creative writing vs fiction 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.

Bright, colorful creative writer's desk with notebook and typewriter -- What Is Creative Writing

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):

10 Types of Creative Writing (with Examples You’ll Love)

A lot falls under the term ‘creative writing’: poetry, short fiction, plays, novels, personal essays, and songs, to name just a few. By virtue of the creativity that characterizes it, creative writing is an extremely versatile art. So instead of defining what creative writing is , it may be easier to understand what it does by looking at examples that demonstrate the sheer range of styles and genres under its vast umbrella.

To that end, we’ve collected a non-exhaustive list of works across multiple formats that have inspired the writers here at Reedsy. With 20 different works to explore, we hope they will inspire you, too.

People have been writing creatively for almost as long as we have been able to hold pens. Just think of long-form epic poems like The Odyssey or, later, the Cantar de Mio Cid — some of the earliest recorded writings of their kind.

Poetry is also a great place to start if you want to dip your own pen into the inkwell of creative writing. It can be as short or long as you want (you don’t have to write an epic of Homeric proportions), encourages you to build your observation skills, and often speaks from a single point of view .

Here are a few examples:

“Ozymandias” by Percy Bysshe Shelley

Nothing beside remains. Round the decay Of that colossal Wreck, boundless and bare The lone and level sands stretch far away.

The ruins of pillars and walls with the broken statue of a man in the center set against a bright blue sky.

This classic poem by Romantic poet Percy Shelley (also known as Mary Shelley’s husband) is all about legacy. What do we leave behind? How will we be remembered? The great king Ozymandias built himself a massive statue, proclaiming his might, but the irony is that his statue doesn’t survive the ravages of time. By framing this poem as told to him by a “traveller from an antique land,” Shelley effectively turns this into a story. Along with the careful use of juxtaposition to create irony, this poem accomplishes a lot in just a few lines.

“Trying to Raise the Dead” by Dorianne Laux

A direction. An object. My love, it needs a place to rest. Say anything. I’m listening. I’m ready to believe. Even lies, I don’t care.

Poetry is cherished for its ability to evoke strong emotions from the reader using very few words which is exactly what Dorianne Laux does in “ Trying to Raise the Dead .” With vivid imagery that underscores the painful yearning of the narrator, she transports us to a private nighttime scene as the narrator sneaks away from a party to pray to someone they’ve lost. We ache for their loss and how badly they want their lost loved one to acknowledge them in some way. It’s truly a masterclass on how writing can be used to portray emotions.

If you find yourself inspired to try out some poetry — and maybe even get it published — check out these poetry layouts that can elevate your verse!

Song Lyrics

Poetry’s closely related cousin, song lyrics are another great way to flex your creative writing muscles. You not only have to find the perfect rhyme scheme but also match it to the rhythm of the music. This can be a great challenge for an experienced poet or the musically inclined.

To see how music can add something extra to your poetry, check out these two examples:

“Hallelujah” by Leonard Cohen

You say I took the name in vain I don't even know the name But if I did, well, really, what's it to ya? There's a blaze of light in every word It doesn't matter which you heard The holy or the broken Hallelujah

Metaphors are commonplace in almost every kind of creative writing, but will often take center stage in shorter works like poetry and songs. At the slightest mention, they invite the listener to bring their emotional or cultural experience to the piece, allowing the writer to express more with fewer words while also giving it a deeper meaning. If a whole song is couched in metaphor, you might even be able to find multiple meanings to it, like in Leonard Cohen’s “ Hallelujah .” While Cohen’s Biblical references create a song that, on the surface, seems like it’s about a struggle with religion, the ambiguity of the lyrics has allowed it to be seen as a song about a complicated romantic relationship.

“I Will Follow You into the Dark” by Death Cab for Cutie

If Heaven and Hell decide that they both are satisfied Illuminate the no's on their vacancy signs If there's no one beside you when your soul embarks Then I'll follow you into the dark

You can think of song lyrics as poetry set to music. They manage to do many of the same things their literary counterparts do — including tugging on your heartstrings. Death Cab for Cutie’s incredibly popular indie rock ballad is about the singer’s deep devotion to his lover. While some might find the song a bit too dark and macabre, its melancholy tune and poignant lyrics remind us that love can endure beyond death.

Plays and Screenplays

From the short form of poetry, we move into the world of drama — also known as the play. This form is as old as the poem, stretching back to the works of ancient Greek playwrights like Sophocles, who adapted the myths of their day into dramatic form. The stage play (and the more modern screenplay) gives the words on the page a literal human voice, bringing life to a story and its characters entirely through dialogue.

Interested to see what that looks like? Take a look at these examples:

All My Sons by Arthur Miller

“I know you're no worse than most men but I thought you were better. I never saw you as a man. I saw you as my father.”

Arthur Miller acts as a bridge between the classic and the new, creating 20th century tragedies that take place in living rooms and backyard instead of royal courts, so we had to include his breakout hit on this list. Set in the backyard of an all-American family in the summer of 1946, this tragedy manages to communicate family tensions in an unimaginable scale, building up to an intense climax reminiscent of classical drama.

💡 Read more about Arthur Miller and classical influences in our breakdown of Freytag’s pyramid .

“Everything is Fine” by Michael Schur ( The Good Place )

“Well, then this system sucks. What...one in a million gets to live in paradise and everyone else is tortured for eternity? Come on! I mean, I wasn't freaking Gandhi, but I was okay. I was a medium person. I should get to spend eternity in a medium place! Like Cincinnati. Everyone who wasn't perfect but wasn't terrible should get to spend eternity in Cincinnati.”

A screenplay, especially a TV pilot, is like a mini-play, but with the extra job of convincing an audience that they want to watch a hundred more episodes of the show. Blending moral philosophy with comedy, The Good Place is a fun hang-out show set in the afterlife that asks some big questions about what it means to be good.

It follows Eleanor Shellstrop, an incredibly imperfect woman from Arizona who wakes up in ‘The Good Place’ and realizes that there’s been a cosmic mixup. Determined not to lose her place in paradise, she recruits her “soulmate,” a former ethics professor, to teach her philosophy with the hope that she can learn to be a good person and keep up her charade of being an upstanding citizen. The pilot does a superb job of setting up the stakes, the story, and the characters, while smuggling in deep philosophical ideas.

Personal essays

Our first foray into nonfiction on this list is the personal essay. As its name suggests, these stories are in some way autobiographical — concerned with the author’s life and experiences. But don’t be fooled by the realistic component. These essays can take any shape or form, from comics to diary entries to recipes and anything else you can imagine. Typically zeroing in on a single issue, they allow you to explore your life and prove that the personal can be universal.

Here are a couple of fantastic examples:

“On Selling Your First Novel After 11 Years” by Min Jin Lee (Literary Hub)

There was so much to learn and practice, but I began to see the prose in verse and the verse in prose. Patterns surfaced in poems, stories, and plays. There was music in sentences and paragraphs. I could hear the silences in a sentence. All this schooling was like getting x-ray vision and animal-like hearing.

This deeply honest personal essay by Pachinko author Min Jin Lee is an account of her eleven-year struggle to publish her first novel . Like all good writing, it is intensely focused on personal emotional details. While grounded in the specifics of the author's personal journey, it embodies an experience that is absolutely universal: that of difficulty and adversity met by eventual success.

“A Cyclist on the English Landscape” by Roff Smith (New York Times)

These images, though, aren’t meant to be about me. They’re meant to represent a cyclist on the landscape, anybody — you, perhaps.

Roff Smith’s gorgeous photo essay for the NYT is a testament to the power of creatively combining visuals with text. Here, photographs of Smith atop a bike are far from simply ornamental. They’re integral to the ruminative mood of the essay, as essential as the writing. Though Smith places his work at the crosscurrents of various aesthetic influences (such as the painter Edward Hopper), what stands out the most in this taciturn, thoughtful piece of writing is his use of the second person to address the reader directly. Suddenly, the writer steps out of the body of the essay and makes eye contact with the reader. The reader is now part of the story as a second character, finally entering the picture.

Short Fiction

The short story is the happy medium of fiction writing. These bite-sized narratives can be devoured in a single sitting and still leave you reeling. Sometimes viewed as a stepping stone to novel writing, that couldn’t be further from the truth. Short story writing is an art all its own. The limited length means every word counts and there’s no better way to see that than with these two examples:

“An MFA Story” by Paul Dalla Rosa (Electric Literature)

At Starbucks, I remembered a reading Zhen had given, a reading organized by the program’s faculty. I had not wanted to go but did. In the bar, he read, "I wrote this in a Starbucks in Shanghai. On the bank of the Huangpu." It wasn’t an aside or introduction. It was two lines of the poem. I was in a Starbucks and I wasn’t writing any poems. I wasn’t writing anything.

Creative Writing Examples | Photograph of New York City street.

This short story is a delightfully metafictional tale about the struggles of being a writer in New York. From paying the bills to facing criticism in a writing workshop and envying more productive writers, Paul Dalla Rosa’s story is a clever satire of the tribulations involved in the writing profession, and all the contradictions embodied by systemic creativity (as famously laid out in Mark McGurl’s The Program Era ). What’s more, this story is an excellent example of something that often happens in creative writing: a writer casting light on the private thoughts or moments of doubt we don’t admit to or openly talk about.

“Flowering Walrus” by Scott Skinner (Reedsy)

I tell him they’d been there a month at least, and he looks concerned. He has my tongue on a tissue paper and is gripping its sides with his pointer and thumb. My tongue has never spent much time outside of my mouth, and I imagine it as a walrus basking in the rays of the dental light. My walrus is not well.

A winner of Reedsy’s weekly Prompts writing contest, ‘ Flowering Walrus ’ is a story that balances the trivial and the serious well. In the pauses between its excellent, natural dialogue , the story manages to scatter the fear and sadness of bad medical news, as the protagonist hides his worries from his wife and daughter. Rich in subtext, these silences grow and resonate with the readers.

Want to give short story writing a go? Give our free course a go!

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How to Craft a Killer Short Story

From pacing to character development, master the elements of short fiction.

Perhaps the thing that first comes to mind when talking about creative writing, novels are a form of fiction that many people know and love but writers sometimes find intimidating. The good news is that novels are nothing but one word put after another, like any other piece of writing, but expanded and put into a flowing narrative. Piece of cake, right?

To get an idea of the format’s breadth of scope, take a look at these two (very different) satirical novels:

Convenience Store Woman by Sayaka Murata

I wished I was back in the convenience store where I was valued as a working member of staff and things weren’t as complicated as this. Once we donned our uniforms, we were all equals regardless of gender, age, or nationality — all simply store workers.

Creative Writing Examples | Book cover of Convenience Store Woman

Keiko, a thirty-six-year-old convenience store employee, finds comfort and happiness in the strict, uneventful routine of the shop’s daily operations. A funny, satirical, but simultaneously unnerving examination of the social structures we take for granted, Sayaka Murata’s Convenience Store Woman is deeply original and lingers with the reader long after they’ve put it down.

Erasure by Percival Everett

The hard, gritty truth of the matter is that I hardly ever think about race. Those times when I did think about it a lot I did so because of my guilt for not thinking about it.

Erasure is a truly accomplished satire of the publishing industry’s tendency to essentialize African American authors and their writing. Everett’s protagonist is a writer whose work doesn’t fit with what publishers expect from him — work that describes the “African American experience” — so he writes a parody novel about life in the ghetto. The publishers go crazy for it and, to the protagonist’s horror, it becomes the next big thing. This sophisticated novel is both ironic and tender, leaving its readers with much food for thought.

Creative Nonfiction

Creative nonfiction is pretty broad: it applies to anything that does not claim to be fictional (although the rise of autofiction has definitely blurred the boundaries between fiction and nonfiction). It encompasses everything from personal essays and memoirs to humor writing, and they range in length from blog posts to full-length books. The defining characteristic of this massive genre is that it takes the world or the author’s experience and turns it into a narrative that a reader can follow along with.

Here, we want to focus on novel-length works that dig deep into their respective topics. While very different, these two examples truly show the breadth and depth of possibility of creative nonfiction:

Men We Reaped by Jesmyn Ward

Men’s bodies litter my family history. The pain of the women they left behind pulls them from the beyond, makes them appear as ghosts. In death, they transcend the circumstances of this place that I love and hate all at once and become supernatural.

Writer Jesmyn Ward recounts the deaths of five men from her rural Mississippi community in as many years. In her award-winning memoir , she delves into the lives of the friends and family she lost and tries to find some sense among the tragedy. Working backwards across five years, she questions why this had to happen over and over again, and slowly unveils the long history of racism and poverty that rules rural Black communities. Moving and emotionally raw, Men We Reaped is an indictment of a cruel system and the story of a woman's grief and rage as she tries to navigate it.

Cork Dork by Bianca Bosker

He believed that wine could reshape someone’s life. That’s why he preferred buying bottles to splurging on sweaters. Sweaters were things. Bottles of wine, said Morgan, “are ways that my humanity will be changed.”

In this work of immersive journalism , Bianca Bosker leaves behind her life as a tech journalist to explore the world of wine. Becoming a “cork dork” takes her everywhere from New York’s most refined restaurants to science labs while she learns what it takes to be a sommelier and a true wine obsessive. This funny and entertaining trip through the past and present of wine-making and tasting is sure to leave you better informed and wishing you, too, could leave your life behind for one devoted to wine.

Illustrated Narratives (Comics, graphic novels)

Once relegated to the “funny pages”, the past forty years of comics history have proven it to be a serious medium. Comics have transformed from the early days of Jack Kirby’s superheroes into a medium where almost every genre is represented. Humorous one-shots in the Sunday papers stand alongside illustrated memoirs, horror, fantasy, and just about anything else you can imagine. This type of visual storytelling lets the writer and artist get creative with perspective, tone, and so much more. For two very different, though equally entertaining, examples, check these out:

Calvin & Hobbes by Bill Watterson

"Life is like topography, Hobbes. There are summits of happiness and success, flat stretches of boring routine and valleys of frustration and failure."

