creative essay. Take some time to come up with several topics and ideas for your essay to make it stand out.

To properly arrange and structure your essay, create an outline of your ideas. To make your writing authentic, be true to your own voice and style. Lastly, carefully proofread and rewrite your essay to ensure its impact and clarity.

To sum up, the first steps in creating a creative essay are drawing the reader in with an attention-grabbing introduction and adhering to a flexible structure. Writing that is captivating and powerful can be achieved by adhering to your own voice and style.

Start a creative writing essay by grabbing attention with a strong opening, like a vivid description or an intriguing question.

The format of a creative essay can vary but typically includes an introduction, body paragraphs, and a conclusion.

Begin writing creative writing by brainstorming ideas, outlining your essay, and staying true to your unique voice and style.

A good creative writing essay is characterized by engaging storytelling, vivid imagery, and a strong emotional impact on the reader.

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How Can You Write a Creative Essay Like a Pro

Updated 30 Aug 2024

Writing a decent creative essay requires a lot of skill, talent, and diligence. It is a time-consuming job, but it becomes easy if you know how to do it right. If you really want to compose an excellent creative essay that is going to impress others, then you need to make sure that you are following the right steps. This kind of writing is a chance to speak your mind and tell people how you feel about a particular topic. So you have to know that you are using the right words to deliver the message. 

What Is a Creative Essay?

One of the first lessons that every student has learned is how to write a creative essay. It focuses on expressing the point of view of the author. It is the author’s chance to show their good command of the English language, their ability to express their opinion and to transform their feelings to facts. We decided to provide you with this article to help you do your creative essay in the best quality.

Understanding how to compose this type of essay is going to help you complete your assignment on time. It is different from other academic papers because you actually have more freedom to say what you think, so often this type of essay must have a lot of words, and you need to think up  how to add length to a paper . You will be ready to make people understand what you feel and how it links to other subjects, topics, and ideas. Good creative essays give students a chance to express their opinion in a safe environment. It is a good chance to develop their critical analysis skills and power of expression. This is why it is extremely important to be sure that you are doing well to finish your task, so it is of high quality. Also, your previous experience in writing process essays will be useful, because creative essays are filled with descriptions of different situations, facts, cases etc.

School, college, and university students are usually asked to submit this type of work. The complexity and length of this assignment will depend on the academic level and the nature of the topic. When students are asked to finish creative papers, they are given a chance to break free from the set structure and rigid frameworks. The student will usually have the freedom to compile a creative essay about any topic, create a plot, and characters in order to express their feelings and ideas. But that is not easy, and a lot of students might struggle with submitting an excellent piece of writing on time. 

How to Improve your Creativity? How to Write a Creative Essay Properly? Read now in our article!

Creative Essay Topics

Before you start working on the contents of your assignment, you need to choose the right topic. There are a lot of good creative essay topics that can serve as writing prompts for your upcoming assignment:

• Compose a creative essay about a past event in your life and how you can reflect on it at present.
• Creating a story about someone who woke up to find themselves able to rule the world and how their morals and ideas changed.
• Describing a person who has had a significant influence on your life. You can choose a public figure or someone you’ve known on a personal level.
• Talking about something that you can’t live without. It can be your favorite hobby or a device that you use daily.
• Imagine that you had the chance to choose a superpower. What would it be and would you do?
• What if you were chosen to go on an expedition that aims to start life on another planet? What would you pack from Planet Earth? What would you leave behind and why?
• You are a detective who is trying to solve a crime and find out that a loved one committed it. What would you do?
• Describe your earliest memory of learning about faith or justice. How did your beliefs change over the years?
• You woke up to find yourself in a parallel world where there are no boundaries between countries. Where are you going to go and why?
• Write a creative essay about the happiest or saddest day of your life.  

The list can go on forever. The professor usually asks you to link your essay to a subject course or topic that you are currently studying so that the whole thing makes sense. Doing the needed research will actually give your writing structure and help keep it relevant. Nevertheless, you are allowed to break free and talk about what you feel which is a great chance for people to understand who you really are. 

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Advice Before Writing Creative Essay

Writing an impressive creative essay is all about proper planning. As a matter of fact, the process starts long before you hold your pencil or sit down to your laptop. It is all about letting your imagination go wild and free, but you still need to follow some guidelines which show that you are on the right track. Browsing through various creative essays examples can provide you with a wealth of inspiration and different stylistic approaches. Here are a few things that you can do before you actually start writing:

• Feel confident that you’ve picked a relevant topic that you enjoy writing about. Creative essays let you a lot of freedom, but this can be a little bit confusing. You need to think about the topic that you’ve chosen to know that you have something to say about it.
• Think about your audience. Who are they? How can you keep them interested? This will help you choose the appropriate language to deliver the message. 
• Draw an outline for your creative essay. Having a plan or outline is useful because it can help you stay on track and minimize confusion. You should start by writing down notes that highlight the main idea, the protagonist, main characters, and the moral of the story. As you go on with your creative essay, you can check your plan to check that you haven’t deviated from the main idea.
• Take notes and write down your ideas. You should mention all good ideas even if they don’t make much sense at the time. We can advise practicing in classification essays, in which you can compare different topics and choose the best one. Once you start writing, you can combine more than one attractive idea.

Creative Ways to Write an Essay

Now that you know what a creative essay is, it is time to start working. Writing takes time and practice, so the more you practice, the better you will become. Here are some useful and effective tips that can help you get a good grade on an interesting creative essay:

• To make no doubt that your writing is successful, you need to start it off right . You have to grab the attention of readers from the minute they start reading. Your audience should be willing to know what will happen next and how things can turn out to be.
• Combine your creative essay ideas in a rough draft. Write your ideas down and don’t worry if they don’t make sense. You can exclude and refine them later on in the editing phase. 
• Read your draft and check that your ideas are stated in a chronological order that makes sense . Focus on the smooth transition that keeps your ideas clear, and your readers focused. 
• Explain who the protagonist is and what does he or she wants. Your audience will be interested in understanding who your characters are and what struggles they are going through.
• Describe the setting properly. Your audience will be more able to connect with the story if they can imagine a setting where the story takes place. Try to mention details that help the reader feel that they can see the scene you are trying to describe. 
• Using a metaphor or analogy is an excellent way to express your feelings and help the audience connect with words you are writing. 
• Don’t be scared to speak your mind. You can show the world who you are and tell your audience where you are coming from. Try to explore the topic from an unusual angle that your readers will find intriguing. 

Creative Essay Structure

Following the correct structure to build your essay is going to keep your writing coherent and exciting. The perfect creative essay is divided into three acts: the setup, the confrontation, and the resolution. 

The Setup or the Introduction

Involves introducing the main players and the situation that leads to main events in your creative essay. It could be the introduction of the central theme that you are talking about or mentioning the situation that you want your readers to get acquainted with. 

The Confrontation or the Body Paragraph

The main issue or struggles that the character goes through. It is a key problem or event in your writing, and it represents the real body of your creative essay. The resolution is the climax where the main problem is resolved. It is the conclusion where you can mention your opinion and what you think about the main struggle or issue. 

The Resolution or the Conclusion

The right way to finish your paper. You need to answer these central questions: who, where, when, what, and how. You should try to provide answers to all these questions throughout the essay so that your readers stay interested until the end. 

Most people think about writing the title of their essay after they are done. This is usually a good idea because by then, you would have a clear idea of what your writing is really about. Your title should be catchy but still intriguing as it shouldn’t reveal everything you want to say. It should keep your readers interested to read the rest of your essay. The other part that you should carefully work on is the conclusion. It sums up everything you’ve written so far and given you a final chance to express how you feel, share lessons you’ve learned or a message you want to send. It should be short and to the point. 

Advice after Writing Creative Essay

Writing creative essays is not that easy, but practice makes perfect. There are a few tips that can guide you to improve the quality of your writing. One of them is to keep on writing. The more you write, the better you will become. You will be able to develop your own style as an author and can experiment with new ideas that you want to share with readers. 

You should also read your essay after you are done. This allows you to edit, remove and rewrite while focusing on the main picture. Don’t get overwhelmed while writing or try to revise your work when it is not finished yet. Rereading your creative writing paper gives you a chance to check the tempo and pace of your paper to be confident that it is flowing smoothly. This is one way to ensure that your audience will not get bored while reading. 

You need to focus on using new words while describing details. Using a thesaurus to use unique words is a good idea to make the quality of your writing better. You should revise your work that it is free of grammar and spelling mistakes. Errors and mistakes can change the meaning of your sentences and will automatically lower the quality of your writing. You can also ask a friend or a family member to read it before submitting it. This will give you an insight into what people who understand you will think and feel after reading what you’ve written. 

What Can We Recommend?

Writing a high-quality creative essay is not everybody’s cup of tea. Nevertheless, you can get professional help online that impresses your audience. Today, you can ask for professional assistance and hire essay writers who is ready to improve your draft, provide you with high quality essay editing service, or even finish your creative essay on your behalf. 

Our creative writing services, EduBirdie, helps you submit excellent, creative, and original writing pieces regardless of the topic. If you lack the time or skills to finish your assignment the way you want, you need to contact us and pay to write an essay. We’ve got your back, and we will provide you with a creative essay that will turn heads. 

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Written by Paul Calderon

As a trained writer and an expert in book publishing and finalization, Paul knows how to engage readers in his text. As an author himself, Paul never misses a chance to write. Writing is his true passion as he explores technology, education, and entertainment among many popular subjects these days. His mentoring experience and skills of creative guidance make his writing accessible, clear, and fun to follow.

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27 Creative Writing Examples To Spark Your Imagination

With all the types of creative writing to choose from, it’s hard enough to focus on just one or two of your favorites. 

When it comes to writing your own examples, don’t be hard on yourself if you hit a wall.

We’ve all done it.

Sometimes, all you need is a generous supply of well-crafted and inspirational creative writing examples. 

Good thing you’re here!

For starters, let’s get clear on what creative writing is. 

What Is Creative Writing? 

How to start creative writing , 1. novels and novellas, 2. short stories and flash fiction, 3. twitter stories (140 char), 4. poetry or songs/lyrics, 5. scripts for plays, tv shows, and movies, 6. memoirs / autobiographical narratives, 7. speeches, 9. journalism / newspaper articles, 11. last wills and obituaries, 12. dating profiles and wanted ads, 13. greeting cards.

Knowing how to be a creative writer is impossible if you don’t know the purpose of creative writing and all the types of writing included. 

As you’ll see from the categories listed further on, the words “creative writing” contain multitudes: 

• Novels, novellas, short stories, flash fiction, microfiction, and even nanofiction;
• Poetry (traditional and free verse); 
• Screenplays (for theatrical stage performances, TV shows, and movies)
• Blog posts and feature articles in newspapers and magazines
• Memoirs and Testimonials
• Speeches and Essays
• And more—including dating profiles, obituaries, and letters to the editor. 

Read on to find some helpful examples of many of these types. Make a note of the ones that interest you most. 

Once you have some idea of what you want to write, how do you get started? 

Allow us to suggest some ideas that have worked for many of our readers and us: 

• Keep a daily journal to record and play with your ideas as they come; 
• Set aside a specific chunk of time every day (even 5 minutes) just for writing; 
• Use a timer to help you stick to your daily writing habit ; 
• You can also set word count goals, if you find that more motivating than time limits; 
• Read as much as you can of the kind of content you want to write; 
• Publish your work (on a blog), and get feedback from others. 

Now that you’ve got some ideas on how to begin let’s move on to our list of examples.  

Creative Writing Examples 

Read through the following examples to get ideas for your own writing. Make a note of anything that stands out for you. 

Inspiring novel-writing examples can come from the first paragraph of a well-loved novel (or novella), from the description on the back cover, or from anywhere in the story. 

From Circe by Madeline Miller

““Little by little I began to listen better: to the sap moving in the plants, to the blood in my veins. I learned to understand my own intention, to prune and to add, to feel where the power gathered and speak the right words to draw it to its height. That was the moment I lived for, when it all came clear at last and the spell could sing with its pure note, for me and me alone.”

From The Left Hand of Darkness by Ursula K. Le Guin: 

“‘I’ll make my report as if I told a story, for I was taught as a child on my homeworld that Truth is a matter of the imagination…. ” 

The shorter your story, the more vital it is for each word to earn its place.  Each sentence or phrase should be be necessary to your story’s message and impact. 

From “A Consumer’s Guide to Shopping with PTSD” by Katherine Robb

“‘“Do you know what she said to me at the condo meeting?” I say to the salesman. She said, “Listen, the political climate is so terrible right now I think we all have PTSD. You’re just the only one making such a big deal about it.”

“The salesman nods his jowly face and says, “That Brenda sounds like a real b***h.”’

From Interpreter of Maladies by Jhumpa Lahiri (collection of short stories)

“Something happened when the house was dark. They were able to talk to each other again.” (From ‘A Temporary Matter’)

Use the hashtag #VSS to find a generous sampling of short Twitter stories in 140 or fewer characters. Here are a few examples to get you started: 

From Chris Stocks on January 3rd, 2022 : 

“With the invention of efficient 3D-printable #solar panels & cheap storage batteries, the world was finally able to enjoy the benefits of limitless cheap green energy. Except in the UK. We’re still awaiting the invention of a device to harness the power of light drizzle.” #vss365 (Keyword: solar)

From TinyTalesbyRedsaid1 on January 2nd, 2022 : 

“A solar lamp would safely light our shack. But Mom says it’ll lure thieves. I squint at my homework by candlelight, longing for electricity.” #vss #vss365 #solar

If you’re looking for poetry or song-writing inspiration, you’ll find plenty of free examples online—including the two listed here: 

From “I’m Nobody! Who are you?” by Emily Dickinson

“I’m Nobody! Who are you?

Are you – Nobody – too?

Then there’s a pair of us!

Don’t tell! they’d advertise – you know!

“How dreary – to be – Somebody!

How public – like a Frog –

To tell one’s name – the livelong June –

To an admiring Bog!

From “Enemy” by Imagine Dragons

“I wake up to the sounds

Of the silence that allows

For my mind to run around

With my ear up to the ground

I’m searching to behold

The stories that are told

When my back is to the world

That was smiling when I turned

Tell you you’re the greatest

But once you turn they hate us….” 

If you enjoy writing dialogue and setting a scene, check out the following excerpts from two very different screenplays. Then jot down some notes for a screenplay (or scene) of your own.

From Mean Girls by Tina Fey (Based on the book, Queen Bees and Wannabes” by Rosalind Wiseman

“Karen: ‘So, if you’re from Africa, why are you white?’

“Gretchen: ‘Oh my god, Karen! You can’t just ask people why they’re white!’

