A Beginner's Guide to Exploring Creative Writing Genres

The first time you start writing — I'm talking about actual writing from your own inspiration, not the school essays or coursework you are saddled with in college — you're like a child trying your best to navigate the intricacies of life, only this time it is with writing and you start by doing what feels natural to you, before learning about the actual phenomenon that is writing.

No one might tell you this, but let me put this out here: If you're just in the beginning stage of your journey as a writer, savour it. Enjoy it. Hold tightly to your natural mediocrity, and the not so delightful grammar, and your blatant misuse — or even lack — of punctuation, because when you do get into the writing game, it is tough.

Don't be scared, though. This isn't some grammar class or a critique’s essay of your work, but this is a guide to exploring different creative writing genres. You've probably played your hand in some poetry, or even fiction writing, or maybe just journaling your life's story, or even just writing what feels natural to you. Whatever it is, this guide is to help beginner writers learn more about different types of creative writing genres and discover their own niche.

What is Creative Writing?

I like to believe that every writing is considered creative writing, but to follow in the standard way of things, Creative Writing, according to a definition I saw on a quick Google search, is writing that is typically fiction or poetry which displays imagination or invention (often contrasted with academic or journalistic writing). Then citing a definition from Grammarly’s website, Creative writing is writing meant to evoke emotion in a reader by communicating a theme.

Simply put, creative writing is writing that is meant to communicate the writer's thoughts and emotion. Why this definition is necessary you'll see in paragraphs to come.

Going further to the main subject matter, we have four major creative writing genres: prose fiction, creative nonfiction, poetry, and drama (scriptwriting). That is to say, like you're already aware of, that poems, plays, stories, and even essays are all part of creative writing, and if you're thinking of becoming a creative writer, any of these genres would be a perfect place to start.

Prose Fiction

Prose fiction is narrative writing that seeks to tell a story that is often imagined from the writer's point of view. Prose fiction can be divided into three sub-genres: short story, novella, and novel.

A short story is prose fiction that is no longer than 10,000 words. Flash fiction is also a short story, except it's much shorter than a short story. Short stories are one of my favourite genres to write because of how much freedom it can afford you than writing an actual novel. I won't say it's much easier than a novel, but it's true that it doesn't take as much planning and time and writing as a novel. I also believe it's a great place to start as a writer.

Think of an idea, remember that creative writing is writing that communicates a theme, so brainstorm whatever theme you want to pass across. Think of the characters, the setting, the writing style, as well as which point of view you'd like to use.

Personally, I've found the second person point of view to be very appropriate and interesting when writing a short story, but do you. As long as you're able to effectively pass across your theme and idea in a way that will engage readers, you're good.

If you don't have any ideas, you can look up writing prompts on the internet, and you'll see a whole lot for you to easily pick from. I'll advise sticking to what you know, then getting better at it and exploring other diverse options.

Remember, this is for getting started as a writer. If you do want to write a novel eventually, go for it.

Poetry

I think every person who started their writing journey must have dabbled in some poetry first. If you didn't, that's quite okay. The reason poetry is very beloved is because of how you have the freedom to express your emotions in different ways. It's much more flexible than prose fiction, and you can even tell a story in a poem if you so wish.

I started with poetry at first because of how free I felt to express my thoughts and feelings, then I began to evolve by reading more poetry and learning figures of speech, poetic devices and by maintaining my very passion.

I might come off as biased towards this beautiful genre of literature because I am a poet, but I am honest when I say this will be a great start for you. Best part? You can play with different forms of poetry until you discover what works best for you.

You don't like the standard quatrain with rhymes? That's okay! You can do a free verse — the very form I use. If not, you can do a prose poem. If not, you can try your hand at a dictionary poem. Do not try to restrict yourself when it comes to this genre. Do what feels natural, read lots of poetry, write, write and write.

Creative Nonfiction

With this genre, I believe your years of writing “dear diary,” will pay off so well. Creative nonfiction is a form of storytelling that uses the same techniques as prose fiction, but narrates a true story. Creative nonfiction is also writing that speaks the truth. It could be about your life, it could be about an event that happened a time ago, but as long as it's true, it's creative nonfiction.

Creative nonfiction, as uncommon as it sounds, isn't really far-fetched. It is found in the social media posts of people who tell stories about their lives or what's running through their minds at the moment. It is found in their rants; It is found in their reviews.

Going further, popular sub-genres under creative nonfiction are: memoir, personal essays, travel writing, food writing, literature reviews, etc.

The most common medium through which creative nonfiction is written is personal essays. A personal essay is like a short prose that relays a specific topic, experience or ideology from the author's point of view, giving the readers a window into their lives.

Do you like to talk about yourself a lot? Do you go through a whole lot more than the mundaneness of human life? Do you have a philosophical school of thought that you'd like the world to know? Then creative nonfiction is for you.

The popular way now of doing personal essays is in personal newsletters that readers are subscribed to. You'd be pleasantly surprised how people will find your life experiences or thoughts inspiring and entertaining enough. I'm blessed to have over 50 subscribers — not a lot, I know, so why don't you subscribe? — on a platform I and many others use called Substack.

Conclusively, if you think this could be your cup of tea then give it a go, but I have some advice to give:

Know yourself. You can't be a nonfiction writer without a vast level of self-awareness that it so frightens you. Learn why you are the way you are and the experiences that have led up to it.
Tell the truth! It's nonfiction for a reason.

Drama

Drama, also known as scriptwriting, is a type of creative writing whether factual or fictional that can be performed for theatre, television or radio! Nowadays, the art of writing scripts is a well-sought-after one. People don't just need scripts for film or to be acted on a stage, but for YouTube videos, TikTok content or even radio.

Before going into this genre of literature, you need to be well-read and knowledgeable on the different elements such as: Characters, Setting, Thought, Music, Spectacle, etc. It might look like a lot, but I promise you it's not and if you do your research well and practice a lot, you're going to do so well.

Conclusion

Finally, before we come to the end of this blog post and I have to let you go, I want you to know that you don't have to stick to one type of writing. You can do all of them if it pleases you! In my lifetime, I've done all four types of creative writing and it's been a lovely experience. You just have to find what works for you, master it, stick to it, read, write, write and write. That's the only way you can get better.

I hope you enjoyed reading this post and learnt something as well. If this is your cup of tea, then you better stick around for more of this, and other diverse content.

Toodles!

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