A Calvin and Hobbes comic strip. A little blond boy Calvin makes multiple silly faces in school photos. In the last panel, his father says, "That's our son. *Sigh*" His mother then says, "The pictures will remind of more than we want to remember."

This beloved comic strip follows Calvin, a rambunctious six-year-old boy, and his stuffed tiger/imaginary friend, Hobbes. They get into all kinds of hijinks at school and at home, and muse on the world in the way only a six-year-old and an anthropomorphic tiger can. As laugh-out-loud funny as it is, Calvin & Hobbes ’ popularity persists as much for its whimsy as its use of humor to comment on life, childhood, adulthood, and everything in between.

From Hell by Alan Moore and Eddie Campbell

"I shall tell you where we are. We're in the most extreme and utter region of the human mind. A dim, subconscious underworld. A radiant abyss where men meet themselves. Hell, Netley. We're in Hell."

Comics aren't just the realm of superheroes and one-joke strips, as Alan Moore proves in this serialized graphic novel released between 1989 and 1998. A meticulously researched alternative history of Victorian London’s Ripper killings, this macabre story pulls no punches. Fact and fiction blend into a world where the Royal Family is involved in a dark conspiracy and Freemasons lurk on the sidelines. It’s a surreal mad-cap adventure that’s unsettling in the best way possible.

Video Games and RPGs

Probably the least expected entry on this list, we thought that video games and RPGs also deserved a mention — and some well-earned recognition for the intricate storytelling that goes into creating them.

Essentially gamified adventure stories, without attention to plot, characters, and a narrative arc, these games would lose a lot of their charm, so let’s look at two examples where the creative writing really shines through:

80 Days by inkle studios

"It was a triumph of invention over nature, and will almost certainly disappear into the dust once more in the next fifty years."

Named Time Magazine ’s game of the year in 2014, this narrative adventure is based on Around the World in 80 Days by Jules Verne. The player is cast as the novel’s narrator, Passpartout, and tasked with circumnavigating the globe in service of their employer, Phileas Fogg. Set in an alternate steampunk Victorian era, the game uses its globe-trotting to comment on the colonialist fantasies inherent in the original novel and its time period. On a storytelling level, the choose-your-own-adventure style means no two players’ journeys will be the same. This innovative approach to a classic novel shows the potential of video games as a storytelling medium, truly making the player part of the story.

What Remains of Edith Finch by Giant Sparrow

"If we lived forever, maybe we'd have time to understand things. But as it is, I think the best we can do is try to open our eyes, and appreciate how strange and brief all of this is."

This video game casts the player as 17-year-old Edith Finch. Returning to her family’s home on an island in the Pacific northwest, Edith explores the vast house and tries to figure out why she’s the only one of her family left alive. The story of each family member is revealed as you make your way through the house, slowly unpacking the tragic fate of the Finches. Eerie and immersive, this first-person exploration game uses the medium to tell a series of truly unique tales.

Fun and breezy on the surface, humor is often recognized as one of the trickiest forms of creative writing. After all, while you can see the artistic value in a piece of prose that you don’t necessarily enjoy, if a joke isn’t funny, you could say that it’s objectively failed.

With that said, it’s far from an impossible task, and many have succeeded in bringing smiles to their readers’ faces through their writing. Here are two examples:

‘How You Hope Your Extended Family Will React When You Explain Your Job to Them’ by Mike Lacher (McSweeney’s Internet Tendency)

“Is it true you don’t have desks?” your grandmother will ask. You will nod again and crack open a can of Country Time Lemonade. “My stars,” she will say, “it must be so wonderful to not have a traditional office and instead share a bistro-esque coworking space.”

An open plan office seen from a bird's eye view. There are multiple strands of Edison lights hanging from the ceiling. At long light wooden tables multiple people sit working at computers, many of them wearing headphones.

Satire and parody make up a whole subgenre of creative writing, and websites like McSweeney’s Internet Tendency and The Onion consistently hit the mark with their parodies of magazine publishing and news media. This particular example finds humor in the divide between traditional family expectations and contemporary, ‘trendy’ work cultures. Playing on the inherent silliness of today’s tech-forward middle-class jobs, this witty piece imagines a scenario where the writer’s family fully understands what they do — and are enthralled to hear more. “‘Now is it true,’ your uncle will whisper, ‘that you’ve got a potential investment from one of the founders of I Can Haz Cheezburger?’”

‘Not a Foodie’ by Hilary Fitzgerald Campbell (Electric Literature)

I’m not a foodie, I never have been, and I know, in my heart, I never will be.

Highlighting what she sees as an unbearable social obsession with food , in this comic Hilary Fitzgerald Campbell takes a hilarious stand against the importance of food. From the writer’s courageous thesis (“I think there are more exciting things to talk about, and focus on in life, than what’s for dinner”) to the amusing appearance of family members and the narrator’s partner, ‘Not a Foodie’ demonstrates that even a seemingly mundane pet peeve can be approached creatively — and even reveal something profound about life.

We hope this list inspires you with your own writing. If there’s one thing you take away from this post, let it be that there is no limit to what you can write about or how you can write about it.

In the next part of this guide, we'll drill down into the fascinating world of creative nonfiction.

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Writers' Treasure

Effective writing advice for aspiring writers

Creative Writing 101

Creative writing is any form of writing which is written with the creativity of mind: fiction writing, poetry writing, creative nonfiction writing and more. The purpose is to express something, whether it be feelings, thoughts, or emotions.

Rather than only giving information or inciting the reader to make an action beneficial to the writer, creative writing is written to entertain or educate someone, to spread awareness about something or someone, or to express one’s thoughts.

There are two kinds of creative writing: good and bad, effective and ineffective. Bad, ineffective creative writing cannot make any impression on the reader. It won’t achieve its purpose.

So whether you’re a novelist, a poet, a short-story writer, an essayist, a biographer or an aspiring beginner, you want to improve your craft. The question is: how?

When you write great fiction, poetry, or nonfiction, amazing things can happen. Readers can’t put it down. The work you wrote becomes a bestseller. It becomes famous. But you have to reach to that level… first .

The best way to increase your proficiency in creative writing is to write, write compulsively, but it doesn’t mean write whatever you want. There are certain things you should know first… it helps to start with the right foot.

To do exactly that, here we have a beginners’ guide from Writers’ Treasure on the subject:

An Introduction to Creative Writing
How to Get Started in Creative Writing in Just Three Steps
Creative Writing vs. Technical Writing
Fiction Writing 101: The Elements of Stories
Poetry Writing: Forms and Terms Galore
Creative Non-Fiction: What is it?
Tips and Tricks to Improve Your Creative Writing
Common Mistakes Made by Creative Writers

For novelists: do you want to write compelling opening chapters?

Are you an aspiring novelist? Will your novel see the light of day? For that, you will need to make the first chapter of your story as compelling as possible. Otherwise, readers won’t even pick up your novel. That chapter can be the make-or-break point that decides whether your novel is published or not. It’s because good editors know how you write from the first three pages… or sometimes even from the opening lines.

To solve this problem, I created a five-part tutorial on Writing Compelling Opening Chapters . It outlines why you need to write a compelling opening chapter, my personal favourite way of beginning it, what should be told and shown in it, general dos and don’ts, and what you need to do after having written it. Check it out for more.

Need more writing tips?

Sometimes you reach that stage when you outgrow the beginner stage of writing but feel that you’re not yet an expert. If I just described you, no worries– Writers’ Treasure’s writing tips are here. Whether you want to make your writing more readable, more irresistible, more professional, we’ve got you covered. So check out our writing tips , and be on your way to fast track your success.

I offer writing, editing and proofreading , as well as website creation services. I’ve been in this field for seven years, and I know the tools of the trade. I’ve seen the directions where the writing industry is going, the changes, the new platforms. Get your work done through me, and get fast and efficient service. Get a quote .

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Difference Between Creative Writing and Fiction Writing

Main difference – creative writing vs fiction writing.

What is Creative Writing

Creative writing can be broadly defined as any type of writing that is written with creativity. Various techniques and features such as narrative style, character development, diction , emphasis on emotions and feelings, imagery , etc. separate creative writing from other types of writing such as journalistic, academic, professional and technical forms of writing. Characters, settings , themes, motifs, dialogues , plot , style and point of view are the main elements of creative writing.

“Creative” doesn’t just refer to fiction – it doesn’t mean making up imaginary events or characters. Creative writing can include both fiction and nonfiction. Literary works such as novels, plays, poetry, biographies, short stories, and memoirs all fall under the category of creative writing. Feature stories in magazines or newspaper, which are about real events and real people, also fall into the category of creative writing.

Main Difference - Creative Writing vs Fiction Writing

What is Fiction Writing

Fiction can be defined as any story that is created in the imagination. Since they are created in imagination, they are not real stories. Therefore, fiction writing refers to writing stories using your imagination. Fiction is a subcategory of creative writing. Novels, novellas , short stories, and dramas are some examples of fiction writing. However, memoirs, biographies , and feature stories, which fall under the category of creative writing, are not fiction since they are about real people and real events.

Difference Between Creative Writing and Fiction Writing

Creative Writing: Creative Writing can be defined as any type of writing that is written with creativity.

Fiction Writing: Fiction Writing can be defined as writing that involves imaginary events and characters.

Fiction vs Nonfiction

Creative Writing: Both fiction and nonfiction fall under creative writing.

Fiction Writing: Fiction writing does not involve real events or people.

Creative Writing: Novels, dramas, poetry, memoirs, autobiographies, feature stories, etc. are examples of creative writing.

Fiction Writing: Novels, dramas, short stories are examples of fiction writing.

Imagination vs Creativity

Creative Writing: Creative Writing does not require imagination.

Fiction Writing: Fiction Writing involves both creativity and imagination.

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About the Author: Hasa

Hasanthi is a seasoned content writer and editor with over 8 years of experience. Armed with a BA degree in English and a knack for digital marketing, she explores her passions for literature, history, culture, and food through her engaging and informative writing.

What is Creative Writing

WHAT IS CREATIVE WRITING?

The word creative is defined in various ways. The following are just some of the definitions:

“The ability to create”

“Imaginative”

“Productive and imaginative”

“Characterised by expressiveness and originality”

Creative writing is often defined as the writing of fiction , where the author creates events, scenes and characters, sometimes even a world. In reality, aside from instinctive utterances like the yelp of an injured child or a delighted ‘Oh!’, all expressions are creative.

Learn more -Creative Writing Course On Line

Extract from our Creative Writing Course:

HOW DOES CREATIVE WRITING DIFFER?

Is creative writing different from other kinds of writing? As stated before all writing involves creativity since it is selective and is written from the writer’s perspective. Like informative writing, expositions (detailed statements or explanations) or instructions, creative writing does convey information, even when we define it so broadly; indeed, information is the basic component of all communication, no matter what kind.

The overall intent of creative writing is not to inform.

It is to stir the emotions, to elicit an emotional response.

A storyteller’s narrative is designed to express the storyteller’s feelings about some aspect of life, and to engage the reader in those feelings. A poet uses events, images and people to deliver concentrated emotion. Dramatists and screen writers convey and stir emotions through action and dialogue. A magazine feature writer comments on real people and real lives to arouse our sympathy, delight, horror or concern.

Information and creativity

The point is that almost any genre or category of writing can be written to engage the reader emotionally as well as intellectually. What makes a work more creative than informative is its emphasis.

Informative writing is primarily about imparting knowledge.

Creative writing is primarily about creating emotional effect and significance.

Differences between creative and informative writing are sometimes quite blurred. Some well-known and esteemed pieces of writing that are primarily informative are also very creative, sensitive and beautiful, while some primarily creative works are also highly informative. To understand this better, read a chapter from A.S. Byatt’s novel, Possession , Tolstoy’s War and Peace , Dee Brown’s history, Bury My Heart at Wounded Knee, and James Mitchener’s epic novel, Hawaii . You will also see writing where creativity and information carry equal weight and importance in some newspaper feature articles, often found in the centre pages of the weekend editions, and in many magazine articles.

Good creative writing uses the same kinds of writing that make for good informative writing, or good argument, or good exposition. It is the writer’s skill at using these forms of writing that can turn any piece of writing into creative piece of writing.

Even when we write fiction, we are dealing with reality as we know it. Fictional does not mean false. It takes our reality, or parts of it, and shows it to us in new ways. It makes the familiar unfamiliar, and takes us into parts of reality, making us take the time (because we read much slower than we think or see) to see its complexity, beauty and pain. Even fantasy fiction and science fiction, which give us totally created worlds, are based on elements of reality, and are therefore recognisable and believable. Therefore, when we write creatively, it doesn’t matter whether we are writing fiction or non-fiction. What matters is that we are sharing experiences and emotions with the reader and, for a while at least, leading them towards a particular point of view.

CREATIVE GENRES

Genre is a word often used to describe categories or types of written text. Some of the more familiar genres of creative writing are:

poetry of all kinds
short stories
novels, including westerns, romances, science fiction, detective stories, mysteries, fantasy, etc.
stage play scripts
film and television screenplays
lyrics

Other genres that we may not think of as creative writing are:

magazine articles
newspaper feature stories
essays
biographies
advertisements
card greetings
books or articles on science, history etc.

[21/05/2024 14:58:50]

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Genres: Literary Fiction vs. Everything Else

by Melissa Donovan | Jul 15, 2021 | Story Writing | 36 comments

How is literary fiction different from other genres?