“Regina: ‘Cady, could you give us some privacy for, like, one second?’

“Cady: ‘Sure.’

Cady makes eye contact with Janis and Damien as the Plastics confer.

“Regina (breaking huddle): ‘Okay, let me just say that we don’t do this a lot, so you should know that this is, like, a huge deal.’

“Gretchen: ‘We want to invite you to have lunch with us every day for the rest of the week.’ 

“Cady: ‘Oh, okay…’ 

“Gretchen: Great. So, we’ll see you tomorrow.’

“Karen: ‘On Tuesdays, we wear pink.’” 

#10: From The Matrix by Larry and Andy Wachowski

“NEO: ‘That was you on my computer?’

“NEO: ‘How did you do that?’

“TRINITY: ‘Right now, all I can tell you, is that you are in danger. I brought you here to warn you.’

“NEO: ‘Of what?’

“TRINITY: ‘They’re watching you, Neo.’

“NEO: ‘Who is?’

“TRINITY: ‘Please. Just listen. I know why you’re here, Neo. I know what you’ve been doing. I know why you hardly sleep, why you live alone and why, night after night, you sit at your computer. You’re looking for him.’

“Her body is against his; her lips very close to his ear.

“TRINITY: ‘I know because I was once looking for the same thing, but when he found me he told me I wasn’t really looking for him. I was looking for an answer.’

“There is a hypnotic quality to her voice and Neo feels the words, like a drug, seeping into him.

“TRINITY: ‘It’s the question that drives us, the question that brought you here. You know the question just as I did.’

“NEO: ‘What is the Matrix?’

Sharing stories from your life can be both cathartic for you and inspiring or instructive (or at least entertaining) for your readers. 

From The Year of Magical Thinking by Joan Didion

“It was in fact the ordinary nature of everything preceding the event that prevented me from truly believing it had happened, absorbing it, incorporating it, getting past it. I recognize now that there was nothing unusual in this: confronted with sudden disaster, we all focus on how unremarkable the circumstances were in which the unthinkable occurred: the clear blue sky from which the plane fell, the routine errand that ended on the shoulder with the car in flames, the swings where the children were playing as usual when the rattlesnake struck from the ivy. ‘He was on his way home from work—happy, successful, healthy—and then, gone,’ I read in the account of the psychiatric nurse whose husband was killed in a highway accident… ” 

From Angela’s Ashes by Frank McCourt: 

“When I look back on my childhood I wonder how I managed to survive at all. It was, of course, a miserable childhood: the happy childhood is hardly worth your while. Worse than the ordinary miserable childhood is the miserable Irish childhood, and worse yet is the miserable Irish Catholic childhood.”

From Call the Midwife: A True Story of the East End in the 1950s by Jennifer Worth: 

“Nonnatus House was situated in the heart of the London Docklands… The area was densely-populated and most families had lived there for generations, often not moving more than a street or two away from their birthplace. Family life was lived at close-quarters and children were brought up by a widely-extended family of aunts, grandparents, cousins, and older siblings. 

The purpose of most speeches is to inform, inspire, or persuade. Think of the last time you gave a speech of your own. How did you hook your listeners? 

From “Is Technology Making Us Smarter or Dumber?” by Rob Clowes (Persuasive)

“It is possible to imagine that human nature, the human intellect, emotions and feelings are completely independent of our technologies; that we are essentially ahistorical beings with one constant human nature that has remained the same throughout history or even pre-history? Sometimes evolutionary psychologists—those who believe human nature was fixed on the Pleistocene Savannah—talk this way. I think this is demonstrably wrong…. “

From “Make Good Art” by Neil Gaiman (Keynote Address for the University of Fine Arts, 2012):

“…First of all: When you start out on a career in the arts you have no idea what you are doing.”

“This is great. People who know what they are doing know the rules, and know what is possible and impossible. You do not. And you should not. The rules on what is possible and impossible in the arts were made by people who had not tested the bounds of the possible by going beyond them. And you can.”

“If you don’t know it’s impossible it’s easier to do. And because nobody’s done it before, they haven’t made up rules to stop anyone doing that again, yet.” 

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From “The Danger of a Single Story” by Chimamanda Ngozi Adichie (TEDGlobal)

“…I come from a conventional, middle-class Nigerian family. My father was a professor. My mother was an administrator. And so we had, as was the norm, live-in domestic help, who would often come from nearby rural villages. So, the year I turned eight, we got a new house boy. His name was Fide. The only thing my mother told us about him was that his family was very poor. My mother sent yams and rice, and our old clothes, to his family. And when I didn’t finish my dinner, my mother would say, “Finish your food! Don’t you know? People like Fide’s family have nothing.” So I felt enormous pity for Fide’s family.

“Then one Saturday, we went to his village to visit, and his mother showed us a beautifully patterned basket made of dyed raffia that his brother had made. I was startled. It had not occurred to me that anybody in his family could actually make something. All I had heard about them was how poor they were, so that it had become impossible for me to see them as anything else but poor. Their poverty was my single story of them.” 

Essays are about arguing a particular point of view and presenting credible support for it. Think about an issue that excites or angers you. What could you write to make your case for a specific argument? 

From “On Rules of Writing,” by Ursula K. Le Guin:

“Thanks to ‘show don’t tell,’ I find writers in my workshops who think exposition is wicked. They’re afraid to describe the world they’ve invented. (I make them read the first chapter of The Return of the Native , a description of a landscape, in which absolutely nothing happens until in the last paragraph a man is seen, from far away, walking along a road. If that won’t cure them nothing will.)” 

From “Fairy Tale is Form, Form is Fairy Tale ” by Kate Bernheimer (from The Writer’s Notebook) : 

“‘The pleasure of fairy tales,’ writes Swiss scholar Max Lüthi, ‘resides in their form.’ I find myself more and more devoted to the pleasure derived from form generally, and from the form of fairy tales specifically, and so I am eager to share what fairy-tale techniques have done for my writing and what they can do for yours. Fairy tales offer a path to rapture—the rapture of form—where the reader or writer finds a blissful and terrible home….  “

Picture yourself as a seasoned journalist brimming with ideas for your next piece. Or think of an article you’ve read that left you thinking, “Wow, they really went all out!” The following examples can inspire you to create front-page-worthy content of your own.

From “The Deadliest Jobs in America” by Christopher Cannon, Alex McIntyre and Adam Pearce (Bloomberg: May 13, 2015):

“The U.S. Department of Labor tracks how many people die at work, and why. The latest numbers were released in April and cover the last seven years through 2013. Some of the results may surprise you…. “

From “The Hunted” by Jeffrey Goldberg ( The Atlantic: March 29, 2010)

“… poachers continued to infiltrate the park, and to the Owenses they seemed more dangerous than ever. Word reached them that one band of commercial poachers had targeted them for assassination, blaming them for ruining their business. These threats—and the shooting of an elephant near their camp—provoked Mark to intensify his antipoaching activities. For some time, he had made regular night flights over the park, in search of meat-drying racks and the campfires of poachers; he would fly low, intentionally backfiring the plane and frightening away the hunters. Now he decided to escalate his efforts….. “

It doesn’t have to cost a thing to start a blog if you enjoy sharing your stories, ideas, and unique perspective with an online audience. What inspiration can you draw from the following examples?

#21: “How to Quit Your Job, Move to Paradise, and Get Paid to Change the World” by Jon Morrow of Smart Blogger (Problogger.com):

“After all, that’s the dream, right?

“Forget the mansions and limousines and other trappings of Hollywood-style wealth. Sure, it would be nice, but for the most part, we bloggers are simpler souls with much kinder dreams.

“We want to quit our jobs, spend more time with our families, and finally have time to write. We want the freedom to work when we want, where we want. We want our writing to help people, to inspire them, to change them from the inside out.

“It’s a modest dream, a dream that deserves to come true, and yet a part of you might be wondering…

“Will it?…. “

From “The Subtle Art of Not Giving a F*ck” (blog post) by Mark Manson :

Headline: “Most of us struggle throughout our lives by giving too many f*cks in situations where f*cks do not deserve to be given.”

“In my life, I have given a f*ck about many people and many things. I have also not given a f*ck about many people and many things. And those f*cks I have not given have made all the difference…. “

Whether you’re writing a tribute for a deceased celebrity or loved one, or you’re writing your own last will and testament, the following examples can help get you started. 

From an obituary for the actress Betty White (1922-2021) on Legacy.com: 

“Betty White was a beloved American actress who starred in “The Golden Girls” and “The Mary Tyler Moore Show.”

“Died: Friday, December 31, 2021

“Details of death: Died at her home in Los Angeles at the age of 99.

“A television fixture once known as the First Lady of Game Shows, White was blessed with a career that just wouldn’t quit — indeed, her fame only seemed to grow as she entered her 80s and 90s. By the time of her death, she was considered a national treasure, one of the best-loved and most trusted celebrities in Hollywood…. “ 

From a last will and testament using a template provided by LegalZoom.com : 

“I, Petra Schade, a resident of Minnesota in Sherburne County — being of sound mind and memory — do hereby make, publish, and declare this to be my last will and testament…

“At the time of executing this will, I am married to Kristopher Schade. The names of my (and Kristopher’s) four children are listed below…

“I hereby express my intent not to be buried in a cemetery. I ask that my remains be cremated and then scattered at the base of a tree.

“None will have any obligation to visit my remains or leave any kind of marker. I ask that my husband honor this request more than any supposed obligation to honor my corpse with a funeral or with any kind of religious ceremony.

“I ask, too, that my children honor me by taking advantage of opportunities to grow and nurture trees in their area and (if they like) beyond, without spending more than their household budgets can support…. “

Dating profiles and wanted ads are another fun way to flex your creative writing muscles. Imagine you or a friend is getting set up on a dating app. Or pretend you’re looking for a job, a roommate, or something else that could (potentially) make your life better. 

Example of dating profile: 

Headline: “Female 49-year-old writer/coder looking for good company”

“Just moved to the Twin Cities metro area, and with my job keeping me busy most of the time, I haven’t gotten out much and would like to meet a friend (and possibly more) who knows their way around and is great to talk to. I don’t have pets (though I like animals) — or allergies. And with my work schedule, I need to be home by 10 pm at the latest. That said, I’d like to get better acquainted with the area — with someone who can make the time spent exploring it even more rewarding.”  

Example of a wanted ad for a housekeeper: 

“Divorced mother of four (living with three of them half the time) is looking for a housekeeper who can tidy up my apartment (including the two bathrooms) once a week. Pay is $20 an hour, not including tips, for three hours a week on Friday mornings from 9 am to 12 pm. Please call or text me at ###-###-#### and let me know when we could meet to discuss the job.”

These come in so many different varieties, we won’t attempt to list them here, but we will provide one upbeat example. Use it as inspiration for a birthday message for someone you know—or to write yourself the kind of message you’d love to receive. 

Happy 50th Birthday card:  

“Happy Birthday, and congratulations on turning 50! I remember you telling me your 40s were better than your 30s, which were better than your 20s. Here’s to the best decade yet! I have no doubt you’ll make it memorable and cross some things off your bucket list before your 51st.

“You inspire and challenge me to keep learning, to work on my relationships, and to try new things. There’s no one I’d rather call my best friend on earth.” 

Now that you’ve looked through all 27 creative writing examples, which ones most closely resemble the kind of writing you enjoy? 

By that, we mean, do you enjoy both reading and creating it? Or do you save some types of creative writing just for reading—and different types for your own writing? You’re allowed to mix and match. Some types of creative writing provide inspiration for others. 

What kind of writing will you make time for today? 

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How to Write a Creative Essay: Step by Step Guide

By: Tasha Kolesnikova

Most students don’t typically associate essay writing with fun — but creative essays can often prove quite enjoyable. The nature of this type of paper means that you’re usually given a lot of freedom when it comes to choosing a topic and writing on it. These kinds of essays give you a chance to exercise your creative muscle. However, if you're not used to writing creative essays, it can be challenging.

What Is a Creative Essay?

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This article will explain how to write a creative writing essay that’s bound to impress your readers, walking you through every step in the process.

A creative essay is a style of writing in which the writer utilizes their creativity to develop and present a written work. This type of essay is not bound by rigid structure, format, or style.

You usually will have a considerable degree of freedom when it comes to choosing the subject for your creative essay. Your professor may give you a theme or category to focus on, but you have free reign when choosing your topic , so long as it falls within the set category.

While it’s nice to have the freedom to write about whatever you like that prospect can also be fairly daunting. Read on to find out about the various types of creative essays and some essential creative essay writing tips.

Creative Essays Structure

The next point to consider is the structure of a creative essay. While the emphasis of the assignment is on creativity and imagination, this doesn’t mean you can completely forego a solid structure.

Think about your favorite novel by your favorite author. Does it have a well-defined structure? A clear beginning, middle, and end? In all likelihood, it does, and so should your essay. So, take the time to compose a creative writing essay plan before getting started.

An introduction for a creative essay should accomplish several things. It should:

• ⚠️ Grab the reader’s attention.
• 🎯 Introduce your subject matter.
• 💡 Explain the significance of the topic at hand.

As you can see for yourself, the introduction of a creative essay isn’t altogether dissimilar from that of a discursive or analytical text, though you will use different techniques in either to achieve the desired results.

The introduction should provide your reader with all the context necessary for them to follow the rest of the text. You should also introduce any relevant figures who appear in your story and explain your relation to them.

The main body of the essay should form the bulk of your piece. In this section, you should develop the content of your introduction . This part of the essay is also known as the confrontation because it’s where you will usually have to discuss the problems you faced or obstacles you overcame.

For example, in an admission essay for a high-pressure job, you might talk about a time when you were put under extreme pressure but coped well with the situation. This will make up the main body of your essay.

Next is the third and final part of your creative essay: the conclusion. Whereas in an academic piece of writing you might indicate it’s the final paragraphs with phrases like, “ In conclusion, ” or “ To conclude, ” in creative essay writing you should omit such terms. Instead, you should demonstrate that you’ve reached the end of your text by answering any remaining questions and reflecting on the events recorded in your essay.

Depending on what you set out to accomplish, you might choose to leave your essay open-ended. In most cases, though, a decisive closing statement will ensure that your piece leaves a lasting impression on the reader.

When it comes to creativity, each student has one’s mindset, way of thinking, and ideas. But since it is still an academic assignment, you should use characteristics that are common for such essays, e.g.:

• ☑️ You need to combine fiction and objective facts in a free manner.
• ☑️ You provide any facts; ensure they are relevant and accurate. The creative essay doesn’t exclude profound research or thorough analysis.
• ☑️ You must share a significant experience, describing it creatively.
• ☑️ It is essential to use various methods to grab the audience’s attention from the very first paragraph.