In creative writing, we talk about form and genre. Form is what we write: fiction, poetry, or creative nonfiction. Genre is how we further classify each of these forms.

In fiction writing, there’s literary fiction and everything else.

In fact, literary fiction and all the other genres are so at odds with each other that some writers simply say they are either literary fiction writers or genre writers.

What is Literary Fiction Anyway?

Let’s start with a simple definition of the word literary . Dictionary.com offers several definitions, including the following:

pertaining to or of the nature of books and writings, especially those classed as literature: literary history.
pertaining to authorship: literary style.
versed in or acquainted with literature; well-read.
engaged in or having the profession of literature or writing: a literary man.
characterized by an excessive or affected display of learning; stilted; pedantic.

So we can use the word literary whenever we’re talking about writing or authorship in general, but it can also mean an excessive or affected display of learning . That’s a nice way of referring to intellectual or academic snobbery.

Wikipedia offers a more specific definition of literary fiction :

“fictional works that are claimed to hold literary merit.” The article goes on to say that “to be considered literary, a work usually must be ‘critically acclaimed’ and ‘serious’. In practice, works of literary fiction often are ‘complex, literate, multilayered novels that wrestle with universal dilemmas.'”

In other words, literary fiction has meaning and significance. I’ve also heard literary fiction defined as paying diligence to the craft of writing (or the art of stringing words together), exploring the human condition, and making bold commentary or criticism of society and culture.

Literary Fiction vs. Everything Else

I love literary fiction. Some of my favorite novels are The Grapes of Wrath , The Catcher in the Rye , and To Kill a Mockingbird (aff links), all of which would be classified as literary fiction. These are the kind of books that people study and analyze. They’re taught in schools. People read them for decades, even centuries, after they’re published. They win prestigious awards and are beloved and celebrated by bookworms and scholars alike.

As much as I love literary fiction, I’d have to say that my heart belongs to science fiction. From A Wrinkle in Time to Snow Crash (aff links), the science fiction that I love best has done everything that literary fiction can do and then some.

In an interview with the Paris Review (which I highly recommend), the great Ray Bradbury said, “Science fiction is the fiction of ideas.” He also observed that science fiction often goes unrecognized for having literary merit and expressed his chagrin:

“As soon as you have an idea that changes some small part of the world you are writing science fiction. It is always the art of the possible, never the impossible…The critics are generally wrong, or they’re fifteen, twenty years late. It’s a great shame. They miss out on a lot. Why the fiction of ideas should be so neglected is beyond me. I can’t explain it, except in terms of intellectual snobbery.”

Some of the other genres have it even worse. When was the last time a romance novel or horror story won critical acclaim or took home the highest literary honors? Science fiction and fantasy writers have enjoyed more critical and commercial success in recent years. Ray Bradbury himself won several prestigious literary awards. Sometimes it seems like the literary academics (the literati) are coming around and slowly opening their minds to genre fiction.

Yet there is still a stigma attached to genre fiction in certain literary circles. Just recently, I once heard someone say they refused to read The Hunger Games because it was about kids killing kids and was therefore garbage. Yet kids are killing kids all over the planet: in gangs, in wars, and in school shootings. It’s not garbage; it’s truth, and that is the purest form of literature.

Looking for Merit in Creative Writing

Of course there is an argument to be made about the merit of a work of fiction. I’ve read plenty of literary and genre fiction that said absolutely nothing about humanity or the world in which we live. Some of the literary novels I’ve picked up recently have been so abstract, obtuse, and erudite that after a few chapters, I gave up and moved on to the next book. And I’ve read plenty of genre fiction that is good fun but will never change the world.

Ultimately, each of us decides for ourselves which stories hold the most merit. We get to ask ourselves whether we want a gripping story or a story that makes us think, feel, and question. Do we read to be entertained and to escape, or do we read to broaden our perspectives and enlighten ourselves?

Hopefully, we get all of these things from a truly great work of fiction.

Have you ever watched a film or read a book that you thought had a lot of artistic or intellectual merit only to learn that the critics shot it down? Have you ever experienced a story that you thought was just awful and learned that it won awards and prestige? What are your thoughts on the divide between literary fiction and genre fiction? Share your thoughts by leaving a comment.

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36 Comments

What a great post! And I had to chuckle with “an excessive or affected display of learning. That’s a nice way of referring to snobbery.” I know someone like this, who also refuses to read The Hunger Games for the same reason you heard. My ABNA entry did not advance into the next round (though I’m pleased as punch to have gotten as far as I did!). The PW review of three sentences contained nothing of value to me as a writer and only ridiculed the genre as well as my tartgeted audience. I’d call that literary snobbery! 🙂 Of course it will not deter me from pushing on with the project; earlier reviews were good and I still think it holds great promise!

I actually didn’t want to read The Hunger Games at first. I figured it would be dark and sad, probably disturbing, and I guess I wasn’t in the mood for that kind of story. But I certainly didn’t pass judgement on it without having read it! I just needed to wait for the right time (and I loved it).

I’m sorry to hear that your entry didn’t make it to the next round, but it sounds like the people in charge aren’t open to genre and don’t respect fans of genre literature. There are plenty of other paths for you to take, and you will find your readers. Keep writing!

I’ve been thinking about this a lot lately, in trying to classify my own writing. Literary fiction is definitely my favorite. Jane Austen, Charles Dickens, George Eliot. But then I also love writers like J.K. Rowling and Connie Willis. I think my plan is just to write the stories I want to write and let other people worry about classifying it.

Ha! I like your attitude. Keep in mind, though, that if you choose to self-publish, you’ll have to pick your own genres. But that’s something you can worry about once your stories are finished and polished. You’ll probably know by then where to classify them.

I love this discussion! I’m (very slowly) doing my Masters in creative writing and our fiction classes are filled with both genre writers and literary writers. I think the most common distinction between literary fiction and genre fiction is the author’s approach to language.

Salman Rushdie (for example) writes complex stories, but his use of language is just as exciting as his plots – honestly I have spent weeks poring over his metaphors (and hating him for his talent). Not everyone’s cup of tea, but you have to admire lit fiction writers’ innovative approaches to language, story and characterisation.

I don’t read a lot of genre fiction (due to class readings) but I read The Hunger Games series. It was action packed, fast paced, thrilling (etc) but it also had a lot of stiff dialogue and cliched writing. This is acceptable in genre fiction, not because genre fiction readers are less educated, but because plot driven narratives rely on recognisable conventions, and at times cliches, to transport the reader to the action ASAP.

I’m learning that it’s more important to write about what you love to write about – if you want to create a new worlds, loads of suspense or heart pulling tales of love, do that. If you want to explore the genesis of a character’s intense hatred for his mother and small dogs in handbags using Candide as your template, do that. Screw the critics, what do they know about the ecstasy of creating anyway?

Aziza, I agree with you 100% – write what you love! I appreciate authors who take a thoughtful approach to language, but in fiction, it’s not enough (for me) if the story isn’t compelling too. I would rather read The Hunger Games , which has relatable characters and a gripping plot than yawn my way through a lengthy narrative that is beautifully styled but lacks intriguing substance. Now, poetry is another matter. I think that’s a perfect place to dig into language. Of course, these are just my own personal preferences. To each her own!

Excellent. I’ve had a big problem with genre work being discredited because it doesn’t fall under the definition of “true literature.” Some of the best books I’ve ever read are genre. I think it’s a pretty “snobbery” was a beautiful way to put it.

Thanks for this wonderful commentary!

–Mary

I guess I come from the live-and-let-live philosophy, so I don’t understand why there are such harsh judgements against genre. It’s one thing to dislike a particular genre or to engage in thoughtful or meaningful literary criticism, but to look down’s one nose at the stuff other people adore and lump it all together without actually experiencing it is indeed snobbery. Thanks for commenting!

I read everything, from literary books to manga. But it’s true that there are very few genre books among my favourites. I didn’t understand why until I started writing in English and visiting ‘creative writing’ forums. There I finally understand why I don’t like genre fiction that much.

Authors of genre fiction think “inside the box”. They always think about expectation of publishers and readers, and impose too many idiotic rules on themselves. There’s a rule for everything, from how many ! you can have in 25000 words, to irrational statement that ‘reader can’t imagine if you say the character ‘said something angrily’. Readers are idiots, what they can’t see, they don’t know. Well, that’s not said, but it’s implied. Just today I had a phonecall with my mother and I didn’t have to see her to immediately know that she’s very angry – from the first two syllables after she picked up the phone… But dare to say that at these forums, and they’ll eat you alive.

The result is that most genre fictions feels the same, with same bland, dry, quasi-Hemmingway style, unimaginative, un-creative. The moment the author decides to ignore this ridiculous limitations, tones down the action, adds description, and experiments bit with the form – it’s literary. At least according to what I heard on those forums, though I don’ treally agree with it.

Also, there are as many snobs among readers of genre fiction as among the readers of literary fiction. Inf fact, they are usually much more fierce. How many times I heard, that if the author experiments with the form, they’re only doing it because they want to show off, that if books are not read and loved by majority, it’s failed literature, that those who like such books are also just show-offs and snobs.

It’s true there are snobs on both sides, and I agree with you that genre fiction is more likely to be formulaic. But why did the literati exclude genre from the beginning? Why were Ray Bradbury and his peers in science fiction treated as inferior as soon as the genre was born? That was a harsh and premature judgment on the part of the academics.

We see the same thing in Hollywood. To this day, I find it absurd that the first Star Wars film did not win best picture at the 1978 Oscars. One of the most beloved, celebrated, breakthrough films of all time, and back then, it lost to Annie Hall .

My point is that there are works of excellence in literary fiction and genre just as there are terribly flawed works in literary fiction and genre. It is shortsighted and ridiculous to dismiss an entire genre as having no literary merit just because it can be categorized as romance or science fiction. It’s also shortsighted to assume that all works of literary fiction have merit. Yet those are not uncommon attitudes.

As for genre writers thinking inside the box, I would have to disagree, at least when it comes to science fiction. After all, it is the fiction of ideas, especially ideas from outside of the box.

I enjoyed reading this post. I’ll admit I have never completely understood what makes up Literary Fiction. It seems as if it could soak in so many works of quality. I took several classes in college, participated in writers’ groups, and despite the education literary fiction is still one of those things that isn’t clear to me. I like how you placed the definitions in your post. Believe it or not, it does make a difference.

Since 2006, I have researched, written and continued to edit my book manuscript while I worked. I was never in a hurry to send off a query letter. Never, at any moment, was I ready to label it. In the end, it’s Young Adult. If I am required to be more specific: YA Historical Fiction.

I understand how Genre Fiction has a formula or some writers are encouraged to write a certain way. I admire Harry Potter novels. I believed they were well written. My Writing the Contemporary Novel teacher in college believed the Harry Potter novels were too generic. She assigned us unique novels. In truth, I was only able to complete one. It was a graphic novel about the Holocaust.

I apologize for the long response. I did enjoy your post. Thank you!

Thank you for sharing your thoughts and experiences, Rebecca. I had a college professor (Children’s Literature) who not only loved Harry Potter, she assigned it as required reading. That just goes to show the spectrum of opinions about what is unique and what has merit. Personally, I like a good, engaging story over a piece of writing that is “unique.”

One of the problems with genre is that some writers just want to tell a story. They don’t write for genre or for market. Then when their books get published, their work is forced into a category and ends up sitting on a shelf next to a book that was written to formula. That’s why every so often, a genre story breaks out and gets a little recognition from the literary folk.

I stumbled upon this blog today, and I really enjoyed your post. However, I have to say I have mixed feelings about both literary fiction and genre fiction.

As a reader, I thoroughly enjoy magistral pieces of writing (prose, poem, whatever). I love nineteenth-century literature, and most of my favorite authors would be considered heavy “literary” authors. I also immensely enjoy genre fiction when it is well-written and has captivating characters. I love the Harry Potter books, and many great novels of the fantasy genre. I know they are not monuments to mankind or unending sources of wisdom, but hey, they are great fun. I also have a passionate dislike for badly written genre fiction, like the Twilight series or any novel by Paulo Coelho (bleargh!). But anyway, if they sell so much, it means there are people who are willing to read them. To each his own.

As an aspirational writer (does that word even exist? lol, English is not my first language, so pardon any mishaps) I would never even bother to try and write literary fiction. First, because I know superb writing when I see it, and I am self-conscious enough to know I am not brilliant; so, I won’t even bother. Second, I am not a native English speaker. It is hard enough to write in your own language, but to write in a foreign language is hard work! (I have decided to write in English in order to reach a broader audience) Finally, at the end of the day, I want writing to be a fun experience. I want to have a lot of fun doing it, and I want people who read what I have written to have as much fun as I did. I have no intention to change the world with my writing. Really, I just want to make people have a good time!

So, if I’m trying to say anything, it’s: literature for entertainment, if it serves its purpose, is as valid as any other.

PS – On a side note, I think it was Terry Pratchett who united both the fantasy and sci-fi genres under the banner of “speculative fiction”. I thought it was an interesting term, somewhat close to Bradbury’s “fiction of ideas”. I am more of a fantasy girl myself — don’t enjoy reading too many scientific details.

Hi Olga. I agree: if writers want to write for entertainment, that’s their prerogative. Live and let live, that’s what I always say. I like a mix: stories that are emotional, thought-provoking, beautifully written, and entertaining. Yes, I guess I want it all.

Thanks for the interesting post. I’ve taken a few Lit Criticism classes in the course of my college career (I’ve currently got one semester left), and one thing that I did pick up is that the literature that is considered “great” at any given time has a lot to do with the school of Literary Criticism that happens to be in vogue at that time (New Critics, Structuralists, Marxists, etc). Also, it’s interesting to note that critics are still holding so fast to this “literature vs. genre fiction” distinction. Deconstruction, a highly influential school of thought that was prominent a few decades ago, makes the claim that all binaries bleed– in other words, as soon as you set up hard and fast distinctions between things, i.e. natural vs. unnatural, light vs. dark, literary fiction vs. genre fiction, you can come up with examples that cross those boundaries and break down the barriers between them. For example, we read “The Big Sleep” by Raymond Chandler. It’s essentially a hard boiled detective story, with a heavy focus on plot and action. It is genre fiction. When discussing the novel, though, our prof. asked us if we thought it was literature, and the general consensus was yes. It’s characters are pretty deep and intricate, and there is a lot of symbolism and other literary devices. As far as my own creative writing goes, I tend not to worry about the classifications. I just start out with an idea or an image and see where it goes. I recently wrote a short story about a young man that studies literary criticism, deconstruction in particular, and it pushes him over the edge in becoming suicidal (there were other things going on that also contributed). Now I’m about to start writing a novel that is in some ways a ghost story, so it could be classified that way, but it’s a lot more than that. Anyway, I’ve rambled enough lol. Thanks again for the post, I really enjoy reading them!

I’m glad you had a professor who was open-minded to genre. There have been some excellent works by genre writers, a few of which have floated to the top of our literary canon. I think genre is useful for sales and marketing, but in universities genre should be set aside and each work should be judged strictly on merit rather than arbitrary labels. I have to say, I do appreciate genre when I go to the bookstore because I know which aisle to visit.

Melissa, I feel we are kindred spirits of sorts since I too was weaned on science fiction as a child. I have always wanted to be a writer since college when I wrote a short story (science fiction) for a humanities class assignment. I enjoyed putting my ideas into words and creating something unique and seeing it come to life through words on a page. But life has a way of getting in the way, so to speak, and after many years, I have yet to complete a story and have it published. I am currently on my third attempt to complete a story and am finding myself getting once again frustrated and lost as before. But I refuse to give up, so that is how I found your web site. I was looking for tips and “words of wisdom” for writers. So, just wanted to let you know, that I look forward to future dialogues about writing and am encouraged by what other writers have to share about their experiences.

Thanks for commenting, Cathy. The real secret to becoming a writer is to simply refuse to give up. Three stories is not a lot, so I’d say it’s a bit early to get overly frustrated. Just keep at it. You might even think about joining a writers’ group or taking a workshop. You’ll learn a lot, get plenty of inspiration, plus receive feedback that will help you over the next hurdle. Best of luck to you!

I mean come on…yes literary fiction in its worse is boring but if you want to know why genre fiction isn’t considered for awards, most of it is published with typos and filled with cliches. Characters have no dimension other being than being plot devices and the whole idea is usually relying on something ridiculous that is never really re-explained in a unique way: vampires, magic etc. Of course there are amazing writers who turn all this upside down but they are a VERY small percentage. Same goes with romance and crime novels. Could you imagine if writers could crank out books like Bel Canto or Lovely Bones in the time it takes to write Anita Black Vampire Hunter? Nobody would read genre novels if that were the case because there would be plenty of gems to go around. Bottom line is that a reader and a critic can tell how much time and effort was put into a book and I think that books that win critical acclaim do so no matter what the subject matter is. FYI Ray Bradbury is alright but I wouldn’t consider him one of the best literary writers even if he didn’t write science fiction.

I’m sorry, but most genre fiction is not published with typos and filled with cliches. Nobody’s going to convince me that characters like Katniss Everdeen or Harry, Ron, and Hermione don’t have dimension. From Anne McCaffrey and Marion Zimmer Bradley to HG Wells, CS Lewis or the recent Wool series, there is plenty of quality genre fiction just as there is plenty of boring, erudite literary fiction. I’m not sure where you’re getting your genre books, but I simply have not had the same experience. As for Ray Bradbury, you’re entitled to your opinion, but I think he’s one of the best writers in the past century, a true visionary (like Gene Roddenberry).

I only came across this article today, but I found both it and the comments extremely interesting. Thank you for posting it!

I agree that there can be real snobbery about genre fiction, but there’s equally a real inverted snobbery against literary fiction which is very clear from some of the comments here about ‘yawning one’s way through’ literary novels or the implication (which I hope was inadvertent) that novels can be either literary or stonking good reads, but not both.

There are wonderful books that are both genre fiction and extremely well regarded as literary works: Gulliver’s Travels, The Handmaid’s Tale, Morality Play, Slaughterhouse 5, The Road, Jane Eyre, Jekyll and Hyde, The Name of the Rose, The Turn of the Screw… the list goes on. Non-novel genre works can similarly achieve recognition for exceptional artistic merit, such as In Cold Blood, or The Tempest and A Midsummer Night’s Dream, or even The Wizard of Oz which you yourself mention in one comment. It’s not at all true to say that ‘the literati exclude[d] genre from the beginning’: great literature is recognised as such regardless of what genre it draws on to convey and contextualise its message.

I agree very much with Aiculik’s comment of 18 May. I think that by suggesting that genre writers tend to ‘think inside the box’ she means in terms of how they write, rather than in terms of the ideas they write about. I agree with her that an awful lot of people tend to be terribly conservative about how they write, and tend to have a checklist of Dos and Don’ts culled from forums and ‘how to write’ guides that they won’t step away from. Whether it’s lack of confidence, or lack of interest in or willingness to experiment and break these rules, it does result in a lot of identikit, even stale, writing style and technique, even when the ideas themselves can be truly breathtaking.

That’s absolutely not saying all genre fiction is like that, but it’s true that an awful lot of it is. And that’s fine, if that’s what people want to write and read, but it does set up expectations in readers on both sides of the divide that that’s what they’ll get if they read genre fiction. So people seeking literary fiction will naturally look elsewhere, and people who try to write experimental or literary fiction within established genres will alienate readers who don’t want that.

Hi Lethi. You make some good points, and I think you and I have a similar outlook. I can’t say that I’ve seen a lot of snobbery among genre readers and writers although they can be fiercely passionate about their genres. Keep in mind that snobbery means people are looking down at something because they think it’s beneath them. While a lot of genre people aren’t into literary fiction, I don’t find (for example) science fiction fans who think it’s beneath them (their attitude is more like “that’s just not my thing”). It’s more likely to find literary folk looking down at genre because they don’t think it has merit, and often this is without actually reading any of it.

Obviously, both groups acquired these stereotypes because there is some truth to them. Genre fiction can be formulaic and literary fiction can be erudite to the point that it is boring or difficult to read. But there are countless exceptions on both sides of the fence.

It’s true that some genre fiction has been recognized, but historically genre gets ignored by the more prestigious circles both in literature and in film. That has changed drastically in recent years, but Ray Bradbury (in the interview over at the Paris Review) talked about how science fiction writers were literally laughed at by other writers when he was young and first starting out.

Me, I just love a good story. I lean toward science fiction, but I also love literary fiction (those are my two favorite genres). I can only say that the last few literary books I picked up did not hold my attention (and one of them was an award winner). My sense is that sometimes, literary fiction isn’t concerned with good storytelling and is instead concerned with being experimental or academic.

Anyway, it’s all good food for thought. In the end, I don’t care what people read or write. I just think we readers and writers need to stick together!

As a cozy mystery addict, you know where my alliances lay! 😉 hehe

I say, “Read (or write) what makes YOU come alive. If you are reading something to check a box and seem ‘intelligent’, you are not honoring your interests or the writer’s diligence.”

My limited vocabulary curtails my ability to absorb the erudite books, so I stick to the ones that bring me joy. Right now, I am reading a book by Agatha Christie for the umpteenth time – SHE is the reason I wanted to write. So that’s my choice, critics be damned! 😛

LOVE this, Melissa

I agree 100%!

Krithika Rangarajan mentioned what was on my mind: readers and what they are looking for and capable of reading and enjoying vary as much as the types of books that are considered literary or not, well-written or not, worth the time or not. Not everyone has a full dictionary in their brain, and not everyone wants to stop and look things up.

I thoroughly enjoyed your post and the associated comments. I find it interesting how often we (myself included at times) use the words “most of” and go on to give our opinion about the thousands and thousands, nee millions of books we’ve read that qualify us to judge a whole genre or non-genre (te-he) of books to be a certain way; e.g. pure drivel, too cliched, too difficult to read, too gratuitous, unworthy, etc.

My point, of course, is that I posit that only a small percentage of readers on our planet are truly well read. Unless one has had the privilege of a lifetime of sucking up scads of books in varied categories, there is no reasonable way to say “most of” when referring to published works.

I am having a difficult time classifying my own first novel. I want it to be literary in that I hope some of the metaphors and character dilemmas are thought-provoking enough to ponder, yet I want the reader to also sit back and simply enjoy the ride. Mainstream fiction with a supernatural, savvy flair perhaps? I digress…

We are genre-crossing now quite regularly. Books don’t always neatly land in one category or another, and yet we authors must choose. Perhaps our viewpoints will broaden as we read for our various reasons; to learn, to be entertained, to escape, to grow, to become better writers, to tackle something challenging, to improve our vocabulary and speech, to pursue a difficult degree, and realize that any form of snobbery just makes us look bad AND (more importantly) might keep us from reading some very worthy books. It is one thing to set aside a book that does not satisfy (I found “Fifty Shades” to be this way but don’t begrudge others who loved the series), and another to judge based on limited criteria and limited exposure to a wide variety of authors. What on earth do we gain by doing so?

A quick look at poetry’s evolution, and how what fits into that definition has changed, may be our literary compass of sorts. Let those compelled to write write (and break the rules only to create new ones to break again) and those compelled to read read–to pick up whatever satisfies, despite what critics or naysayers think.

I guess I had thoughts…

The use of “most of” is interesting, isn’t it? I think sometimes we get an impression that “most” members of a group feel a certain way because the most vocal among that group are expressing a particular opinion.

I have found genre to be more useful for readers than for writers. As a writer, I want to tell a story, and I don’t want to have think about genre too much. As a reader, I often turn to genre as a way to find books that I think I’ll enjoy. It’s a bit of a conundrum.

I’ve heard the difference is that in genre stories the characters change and in literary fiction the reader changes. I read and adore both kinds of stories.

I don’t think I’d describe it that way, but I too adore both kinds of stories.

I ended up in the literary category by default. When I began the writing journey I wrote about the people from my life in as realistic a way as possible without being boring. I wasn’t consciously trying to write in a particular genre, so when it came time to reach out to publishers and agents and explain what kind of writer I am, literary seemed to be the only category that applied. I also reject the snobbery that some literary types feel toward genre writing. There’s only quality writing, and the other kind.

“There’s only quality writing and the other kind.” Great statement, Robert!

For the first time, I have a working definition of literary fiction.

It is very difficult to define!

The idea of genre is merely to organize a bookstore or library. Just like music. Bottom line; there is a continuum from the plain to the abstruse [antonyms according to Roget]. And within that continuum, you can like it or not like it! Major ‘literary’ awards are biased towards the abstruse. I’ll take the first melody notes of Moonlight Sonata over Schoenberg or Ray Bradbury over Proust, any day of the week!

In my view, genre is a tool of sales. It helps booksellers find the right audience for a book. But it’s also useful for readers. I prefer certain genres over others, and I find the organization by genre very helpful. I think you can find abstruse works in every genre. And I adore Ray Bradbury’s work.

I find older literary fiction harder to read. The overuse of $5.00words makes following the story difficult.(those wrote in the 1800s mostly) Thank God for Twain,Stienbeck,etc

I agree, although it’s not the $5 words that I find difficult — it’s trudging through pages and pages of description in some of the older works. However, the further back we go, the more the language changes, and it becomes quite difficult to read. In college, I took a class on Shakespeare and the first few weeks, reading was slow and difficult. But then I found myself flipping through the pages like they were written in modern English. Sometimes it just requires a little patience.

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Creative Writing Vs Content Writing: 6 Differences You Should Know

Often used interchangeably, content writing and creative writing have similarities but are different. A non-writer may not recognize the differences between the two styles of writing. However, when you approach a professional writer, they will know precisely the nuances that make creative and content writing different.

If anyone is considering stepping into the world of writing, read on. The debate about creative writing vs content writing is ongoing, and you need to know the basics before you choose which kind of writing is better for you.

What is creative writing?

Creative writing is the art of creating stories that communicate ideas. It can involve any form of expression, including poetry, fiction, and non-fiction. Creative writing can help you explore your thoughts and feelings, connect with others, and share your unique perspective. It can also allow you to create something new or improve upon something old. In short, it is the art of engaging in creative thinking.

The following are some critical characteristics of creative writing:

1. It is an individual process, unlike scientific or journalistic research. There is no one defined way to write creatively; every writer has their unique style and approach.

2. Creative writers often explore unusual topics and ideas, creating relatively unstructured texts compared to traditional forms such as essays or reports. This flexibility allows them the creative freedom to communicate their ideas in an innovative way that cannot be done with a more conventional format.

3. Creative writers often use metaphors and other literary devices to convey complex ideas. Thus, they can communicate their ideas in a way that is easily understood and enjoyable to read.

4. The creative writing process uses creative imagination, which often leads to surprising and unexpected results. This element of surprise can add interest and excitement to the reader's experience, leading them to want to read more.

The key elements of creative writing are imagination, memory, and reflection. These three factors work together to help writers develop stories and characters that are interesting, entertaining, and suspenseful. Writers also use these same tools to explore ideas and express their views on life, making creative writing an often personal process.

Is creative writing a part of content writing?

Creative writing focuses on creating new ideas, whereas content writing focuses on distributing and promoting existing ideas. There is a clear-cut difference between creative writing and content writing. But that does not mean that creative writing is not a part of content writing.