When you’re writing an argumentative essay , your task is to develop powerful arguments. And when it comes to creative assignment, you need to play with the audience, with its imagination. You have a lot of space for experiments, and it makes everything a bit complicated.

Types of Creative Essays

When you have an academic assignment and want to get the best grade, you need to organize the whole process and simplify it for yourself. Each student has one’s talent, and different work approaches. For example, some people prefer to work in absolute silence and vice versa. Some students need a clear structure, and there are ones who feel confident in the chaos. During your studies, you will understand what you prefer and how you can make your writing process more comfortable.

The first thing you should devote to is the type of your essay. You already know that you need to develop a creative text, but it is not enough. There are several types with their characteristics to consider.

This type is much like novel writing, where the author discusses real or imaginary events. The critical point that distinguishes this type from other ones is that you have not to tell only but to show. At the prewriting stage, you need to develop a structure that consists of the plot, characters, central concepts, etc. To share your thoughts, you’ll add descriptive details demonstrating your lexicon.

Narrative essays tell short stories and interact with the audience’s imagination.

The admission essay has academic and practical meaning since you can use it to reach your goal. It goes about enrolling in an educational institution or program. For example, if you want to get a place at the MBA school, you need to write a letter to help you stand out among other candidates.

The purpose of this essay is to tell a story about yourself. About your background and qualities that make you a decent candidate. It is also important to mention the importance of this program. Why exactly have you chosen it? How can you use your knowledge and experience to contribute?

This type of essay has many similarities with the previous one, but there are some differences. When it comes to the admission essay, your target audience is the admission committee that decides your future. You write to them following their requirements. It means you should accentuate your life's particular events and the peculiarities of your personality.

But when it comes to the personal essay , you have more space for creativity. You may have a topic, but it is you who decide the direction of the piece. You can tell a story from your past, describe your perspective, share your ideas on important issues, etc.

The academic descriptive essay is focused on facts. Students conduct thorough research, analyze information, and present it in the required way. But the creative one needs another approach. You should find another way to describe the object.

What you need to do is to think out of the box. Define the object's key characteristics and try to share them with readers in an entertaining manner.

The lyric essay has a lot of similarities with the descriptive one, but with the focus on imagery. If you’re studying English or a foreign language, literature, art, or culture, you’ll deal with lyric assignments.

And to be fair, it can be challenging. You can’t just use tricky epithets since they don’t convey your ideas. It is essential to feel the topic deeply and even create a new imaginary world in your head that you will colorfully share in your text.

How to Start a Creative Writing Essay

Now it’s time to consider the writing process, starting with how to write a creative essay introduction.

When you’re thinking about how to do the introduction to your creative writing essay, there are a few key things to consider:

• Have you included a hook to grab your reader? To do this, make use of vivid descriptions and emotive language.
• Have you introduced the subject matter? That way, your audience knows what to expect going into your work.
• Have you explained why the topic is important and relevant? While you do want to place a focus on why the topic at hand is important to you, you also want to make sure it’s relevant to your reader, as well.

Here are a few short examples of how to start a creative essay.

Growing up near the sea, I always enjoyed going for an early evening walk down by the shore. It was not a beach, nor was it particularly warm, but it was quiet and secluded, with its craggy rocks lending the place a wild sort of air. One evening walk, in particular, has stuck with me through the years: on that night, I was almost trapped by the tide.

My life has not been without hardship. A fractured family life and a school career fraught with stress and anxiety made my early years a struggle, and one that took huge resilience to overcome. For years, I downplayed the impact of my parents’ divorce, on the basis that I had always been much better off than millions of children around the globe. Nevertheless, I've grown to embrace the fact that my life hasn't always been simple and, as a result, value my ability to bounce back from any setback.

Even to those new to mountain climbing, Ben Lomond is not an overly strenuous climb. The path that ambles up its gray, craggy slopes ascends slowly, gradually, steadily rising above rugged hills and the sparkling blue waters of Loch Lomond. On clear days, you can look out over the water, the sound of birdsong ringing in your ears. But even on foggy, rainy days—of which there are many in Scotland—the place holds an otherworldly beauty, with gauzy, pale mist nestled in the hills.

A creative essay format is less rigid than other formats. The style of your creative essay will be largely determined by your topic, rather than following a specific format.

A creative writing essay format is similar to the format of any other assignment you might write for university. You should have clear, distinct paragraphs, each treating a separate point. While you may be employing some poetic techniques or imagery for your assignment, you should still treat it as an essay.

If you include any quotes or facts in your piece, you will still be required to provide sources. Make sure that you know what citation style you’re expected to use so that you aren’t penalized for formatting your references incorrectly.

As mentioned above, you still have to think about structure when writing a creative essay. Therefore, making up a creative writing essay outline before you start writing can be a very useful exercise. It both helps ensure that you are clear on your goals before you start writing, and gives you a framework to reference once you’ve begun the drafting process.

The first step when working on creative writing essays is to decide on a topic. If you’re not sure what to choose, you might benefit from a brainstorming session, writing down all your thoughts and ideas.

Once you’ve decided what topic to write on, think about what events you could discuss that would illustrate your topic best. Consider what points you should include when introducing the topic, what the focus of the story should be, and what finishing points you’ll make in your conclusion.

When working on this sort of project, sometimes looking at creative writing essay examples can be beneficial.

Examples of Creative Essays

We’ve included a couple of short creative essay examples for you to refer to.

Useful Tips and Tricks

The vital thing you should know is that the A-grade is not random. It is a result of thorough and consistent work. You need to polish your skills all the time, even when you’re not writing. Read some tips from our experts that help them to keep their mastership.

If you want to create interesting stories that will own readers' attention, you need to develop "live" characters made from flesh and bones, not plastic. The only way that you can use to create such personages is to mine the traits of real people. You can find inspiration in a best friend, a fellow student, and even in a regular individual from the subway.

Like artists use models to paint pictures, you can use people around you to become a better writer. Watch them in order to create realistic personages and depict character development.

If you read the articles by famous writers, you will mention that they always have a notebook. You also need it to jot down any thoughts that spring to mind. You never know when the idea might strike. It is impossible to plan inspiration.

This notebook can be useful since some ideas can be useful right now, while others will come in handy a bit later. You’ll have many writing assignments during your studies, so try to make them more accessible.

The second important piece of advice is to read a lot. You can find interesting writing prompts anywhere, especially if you’re looking for them. Yes, it is not a mistake. If you want to write, you should read. And read everything: books, articles, short stories and novels, Facebook posts, and even manuals for electronics.

Reading various authors, you will understand how they differ, what their word choice is, and how they convey their thoughts in different circumstances and with different purposes.

If you write assignments all the time and don’t receive A-grades, it means you should change something. Ask your professor for advice: what can you improve? You may have some strengths, but it is not enough to focus on them. Get rid of the main mistakes first.

Whether you're a newbie or have some writing experience, a community of like-minded people with the same goals is a must. It will provide you with role models, supportive and critique feedback, new insights, and topics for discussions. You can organize writing classes, challenges , and meetings with creative writers. Such a writing community may help you to get rid of writer's block, and just have fun with new friends.

During the pandemic, you can organize meetings via Zoom or Skype, create Clubhouse rooms, etc. Share access to your texts on Google Docs or read them aloud to convey small nuances and emotions.

There are no versatile receipts as with academic writing because creativity essay example is not about rules and patterns. However, it doesn't mean that you should give up if you don't feel like a great author. Try as many techniques as you can to develop your style. Of course, you can’t adhere to it all the time since you need to meet the professor’s expectations. However, it is a good base for your writing skills.

Starting the blog is a good idea if you feel the need to share your point of view and interact with the audience. Treat it like your own startup: you have to research to analyze your target readers, try various topics, experiment with different types of creative writing, etc. You can create stories and share them with people, write about your life, comment on the latest news, etc. You'll see whether the world is ready to read your content, and your blog will provide you with news insights on future development. Moreover, you may find yourself in blogging and start a bright career.

Modern students are really lucky since they have the opportunity to learn from their favorite writers regardless of their age, location, or educational institution. For example, Margaret Atwood, the author of The Handmaid's Tale has her online course on the Masterclass platform. Stephen King also shares his tips with young writers, e.g., he advises writing at least 2000 words per day. You can sign up for the Creative Writing course on Coursera or The School of New York Times . Even Pixar has created its course about storytelling with short, animated tutorials.

So, whether you're pursuing the Master of fine arts or just want to write better, leverage creative writing programs to expand your knowledge.

It is normal if you don’t have the inspiration, mood, or energy to develop academic assignments. Writing is not about the work only; it is an art as well . If you don’t have enough experience, you may be confused with a busy workload when you always have to generate something new.

If you understand that you can’t meet the deadline and provide a decent result, hire a professional author who will help you with your assignment.

• W — W here, when, who, what, why . When you're writing the argumentative essay, you come up with a classic 3-paragraph structure that consists of the introduction, main body, and conclusion. Dissertations are more complicated , e.g., you need to include the abstract, the Discussion, and other sections. Though creative writing is pretty different, you need to structure it as well. Use 5 Ws to introduce the setting, characters, plot, some kind of reflection.
• R — R esearch . You don't write from your head only. Great writers spend months and years finding information for their pieces. Of course, you don't have to visit another continent right now or spend a week in a library, but you need some kind of research if you want to add plausibility to your writing. For example, if your character is a nurse, think about a volunteering internship to gain new knowledge and describe it later.
• I — I mages and Imagination . Though you use words, you have to paint with them so that your readers see your stories. It means you shouldn't write that your character is greedy, write that he has never spent more than $15 on clothes. Describing the appearance, use adjectives and metaphors so that it is easy to imagine the real person.
• T — T enacity . Don't think that you'll become a great creative writer at once. You should be ready for the challenging path with victories and defeats. Don't give up on first difficulties, and try to learn lessons from them. Whether you have a goal to get A-grades only, reach 1000 subscribers on your blog, or publish your story in the magazine, you need to develop an action plan and work hard to fulfill it.
• E — E mpathy . Of course, you have your own ambitions. But the chances are you'll become a successful writer are low if you focus on your goals only. It means you have to consider your audience to make your language clear and stories interesting for them. They should recognize themselves and their friends in your characters, they should know what conflicts you are writing about and feel some emotions you want them to feel.
• R — R eality . Writing creative nonfiction, you surely have to base it on real-life stories, statistics, studies, etc. But even creative fiction can be realistic. Moreover, it should be realistic. Remember the "Alice in Wonderland". It is about the fictional world where animals can speak (and this is not the strangest thing!), but this world is still plausible. Working on your characters, you should understand how they would act and what is absolutely impossible in your setting.
• S — S implicity . Simplicity is a king these days. Get rid of long and confusing sentences, odd words, and pompous phrases. The best stories are always simple. What is interesting, it is not that easy to write this way. Sometimes it takes more time to write a short but informative paragraph in plain English than to come up with an essay full of water. So, proofread your texts and make sure each word contributes to the main idea.

Creative Techniques You Can Use to Improve Your Essay

When you read some brilliant texts, you may think they are written from scratch, in one go. There are authors with talent from nature, and they can choose the right words and put them on a sheet in a way that attracts and mesmerizes readers. Honestly, it is not always about talent. In most cases, it is about the experience. If you want to impress the professor and develop your skills to become a great writer, you need to practice.

We want to provide you with 6 interesting techniques that will make your writing better. Use some of them, or try to experiment, combining different methods in the same project. One day, you’ll develop your style based on gained knowledge, insights, and experience.

Usually, even when you're writing a personal essay, you adhere to some rules and patterns, outline, think about its structure, etc. Your brain has certain neural connections that help you to use all the knowledge you have so far. Since they are pretty useful, sometimes they can limit you. That's where freewriting comes to the rescue.

It is a creative writing exercise when you don't have to plan your writing in advance. You just get rid of all distractors, take your pen, and start. Write down everything that comes to your mind: weather, your breakfast, your career plans, your doubts about the future novel, etc. Julia Cameron, a renowned author, and artist advises writing "morning pages" as soon as you wake up when your brain is not overloaded with the daily stuff.

Usually, papers are divided into three parts we have explained above. Start with the setup, proceed to the confrontation, and finish up with the resolution. If you’re not an experienced author, it is better to follow the exact structure and stay on track until you feel confident enough to change something in the traditional structure.

Before you start writing, try to practice. Read some essay samples, short stories, and novels, and define their three acts. You will see how other authors transit from one section to another, which words they use, and how they communicate with readers. Inspire by their approaches and try to implement them in your piece. Later, you’ll be able to come up with your literary structure and techniques.

If you want to get an A-grade, start your text with a bang. You need to make readers fall in love with your text from the very first sentences. That’s why the introduction sometimes takes even more time than the central part.

The opening depends on the topic and the particular genre of your text. For example, when it is an admission essay, you can start with a short description of your motivation. But writing a fiction story gives free rein to your fantasy and creativity. You can transport readers directly back to the midst of the action, describe the imaginary world, and so on. Try to keep an intrigue since people should be interested in the further development of events. Give a hint that you will reveal the plot and provide more significant detail in the text's body.

A metaphor is a significant literary technique that can be used in any form of writing. It is beneficial to create an image that will explain to your audience the points you’re trying to convey. Remember the extended metaphor from Shakespeare "It is the East, and Juliet is the sun!". There is no need to write that Juliet was beautiful when you can compare it to the sun. All readers have their associations with this star, and not in a geographical sense. So, they are confident that they know what Shakespeare means, even if the author had other intentions.

Use extended metaphors when you want readers to identify themselves with your piece. Find a decent analogy to share your thoughts and implement them in the text mindfully.

As with any other form of writing, you should define your target audience and consider it above all else. Of course, it is just an academic assignment, and you have a couple of days before the deadline, your main goal is the professor. Most likely, one has provided you with instructions, and you should meet these expectations. But if it comes to a creative project, it would be a great idea to conduct a little research and find information about your potential readers when you have enough time. You have to develop a deep understanding of who they are so you can pique their interest and hold it till the last word.

It is not so easy to write creatively after various dry academic assignments. If you focus solely on facts, you can’t attract a broad audience. Of course, it works perfectly for a research project, a scientific piece, or a case study, but it’s certainly not relevant for such disciplines as history, culture, art, English literature, etc. It is where details are of great importance.

For example, writing about a particular historical epoch, you can mention aspects of a traditional lifestyle and provide quotes from contemporaries and interesting archaeological evidence. Try to think deeper and make some conclusions from the information you have found. What can you say about people of that epoch according to the furniture and clothes they used? There are many pieces about their everyday life, but it would be more interesting to think of their characters, habits, feelings, etc.