Content writers and copywriters need to be able to think creatively to come up with interesting, engaging content that will keep readers interested. They must be able to write in various styles, including creative writing, so readers will find their writing enjoyable and informative. Thus, creativity is an integral element of the field of content writing.

What are the 5 types of creative writing?

Steeped in creativity and imagination, creative writing tends to be associated with many types and genres. Creative writing works can be classified into fiction or non-fiction.

Here is a list of five types of creative writing commonly known to all, followed by examples for each type of writing.

1. Narrative storytelling

Narrative storytelling is an approach to creative writing that emphasizes telling a story through events, characters, and settings. The term "narrative storytelling" has been used differently over the years. Generally, it refers to writing that employs a narrative structure—a sequence of events leading from the beginning to the end and character developments—to tell a story.

Example of narrative storytelling

Lamb to the Slaughter is a story penned by Roald Dahl in the narrative storytelling format. The story follows the protagonist, Mary, a housewife known for her loving nature. But one evening, as she welcomes her husband home, things take a different turn, and readers are enticed by the twist in the storytelling filled with thrill and horror. Do read the story to know more about what happened to Mary.

Poetry is a form of creative writing that uses metrical and rhyming patterns to create images or feelings. Poetry can be any length but typically remains shorter than standard prose. Poets use different techniques and rhythmical devices to evoke emotion in their readers, including metaphor, alliteration, imagery, and abecedarian rhyme.

Example of poetry

The Red Wheelbarrow is an eight-line poem by William Carlos Williams reflecting the importance of simple things in life that are often taken for granted. It artistically tries to capture the red wheelbarrow, the raindrops, and the white chicks, all essential components of a farmyard/agricultural activity.

Is the poem talking about the reliability of the wheelbarrow for farm activities? Or is it hinting at the chickens' significance? It depends on how you interpret the poem.

3. Screenwriting

Screenwriting is one of the forms of creative writing that typically involves the development of a story, film, or television script. As with all forms of writing, screenwriting requires an acute sense of observation and storytelling ability.

Example of screenwriting

Eric Roth's screenplay for Forrest Gump is the best example of creative writing. How he has adapted the novel creatively to give birth to a movie that has won millions of hearts over the years displays the true power of artistic expression.

Essays are formal pieces of creative writing that typically examine a subject in depth. They can be informative or entertaining, but they usually aim to provide readers with new information or insights.

Example of essay

Here is a snippet from an essay written by a student on her very first local diner visit. It is creatively and descriptively written to ensure that readers are engaged, and their emotions get invoked. The description of the diner in the essay allows the reader to visualize it without visiting it.

5. Memoirs/Bibliographies

Memoirs or bibliographies, as pieces of creative writing, are personal experiences that someone has written down; they often have a unique perspective and can tell stories in ways other types of writing cannot. This makes memoirs an interesting and effective means of conveying information or ideas.

Example of Memoir/Bibliography

Maya Angelou's memoir, I Know Why The Caged Bird Sings , is an excellent example of a creatively written memoir. It illustrates some fantastic life lessons. It follows the life story of Angelou to show how literature and strong character can help overcome trauma and racism.

The above types and examples of creative writing must have clarified why there is a difference between creative writing and content writing. Now let us move on to content writing and its examples to understand the differences better.

What is content writing?

Content writing is creating high-quality, engaging content for a website, social media, or blog. The content writing process involves creating written material that informs and engages the target audience. Content writers are involved in developing original pieces, rewriting existing content, or sourcing and curating information from other sources.

Ideally, the content created would be shareable and influential enough to attract readers (and potential customers) regularly and consistently. The primary purpose of content writing is digital marketing and branding.

Content writers target search engine optimization to create content that boosts business sales and encourages networking between individuals.

Some common skills required for successful content writing are:

Understanding grammar and syntax
Researching topics well enough to provide unique insights and thoughtful conclusions
Using positive reinforcement language when promoting the brand or product
Observing editorial requirements while maintaining user engagement potential
Ability to work with various writing platforms, content management systems, social media, or traditional word processors.

The process of content writing works in the following manner:

1. Planning: Outlining topics and ideas for a piece, researching for information, and determining the audience.

2. Writing: Using effective grammar and vocabulary to create coherent, readable, and quality content.

3. Editing & Proofreading: Checking for mistakes before publishing

4. Promotion: Developing marketing strategies to promote your content

Examples of content writing

Content writing skills and strategy are essential to creating content for social media posts, blogs, ebooks, websites, etc. Below are a few real-life examples of popular types of content writing pieces found on the internet.

1. Blogpost example

Zoom's blog post is an ideal example of content writing because it showcases its features to specific audience. It offers information to readers about the features and tips for using Zoom for office parties and gatherings during the holiday season.

2. Social media post example

The brand-Incogmeato has leveraged Twitter's polling feature in this tweet. It has a graphic added to it to grab attention. The social media content is witty, encouraging dialogue and discussion among the audience.

3. Ebook example

Content Marketing Institute's ‘Content Marketing Survival Guide’ is a great example of content writing. It is informative and provides data related to around 12 social media sites. It also contains tips and tricks to create an effective social media marketing and content strategy.

4. Website content example

The screenshot is from Cupcakes and Cashmere, a website associated with lifestyle and fashion. Emily Schuman is the founder of this website. The content on this particular webpage provides a sneak peek into the founder's life in the most exciting yet simplistic manner.

Creative writing vs content writing: Key differences

Now that you know the basics of creative and content writing, it is time to move on to the key differences between the two.

1. Different purposes

One of the primary differences between creative writing and content writing is related to the specific purpose of writing. Creative writing is used to explore the inner thoughts, emotions, and experiences of the author. Conversely, content writing communicates ideas or information that can help people achieve their goals.

2. Different styles of writing

Another difference revealed by the debate on creative writing vs content writing is that both have different writing styles. Creative writing tends to be more poetic and lyrical, while content writing is more straightforward and persuasive.

3. Tone of voice

There is no definitive tone of voice for creative writing, as the style and approach to writing will vary depending on the author's personal preferences. However, the tone of a creative writing piece can convey action or excitement, rely on vivid imagery, employ intriguing metaphors, and inject humor where appropriate.

In contrast, in content writing, the tone of voice should be respectful and objective. While it's important to evoke the reader's emotions compellingly, the content is written impartially, ensuring readers can share it with a wider audience.

4. Fiction and non-fiction

Creative writing is typically associated with fiction, but sometimes some creative writers produce non-fiction works as well. Content writing, in comparison, is mostly non-fiction, and content writers only get the scope to write fiction if there is a marketing or brand requirement.

5. Word usage

You can use the same word in creative writing multiple times, even in one line. You have the authority and freedom to express yourself however you want. But when it comes to content writing, using a variety of words is especially important to grab readers’ attention. You must ensure that keywords are used but not excessively. Synonymizing is an essential element of content writing.

6. Process of writing

Creative writing resembles an art form. This means that creative writers typically take their time to produce and organize their work. The creative writing process allows the writer to devise a writing style and convey their ideas in whatever form they want.

Content writing must be done within a specific set of parameters decided by the client. The content cannot take any shape desired by the writer and must present facts and information as the client dictates. The writer also has to be mindful of SEO guidelines.

Similarities between creative and content writing

Although the points of difference between creative writing and content writing are quite clear now, understanding the similarities between the two forms is also essential. We will mention the similarities here so that your knowledge regarding the creative writing vs content writing debate is complete.

Both writing styles require the writer to come up with ideas, develop them into sentences, and then string those sentences together into cohesive and comprehensive pieces. They also need to be able to think critically about their work and make sure that it is readable to a large audience.

Whether you publish content pieces or promote creative writing, your writing must be of high quality to be successful. Your writing must also be error-free and formatted correctly if you want people to trust your authority and credibility.

Creative writing vs. content writing: Conclusion

We have successfully demonstrated that there is a difference between creative writing and content writing. While one has to be used creatively, the other has to be deployed strategically. Both styles have benefits that can be leveraged to write powerful and effective content.

Nowadays, content writers are using creative techniques to produce better content. On the other hand, creative writers are optimizing their content pieces and making them SEO-friendly to gain traction.

Also, content writing differs from copywriting. Read this blog, ‘ Copywriting vs Content Writing: What are the Differences & Similarities? ’ to know more.

Can AI writing help you in writing creative content?

Yes, AI writing can help you in developing creative content. It can recommend topics and angles to explore, scan through existing content for inspiration, and even offer corrections or refinements to your writing style.

Do you wish to use AI to write creative content? Use Scalenut. This AI-powered SEO and content marketing platform can help your website rank scale up with free SEO tools that ensure your creativity never gets blocked.

Scalenut is among the 14 best AI writing assistants to help you scale your content marketing . So what are you waiting for? Sign up now.

ABout the AUTHOR

Priya Jamba is a Content Marketer at Scalenut. She loves marketing technologies and believes that with the right combination of tools and creativity, every organization can build sustainable brands. She is on a mission to help marketing teams across the globe produce tangible results from their marketing campaigns. Currently, she is working along with the Product team to enhance the AI content quality through prompt engineering.

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Creative Nonfiction: What It Is and How to Write It

Sean Glatch | March 31, 2024 | 6 Comments

What is creative nonfiction? Despite its slightly enigmatic name, no literary genre has grown quite as quickly as creative nonfiction in recent decades. Literary nonfiction is now well-established as a powerful means of storytelling, and bookstores now reserve large amounts of space for nonfiction, when it often used to occupy a single bookshelf.

Like any literary genre, creative nonfiction has a long history; also like other genres, defining contemporary CNF for the modern writer can be nuanced. If you’re interested in writing true-to-life stories but you’re not sure where to begin, let’s start by dissecting the creative nonfiction genre and what it means to write a modern literary essay.

What Creative Nonfiction Is

Creative nonfiction employs the creative writing techniques of literature, such as poetry and fiction, to retell a true story.

How do we define creative nonfiction? What makes it “creative,” as opposed to just “factual writing”? These are great questions to ask when entering the genre, and they require answers which could become literary essays themselves.

In short, creative nonfiction (CNF) is a form of storytelling that employs the creative writing techniques of literature, such as poetry and fiction, to retell a true story. Creative nonfiction writers don’t just share pithy anecdotes, they use craft and technique to situate the reader into their own personal lives. Fictional elements, such as character development and narrative arcs, are employed to create a cohesive story, but so are poetic elements like conceit and juxtaposition.

The CNF genre is wildly experimental, and contemporary nonfiction writers are pushing the bounds of literature by finding new ways to tell their stories. While a CNF writer might retell a personal narrative, they might also focus their gaze on history, politics, or they might use creative writing elements to write an expository essay. There are very few limits to what creative nonfiction can be, which is what makes defining the genre so difficult—but writing it so exciting.

Different Forms of Creative Nonfiction

From the autobiographies of Mark Twain and Benvenuto Cellini, to the more experimental styles of modern writers like Karl Ove Knausgård, creative nonfiction has a long history and takes a wide variety of forms. Common iterations of the creative nonfiction genre include the following:

Also known as biography or autobiography, the memoir form is probably the most recognizable form of creative nonfiction. Memoirs are collections of memories, either surrounding a single narrative thread or multiple interrelated ideas. The memoir is usually published as a book or extended piece of fiction, and many memoirs take years to write and perfect. Memoirs often take on a similar writing style as the personal essay does, though it must be personable and interesting enough to encourage the reader through the entire book.

Personal Essay

Personal essays are stories about personal experiences told using literary techniques.

When someone hears the word “essay,” they instinctively think about those five paragraph book essays everyone wrote in high school. In creative nonfiction, the personal essay is much more vibrant and dynamic. Personal essays are stories about personal experiences, and while some personal essays can be standalone stories about a single event, many essays braid true stories with extended metaphors and other narratives.

Personal essays are often intimate, emotionally charged spaces. Consider the opening two paragraphs from Beth Ann Fennelly’s personal essay “ I Survived the Blizzard of ’79. ”

We didn’t question. Or complain. It wouldn’t have occurred to us, and it wouldn’t have helped. I was eight. Julie was ten.

We didn’t know yet that this blizzard would earn itself a moniker that would be silk-screened on T-shirts. We would own such a shirt, which extended its tenure in our house as a rag for polishing silver.

The word “essay” comes from the French “essayer,” which means “to try” or “attempt.” The personal essay is more than just an autobiographical narrative—it’s an attempt to tell your own history with literary techniques.

Lyric Essay

The lyric essay contains similar subject matter as the personal essay, but is much more experimental in form.

The lyric essay contains similar subject matter as the personal essay, with one key distinction: lyric essays are much more experimental in form. Poetry and creative nonfiction merge in the lyric essay, challenging the conventional prose format of paragraphs and linear sentences.

The lyric essay stands out for its unique writing style and sentence structure. Consider these lines from “ Life Code ” by J. A. Knight:

The dream goes like this: blue room of water. God light from above. Child’s fist, foot, curve, face, the arc of an eye, the symmetry of circles… and then an opening of this body—which surprised her—a movement so clean and assured and then the push towards the light like a frog or a fish.

What we get is language driven by emotion, choosing an internal logic rather than a universally accepted one.

Lyric essays are amazing spaces to break barriers in language. For example, the lyricist might write a few paragraphs about their story, then examine a key emotion in the form of a villanelle or a ghazal . They might decide to write their entire essay in a string of couplets or a series of sonnets, then interrupt those stanzas with moments of insight or analysis. In the lyric essay, language dictates form. The successful lyricist lets the words arrange themselves in whatever format best tells the story, allowing for experimental new forms of storytelling.

Literary Journalism

Much more ambiguously defined is the idea of literary journalism. The idea is simple: report on real life events using literary conventions and styles. But how do you do this effectively, in a way that the audience pays attention and takes the story seriously?

You can best find examples of literary journalism in more “prestigious” news journals, such as The New Yorker , The Atlantic , Salon , and occasionally The New York Times . Think pieces about real world events, as well as expository journalism, might use braiding and extended metaphors to make readers feel more connected to the story. Other forms of nonfiction, such as the academic essay or more technical writing, might also fall under literary journalism, provided those pieces still use the elements of creative nonfiction.

Consider this recently published article from The Atlantic : The Uncanny Tale of Shimmel Zohar by Lawrence Weschler. It employs a style that’s breezy yet personable—including its opening line.

So I first heard about Shimmel Zohar from Gravity Goldberg—yeah, I know, but she insists it’s her real name (explaining that her father was a physicist)—who is the director of public programs and visitor experience at the Contemporary Jewish Museum, in San Francisco.

How to Write Creative Nonfiction: Common Elements and Techniques

What separates a general news update from a well-written piece of literary journalism? What’s the difference between essay writing in high school and the personal essay? When nonfiction writers put out creative work, they are most successful when they utilize the following elements.

Just like fiction, nonfiction relies on effective narration. Telling the story with an effective plot, writing from a certain point of view, and using the narrative to flesh out the story’s big idea are all key craft elements. How you structure your story can have a huge impact on how the reader perceives the work, as well as the insights you draw from the story itself.

Consider the first lines of the story “ To the Miami University Payroll Lady ” by Frenci Nguyen:

You might not remember me, but I’m the dark-haired, Texas-born, Asian-American graduate student who visited the Payroll Office the other day to complete direct deposit and tax forms.

Because the story is written in second person, with the reader experiencing the story as the payroll lady, the story’s narration feels much more personal and important, forcing the reader to evaluate their own personal biases and beliefs.

Observation

Telling the story involves more than just simple plot elements, it also involves situating the reader in the key details. Setting the scene requires attention to all five senses, and interpersonal dialogue is much more effective when the narrator observes changes in vocal pitch, certain facial expressions, and movements in body language. Essentially, let the reader experience the tiny details – we access each other best through minutiae.

The story “ In Transit ” by Erica Plouffe Lazure is a perfect example of storytelling through observation. Every detail of this flash piece is carefully noted to tell a story without direct action, using observations about group behavior to find hope in a crisis. We get observation when the narrator notes the following:

Here at the St. Thomas airport in mid-March, we feel the urgency of the transition, the awareness of how we position our bodies, where we place our luggage, how we consider for the first time the numbers of people whose belongings are placed on the same steel table, the same conveyor belt, the same glowing radioactive scan, whose IDs are touched by the same gloved hand[.]

What’s especially powerful about this story is that it is written in a single sentence, allowing the reader to be just as overwhelmed by observation and context as the narrator is.

We’ve used this word a lot, but what is braiding? Braiding is a technique most often used in creative nonfiction where the writer intertwines multiple narratives, or “threads.” Not all essays use braiding, but the longer a story is, the more it benefits the writer to intertwine their story with an extended metaphor or another idea to draw insight from.

“ The Crush ” by Zsofia McMullin demonstrates braiding wonderfully. Some paragraphs are written in first person, while others are written in second person.

The following example from “The Crush” demonstrates braiding:

Your hair is still wet when you slip into the booth across from me and throw your wallet and glasses and phone on the table, and I marvel at how everything about you is streamlined, compact, organized. I am always overflowing — flesh and wants and a purse stuffed with snacks and toy soldiers and tissues.

The author threads these narratives together by having both people interact in a diner, yet the reader still perceives a distance between the two threads because of the separation of “I” and “you” pronouns. When these threads meet, briefly, we know they will never meet again.

Speaking of insight, creative nonfiction writers must draw novel conclusions from the stories they write. When the narrator pauses in the story to delve into their emotions, explain complex ideas, or draw strength and meaning from tough situations, they’re finding insight in the essay.

Often, creative writers experience insight as they write it, drawing conclusions they hadn’t yet considered as they tell their story, which makes creative nonfiction much more genuine and raw.

The story “ Me Llamo Theresa ” by Theresa Okokun does a fantastic job of finding insight. The story is about the history of our own names and the generations that stand before them, and as the writer explores her disconnect with her own name, she recognizes a similar disconnect in her mother, as well as the need to connect with her name because of her father.

The narrator offers insight when she remarks:

I began to experience a particular type of identity crisis that so many immigrants and children of immigrants go through — where we are called one name at school or at work, but another name at home, and in our hearts.

How to Write Creative Nonfiction: the 5 R’s

CNF pioneer Lee Gutkind developed a very system called the “5 R’s” of creative nonfiction writing. Together, the 5 R’s form a general framework for any creative writing project. They are:

Write about r eal life: Creative nonfiction tackles real people, events, and places—things that actually happened or are happening.
Conduct extensive r esearch: Learn as much as you can about your subject matter, to deepen and enrich your ability to relay the subject matter. (Are you writing about your tenth birthday? What were the newspaper headlines that day?)
(W) r ite a narrative: Use storytelling elements originally from fiction, such as Freytag’s Pyramid , to structure your CNF piece’s narrative as a story with literary impact rather than just a recounting.
Include personal r eflection: Share your unique voice and perspective on the narrative you are retelling.
Learn by r eading: The best way to learn to write creative nonfiction well is to read it being written well. Read as much CNF as you can, and observe closely how the author’s choices impact you as a reader.

You can read more about the 5 R’s in this helpful summary article .

How to Write Creative Nonfiction: Give it a Try!

Whatever form you choose, whatever story you tell, and whatever techniques you write with, the more important aspect of creative nonfiction is this: be honest. That may seem redundant, but often, writers mistakenly create narratives that aren’t true, or they use details and symbols that didn’t exist in the story. Trust us – real life is best read when it’s honest, and readers can tell when details in the story feel fabricated or inflated. Write with honesty, and the right words will follow!

Ready to start writing your creative nonfiction piece? If you need extra guidance or want to write alongside our community, take a look at the upcoming nonfiction classes at Writers.com. Now, go and write the next bestselling memoir!

Sean Glatch

Thank you so much for including these samples from Hippocampus Magazine essays/contributors; it was so wonderful to see these pieces reflected on from the craft perspective! – Donna from Hippocampus

Absolutely, Donna! I’m a longtime fan of Hippocampus and am always astounded by the writing you publish. We’re always happy to showcase stunning work 🙂

[…] Source: https://www.masterclass.com/articles/a-complete-guide-to-writing-creative-nonfiction#5-creative-nonfiction-writing-promptshttps://writers.com/what-is-creative-nonfiction […]

So impressive

Thank you. I’ve been researching a number of figures from the 1800’s and have come across a large number of ‘biographies’ of figures. These include quoted conversations which I knew to be figments of the author and yet some works are lauded as ‘histories’.

excellent guidelines inspiring me to write CNF thank you

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Creative writing and critical reading

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This free course, Creative writing and critical reading , explores the importance of reading as part of a creative writer’s development at the postgraduate level. You will gain inspiration and ideas from examining other writers’ methods, as well as enhancing your critical reading skills. Examples will cover the genres of fiction, creative nonfiction, poetry and scriptwriting.

Course learning outcomes

After studying this course, you should be able to:

understand the importance of reading as part of a creative writer's development
engage analytically and critically with a range of literary and media texts
recognise how critical reading supplies writers with inspiration and ideas
understand through writing practice one or more of the taught genres of fiction, creative nonfiction, poetry and scriptwriting
engage with postgraduate modes of reading and writing practice.

First Published: 04/03/2019

Updated: 05/09/2019

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Home / Book Writing / Author vs Writer: What’s the Difference?

Author vs Writer: What’s the Difference?

People often mix up the terms “author” and “writer”, but there is a difference. A writer is someone who wrote, but an author is someone who wrote books. There were many types of writers, and here, you’ll learn about what makes an author different from a writer, and how you can become one.

With this knowledge, you'll be able to better understand authorship and determine if your path is that of a writer or an author.

What is the difference between a writer and an author.
Who originates the ideas and owns the writing
Whether your work is published under your name
Whether you should be a writer or an author
How to become an author

What is a Writer?

A writer is someone who engages in the act and process of writing. This is a broad definition that encompasses many types of writing. Essentially, if you spend time writing creatively, whether it's fiction, nonfiction, prose, poetry, scripts, blogs, or journaling, you can consider yourself a writer.

The key criteria is that you are actively involved in writing as an ongoing pursuit or hobby. You don't necessarily have to be published or make money from your writing to be called a writer.

Types of Writers

There are many different types of writers that fall under the broad definition above. Some of the most common include:

Fiction writers – Writers who focus on fictional stories, novels, or other creative works. This includes genres like romance, sci-fi, fantasy, horror, historical fiction, and more.
Nonfiction writers – Writers who create factual, informational, or journalistic works like biographies, memoirs, self-help books, news articles, and blogs.
Freelance writers – Also known as commercial writers, freelancers are hired by companies, publishers, or individuals to create specific written content, like website copy, marketing materials, technical documentation, research reports, scripts, and more.
Journalists – Writers who report on factual events and news for newspapers, magazines, websites, TV, or radio.
Bloggers – Writers who create regular blog content focusing on a specific topic or niche.
Screenwriters – Writers who create scripts and screenplays for television, movies, and digital productions.
Content writers – Similar to freelance writers, content writers create written web content for businesses and websites.
Academic writers – Writers who create scholarly books, papers, articles, and other content, usually within a specific academic discipline.
Technical writers – Writers who create instruction guides, manuals, how-to guides, and other technical documentation.
Copywriters – Writers who create advertising and marketing materials like brochures, websites, digital ads, commercials, and more.

So basically, a ‘writer’ is anyone who writes, no matter the genre, format, or industry.

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What is an Author?

An author is a writer who originates ideas and content for a book or other literary work that is formally published. In other words, authors are published writers. Simply writing a manuscript does not make someone an author – it requires actual publication and distribution of the work.

Some key criteria that distinguish authors from general writers include:

They compose original ideas, stories, and information for publication in book format or other literary formats.
Their full work is published formally under their name, as the originator of the content.
They typically own the copyright and intellectual property of the published work.
There is an element of authority or expertise lent to being the named author of a published book or major literary work.
For full-length book publications, most authors partner with a publisher who prints, markets, distributes, and sells the book.

So an author is someone who comes up with the ideas for a book, and it is published under their name, giving them the rights to the content.

What’s the Difference?

While there is overlap between writers and authors, and all authors consider themselves writers, there are some key differences that distinguish the two titles:

Who Originates the Ideas

Writers may write up other people's ideas, rewrite content, or work from an assigned topic. For example, freelance writers are hired to write content for clients on various subjects.
Authors are the original creators and originators of the ideas, content, and stories covered in their literary works. Their books come from their own minds and perspectives.

Who Owns the Writing?

Writers usually write content that is owned or copyrighted by an employer or client. For example, freelancers who write website copy for a marketing firm don't own or have rights to that content.
Authors own the full rights and copyrights to their published books and works, since they are the sole creator. There are some exceptions if rights are sold or transferred to a publisher.

Is Your Work Published Under Your Name?

Writers may never see their name published or receive credit for written works. For example, ghostwriters or staff writers for companies.
Authors are published under their own name and are publicly credited for their books and other literary creations. Their named authorship is key to their title.

When it comes to publication, authors have two main options: traditional publishing or self-publishing.

Traditional publishing involves submitting book proposals to publishing houses, who then contract and publish approved manuscripts. The publisher handles editing, distribution, marketing, and sales. The author receives an advance and royalties.

Self-publishing allows the author to publish their book independently by paying for editing, design, printing, and distribution themselves. The author retains full creative control and rights over their work. Popular self-publishing platforms include Amazon Kindle Direct Publishing, IngramSpark, and Draft2Digital.

Basically, an author credit is given to anyone who publishes a full literary work under their own name. The ideas and content have to be theirs in order for them to be considered the author of the book.

Should You Be an Author or a Writer?

So, how do you know which path is right for you? Here are a few tips:

Consider your motivation – Do you want to write for the joy of writing, or do you feel called to author and publish your own book? Writings fulfill the act itself while authors want to complete and distribute a major work.

Does originating ideas appeal to you? – Authors thrive on creating their own stories, worldviews, characters, and topics. If this suits you, authoring a book may be appealing.

Evaluate your commitment – Writing can be casual while authoring a book takes immense commitment. Are you excited by a major project and willing to spend months or years completing an entire manuscript?

Do you crave control over your work? – Authors maintain creative control and ownership over their books. If this control matters to you, authorship may be the path.

How do you feel about professional editing? – Writers may not get much editing while manuscript development and professional editing are key to authorship. If you're open to constructive feedback, authoring could work.

Consider public recognition – Writers often go unpublished while authors get public credit and recognition. If you desire acknowledgement, authorship provides this.

Weigh your willingness to promote a book – Writers have less marketing responsibility while authors must vigorously promote their books through tours, social media, and more. If you’re willing to be your book’s biggest champion through marketing campaigns, talks, and events, authoring has greater appeal.

Think about monetary motivations – Writing gigs can provide steady paychecks to writers while authors only earn money if their book sells. Advances and royalties over the long-term may incentivize those drawn to authorship.

These can help you decide if your temperament, motivation, commitment, and goals are more in line with writing or authorship. Know yourself before you decide which is the better fit.