The main secret of creative writing is to be creative. You should write sincerely, from your soul. Then your readers will believe you.

There are a lot of authors with published books. But some of them are great, while others are quite mediocre. If you want to join the first group, you need to develop not your writing skills only. Think about the energy and the passion you put in the text. If you don’t believe in your ideas, don’t share them yourself, your audience won’t feel it.

That’s why it is vital to choose topics that you like. It is not the most straightforward task since sometimes your professor instructs you with particular requirements you can’t ignore. But even in these cases, you need to find something that you can hook to.

A creative writing essay is an essay that uses creative writing techniques, but still has a basis in reality. Most creative essays are anecdotal in nature, told from the viewpoint of the writer.

Before you begin writing, you first need to choose a topic and outline your creative essay structure. Once that’s done, you can begin writing your first draft, after which you should revise as necessary until you have a final product you’re happy with. Also, don’t forget to include an attention-grabbing title!

There are four different types of creative writing you should make yourself familiar with. These are the expository form, the descriptive form, the narrative form, and the persuasive form.

Creating writing can undoubtedly prove a challenge, but those in possession of particular skills and qualities may find it easier than those who don’t. Such ones possess a talent for using language in an evocative way, can pay attention to the structure of a piece, and can find inspiration in just about anything.

There are seven common styles of writing you are likely to encounter in high school and beyond into college and university. They are narrative, persuasive, expository, reflective, personal, compare and contrast, and descriptive.

Creative writing is enjoyable because of the freedom it allows, but that freedom is part of what makes it so challenging as well, since it can make choosing a topic quite difficult. It can also be quite challenging to write in a way that is engaging to people, utilizing strong images, evocative words, and other creative essay writing techniques.

In the first few sentences of your creative essay, you should make it clear what the subject matter of your assignment is and why it matters to you. Make sure that you also include a hook to grab your reader’s attention from the start.

At the risk of sounding pretentious, each person on this planet is really nothing more than a collection of stories; learning the craft of creative writing allows us to do those stories justice. On a more practical level, studying creative writing can help you to learn an adaptable set of transferable skills, which can be applied to countless careers.

Creative writing delves into the imagination, exploring ideas in a poetic, descriptive medium. This can make it easier for others to engage in your work, as it helps to make it even more impactful and emotive.

At college and university, creative writing courses help you to develop a broad range of skills. Not only will you learn how to write creative prose for stories, narrative essays, and so on, but you’ll also be taught poetic techniques as well as screenwriting.

Reading can teach you about the craft and spark fresh ideas. Writing often is another wonderful tip. If you quit exercising, your creative brain won't get stronger.

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How to Write a Strong Creative Essay

An essay is a special type of written assignment that requires much more from the student than good research skills. The biggest component of successful essay writing is writing skills, and most people aren’t born with a set of skills that a professionally written essay requires. We acquire writing skills throughout our education, but what if you have an essay due in a couple of days and fear that your might lack creative writing skills?

This isn’t an uncommon situation at all – many students and newbie writers realize that putting their thoughts into words that will engage the audience and make up an interesting piece of writing isn’t the easiest thing in the world. However, there is also no need to become desperate, as we have some helpful tips to make your creative writing assignment easier and more successful.

What Is A Creative Essay?

So what exactly makes creative writing so different from anything else you’ll encounter in your life as a student and more challenging than any other assignment? A creative essay is a type of nonfiction writing, which means it should be based on real-life events. Unlike technical literature or journalistic pieces, creative essay doesn’t simply inform readers of an event or concept – it introduces the subject in a way that is fascinating and informative to the audience.

A creative essay writer can use different methods to convey their point of view: in many successful creative essays you will find as many literary devices as in a strong fiction piece. Depending on the purpose and the subject of the assignment, you may be asked to write a descriptive or narrative essay .

4 Features Of Creative Essay

There are several types of creative essays you may sooner or later encounter, but all truly creative nonfiction essays have these 4 features in common:

• The writer should base their writing on thorough research and analysis of the facts, which should then be interpreted for the story.
• A good creative essay combines facts with fiction in a manner that is both enlightening and entertaining to the readers.
• The writer employs various techniques to engage the audience starting from the very first sentence of the essay and keeps them interested until the last word.
• A creative essay needs to be based on a major, universal experience.

This is essentially everything you need to know about creative essay as a genre. If you want to know how to write a convincing creative essay, keep reading for some helpful tips!

How To Pick The Right College Creative Essay Topic

If you are free to choose your own topic for the next creative essay assignment, here are some ways to find the perfect topic for your writing exercise:

• Find a concept that greatly influenced your opinion and tell your audience about it;
• Imagine you have been assigned as a keynote speaker: what would you talk about?
• Describe your biggest talent and how it helped you navigate through life;
• Choose one historical event from the past that influenced you the most and talk about it;
• Who is the one historical figure you would like to talk to and why?
• Choose a viral video or some other piece of content everyone is familiar with and analyze it.

How To Write A Creative Essay

Working on any writing assignment and creative essay in particular requires a lot of effort from you, and in order to do the best job with creating a convincing piece of writing, there are some rules you need to follow. As soon as you have the topic for your essay, it is time to brainstorm some ideas. The best way to keep the ideas organized and connected to each other is to create a mind map, which will highlight the links between different concepts and points of your writing.

The next thing you need to do is conduct thorough research using every method available to you to gather as much evidence supporting your ideas as possible. You can use internet for doing the research, but don’t forget to properly reference your findings in the writing. When enough research was done, you can move on to creating the outline of your work. And don’t forget to design a powerful thesis , as it will serve as the base for the rest of the essay.

Creative Essay Structure

The structure of a typical creative essay isn’t different from the most traditional written assignment structure you likely worked with before. Your creative essay needs to have an introduction, at least three body paragraphs, and conclusion.

The introduction has to be powerful: view it as a way to grab attention of your readers and convince them to give your piece a more detailed look. The first sentence is especially important in this regard: you can use statistics, facts, quotes, or anecdotes as your hook. The final sentence of your introduction is a thesis statement – make sure to put some extra thought into it.

The next step in writing a creative essay is designing the body paragraphs. Each key point of your essay needs to be discussed in a separate paragraph. Start each paragraph with an opening sentence that explains what the readers are about to find out from the paragraph. Each point must be supported by strong evidence. You should also use smooth transitions between each paragraph to ensure a logical flow of the writing and showcase your excellent writing skills.

The conclusion is the finishing touch that also influences the success of your essay. Here you can once again state your thesis, briefly reintroduce the supporting ideas, and tell the audience why your work is significant.

Editing and Proofreading

Even the most skilled writers create several drafts of their work before showing it to the audience. Editing your essay may take some time, but it’s the best way to make sure your writing meets the highest standards. When reading and editing your work, pay attention even to the smallest details: correct the structure and flow of the essay if necessary.

Proofreading is another important aspect of essay writing. While proofreading your essay, you not only have to correct possible grammar and punctuation mistakes, but also ensure that your choice of words fits proper academic style. Of course, spelling mistakes have no place in a quality creative paper.

Writing a Creative Essay Title

The title of your creative essay is the first impression the reader gets of your work, so it’s super important not to take time and pay enough attention to coming up with a great title for the essay .

The title should be completely relevant to the subject and grab the reader’s attention from the first words. The most effective strategy for designing a winning title is taking the most essential idea of the essay and rewriting it to make it even more powerful and engaging.

Do You Need Help with Creative Essay?

These tips explain the nature of writing creative essay and give you some valuable insight into how to do a great job in this challenging task. But what if writing is simply not your forte? What if you have been looking for the ideal essay topic for days but still haven’t found one? What if there is simply not enough time and you already have several other important assignments?

Many students struggle with writing creative essays, but there is one simple solution that will help you improve your grades in the most effortless way possible! Let our professional writers create the essay for you, strictly following all the guidelines and requirements you provide. We have every tool and solution to deliver custom-written academic papers whenever you want, so don’t hesitate and get in touch with us to get the help you need .

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• 7 Techniques from Creative Writing You Can Use to Improve Your Essays

You wouldn’t have thought that essays have much in common with creative writing.

Creative writing, by definition, involves being ‘creative’: making things up, letting your imagination run wild. Essays are about being factual and objective, communicating ideas and arguments in the clearest way possible and attempting to enhance the reader’s knowledge, rather than their imagination. But while the literary devices and colourful tales we associate with creative writing are indeed out of place in an essay, these two very different kinds of writing actually have a few similarities. Above all, they’re both meant to be read by other people, and that means that they need to sustain the reader’s interest. So, are there any writing techniques you can borrow from creative writing to help make your essays more interesting and original? Yes there are, and in this article, we’re going to show you how. Before we start, if you’re interested in attending a summer school to help develop these skills, click the link.

1. Think about your reader

With creative writing, as with any kind of writing, your reader is your most important consideration. You need to know and understand whom you’re writing for if you’re to do a good job of keeping them interested. Let’s think for a moment about the kind of person you’re writing for when you’re writing an essay and what you need to do to write specifically for them:

• Teachers or university lecturers – they’re going to be marking your essay, so it needs to answer the question effectively.
• They’ve set the question and they probably have a pretty good idea of how you’re going to answer it – so be original and unpredictable; catch them by surprise with an unusual approach or structure.
• They’re going to be reading many other responses to the same question – so they may well be bored by the time they get to yours. Keep them interested!
• They’re probably going to be pressed for time – so they won’t have time to reread badly written passages to try to understand what you’re getting at. Keep your writing easy to read, succinct and to the point.

What all these points boil down to is the importance of keeping your reader interested in what you have to say. Since creative writing is all about holding the reader’s interest, there must be some lessons to be learned from it and techniques that can be applied within the more limited style constraints of the academic essay. We’ll now turn to what these are.

2. Three-act structure

The three-act structure is a writing device used extensively in modern writing, including for film and television dramas. These ‘acts’ aren’t as distinct as acts in a play, as one follows seamlessly on from another and the audience wouldn’t consciously realise that one act had ended and another began. The structure refers to a plotline that looks something like this:

• Set-up – establishes the characters, how they relate to each other, and the world they inhabit. Within this first ‘act’, a dramatic occurrence called an ‘inciting incident’ takes place (typically around 19 minutes into a film) involving the principal character. They try to deal with it, but this results in another dramatic occurrence called a ‘turning point’. This sets the scene for the rest of the story.
• Confrontation – the turning point in the previous ‘act’ becomes the central problem, which the main character attempts to resolve – usually with plenty of adversity thrown their way that hampers their efforts. In a murder mystery, for example, this act would involve the detective trying to solve the murder. The central character – with the help of supporting characters – undergoes a journey and develops their knowledge, skills or character to a sufficient degree to be able to overcome the problem.
• Resolution – the climax of the story, in which the drama reaches a peak, the problem is overcome, and loose ends are tied up.

This structure sounds all very well for made-up stories, but what has it got to do with essay-writing? The key similarities here are:

• The central argument of your essay is the equivalent of the main character.
• The essay equivalent of the set-up and resolution are the introduction and conclusion.
• The inciting incident in an essay encourages you to get to the point early on in the essay.
• The equivalent of character development in the second act is developing your argument.
• The equivalent of the supporting characters is the evidence you refer to in your essay.

So, applying the three-act structure to an essay gives you something like this:

• Set-up – the introduction. This establishes what you’re talking about, setting the scene. The ‘inciting incident’ could be the introduction of evidence that contradicts a common theory, or the highlighting of a central disagreement in how something is interpreted.
• Confrontation – you discuss the different problems surrounding the topic you’re writing about. You develop the argument using various bits of evidence, moving towards an overall conclusion.
• Resolution – the conclusion. You summarise and resolve the argument with your own opinion, by coming down on one side or the other, having weighed up the evidence you’ve discussed. You could perhaps tie up loose ends by offering an alternative explanation for evidence that doesn’t sit with your conclusion.

Using this structure keeps you focused on the central point, and stops you from waffling, because everything you write is working towards resolving your argument. The use of the inciting incident in the first ‘act’ encourages you to get to the point early on in your essay, thereby keeping the reader interested. The principles of good plot-writing are centred around the connection between different events that show cause and effect, and this central tenet of the three-act structure has obvious parallels with the way in which essays work through presenting evidence in support of arguments.

3. An attention-grabbing opening

An oft-spouted piece of advice in creative writing is to use an attention-grabbing opening. One way of doing this is to start with a ‘flashback’, which could disrupt the chronology of events by transporting the reader directly back to the midst of the action, so that the story begins with maximum excitement. In a murder mystery, for instance, the writer might skip a slow build-up and instead use the murder itself to form the opening of the novel, with the rest of the story charting the efforts of the detective to uncover the perpetrator and perhaps telling the events prior to the murder in a series of flashbacks. The same principle can be applied to essays, though it’s easier to use in some subjects than others. To take an example, let’s say you were writing about how the First World War started. Rather than building up slowly with the various factors, an attention-grabbing opening could (briefly) describe the drama of the Battle of the Somme, perhaps citing some statistics about the number of men involved and killed, and quoting some war poetry about the horrors faced by the soldiers on the Front Line. Then, to introduce the purpose of the essay and launch into your argument about what started the war, a phrase such as, “It seems hard to imagine that all this began with…”. Alternatively, a rhetorical question: “But how did these tens of thousands of soldiers end up in the mud and horror of trench warfare? The story begins several years earlier, with…” It may not be the standard way of writing an essay, but you’ll certainly score points for originality and perhaps ruffle a few feathers.

4. Extended metaphors

Creative writing often makes use of extended metaphors. For example, when Shakespeare wrote the passage in Romeo and Juliet referring to “It is the East, and Juliet is the sun!” he was using an extended metaphor. With this in mind, it’s time to revisit a point we made in a previous article about writing more original essays , in which we argued that, rather than battling on with trying to explain a complex concept in a straightforward way, it might be easier to use an analogy to convey the meaning by drawing comparisons, which people find easier to understand. A metaphor is a kind of analogy, so the similarities with creative writing are strong here. In our previous article we used the example of radioactive decay. An analogy for this is the pressure with which water escapes from a hole in a bucket. It does so exponentially, just as radioactive substances decay exponentially. In both instances, the rate of a consumptive process depends on how much there is left of whatever is being depleted, which results in an exponential rate of decay. This concept is so much easier to explain using the analogy of water flowing from a hole in a bucket, as you give your reader something familiar to visualise in order to explain a concept with which they are unfamiliar.