How to Become an Author

If examining your motivations leads you to pursue authorship, here is a brief overview of common steps to publishing your first book:

Pick your genre or nonfiction topic – Choose a book category and narrow your focus to a specific concept, story premise, or area of expertise. Research the target market.
Create an outline – Map out your full manuscript with a beginning, middle, and end. Authors often start with a chapter outline and expand it as they write.
Write the first draft – With initial research done, it's time to start writing your manuscript. Set a regular writing schedule to maintain momentum. Expect many revisions along the way.
Hire a professional editor – Once the draft is done, invest in editing services to refine your manuscript. A critique of plot, characters, pacing, structure, and grammar is invaluable.
Design your book cover and interior – Work with a graphic designer to create an eye-catching cover and appealing interior formatting.
Choose traditional vs self-publishing – Decide which publishing route is right for your book and follow the steps to get your manuscript printed and distributed.
Market relentlessly – As the author, dedicating time to tirelessly promoting your book through social media, speaking engagements, book signings and any other creative avenues is vital to sales. Leverage your network.

This provides a high-level overview of the path to becoming a published author. We have much more in-depth information on successfully writing and publishing your first book available here .

Can You Be an Author Without Writing?

An interesting question that often comes up is whether someone can be credited as a book's author without writing the manuscript themselves. There are two common scenarios where this happens:

With a ghostwriter – Celebrities, public figures, and business leaders frequently hire ghostwriters to author their memoirs and guidebooks. The named author provides background info and may outline topics, while the ghostwriter does the actual writing. The celebrity is still listed as the credited author.
When physically unable to write – Writers who become paralyzed or lose the use of their hands may bring on co-writers who assist with the physical typing and writing. As long as the original author dictates the outlines and content, they maintain their authorship.

So in both cases, as long as the author initiated the ideas and content direction, they can get author credit even if they didn't physically type the manuscript themselves. The core creativity and ownership still stems from them as the originator.

Bottom Line: Get Writing

When you get right down to it, the only thing that writers and authors have in common is that they write. Regardless of your publishing aspirations, you have to start with writing.

Maybe you just want to write short stories for fun, or you want to write a novel.

Just start writing.

Join a writing group for support. Take a class or workshop to get better. Or set aside time every day to write.

You won’t get far as an author if you don’t write every day. So write something every day. Just focus on writing at first. Worry about publishing later.

Learn to love the act of writing. And soon, you might find that you’ve taken the first steps to go from writer to author.

Dave Chesson

When I’m not sipping tea with princesses or lightsaber dueling with little Jedi, I’m a book marketing nut. Having consulted multiple publishing companies and NYT best-selling authors, I created Kindlepreneur to help authors sell more books. I’ve even been called “The Kindlepreneur” by Amazon publicly, and I’m here to help you with your author journey.

How to write an adventure story, parts of a book [from cover to cover], how to write a whodunit, sell more books on amazon, amazon kindle rankings e-book.

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What Is Creative Nonfiction? Definitions, Examples, and Guidelines

by Kaelyn Barron | 4 comments

The term “creative nonfiction” tends to puzzle many writers and readers. If nonfiction is supposed to be about the facts, how is there room to get “creative” with it?

It turns out, there are many ways to present real facts and events besides boring reports and charts. In fact, the best journalists and writers are often the ones who can present accurate information while also telling a riveting story.

Creative nonfiction combines 100% factual information with literary elements to tell real stories that resonate with readers and provide insight to actual events.

This is what your favorite memoirists, travel writers, and journalists do every day, and you can, too. Even if you don’t intend on publishing your work, learning to be an effective storyteller can enrich both your writing and communication skills.

What Is Creative Nonfiction?

Creative nonfiction is a genre of writing that uses elements of creative writing to present a factual, true story. Literary techniques that are usually reserved for writing fiction can be used in creative nonfiction, such as dialogue, scene-setting, and narrative arcs.

However, a work can only be considered creative nonfiction if the author can attest that 100% of the content is true and factual. (In other words, even if just a few details from one scene are imagined, the story could not be considered creative nonfiction.)

The label “creative nonfiction” can be applied to a number of nonfiction genres, including:

Autobiography
Literary journalism
Travel writing
Nature writing
Sports writing
Personal essay

What Is the Difference Between Nonfiction and Creative Nonfiction?

The primary difference between nonfiction and creative nonfiction is that regular nonfiction informs or instructs by sticking to the facts.

Creative nonfiction also informs readers, but it does so by building a narrative around the facts by introducing the scene and building the characters of real people so readers can better relate to them.

What Are the Elements of Creative Nonfiction?

Because creative nonfiction is still nonfiction , there are important criteria that a piece of writing must meet in order to be considered part of this genre.

The writing must include:

Facts : Creative nonfiction must be rooted in facts. No part of the story can be made up or fabricated.
Extensive research : Both primary and secondary sources should be used throughout the research process. It is the writer’s responsibility to conduct extensive research for the most accurate narrative possible.
Reporting : The writer should use said research to accurately document events or personal experiences.
Personal experiences or opinions : Though this is not a requirement, personal experiences or the opinions of others can help create a more complete picture.
Exposition or explanations : The topic or experience(s) presented should be explained to the reader.

In order to build a narrative around a set of facts, creative nonfiction uses a set of elements that we usually associate with fiction.

These can include, but are not limited to:

Storytelling/narration : Unlike a straightforward historical report, creative nonfiction should be told like a story, meaning that inciting incidents, goals, challenges, turning points, and resolutions are present.
Characters : Every creative nonfiction piece should have a main “character,” even though they must be real and accurately presented. In a memoir, for example, the narrator is typically the protagonist.
Setting/Scene development : The setting should be brought to life with vivid descriptions and scenes filled with action and dialogue.
Plot structure : The story should have a plot , with key events that make up the story. There might be one event in a personal essay, or several significant events and turning points, as is common in memoirs.
Figurative language : Figures of speech , such as similes or metaphors, can be used to create an interesting work of creative nonfiction.
Imagery : A skillful use of imagery is essential in creative nonfiction in order to bring important scenes alive for the readers.
Point of view: Point of view is important in this genre, as it affects the entire storytelling process. Most often, these stories are told in the first person (using “I” to narrate firsthand experiences and events).
Dialogue: Dialogue can really help build the narrative and develop scenes. Rather than reporting with “he said/she said”, including scenes with dialogue helps to place the reader directly in the scene.
Theme : Every essay and story should have a theme , or central idea that ties the whole work together. This can also be considered the main “message” of your work.

When Did Creative Nonfiction Start?

According to a Poets & Writers article published in 2009, Lee Gutkind is often credited with coining the term “creative nonfiction” as early as 1973, when he also taught a course at the University of Pittsburgh with those same words in its title.

However, Gutkind himself has admitted that this wasn’t really the case, and that he had heard the term before, but couldn’t remember where or from who.

Indeed, there is earlier written evidence of the term, as it appeared in a 1969 review by David Madden of Frank Conroy’s Stop-Time .

Madden mentioned in the review, “In Making It , Norman Podhoretz, youthful editor of Commentary , who declares that creative nonfiction is pre-empting the functions of fiction, offers his own life as evidence.”

In that same review, Madden called for a “redefinition” of nonfiction writing in the wake of Truman Capote, Norman Mailer, and Jean Stafford, all writers whose style reflects the characteristics of what we defined earlier as “creative nonfiction.”

Examples of Creative Nonfiction

To gain a better understanding of this genre, let’s take a look at several examples of real books that can be considered creative nonfiction.

When Breath Becomes Air by Paul Kalanithi

Paul Kalanithi died in March 2015, while he was still working on this book. At just 36 years old and about to finish a decade of training as a neurosurgeon, Paul was diagnosed with stage IV lung cancer.

With a wife and a young child, Kalanithi became “possessed…by the question of what, given that all organisms die, makes a virtuous and meaningful life.”

Through his narrative, Kalanithi documents the struggles, both internal and external, that he and his young family endured, but also offers inspiration to all of us for how life should be lived.

Cork Dork by Bianca Bosker

On a lighter note, journalist Bianca Bosker brings us Cork Dork , her firsthand account of the fascinating world of wine, sommeliers, scientists, and producers.

Follow her dive into underground tastings, exclusive restaurants, and mass-market factories as Bosker seeks an answer to the question many of us wonder about: What’s the big deal about wine?

With her insightful reporting and delightful storytelling, you may just find yourself becoming a “cork dork,” too.

Into the Wild by Jon Krakauer

Jon Krakauer unfolds the story of Christopher Johnson McCandless, a young man who gave $25,000 in savings to charity and abandoned most of his possessions before walking alone into the wilderness north of Mt. McKinley.

McCandless’s decomposing body was found four months later by a moose hunter. In this book, which also became a feature film, Krakauer explores how this young man came to die, and what led him on such a journey in the first place.

Through remarkable storytelling, Krakauer brings this pilgrimage out of the shadows and shines a light on McCandless’s motives with a rare understanding.

I’ll Be Gone in the Dark by Michelle McNamara

Michelle McNamara, true crime journalist and creator of the site TrueCrimeDiary.com, became obsessed with finding the violent psychopath known as the “Golden State Killer,” a serial rapist and murderer.

McNamara studied police records, interviewed victims, and joined the online communities of people who were as obsessed as she was with this case.

This book offers a chilling account of a criminal mastermind, while also providing a portrait of Michelle’s obsession and pursuit of the truth.

Tips for Writing Creative Nonfiction

If you want to try your hand at writing creative nonfiction, it’s important that you know how to take great notes and practice your observation skills.

After all, your first responsibility is to present people and events accurately, so keeping a notebook or journal handy is important for scribbling down all those important details that you won’t want to forget.

You can also try out some of our creative writing prompts , which includes a section for writing memoirs and nonfiction to inspire you.

Do you have any favorite examples of creative nonfiction? Share them with us in the comments below!

If you enjoyed this post, then you might also like:

What Is Magical Realism? Definition and Examples
What Is a Novel?
What Is Creative Writing? Types, Techniques, and Tips
The 16 Best Memoirs to Read Right Now

As a blog writer for TCK Publishing, Kaelyn loves crafting fun and helpful content for writers, readers, and creative minds alike. She has a degree in International Affairs with a minor in Italian Studies, but her true passion has always been writing. Working remotely allows her to do even more of the things she loves, like traveling, cooking, and spending time with her family.

Thanks for this. It really helps me a lot!

You’re very welcome, Rowena! Glad we could help :)

Creative Nonfiction …. Kaelyn Barron’s concise description of this genre brings clarity. Certainly fits what I am writing, where others pronounced it as memoir or biography…could have been my description? Barron’s article here on the subject, now has me enthusiastically headed in the proper direction!!

Thanks Bonnie, I’m so happy to hear you found my article helpful! Best of luck with your book :)

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Creative Nonfiction: An Overview

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The Creative Nonfiction (CNF) genre can be rather elusive. It is focused on story, meaning it has a narrative plot with an inciting moment, rising action, climax and denoument, just like fiction. However, nonfiction only works if the story is based in truth, an accurate retelling of the author’s life experiences. The pieces can vary greatly in length, just as fiction can; anything from a book-length autobiography to a 500-word food blog post can fall within the genre.

Additionally, the genre borrows some aspects, in terms of voice, from poetry; poets generally look for truth and write about the realities they see. While there are many exceptions to this, such as the persona poem, the nonfiction genre depends on the writer’s ability to render their voice in a realistic fashion, just as poetry so often does. Writer Richard Terrill, in comparing the two forms, writes that the voice in creative nonfiction aims “to engage the empathy” of the reader; that, much like a poet, the writer uses “personal candor” to draw the reader in.

Creative Nonfiction encompasses many different forms of prose. As an emerging form, CNF is closely entwined with fiction. Many fiction writers make the cross-over to nonfiction occasionally, if only to write essays on the craft of fiction. This can be done fairly easily, since the ability to write good prose—beautiful description, realistic characters, musical sentences—is required in both genres.

So what, then, makes the literary nonfiction genre unique?

The first key element of nonfiction—perhaps the most crucial thing— is that the genre relies on the author’s ability to retell events that actually happened. The talented CNF writer will certainly use imagination and craft to relay what has happened and tell a story, but the story must be true. You may have heard the idiom that “truth is stranger than fiction;” this is an essential part of the genre. Events—coincidences, love stories, stories of loss—that may be expected or feel clichéd in fiction can be respected when they occur in real life .

A writer of Creative Nonfiction should always be on the lookout for material that can yield an essay; the world at-large is their subject matter. Additionally, because Creative Nonfiction is focused on reality, it relies on research to render events as accurately as possible. While it’s certainly true that fiction writers also research their subjects (especially in the case of historical fiction), CNF writers must be scrupulous in their attention to detail. Their work is somewhat akin to that of a journalist, and in fact, some journalism can fall under the umbrella of CNF as well. Writer Christopher Cokinos claims, “done correctly, lived well, delivered elegantly, such research uncovers not only facts of the world, but reveals and shapes the world of the writer” (93). In addition to traditional research methods, such as interviewing subjects or conducting database searches, he relays Kate Bernheimer’s claim that “A lifetime of reading is research:” any lived experience, even one that is read, can become material for the writer.

The other key element, the thing present in all successful nonfiction, is reflection. A person could have lived the most interesting life and had experiences completely unique to them, but without context—without reflection on how this life of experiences affected the writer—the reader is left with the feeling that the writer hasn’t learned anything, that the writer hasn’t grown. We need to see how the writer has grown because a large part of nonfiction’s appeal is the lessons it offers us, the models for ways of living: that the writer can survive a difficult or strange experience and learn from it. Sean Ironman writes that while “[r]eflection, or the second ‘I,’ is taught in every nonfiction course” (43), writers often find it incredibly hard to actually include reflection in their work. He expresses his frustration that “Students are stuck on the idea—an idea that’s not entirely wrong—that readers need to think” (43), that reflecting in their work would over-explain the ideas to the reader. Not so. Instead, reflection offers “the crucial scene of the writer writing the memoir” (44), of the present-day writer who is looking back on and retelling the past. In a moment of reflection, the author steps out of the story to show a different kind of scene, in which they are sitting at their computer or with their notebook in some quiet place, looking at where they are now, versus where they were then; thinking critically about what they’ve learned. This should ideally happen in small moments, maybe single sentences, interspersed throughout the piece. Without reflection, you have a collection of scenes open for interpretation—though they might add up to nothing.