5. Interesting details about setting and location

Another way of keeping your reader interested is to bring your essay to life with details about setting and location, just as creative writers do. Essays can become quite dry if you focus solely on the academic problems, but you can make them more interesting by peppering them with details. This may not work quite so well for a scientific essay, but it’s certainly relevant for some humanities subjects, in particular English literature, history and archaeology. For example, an essay about the Roman emperor Augustus could mention that he lived a famously modest lifestyle, quoting details from Roman writers and archaeological evidence that support this: Suetonius mentions his “low bed” (interesting because of what it says about accepted standards of Roman beds!) and coarse bread and cheese diet, and the relatively small and non-lavish remains of his house on the Palatine Hill in Rome back up the idea of his having lived a modest life. Incidental details like these can actually prove to be more significant than you initially realise, and you can use them to build your argument; in the case of Augustus, for example, his modest lifestyle is particularly important when seen in the context of Rome’s troubled history with kings. As he gradually acquired more power and became Rome’s first emperor, he had to avoid coming across as being too ‘regal’, and the little details we know about his way of life are significant in light of this. So, not only have you brought your essay to life, but you’ve raised an interesting point, too.

Few writers get it right first time. Once you’ve written a first draft, read through it and think about whether the order of your points is optimal and whether what you’ve written actually makes sense. It’s easy in the age of computers to chop and change – you can simply copy and paste part of your essay into another part where it might fit better, and then make minor changes to your wording so that it flows. After you’ve finished editing, have a final read through and check that you’re happy with the wording. Don’t forget to proofread to ensure that your spelling and grammar is impeccable!

7. And finally… record your ideas

Creative writers swear by having a notebook with them at all times, ready to jot down any ideas that suddenly spring to mind. You can adopt the same principle for your essay-writing, because you never know when the inspiration might strike. Have a think about your essay topic when you’re out and about; you’d be surprised what occurs to you when you’re away from your normal place of study. As you can see, there are more similarities between two apparently unrelated kinds of writing than you might have realised. It is, of course, possible to go too far with the creative writing idea when you’re essay-writing: literary devices aren’t always appropriate, and your essay still needs to retain objectivity and conform to the more formal conventions of academic writing. But there are certainly techniques to be borrowed from creative writing that will help your essays stand out from the crowd and give your teacher or lecturer a welcome break from the monotony of essay-marking.

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100 Creative Essay Topics

An amazing number of writers look for the best creative writing prompts on a daily basis. These could be college students who were asked to write a fictional or narrative essay, published authors looking for their next big idea, or young people who want to explore something inspiring in their future work. Creativity is everything, and the success of any venture depends on the topic you’ve chosen. In 2020, many popular prompts have lost their novelty.

Usual stories about the journey that turned into disaster when you got lost and your things were all stolen, a secretary falling in love with her boss, a ghost-hunting adventure — this is no longer as interesting topic as it was ten years ago. Now, people look for newer and fresher ideas, but the logical question occurs: where to find them? Regardless of why you need creative prompts, we’re prepared to share some of them!

In Search of Creative Essay Topic: Best Tips

Let’s imagine that you’re writing a creative story or an essay. All you need is to trigger your inspiration, but what if today, your fantasy decided to take a break? No worries: there are some tips that could be useful if you’re stuck with picking topics:

• Brainstorm with your friends or family.  Thinking by yourself could be great, but if it doesn’t work, use someone else’s input. Meet up with friends or classmates and bounce topic ideas back and forth between each other. Maybe one of them will offer stunning creative writing ideas you could use.
• Play a game.  Close your eyes. Walk somewhere carefully, turn around a couple of times, then open your eyes and look around. Choose the first thing or person and create topic or essay idea around it. Beginners could face some difficulties at first, but the main thing is practice! After several awkward stories, your skill level will increase.
• Look through online lists.  There are many cool topics you could find online. People have developed lists specifically to satisfy writers’ needs, so check some of them out in our list just below.

100 Unique Creative Essay Prompts

We prepared 100 different topic examples for your future essay. Read through them all or sort them by category — maybe you’ll find something truly inspiring.

Extended Creative Essay Topics on Social Issues

Small tragedies are everywhere, wherever we look. A woman who smiles tiredly could be barely holding back her tears. A running girl is trying to make it home in time to protect her brother from their drunk uncle. Here are some similar ideas.

• Addiction : Daughter took her mother to live with her, but it turned out that the woman has serious psychological issues. She’s addicted to alcohol and she keeps bringing rubbish from streets into her room. The story of love and pain ensue.
• Euthanasia : Person is dying slowly and they ask their nurse for euthanasia. The laws forbid it, though, and the nurse is getting more and more torn about letting the patient suffer or following the law.
• World Chaos : Due to the deadly virus that spread all over the planet, no medicine is available. Character struggles with accepting the idea of this new world and its cruel rules.
• Bullying : The bullied girl gets fed up with the world around her, so she takes actions to ensure that nothing and no one can ever hurt her again.
• Kindness : The lonely woman has more money than she could ever spend. She decides that doing kind things is the only validation she can find, so she starts trying to make all people she meets happy.
• Gossip : Two young men dream about taking part in a reality show, but when it happens, they understand how many ugly lies are beneath it.
• Stalking : Man is being stalked by a woman, but no one takes him seriously… until it is too late.
• Indifference : A bird is lying in a puddle, dying, as people pass by with no care. Then, a girl notices it, and she takes it home to nurse it back to health.
• Discrimination : Young girl thinks she is aromantic and asexual, but her family and friends are all convinced that she just hasn’t found the right person yet.
• Harassment : Old but enthusiastic employee starts a new job, and he doesn’t understand why his boss hates him & tries to humiliate him at every turn… until he suddenly remembers about their shared past.

Creative Fantasy Essay Ideas

Some of the best creative writing assignments fall into fantasy category.

• World Peace : Something happened that resulted in peace all over the world. People are happy, animals are healthy, and there is no anger or hatred left. But something is not right, and slowly, unexpected problems begin to emerge.
• Prophesies : A woman named Julia desperately wants to become the president. She learns of the prophecy claiming that her country will be saved by the woman, but the problem is, the prophecy woman’s name is Hannah. Determined to make herself fit, Julia officially changes her name.
• Reincarnation : Two people in love keep being reborn. One of them remembers everything, but another one remains ignorant.
• Soulmates : People dream about their soulmates even before they meet them. Character A meets Character B, but while A is happy, B prefers to ignore him.
• World End : Terrible monsters are crawling all over the planet. The man not interested in survival survives, but when he is saddled with an orphaned child, his life suddenly gains new meaning.
• Time of Death : People know how soon they’ll die from the moment of their birth. Some of them accept it; others fight it.
• Secrets Exposed : Woman can tell people’s secrets just by looking at them. Sometimes it’s a blessing; other times, it is a curse.
• Divine Punishment:  Psychopath loses one of his senses every time he acts on his dark impulses.
• Forever and Ever : Character lives forever. At first, it was exciting, but now it is weighing heavily on them.
• Predictions : Whatever prediction this person makes, it comes true. Can they resist such terrible power?

Fiction Topics

How about creative writing topics in the genre of monster hunting or dark romance? Many writers find it fascinating because of the challenge involved. Here are some good prompts.

• Serial Killer : After hunting numerous victims down, a killer is stopped short by a red-haired girl he sees. He begins to stalk her, and in this process, he falls in love.
• Beloved Pet : Imagine you’re a pet living in the family who loves and coddles you. How does that feel?
• Unhealthy Relationship : Two narcissists hurt each other, and yet they can’t live without each other.
• Complex Relationship : Character A destroyed the life of Character B’s parents. Years later, they fall in love.
• Age Difference : Being in love with someone older hurts.
• Social Difference : He is rich, she is not. He’s ready to ignore the difference, but she isn’t.
• Taboo : An orphaned boy is adopted by new doting guardian, yet the feelings he develops for them are far from appropriate.
• Abduction : Two girls are abducted during New Year. They don’t know why they were taken, but gradually, they realize that they have a chance to start the whole new life.
• Unexpected Bonding : Two students are stuck in detention for fighting each other. But feelings start growing before they know it.
• Beauty : She was the definition of beauty, yet the more she loved, the more her beauty was destroyed.
• Toys : Child is sure her toys are dancing at night.
• In a Movie : Boy falls into the universe of his favorite movie.
• Rocks : You’re the rock that existed for centuries. What do you see?
• Speaking with animals:  The day you started understanding your pet.
• Love Hurts:  It causes physical pain.

Creative Journal Prompts for Essays

Basing your ideas on notes in journals is both creative and realistic.

• Character lost in the forest is trying to survive by writing.
• A journal is found on an empty island.
• From first love to disillusionment.
• Watching seasons change.
• Saving up for an expensive purchase.
• An imagined year of life day by day.
• Message to your future self.
• Description of nightmares.
• Every message sent to you on Facebook.
• Observing your love interest.
• Describing every hobby you ever had.
• Finding yourself in the past & writing about it.
• 5 awkward speeches.
• Watching your child grow.
• List what you’d buy if you had a million dollars.

Creative Humor Essays Topics

If you have great humor, take a look at these fun creative writing prompts.

• Write a tragedy made of random sentences from your online messages.
• Meeting your real muse: awkwardness ensues.
• Hiding your golden finger from everyone to avoid turning them into gold.
• Love letter for the first person you see.
• Meeting TV character.
• Interview that goes very wrong.
• The most shameful moment from your life.
• Stealing a painting & finding out it’s a copy.
• Being accidentally turned into a Barbie.
• Write short story where every word starts with the same letter.

Creative Essays Topics About Death

Death is painful, but it gives birth to many ideas for creative writing. Your essay will be engaging with these topics:

• Losing the loved one never gets easier.
• Keeping ashes of the deceased beloved close.
• Characters realize they are doomed to die every day.
• Character is preparing to commit suicide and is saying goodbye to family.
• A bloodthirsty creatures entices people to kill themselves.
• Speech on the grandfather’s funeral.
• Living in an empty apartment where happy voices of a family can still be heard.
• Every loss feels like dying: family, friends, pets.
• Character embraces death and cries happy tears upon being reunited with people they loved.
• Character gets tired of living and tries to die & discovers they are immortal.

Health and Medicine

Healthcare could be a category with lots of creative writing prompts for adults. Nail your essay with one of this topics.

• OCD woman tries to make sense of her life.
• Man with amnesia starts each day as a new life.
• A ghost haunts the hospital for a decade and observes what they see.
• Each time this girl recovers from panic attack, she feels like she was reborn.
• Create unique disease for your character & describe their life.
• Narrator reflects whether it’s better to live with pain or not live at all.
• A surgeon describes her surgeries & acknowledges she needs nothing else.
• A paranoid patient is convinced he’s dying and refuses to listen to doctors.
• The blind person seeing colors for the first time.
• Person fears being kidnapped & looks for poison just in case.

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Creative Essays Ideas About Dreams

Our dreams are a mix of reality and fantasy. These writing prompts for creative writing reflect it.

• Mother dreams of reuniting with her missing child. Years later, her dreams is realized.
• What you dreamed about yesterday will come true tomorrow.
• Contacting people through dreams.
• As soon as you have a dream, you know the opposite will happen in reality.
• A killer learned how to kill people via dreams.
• A person’s biggest dream is about realizing what their dream is.
• Having dreams costs money. Who will agree to have them?
• Only people who share dreams are allowed to get married.
• Life is fair: happy people only have nightmares while unhappy people have happy dreams.
• Cure against dreams: who would take it?

Creative Education Topics

A million creative writing essays topics could be based on education.

• Story of how time in college was the happiest in one’s life.
• A bully falling in love with their victim and trying to earn their forgiveness.
• What character sacrificed in order to afford tuition.
• After all she has been through, she finally got into the university of her dreams… and she hates it.
• A heartbreaking choice between working & studying.
• A teacher saying to a successful student: “I haven’t graduated with honors, so you won’t either.”
• School and I: it was hatred from the first sight.
• The time I fell asleep during my lesson.
• Having a crush on your teacher & coming to realize why it’s wrong.
• You are the director at made-up university: how would it look like?

Have Fun Writing With Creative College Essay Topics

If you’re having a bad day and cannot summon even a spark of creativity, we’re here to help you! Use an idea we offered above — just give it a good title. If you like it, then it is all that matters — you’ve already crossed half of the way toward absolute success. In case having a prompt is not enough and you still feel no inspiration, you could always leave it to us. 

We have amazing specialists whose creativity knows no boundaries: they could write a short fictional story, craft a quirky essay, or develop some personalized creative prompts for you. Share your request with us, supply us with all details, and we’ll make sure to fulfill every one of them. There is nothing wrong with asking for help, and we are always happy to provide it.

Can’t come up with a topic for you paper? We’ve prepared a collection of essay topics for you

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WEEKLY WRITING PROMPTS

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Creative Writing Prompts

When the idea to start a weekly newsletter with writing inspiration first came to us, we decided that we wanted to do more than provide people with topics to write about. We wanted to try and help authors form a regular writing habit and also give them a place to proudly display their work. So we started the weekly Creative Writing Prompts newsletter. Since then, Prompts has grown to a community of more than 450,000 authors, complete with its own literary magazine, Prompted .  

Here's how our contest works: every Friday, we send out a newsletter containing five creative writing prompts. Each week, the story ideas center around a different theme. Authors then have one week — until the following Friday — to submit a short story based on one of our prompts. A winner is picked each week to win $250 and is highlighted on our Reedsy Prompts page.

Interested in participating in our short story contest? Sign up here for more information! Or you can check out our full Terms of Use and our FAQ page .

Why we love creative writing prompts

If you've ever sat in front of a computer or notebook and felt the urge to start creating worlds, characters, and storylines — all the while finding yourself unable to do so — then you've met the author's age-old foe: writer's block. There's nothing more frustrating than finding the time but not the words to be creative. Enter our directory! If you're ready to kick writer's block to the curb and finally get started on your short story or novel, these unique story ideas might just be your ticket.

This list of 1800+ creative writing prompts has been created by the Reedsy team to help you develop a rock-solid writing routine. As all aspiring authors know, this is the #1 challenge — and solution! — for reaching your literary goals. Feel free to filter through different genres, which include...

Dramatic — If you want to make people laugh and cry within the same story, this might be your genre.

Funny — Whether satire or slapstick, this is an opportunity to write with your funny bone.

Romance — One of the most popular commercial genres out there. Check out these story ideas out if you love writing about love.

Fantasy — The beauty of this genre is that the possibilities are as endless as your imagination.

Dystopian – Explore the shadowy side of human nature and contemporary technology in dark speculative fiction.

Mystery — From whodunnits to cozy mysteries, it's time to bring out your inner detective.

Thriller and Suspense — There's nothing like a page-turner that elicits a gasp of surprise at the end.

High School — Encourage teens to let their imaginations run free.

Want to submit your own story ideas to help inspire fellow writers? Send them to us here.

After you find the perfect story idea

Finding inspiration is just one piece of the puzzle. Next, you need to refine your craft skills — and then display them to the world. We've worked hard to create resources that help you do just that! Check them out:

• How to Write a Short Story That Gets Published — a free, ten-day course by Laura Mae Isaacman, a full-time editor who runs a book editing company in Brooklyn.
• Best Literary Magazines of 2023 — a directory of 100+ reputable magazines that accept unsolicited submissions.
• Writing Contests in 2023 — the finest contests of 2021 for fiction and non-fiction authors of short stories, poetry, essays, and more.

Beyond creative writing prompts: how to build a writing routine

While writing prompts are a great tactic to spark your creative sessions, a writer generally needs a couple more tools in their toolbelt when it comes to developing a rock-solid writing routine . To that end, here are a few more additional tips for incorporating your craft into your everyday life.

• NNWT. Or, as book coach Kevin Johns calls it , “Non-Negotiable Writing Time.” This time should be scheduled into your routine, whether that’s once a day or once a week. Treat it as a serious commitment, and don’t schedule anything else during your NNWT unless it’s absolutely necessary.
• Set word count goals. And make them realistic! Don’t start out with lofty goals you’re unlikely to achieve. Give some thought to how many words you think you can write a week, and start there. If you find you’re hitting your weekly or daily goals easily, keep upping the stakes as your craft time becomes more ingrained in your routine.
• Talk to friends and family about the project you’re working on. Doing so means that those close to you are likely to check in about the status of your piece — which in turn keeps you more accountable.

Arm yourself against writer’s block. Writer’s block will inevitably come, no matter how much story ideas initially inspire you. So it’s best to be prepared with tips and tricks you can use to keep yourself on track before the block hits. You can find 20 solid tips here — including how to establish a relationship with your inner critic and apps that can help you defeat procrastination or lack of motivation.

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Improve Essays with Creative Writing Techniques

Last updated: 5th september 2024.

Rhys Mackenzie

10 creative writing techniques to improve your essays.

Want to improve your essay writing? Take notes of these 10 different creative writing tips to ensure your next assignment stands out against the rest.

1. Freewriting

In the first stages of your writing; whether it be essays or fiction, it’s always a good idea to sit down and brainstorm any initial ideas. In particular, freewriting is a popular creative writing technique used by lots of artists to help them begin to think and brainstorm their ideas.

Freewriting was developed by Peter Elbow in 1973, and similar to brainstorming, encourages the writer to keep writing without stopping. Writers are encouraged to write down every idea they can think of (no matter how wrong or irrelevant it may be – you can judge this later) and do so without worrying about grammar or spelling.

In turn, it’s believed that freewriting helps to:

• Increase the flow of ideas – reducing the chance of forgetting to include a good one.
• Helps to increase fluency when writing for longer periods of time.

For essays, this could involve writing the question in the middle of a piece of paper and then mind-mapping any thoughts or ideas that come to mind. This mind map can include literally anything that you can think of that’s relevant to your essay; from what types of questions you may need to cover in your essay, to previous pieces of text you’ve read that may be useful as evidence.

You don’t want to spend too much time on this section, after all – it is just an initial brainstorm. So, set yourself a timer for ten minutes, plug in your favourite playlist, and let the ideas flow naturally.

Using this creative essay writing technique will really help you to gather some initial ideas on what your essay might explore, and will get you ‘in the zone’ to begin your research and planning.

2. Create a Storyboard/Outline

Once you’ve gathered your initial thoughts on your essay topic, you’re going to want to start formulating them into a plan of how to tackle your assignment. After all, there’s nothing worse than sitting down in front of your computer and thinking “So, where do I go from here?”

Before it comes to putting pen to paper, creative writers always produce an outline of what direction their story is going to take and what it is they want their writing to say. For essays, it should be no different.

Storyboards are an excellent creative writing technique to help writers prepare narratives, either with a brief story outlining the plot diagram (or in this case, the ‘plot’ of your essay), or with an extended illustration of the story, broken into ‘frames’ (or in your case, into paragraphs).

Though it does not need to be long, you should still create a basic outline which includes; the introduction/the thesis, and the main points you want to discuss, followed by the conclusion that draws it all together and summarizes an answer to the thesis. Remember to include any evidence you may need to use to back up your points. Ultimately, as long as it’s clear and makes sense to you, it doesn’t matter how you go about creating your essay outline.

3. Think About Your Reader, Constantly

When it comes to writing, you must always bear your reader in mind. You need to have a clear understanding of who will be reading your essay and how you can write in a way that will hold their attention throughout it.

Creative writers, spend a lot of editing time to ensure that their writing is as engaging as it can be, often including lots of intricate details and additional snippets of information to enrich the story.

Although essay writing is usually limited by strict word counts and the genre in which you are writing, you should still make way for plenty of editing time during the writing process so you can make your essay as engaging as possible.

If you are writing an essay for a teacher who has set you the question, then they probably have at least another 15 or 20 essays to read in the marking process. Though it’s important for you to still include the obvious, it’s a good idea to try and be original in your writing – perhaps trying a new structure, or including arguments from lesser-known but still relevant thinkers and writers which may spark the reader’s interest.

Use a combination of different sentence starters and structures to keep your writing fresh and interesting. Good flow is critical to making your essay easy to read – so check this too as you’re editing through your writing. You want to create a fine balance between using new sentence starters and making your essay difficult to read.

4. Live Within Your Writing

Any great writer will tell you that the secret to their success is by living amongst their writing. Okay, not literally – but by knowing every minute detail that goes on within the realm of their story.

For example – they may be writing a short story about a knight who is on a conquest to rescue a princess from a tower. However, if you asked the writer what that character ate for breakfast, or what time they went to bed the previous night, they’d be able to give you an answer because they know their characters so well.

This should be no different from your essay writing. Make sure you know and understand every detail of your essay, and, if you have the room, expand on it within the body of your text.

These details can be anything from interesting facts about any Literature or writers you’re critically reviewing, to unique details about theories to demonstrate your reading around the subject. Remember, the more you can convince the reader that you are a master of your topic, the easier they will find it to grade you highly!

5. Always Create an Enticing Opening

If you ever pursue Creative Writing as a summer course or as a main subject in further education, one of the most common creative writing tips you’ll be given is to create the best opening possible. The start of your writing sets the entire premise for the rest of your work; you need to give the best impression possible to convince your readers that they will enjoy the text.

Creative writing often opens with a hook that will grab the reader’s attention from the start. Through ways of disrupting chronology, using vivid imagery, or posing thought-provoking questions, all writers aim to achieve maximum impact from the start and entice the audience to continue reading.

As with any good piece of writing, you need to ensure your essays have something enticing to offer the reader from the start. Your reader will make an initial impression of your writing right from the very first sentence: begin with a solid introduction and they’ll be keen to keep reading on.

There are a few ways to create an enticing opening. You could try using rhetorical questions to make them become active in their reading, or use imagery to paint the scene of your essay like you would as a creative writer. You could even include a quote from an authoritative writer which sums up the premise of your essay, demonstrating your wider reading.

Just remember, your tutor or teacher will probably have lots of other essays to mark. If you can make yours interesting and stand out from the very beginning, you’ll engage them much more than if you were to follow the same pattern as all your other classmates.

6. Enrich Your Writing with Detail

Ask any reader or writer what makes writing engaging, and they’ll tell you it’s all about the detail.

Read the two following excerpts of text:

“William Shakespeare was born in Stratford-upon-Avon on April 23, 1564, to his parents Mary Arden and John Shakespeare. Shakespeare was the third child of eight.”

“On a quiet spring day on April 23, 1564, Mary Arden and John Shakespeare welcomed their third child, a son named William Shakespeare. Born and raised in the thriving market town of Stratford-upon-Avon, Shakespeare grew up amongst a large family of eight siblings – but by no means did the business of family life ever affect his talents.”

Which one did you prefer? The one with the detail? Precisely.

Just as creative writers include plenty of detail and description to enrich their work, so should you with your essays. Essays can become quite dry if you solely focus on the academic, but you can include extra details to keep them exciting.

Though this may be difficult for essays with a strict word limit or ones that are quite scientific, you can definitely add relevant details to essays which are centred around the humanities, literature , theatre, or history . For example, if writing about a play by Bertolt Brecht, you can mention the political changes that were occurring in his home country in the time and how these influenced his work.

Including extra details and snippets of information will not only keep your reader engaged, but demonstrate your confidence to read around the topic and take your learning to the next level; this self-guided, independent study will really impress the reader and could earn you extra marks.

7. Don’t Conclude with Ambiguity

To be ambiguous or not – that really is the question. Creative writers often have mixed feelings about using ambiguity as an effective creative writing technique.

Sometimes, leaving an open ending can be great for letting the reader make up their own opinion on the subject, but most often, audiences are irritated by ambiguity because they want to know the full resolution of a story. But this is certainly a mistake you don’t want to make when writing your essay!

Ensure you always fully conclude your essay so the examiner/marker understands what you have learned during the process and what your final answer to the essay question is. Unlike creative writing, your teacher needs to know that you’ve understood and formed a final conclusion on your work – it’s literally what will earn you marks.

But you also need to make sure that this conclusion is clear and easy to find. With lots of essays to mark, your teacher will be looking for a clear and concise ending point – don’t be ambiguous or ‘fluffy’ or, like most readers, they will get frustrated.

8. Edit, Edit, Edit!

Editing is arguably one of the most important creative writing techniques all writers must use. It’s nearly impossible to write the perfect piece of literature in your first draft. Especially with essay writing.

Stephen King wrote in his memoir on the craft: “Kill your darlings, kill your darlings, even when it breaks your egocentric little scribbler’s heart, kill your darlings.”

And he makes a great point. When editing, especially when needing to cut down on word counts, it can be really difficult to comprehend cutting out sections of text you’ve spent time constructing with care.

But to make your work the best it possibly can be, you need to be brutally honest with yourself and ask the question; “is this really adding value to my work?” If not, scrap it and, if you have space in the word count – add something even more enriching.

Ensure that when you are planning your essay, you leave enough time to review and edit your first draft. Go back to it after a break and read it through with a fresh pair of eyes. You may spot some glaringly obvious mistakes which you may have missed in the first draft!

9. Peer Review

Using your peers to review your work is another effective creative essay writing technique to ensure your final piece of work is the best it can be.

Lots of creative writers will ask their friends, editors, and even focus groups to read and review their work as part of the editing process. Peer reviews can offer many insightful details including:

• Finding any loopholes or incomplete stories
• Checking for grammatical and spelling errors
• Help to cut out irrelevant details and ‘waffle’

Once you’ve completed and edited your essay, why not ask a friend or family member to read through and sense-check it. It’s worth asking someone outside of your class to read through, so not to give them any ideas for their own ideas! They’ll help you to identify any sections that don’t make sense, may need improvements, or have incorrect grammar or spelling.

Peer reviews can be daunting; your writing is a product that you’ve created all on your own, and it can be nerve-wracking for someone else to criticize your work. But remember that all criticism is there to help make your writing better and hopefully earn you more marks. It can only benefit your essay!

10. Keep a Note of Your Ideas

All great writers keep a notebook by their side, ready to jot down any ideas that they may think of or learn about. This is a great thing to do with essay writing too – you’ll be surprised how many ideas may pop into your mind randomly, such as when you’re out and about shopping, or on your commute to class – and they could be your best ideas yet!

This doesn’t just have to be during the process of writing just one essay. Any ideas that didn’t make the final cut for one piece of work may just be helpful for another in the future – so keep them in a safe place, should you ever need some inspiration!

How can creative writing techniques improve my essay?

Creative writing techniques can make your essay more engaging, detailed, and enjoyable to read. They can help you to think outside the box, create vivid imagery, and structure your work more appealingly.

Can I use creative writing techniques for scientific essays?

Yes, although scientific essays often have stricter guidelines, you can still use creative techniques to make your writing more engaging. This includes using detailed descriptions, creating an enticing introduction, and ensuring your conclusion is clear and concise.

How important is editing in essay writing?

Editing is crucial in essay writing. It allows you to refine your ideas, correct mistakes, and ensure your writing is clear and concise. It can also help you to cut out irrelevant details and improve the overall quality of your work.

Should I always use peer review for my essays?

While it's not always necessary, peer review can provide valuable feedback and help you to identify areas for improvement. It can also give you a fresh perspective on your work and help you to refine your ideas.

How can I make my essay stand out?

To make your essay stand out, use creative writing techniques to create an engaging introduction, detailed body paragraphs, and a clear conclusion. Ensure your writing is well-structured, free of errors, and includes interesting and relevant details.

Creative writing and academic essay writing actually have a lot more in common than you may have once thought; both ultimately aim to engage an audience and convey a particular message, theory, or point of view.

In this respect, using creative writing techniques within your essay planning and writing can help you to produce a more enriching, engaging and ultimately, better piece of work than you may have created before.

All the tips included in this list are regularly used by some of the most established writers in the world – so have been tried and tested with proven success. Begin using them in your next assignment and get ready to see your writing stand out against the rest!

Develop your Creative Writing Techniques this Summer

Want to take some time to improve your creative writing techniques? Put pen to paper and feel inspired with an English Literature and Creative Writing course this summer.

A Creative Writing summer course can teach you so much about writing and your own techniques, and can provide you with so many transferable skills to help benefit your academic writing in the future.

Join us in the spell-bounding city of Oxford, where you’ll have the opportunity to spend 2-weeks working on your craft, experiencing a new cultural setting, and making friendships with other passionate writers from around the world.

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After submitting your application, we'll be in touch very soon to inform you of the outcome. Apply now to begin your journey with Oxford Summer Courses!

About the author

Rhys mackenzie is the website marketing manager at oxford summer courses. with extensive experience in seo and digital content management, they are passionate about showcasing the best that oxford has to offer. their previous role at experience oxfordshire gave them a deep appreciation for the city's unique cultural and academic offerings. learn more about rhys here ., share this article.

Here are some creative writing tips: brainstorm freely, outline your ideas, consider your audience, immerse yourself in your writing, craft captivating openings, enrich your writing with details, avoid ambiguous conclusions, edit meticulously, seek peer feedback, and keep track of your ideas.

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Journal Buddies Jill | July 8, 2024 November 3, 2022 | List of Prompts

31 Brilliant Creative Essay Prompts

Creative Writing Essay Prompts and a few Bonus Quick Tips — If you are helping your students explore how to write a creatively themed essay, you may want to try these creative writing prompts. Creative essay prompts are a great way to get students excited about writing . Discover more now…

Creative essay prompts give writers a chance to express themselves, well…creatively. 😀 Plus, it’s a wonderfully fun way to write a completely new and unique essay.

Now, let me tell you, I am here to invigorate your perspective and fuel your creativity with 31 fabulous creative essay prompts for various genres to get you writing today. So get to it and take a look now and enjoy.

3 Quick Tips for Writing Your Own Creative Prompts

Why use creative essay prompts.

First, let’s explore a bit about why a writer would want to use a creative easy prompts.

Let’s say…

You’re fresh out of ideas and want to write a book, but you have no idea where to start.

I get it. One of the most challenging steps in becoming a successful writer is knowing where to start. Struggling to get your creative juices flowing can be a daunting task for writers of any age or skill level. Indeed, many student writers encounter writer’s block and personal writing doubts at some point in their academic careers.

That’s why…

Whether you’re looking for inspiration for a short, creative essay, your next Amazon bestselling novel, or a short story just for fun, there is an easy way to get started. Yep…simply explore my fabulous list of creative essay prompts. (Psst…note the emphasis on creativity in this particular list of essay writing ideas!)

Take a look now and then read on to learn more about writing your very own creative essay prompts.

31 Creative Essay Prompts to Write About

Oh yeah! I hope you enjoy this list of creative essay prompts and ideas. Hopefully, these creative essay prompts will spur your creativity and spark your imagination, and, above all, may these ideas help you write a wonderfully awesome creative essay.

• Write a creative essay about the plot from a movie you saw just before sleeping is coming to life.
• A stranger gives you an ominous-looking journal. You open it to investigate and discover…
• A group of teenagers band together to fight an extraterrestrial threat.
• You stumble upon a strange house on your morning run. Upon entering, you get a text message, “Meet me outside”.
• You hear news of your next-door neighbor vanishing without a trace.
• Your social media information has been hacked and that put your loved ones in danger.
• You see a hooded figure at work staring at you from across the street. What do they want?
• The stakes are raised when you find your best friends have ulterior motives.
• Oddly, your parents tell you that they have no idea who you are!
• After receiving a mysterious box on your doorstep, you open it and find a note that says, “Caution: May Bite.”
• Write an essay on your plans to get to the bottom of an unsolved murder mystery from 20 years ago.
• Your favorite place in the city has shut down; it’s up to you to raise funds to help it reopen.
• You realize there is a different face staring at you from the mirror.
• One morning, you wake up to find out that you have been chosen to go to any planet of your choice.
• Write an essay on a horror story about a high schooler not making the state basketball team.

• You find a way to look into the future through the internet.
• Write an original poem about your spiritual journey.
• You find yourself hiding in the closet with burglars ravaging your home. Your only defense is a stack of pencils.
• You find your hard-to-kick habit is doing more damage than you thought.
• You retrace your steps to find a treasure map your younger self left behind.
• Two high school students write a novel, only to be transported into the world they created.
• Write an essay about waking up to find all prisons have been closed and the prisoners released.
• An introvert finds they’ve been talking to their childhood imaginary friend more and more.
• You go back in time with a notebook of inventions you want to take credit for when suddenly The Butterfly Effect kicks in.
• Write a creative essay about a science fiction tale set in a world where you can communicate with your pet.
• You can use a time machine to either save yourself or your best friend; which do you choose?
• A genie grants you three wishes, but with each comes consequences.
• In the year 2122, global warming has left the Earth inhabitable. It’s up to you and your robot sidekick to fix things and make them right.

Now, while there are many creative essay prompts listed in the blog post, sometimes that one perfect prompt isn’t there for some writers.

If that’s the case for you, read on to discover three simple creative essay prompt writing tips.

Creating Your Own Unique Creative Essay Prompts

As I stated previously, sometimes there is not that one perfect prompt for a writer in our list — or other lists — of creative essay prompts and writing ideas.

In this case, you may find that using one of our great creative essay prompts as a starting point can make it easier for you to think up your own unique essay topic idea list.

For this reason, I suggest you use the three simple steps to create your very own prompt outlined below.

1.  Brainstorm a list  of potential topics. This can be anything from personal experiences to current events.

2. Once you have a list of potential topics,  narrow it down  by choosing the prompt that best fits your topic.

3. If you’re still having trouble finding the perfect prompt, take a look at essay samples for inspiration.

This simple process can help you find the one amazing writing idea that works best for you. Ok, that’s all for today.

Until next time, happy writing…

More Essay Writing Resources

• 35 Essay Topics for High School
• 33 Argumentative Essay Topics for Middle School
• 46 Essay Prompts for Elementary Kids
• 35 Essay Topics for Kids
• 27 Spectacular Space Writing Prompts
• Printable essay writing worksheets

If you enjoyed these Creative Essay Prompts please share them on social media via Facebook, Instagram, TikTok, Twitter, and/or Pinterest. I appreciate it!

Sincerely, Jill journalbuddies.com creator and curator

Tap to See Prompts 162 Creative Writing Topics and Ideas (Updated!) Power Up Your Pen: 157 Writing Prompt a Day Ideas 27 Amazing Picture Writing Prompts for Kids ------------Start of Om Added --------- @media (min-width: 320px) and (max-width: 767px) { .inside-right-sidebar { display: none !important; } } Search Now Offering You 19,000+ Prompts!

Tap to See Prompts 162 Creative Writing Topics and Ideas (Updated!) Power Up Your Pen: 157 Writing Prompt a Day Ideas 27 Amazing Picture Writing Prompts for Kids Search Search Grade 1 Grade 2 Grade 3 Grade 4 Grade 5 Grade 6 Grade 7-8 Grade 9-12 All Ages ------------End of Om Added --------- Tags Creative Essay , Creative Essay Writing , Creative Essay Writing Prompts , Creative Essay Writing Topics , essay , Essay Ideas , Essay Prompts , Essay Tips , Essay Topics , essay writing , Essay Writing Ideas , Essay Writing Prompts , Essay Writing Tips , High School , Tips for Essays , writing essays div#postbottom { margin-top: 12px; } Search Now Offering You 19,000+ Prompts!

UChicago’s Study Abroad contest winners share the stories behind their art

Students discuss creative process behind winning photo, video and writing entries.

Editor’s note: This story is part of  Dispatches from Abroad , a series highlighting UChicago community members who are researching, studying and working around the world.

The University of Chicago’s Office of Study Abroad has organized annual photo, video, and writing contests since 1997. The student entries illuminate their experiences working or studying abroad.

“Each year, the submissions practically shout about the spectrum of intellectual, emotional and environmental encounters inherent to inhabiting new places,” said Associate Director of Study Abroad Kylie Zahora.

We spoke to representatives from each contest, to provide a behind-the-scenes look at how each of their entries came to fruition.

Seraphina Halpern, AB’24, completed her thesis research in anthropology with field work on Prince Edward Island. She received third prize for her photo which depicted a lobster crew trawling for lost traps before dawn (above). 

I went to Prince Edward Island to study the local lobster fishing industry, or, more specifically, how fishermen and their families make sense of the economic risk and occasional illicit activity that characterize their careers. My thesis in anthropology pulled evidence directly from the conversations I had, interactions I watched, and time I spent with the community. I am extremely grateful for the university's support for my research and the Islanders’ willingness to welcome me, without which my project wouldn't have been possible.

To me, this photo shows the grit and the beauty of fishermen’s life. Lost and unattended lobster traps continue trapping lobsters indefinitely, an environmental hazard known as “ghost fishing.” The fishermen's union hires crews to search the region for traps between fishing seasons. I was lucky enough to join this boat for a day on the hunt for ghost fishing traps. If you look closely, you can make out the fishermen's coffee cups and cigarettes, silhouetted by the sunrise as we left the harbor.

Sophia Rodriguez-Bell, AB’24, participated in a direct enrollment program at Trinity College Cambridge. She won first prize for her writing entry titled Fuera del hogar, ya estoy aquí (Away from home, I am already here), which explores how her Chicana identity influenced her daily experience at a British university. 

Although I knew before going to the U.K. that I would almost always be the only Chicano or Chicana in the room, I didn’t quite grasp how isolating that would be. For the most part, it was fine. But every now and then, it would hit me. A holiday I celebrate would come and go, and there was no one else who celebrated. I would crave tamales, but the only place I trusted was 2.5 hours each way and double the price I was used to paying.

Being one of a few is normal, but being one of one was jarring. I would mull this over every now and then, but I couldn’t find an effective outlet for it. My writing entry was essentially a thought dump. It’s unpolished, but that’s authentic to how I was thinking at the time.

Below is the opening paragraph to her award-winning essay :

Two UK pints of whole milk is £1.20. A UK pint is 20oz. A pound is $1.25, give or take two pennies for market fluctuation. I do back-of-the-hand math in the Sainsbury’s refrigerated aisle, as the store worker next to me refills the student-ravaged shelves. It is 9:15 p.m. Wednesday. This milk means maybe two weeks worth of hot chocolate. How expensive does this make each cup? Crushed Ibarra tablets sit on my shelf in an empty, 10oz plastic container that used to house Parmesan. I don’t know how much the Ibarra weighs, how much of the 100lbs I stuffed between two suitcases was taken up by hot chocolate powder. Factor in my backpack and me, and I don’t know how much of the exorbitant United airfare here was spent on bringing Mexican hot chocolate to the UK. Whatever it was, it was more expensive than the milk. I get in the self-checkout queue.

Michael Ibrahim, AB’24, joined the Middle Eastern Civilizations program in Cairo. He won first prize for his video entry “Egyptian Adventure, 2024”, which presents a mosaic of Egypt shown through short video snippets of his many adventures.

It really started before I even got to Egypt, when I heard the song that I ended up using on TikTok. It’s a trap remix of the Egyptian song “Batwanes Beek” by Warda, and I thought it would be fun to make a video to the song. In a sense the whole video was really built around the song. I knew I wanted to have the transitions line up with the beat of the music, and there was a part of the song right before the beat drop where I knew I wanted to have a fast montage of short video clips and pictures. I'm always taking videos with my phone, so I had a lot of material to work with. Once I started to take videos, I had some ideas of where I wanted certain clips to go but I only really started editing the video when I got back. I made the whole thing on my phone using the video editing app CapCut. 

Egypt is a beautiful country and I really wanted to showcase that in my video. A lot of the clips are from Cairo and Giza, where I tried to show a lot of beautiful mosques, buildings, and streets from Old Cairo as well as the better-known pyramids. Most of the clips, though, were not taken in Cairo but in Alexandria, Luxor, Aswan, and Siwa. I think Egypt’s natural beauty is underrated. Take for example Siwa, which is a palm-filled oasis in the middle of the desert surrounded by sweeping sand dunes, beautiful white rock formations, and pristine natural springs; or Luxor, where you can see the sun set over the mighty Nile, across which you can see lush green fields and the Theban mountains. Overall, I mostly just tried to have fun with it and make a cool video highlighting my experience.

Video by Michael Ibrahim, AB’24

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• Knowledge Base
• How to write a narrative essay | Example & tips

How to Write a Narrative Essay | Example & Tips

Published on July 24, 2020 by Jack Caulfield . Revised on July 23, 2023.

A narrative essay tells a story. In most cases, this is a story about a personal experience you had. This type of essay , along with the descriptive essay , allows you to get personal and creative, unlike most academic writing .

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Table of contents

What is a narrative essay for, choosing a topic, interactive example of a narrative essay, other interesting articles, frequently asked questions about narrative essays.

When assigned a narrative essay, you might find yourself wondering: Why does my teacher want to hear this story? Topics for narrative essays can range from the important to the trivial. Usually the point is not so much the story itself, but the way you tell it.

A narrative essay is a way of testing your ability to tell a story in a clear and interesting way. You’re expected to think about where your story begins and ends, and how to convey it with eye-catching language and a satisfying pace.

These skills are quite different from those needed for formal academic writing. For instance, in a narrative essay the use of the first person (“I”) is encouraged, as is the use of figurative language, dialogue, and suspense.

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Narrative essay assignments vary widely in the amount of direction you’re given about your topic. You may be assigned quite a specific topic or choice of topics to work with.

• Write a story about your first day of school.
• Write a story about your favorite holiday destination.

You may also be given prompts that leave you a much wider choice of topic.

• Write about an experience where you learned something about yourself.
• Write about an achievement you are proud of. What did you accomplish, and how?

In these cases, you might have to think harder to decide what story you want to tell. The best kind of story for a narrative essay is one you can use to talk about a particular theme or lesson, or that takes a surprising turn somewhere along the way.

For example, a trip where everything went according to plan makes for a less interesting story than one where something unexpected happened that you then had to respond to. Choose an experience that might surprise the reader or teach them something.

Narrative essays in college applications

When applying for college , you might be asked to write a narrative essay that expresses something about your personal qualities.

For example, this application prompt from Common App requires you to respond with a narrative essay.

In this context, choose a story that is not only interesting but also expresses the qualities the prompt is looking for—here, resilience and the ability to learn from failure—and frame the story in a way that emphasizes these qualities.

An example of a short narrative essay, responding to the prompt “Write about an experience where you learned something about yourself,” is shown below.

Hover over different parts of the text to see how the structure works.

Since elementary school, I have always favored subjects like science and math over the humanities. My instinct was always to think of these subjects as more solid and serious than classes like English. If there was no right answer, I thought, why bother? But recently I had an experience that taught me my academic interests are more flexible than I had thought: I took my first philosophy class.

Before I entered the classroom, I was skeptical. I waited outside with the other students and wondered what exactly philosophy would involve—I really had no idea. I imagined something pretty abstract: long, stilted conversations pondering the meaning of life. But what I got was something quite different.

A young man in jeans, Mr. Jones—“but you can call me Rob”—was far from the white-haired, buttoned-up old man I had half-expected. And rather than pulling us into pedantic arguments about obscure philosophical points, Rob engaged us on our level. To talk free will, we looked at our own choices. To talk ethics, we looked at dilemmas we had faced ourselves. By the end of class, I’d discovered that questions with no right answer can turn out to be the most interesting ones.

The experience has taught me to look at things a little more “philosophically”—and not just because it was a philosophy class! I learned that if I let go of my preconceptions, I can actually get a lot out of subjects I was previously dismissive of. The class taught me—in more ways than one—to look at things with an open mind.

If you want to know more about AI tools , college essays , or fallacies make sure to check out some of our other articles with explanations and examples or go directly to our tools!

• Ad hominem fallacy
• Post hoc fallacy
• Appeal to authority fallacy
• False cause fallacy
• Sunk cost fallacy

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If you’re not given much guidance on what your narrative essay should be about, consider the context and scope of the assignment. What kind of story is relevant, interesting, and possible to tell within the word count?

The best kind of story for a narrative essay is one you can use to reflect on a particular theme or lesson, or that takes a surprising turn somewhere along the way.

Don’t worry too much if your topic seems unoriginal. The point of a narrative essay is how you tell the story and the point you make with it, not the subject of the story itself.

Narrative essays are usually assigned as writing exercises at high school or in university composition classes. They may also form part of a university application.

When you are prompted to tell a story about your own life or experiences, a narrative essay is usually the right response.

The key difference is that a narrative essay is designed to tell a complete story, while a descriptive essay is meant to convey an intense description of a particular place, object, or concept.

Narrative and descriptive essays both allow you to write more personally and creatively than other kinds of essays , and similar writing skills can apply to both.

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Caulfield, J. (2023, July 23). How to Write a Narrative Essay | Example & Tips. Scribbr. Retrieved September 18, 2024, from https://www.scribbr.com/academic-essay/narrative-essay/

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Essay Writing Competition on My Preparedness for Heat Wave

National Disaster Management Authority (NDMA), in collaboration with MyGov, invites students/citizens for an essay writing contest for all age groups to encourage the citizens to ...

National Disaster Management Authority (NDMA) , in collaboration with MyGov , invites students/citizens for an essay writing contest for all age groups to encourage the citizens to share their ideas about how citizens are prepared for Heatwave.

In recent times, there has been a noticeable rise in the frequency, duration, and intensity of heat waves throughout the nation. Even in states that were previously thought to be particularly unlikely, heat wave incidents have been reported. This campaign intends to mobilize people to act by raising awareness about Heatwave and how disaster risk reduction.

Put on your creative cap and showcase your thoughts and knowledge. Essays will be judged based on your knowledge of heat wave and its preparedness. The essays should meet the word limit of 1000 words and should be in a pdf format.

The theme for this essay writing competition is “My Preparedness for Heat Wave / ग्रीष्म लहर (लू) के लिए मेरी तैयारी”

GRATIFICATION - 1st prize: Rs.10,000/- - 2nd prize: Rs.5000/- - 3rd prize: Rs.3000/- - 3 Consolation Prizes of Rs.1000/- each.

Click here to read the Terms & Conditions (PDF: 33KB)

Rare G.K. Chesterton essay on mystery writing is itself a mystery

The Associated Press

September 20, 2024, 12:31 AM

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NEW YORK (AP) — When he wasn’t working on mystery stories, and he completed hundreds, G.K. Chesterton liked to think of new ways to tell them.

Detective fiction had grown a little dull, the British author wrote in a rarely seen essay from the 1930s published this week in The Strand Magazine, which has released obscure works by Louisa May Alcott, Raymond Chandler and many others. Suppose, Chesterton wondered, that you take an unsolved death from the past, like that of the 17th century magistrate Sir Edmund Berry Godfrey, and come up with a novel that explores how he might have been murdered?

“I suggest that we try to do a little more with what may be called the historical detective story,” Chesterton wrote. “Godfrey was found in a ditch in Hyde Park, if I remember right, with the marks of throttling by a rope, but also with his own sword thrust through his body. Now that is a model complication, or contradiction, for a detective to resolve.”

Chesterton’s words were addressed to a small and exclusive audience. He remains best known for his Father Brown mysteries, but in his lifetime he held the privileged title of founding president of the Detection Club, a gathering of novelists whose original members included Agatha Christie, Dorothy L. Sayers and AA Milne among others. They would meet in private, at London’s Escargot restaurant; exchange ideas and even work on books together, including such “round-robin” collaborations as “The Floating Admiral.”

The club, established in the late 1920s, is still in existence and has included such prominent authors as John le Carre, Ruth Rendell and P.D. James. Members are serious about the craft if not so high-minded about the club itself. Among the sacred vows that have been taken in the past: No plots resolved through “Divine Revelation, Feminine Intuition, Mumbo-Jumbo, Jiggery-Pokery, Coincidence or the Act of God” and “seemly moderation” in the use of gangs, conspiracies, death-rays and super-criminals.

According to the current president, Martin Edwards, the Detection Club meets for three meals a year — two in London, and a summer lunch in Oxford, and continues to work on books. In 2016, the club honored one its senior members, Peter Lovesey, with “Motives for Murder,” which included tributes from Ann Cleeves, Andrew Taylor, Catherine Aird and David Roberts.

Next March, it will release “Playing Dead: Short Stories by Members of the Detection Club,” with Edwards, Lovesey, Abir Mukherjee and Aline Templeton listed as among the contributors.

Asked if new members are required to take any oaths, Edwards responded, “There is an initiation ceremony for new members, but all I can say is that it has evolved significantly over the years.”

No one ever acted upon Chesterton’s idea for a book if only because no evidence has been found of any response to his essay or that anyone even had a chance to read it.

In a brief foreword for the Strand, written by the president of the American Chesterton Society, Dale Ahlquist sees the document’s journey as its own kind of mystery. One copy was found in the rare books division of the University of Notre Dame, in South Bend, Indiana. Another is included among Chesterton’s papers in the British Museum, with a note from the late author’s secretary, Dorothy Collins, saying that his work had sent on to “The Detective Club Magazine.”

There was no Detective Club Magazine.

“So the original manuscript was sent to a magazine that never existed. But how did it end up in the Special Collections at Notre Dame? Another mystery,” Ahlquist writes. “Obviously, Dorothy Collins sent it somewhere. She probably meant ‘Detection Club’ in her note but wrote ‘Detective Club.’ Some member of the Detection Club or hired editor received it, but since the magazine never materialized, whoever held the manuscript continued to hold it, and it remained in that person’s papers until it didn’t.”

“After Chesterton’s death (in 1936),” he added, “it was either sold or given away or went into an estate through which it was acquired. Collectors acquire things. Then, either before they die or after they die, their collections get donated. At some point it was donated to Notre Dame. A real detective … would track all this down.”

Copyright © 2024 The Associated Press. All rights reserved. This material may not be published, broadcast, written or redistributed.

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Rare G.K. Chesterton essay on mystery writing is itself a mystery

• Copy Link copied

NEW YORK (AP) — When he wasn’t working on mystery stories, and he completed hundreds, G.K. Chesterton liked to think of new ways to tell them.

Detective fiction had grown a little dull, the British author wrote in a rarely seen essay from the 1930s published this week in The Strand Magazine, which has released obscure works by Louisa May Alcott, Raymond Chandler and many others. Suppose, Chesterton wondered, that you take an unsolved death from the past, like that of the 17th century magistrate Sir Edmund Berry Godfrey, and come up with a novel that explores how he might have been murdered?

“I suggest that we try to do a little more with what may be called the historical detective story,” Chesterton wrote. “Godfrey was found in a ditch in Hyde Park, if I remember right, with the marks of throttling by a rope, but also with his own sword thrust through his body. Now that is a model complication, or contradiction, for a detective to resolve.”

Chesterton’s words were addressed to a small and exclusive audience. He remains best known for his Father Brown mysteries, but in his lifetime he held the privileged title of founding president of the Detection Club, a gathering of novelists whose original members included Agatha Christie, Dorothy L. Sayers and AA Milne among others. They would meet in private, at London’s Escargot restaurant; exchange ideas and even work on books together, including such “round-robin” collaborations as “The Floating Admiral.”

The club, established in the late 1920s, is still in existence and has included such prominent authors as John le Carre, Ruth Rendell and P.D. James. Members are serious about the craft if not so high-minded about the club itself. Among the sacred vows that have been taken in the past: No plots resolved through “Divine Revelation, Feminine Intuition, Mumbo-Jumbo, Jiggery-Pokery, Coincidence or the Act of God” and “seemly moderation” in the use of gangs, conspiracies, death-rays and super-criminals.

According to the current president, Martin Edwards, the Detection Club meets for three meals a year — two in London, and a summer lunch in Oxford, and continues to work on books. In 2016, the club honored one its senior members, Peter Lovesey, with “Motives for Murder,” which included tributes from Ann Cleeves, Andrew Taylor, Catherine Aird and David Roberts.

Next March, it will release “Playing Dead: Short Stories by Members of the Detection Club,” with Edwards, Lovesey, Abir Mukherjee and Aline Templeton listed as among the contributors.

Asked if new members are required to take any oaths, Edwards responded, “There is an initiation ceremony for new members, but all I can say is that it has evolved significantly over the years.”

No one ever acted upon Chesterton’s idea for a book if only because no evidence has been found of any response to his essay or that anyone even had a chance to read it.

In a brief foreword for the Strand, written by the president of the American Chesterton Society, Dale Ahlquist sees the document’s journey as its own kind of mystery. One copy was found in the rare books division of the University of Notre Dame, in South Bend, Indiana. Another is included among Chesterton’s papers in the British Museum, with a note from the late author’s secretary, Dorothy Collins, saying that his work had sent on to “The Detective Club Magazine.”

There was no Detective Club Magazine.

“So the original manuscript was sent to a magazine that never existed. But how did it end up in the Special Collections at Notre Dame? Another mystery,” Ahlquist writes. “Obviously, Dorothy Collins sent it somewhere. She probably meant ‘Detection Club’ in her note but wrote ‘Detective Club.’ Some member of the Detection Club or hired editor received it, but since the magazine never materialized, whoever held the manuscript continued to hold it, and it remained in that person’s papers until it didn’t.”

“After Chesterton’s death (in 1936),” he added, “it was either sold or given away or went into an estate through which it was acquired. Collectors acquire things. Then, either before they die or after they die, their collections get donated. At some point it was donated to Notre Dame. A real detective ... would track all this down.”

Friday, 20 September

REVIEW | The Creative Arts: How writing about writing sparks academic innovation

BOOK: The Creative Arts: On Practice, Making and Meaning edited by Sally Ann Murray and Michèle Betty (Dryad Press)

If the term “creative arts” can feel like a tautology (which arts are not creative?), the new term we are supposed to use, “creative and cultural industries”, could feel like an oxymoron. Besides the “creatives” of the advertising business, cultural producers can be resistant to the idea that they are part of an industry because their sense of themselves as artists is based on the Romantic model of what an artist does – exploring the self, being awed by nature, contesting social expectations, and so on. This volume of essays considers how such creatives, broadly defined, can develop their work within academia.

As Gabeba Baderoon notes in her introduction, creative writing came to the academy rather late compared to drama, music and the fine arts, which have long had university departments teaching students how to make such work. Perhaps there was a sense that these disciplines had technical stuff to master. Hence, solid training was required, whereas writing should really just come naturally, its techniques having been picked up by osmosis while reading. Certainly, reading drives writing but beyond the lonely Romantic struggle, academia can provide guidance, feedback and discipline.

Thus, creative writing in academia is the chief focus of The Creative Arts: On Practice, Making and Meaning . Most of the pieces here are about writing, albeit writing in many different forms: poetry, criticism, fiction, playwriting, writing for podcasts, and academic writing.

Several writers here write about poetry. Kobus Moolman writes about the dichotomy between his own practice and his work teaching writing in academia: burying the work, as it were, to let it develop in a yeast-like kind of way versus exposing it, even when it’s in progress, to the fresh air of collegial response. Moolman shows how the creative writing workshop process can stimulate students’ work, and this piece will be very useful for anyone teaching such a course or learning from it. There are some references here I’d like to follow up and I finished my creative writing MA in 2005.

Vonani Bila’s essay is an intriguing piece on the role of “place” in poetry, putting a new spin on an issue that has long been a key trope in verse, though it’s obviously also relevant to prose – in fiction and not just travel writing, say. It would be fascinating to compare different approaches to negotiating “place” in these media. Uhuru Portia Phalafala and Vangile Gantsho both centre the body in their poetic practice, as described in their essays and then spiral out into linguistic concerns and take on issues such as land.

Simon van Schalkwyk’s account of the overlap of (or strange limbo between) academic and poetic work is less illuminating of the former than the latter. His rubric is “the writer as reader”, which could ramify in many fruitful directions but is constrained here by the fact that this reader is reading in a way informed by academic criticism and analysis. Just as Van Schalkwyk teases at the “limits of the legible”, I’d wonder about the limits of interpretation, about people reading poetry outside academia or without the techniques of reading taught there. 

It’s not within Van Schalkwyk’s remit here, but his essay does point towards the kind of questions Kelwyn Sole, for one, raises: Where is the critical space in South Africa into which poetry can emerge and find a meaningful response? It seems that, nowadays, critical-interpretive space continues to exist only in academia, and who really wants to read much academic critique if you’re not an academic? How, then, is poetry to be evaluated? How much pre-education, so to speak, does one require if one is to read and understand poetry (never mind write it)?

These are perhaps questions about translatability, about the to-and-fro between one discourse and another, one “signifying regime” and another. That may sound arcane, but I think it’s at the core of how we read, how we write, and how we critique (if we critique); this is surely the mandate of academia, but I’m not convinced it necessarily illuminates more than it obscures.

Wamuwi Mbao’s piece, Reviewing as Attentive Praxis , is the only essay here to tackle criticism directly, taking on the process of reviewing – and it’s a sensitive, nuanced piece that indicates why Mbao is such a good critic and reviewer himself. You’d have thought academia would produce more such reviewers, “critical thinking” being its stock in trade, but nowadays, there seem fewer than before. Perhaps the problem is with the public literary space mentioned above, how it works and grows or shrinks, but that’s an impossibly large issue to traverse outside of, say, a sociology PhD. Still, what Mbao says will resonate with anyone who wants to be as good a reader as possible. 

Other pieces in the book revolve closely around the writer’s own practice, describing aspects of the process that, for each of them, takes the writer from idea to artefact and beyond to public reception. These include the personal history that drives and informs the poetry of Phillippa Yaa de Villiers and her play Original Skin , Stephanus Muller’s work of musicology, biography and more, Nagmusiek  and Masande Ntshangase’s account of his dealings with technology and dystopia that inform his SF novels. Each of these pieces is deeply interesting and compelling in the way they show writers at work and reflecting on their processes. This kind of thing can be very illuminating and encouraging for emerging writers.

Sally Ann Murray’s piece about breaking the conventions of academic writing is particularly interesting to me because in my experience (including that creative writing MA, supervising journalism MA students, external examining, and helping to edit academic works), the strictures of that mode of discourse are firmly in place and are insisted upon, framing as they do any actual creative writing and legitimating it in academic terms. Creative writing may have found a space in academia, but that space is fenced off. 

Baderoon argues that this kind of academic work can be done in a new way, and this very stimulating book as a whole is replete with pointers towards such innovation. Murray’s essay and many others in the book demonstrate how those boundaries can be undermined, and one would dearly like to see more such hybridised forms of writing that truly jump the generic fences.

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