How Does Writing Fit Into the ‘Science of Reading’?

In one sense, the national conversation about what it will take to make sure all children become strong readers has been wildly successful: States are passing legislation supporting evidence-based teaching approaches , and school districts are rushing to supply training. Publishers are under pressure to drop older materials . And for the first time in years, an instructional issue—reading—is headlining education media coverage.

In the middle of all that, though, the focus on the “science of reading” has elided its twin component in literacy instruction: writing.

Writing is intrinsically important for all students to learn—after all, it is the primary way beyond speech that humans communicate. But more than that, research suggests that teaching students to write in an integrated fashion with reading is not only efficient, it’s effective.

Yet writing is often underplayed in the elementary grades. Too often, it is separated from schools’ reading block. Writing is not assessed as frequently as reading, and principals, worried about reading-exam scores, direct teachers to focus on one often at the expense of the other. Finally, beyond the English/language arts block, kids often aren’t asked to do much writing in early grades.

“Sometimes, in an early-literacy classroom, you’ll hear a teacher say, ‘It’s time to pick up your pencils,’” said Wiley Blevins, an author and literacy consultant who provides training in schools. “But your pencils should be in your hand almost the entire morning.”

Strikingly, many of the critiques that reading researchers have made against the “balanced literacy” approach that has held sway in schools for decades could equally apply to writing instruction: Foundational writing skills—like phonics and language structure—have not generally been taught systematically or explicitly.

And like the “find the main idea” strategies commonly taught in reading comprehension, writing instruction has tended to focus on content-neutral tasks, rather than deepening students’ connections to the content they learn.

Education Week wants to bring more attention to these connections in the stories that make up this special collection . But first, we want to delve deeper into the case for including writing in every step of the elementary curriculum.

Why has writing been missing from the reading conversation?

Much like the body of knowledge on how children learn to read words, it is also settled science that reading and writing draw on shared knowledge, even though they have traditionally been segmented in instruction.

“The body of research is substantial in both number of studies and quality of studies. There’s no question that reading and writing share a lot of real estate, they depend on a lot of the same knowledge and skills,” said Timothy Shanahan, an emeritus professor of education at the University of Illinois Chicago. “Pick your spot: text structure, vocabulary, sound-symbol relationships, ‘world knowledge.’”

The reasons for the bifurcation in reading and writing are legion. One is that the two fields have typically been studied separately. (Researchers studying writing usually didn’t examine whether a writing intervention, for instance, also aided students’ reading abilities—and vice versa.)

Some scholars also finger the dominance of the federally commissioned National Reading Panel report, which in 2000 outlined key instructional components of learning to read. The review didn’t examine the connection of writing to reading.

Looking even further back yields insights, too. Penmanship and spelling were historically the only parts of writing that were taught, and when writing reappeared in the latter half of the 20th century, it tended to focus on “process writing,” emphasizing personal experience and story generation over other genres. Only when the Common Core State Standards appeared in 2010 did the emphasis shift to writing about nonfiction texts and across subjects—the idea that students should be writing about what they’ve learned.

And finally, teaching writing is hard. Few studies document what preparation teachers receive to teach writing, but in surveys, many teachers say they received little training in their college education courses. That’s probably why only a little over half of teachers, in one 2016 survey, said that they enjoyed teaching writing.

Writing should begin in the early grades

These factors all work against what is probably the most important conclusion from the research over the last few decades: Students in the early-elementary grades need lots of varied opportunities to write.

“Students need support in their writing,” said Dana Robertson, an associate professor of reading and literacy education at the school of education at Virginia Tech who also studies how instructional change takes root in schools. “They need to be taught explicitly the skills and strategies of writing and they need to see the connections of reading, writing, and knowledge development.”

While research supports some fundamental tenets of writing instruction—that it should be structured, for instance, and involve drafting and revising—it hasn’t yet pointed to a specific teaching recipe that works best.

One of the challenges, the researchers note, is that while reading curricula have improved over the years, they still don’t typically provide many supports for students—or teachers, for that matter—for writing. Teachers often have to supplement with additions that don’t always mesh well with their core, grade-level content instruction.

“We have a lot of activities in writing we know are good,” Shanahan said. “We don’t really have a yearlong elementary-school-level curriculum in writing. That just doesn’t exist the way it does in reading.”

Nevertheless, practitioners like Blevins work writing into every reading lesson, even in the earliest grades. And all the components that make up a solid reading program can be enhanced through writing activities.

4 Key Things to Know About How Reading and Writing Interlock

Want a quick summary of what research tells us about the instructional connections between reading and writing?

1. Reading and writing are intimately connected.

Research on the connections began in the early 1980s and has grown more robust with time.

Among the newest and most important additions are three research syntheses conducted by Steve Graham, a professor at the University of Arizona, and his research partners. One of them examined whether writing instruction also led to improvements in students’ reading ability; a second examined the inverse question. Both found significant positive effects for reading and writing.

A third meta-analysis gets one step closer to classroom instruction. Graham and partners examined 47 studies of instructional programs that balanced both reading and writing—no program could feature more than 60 percent of one or the other. The results showed generally positive effects on both reading and writing measures.

2. Writing matters even at the earliest grades, when students are learning to read.

Studies show that the prewriting students do in early education carries meaningful signals about their decoding, spelling, and reading comprehension later on. Reading experts say that students should be supported in writing almost as soon as they begin reading, and evidence suggests that both spelling and handwriting are connected to the ability to connect speech to print and to oral language development.

3. Like reading, writing must be taught explicitly.

Writing is a complex task that demands much of students’ cognitive resources. Researchers generally agree that writing must be explicitly taught—rather than left up to students to “figure out” the rules on their own.

There isn’t as much research about how precisely to do this. One 2019 review, in fact, found significant overlap among the dozen writing programs studied, and concluded that all showed signs of boosting learning. Debates abound about the amount of structure students need and in what sequence, such as whether they need to master sentence construction before moving onto paragraphs and lengthier texts.

But in general, students should be guided on how to construct sentences and paragraphs, and they should have access to models and exemplars, the research suggests. They also need to understand the iterative nature of writing, including how to draft and revise.

A number of different writing frameworks incorporating various degrees of structure and modeling are available, though most of them have not been studied empirically.

4. Writing can help students learn content—and make sense of it.

Much of reading comprehension depends on helping students absorb “world knowledge”—think arts, ancient cultures, literature, and science—so that they can make sense of increasingly sophisticated texts and ideas as their reading improves. Writing can enhance students’ content learning, too, and should be emphasized rather than taking a back seat to the more commonly taught stories and personal reflections.

Graham and colleagues conducted another meta-analysis of nearly 60 studies looking at this idea of “writing to learn” in mathematics, science, and social studies. The studies included a mix of higher-order assignments, like analyses and argumentative writing, and lower-level ones, like summarizing and explaining. The study found that across all three disciplines, writing about the content improved student learning.

If students are doing work on phonemic awareness—the ability to recognize sounds—they shouldn’t merely manipulate sounds orally; they can put them on the page using letters. If students are learning how to decode, they can also encode—record written letters and words while they say the sounds out loud.

And students can write as they begin learning about language structure. When Blevins’ students are mainly working with decodable texts with controlled vocabularies, writing can support their knowledge about how texts and narratives work: how sentences are put together and how they can be pulled apart and reconstructed. Teachers can prompt them in these tasks, asking them to rephrase a sentence as a question, split up two sentences, or combine them.

“Young kids are writing these mile-long sentences that become second nature. We set a higher bar, and they are fully capable of doing it. We can demystify a bit some of that complex text if we develop early on how to talk about sentences—how they’re created, how they’re joined,” Blevins said. “There are all these things you can do that are helpful to develop an understanding of how sentences work and to get lots of practice.”

As students progress through the elementary grades, this structured work grows more sophisticated. They need to be taught both sentence and paragraph structure , and they need to learn how different writing purposes and genres—narrative, persuasive, analytical—demand different approaches. Most of all, the research indicates, students need opportunities to write at length often.

Using writing to support students’ exploration of content

Reading is far more than foundational skills, of course. It means introducing students to rich content and the specialized vocabulary in each discipline and then ensuring that they read, discuss, analyze, and write about those ideas. The work to systematically build students’ knowledge begins in the early grades and progresses throughout their K-12 experience.

Here again, available evidence suggests that writing can be a useful tool to help students explore, deepen, and draw connections in this content. With the proper supports, writing can be a method for students to retell and analyze what they’ve learned in discussions of content and literature throughout the school day —in addition to their creative writing.

This “writing to learn” approach need not wait for students to master foundational skills. In the K-2 grades especially, much content is learned through teacher read-alouds and conversation that include more complex vocabulary and ideas than the texts students are capable of reading. But that should not preclude students from writing about this content, experts say.

“We do a read-aloud or a media piece and we write about what we learned. It’s just a part of how you’re responding, or sharing, what you’ve learned across texts; it’s not a separate thing from reading,” Blevins said. “If I am doing read-alouds on a concept—on animal habitats, for example—my decodable texts will be on animals. And students are able to include some of these more sophisticated ideas and language in their writing, because we’ve elevated the conversations around these texts.”

In this set of stories , Education Week examines the connections between elementary-level reading and writing in three areas— encoding , language and text structure , and content-area learning . But there are so many more examples.

Please write us to share yours when you’ve finished.

Want to read more about the research that informed this story? Here’s a bibliography to start you off.

Berninger V. W., Abbott, R. D., Abbott, S. P., Graham S., & Richards T. (2002). Writing and reading: Connections between language by hand and language by eye. J ournal of Learning Disabilities. Special Issue: The Language of Written Language, 35(1), 39–56 Berninger, Virginia, Robert D. Abbott, Janine Jones, Beverly J. Wolf, Laura Gould, Marci Anderson-Younstrom, Shirley Shimada, Kenn Apel. (2006) “Early development of language by hand: composing, reading, listening, and speaking connections; three letter-writing modes; and fast mapping in spelling.” Developmental Neuropsychology, 29(1), pp. 61-92 Cabell, Sonia Q, Laura S. Tortorelli, and Hope K. Gerde (2013). “How Do I Write…? Scaffolding Preschoolers’ Early Writing Skills.” The Reading Teacher, 66(8), pp. 650-659. Gerde, H.K., Bingham, G.E. & Wasik, B.A. (2012). “Writing in Early Childhood Classrooms: Guidance for Best Practices.” Early Childhood Education Journal 40, 351–359 (2012) Gilbert, Jennifer, and Steve Graham. (2010). “Teaching Writing to Elementary Students in Grades 4–6: A National Survey.” The Elementary School Journal 110(44) Graham, Steve, et al. (2017). “Effectiveness of Literacy Programs Balancing Reading and Writing Instruction: A Meta-Analysis.” Reading Research Quarterly, 53(3) pp. 279–304 Graham, Steve, and Michael Hebert. (2011). “Writing to Read: A Meta-Analysis of the Impact of Writing and Writing Instruction on Reading.” Harvard Educational Review (2011) 81(4): 710–744. Graham, Steve. (2020). “The Sciences of Reading and Writing Must Become More Fully Integrated.” Reading Research Quarterly, 55(S1) pp. S35–S44 Graham, Steve, Sharlene A. Kiuhara, and Meade MacKay. (2020).”The Effects of Writing on Learning in Science, Social Studies, and Mathematics: A Meta-Analysis.” Review of Educational Research April 2020, Vol 90, No. 2, pp. 179–226 Shanahan, Timothy. “History of Writing and Reading Connections.” in Shanahan, Timothy. (2016). “Relationships between reading and writing development.” In C. MacArthur, S. Graham, & J. Fitzgerald (Eds.), Handbook of writing research (2nd ed., pp. 194–207). New York, NY: Guilford. Slavin, Robert, Lake, C., Inns, A., Baye, A., Dachet, D., & Haslam, J. (2019). “A quantitative synthesis of research on writing approaches in grades 2 to 12.” London: Education Endowment Foundation. Troia, Gary. (2014). Evidence-based practices for writing instruction (Document No. IC-5). Retrieved from University of Florida, Collaboration for Effective Educator, Development, Accountability, and Reform Center website: http://ceedar.education.ufl.edu/tools/innovation-configuration/ Troia, Gary, and Steve Graham. (2016).“Common Core Writing and Language Standards and Aligned State Assessments: A National Survey of Teacher Beliefs and Attitudes.” Reading and Writing 29(9).

A version of this article appeared in the January 25, 2023 edition of Education Week as How Does Writing Fit Into the ‘Science of Reading’?

Young writer looking at a flash card showing a picture of a dog and writing various words that begin with a "D" like dog, donut, duck and door.

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Perspective: Content vs. Writing

Educators have been grappling with the impact of AI. For one, I am now tasked with discerning its use in student essays, and yet I must certify that AI was not used in writing letters of recommendation.

This prohibition is ironic because AI is useful in writing tasks that are repetitive or follow an anticipated format. While a human reviewer is still necessary, it reduces the time spent crafting the initial draft. Such uses, however, are limited and probably do not justify the amount of money and time spent to develop AI. Since profitability is essential, AI is being applied to areas where it is less effective.

What seems to get lost in the arguments about AI is the fundamental distinction between content and writing.

Much of the online world exists based on content. Anything written by an influencer and most clickbait can be written by AI, and most of us would never notice.

Where facts and information matter, writing comes in. Writers distinguish between relevant points and inconsequential details. They see salient patterns and reach conclusions based on gathered evidence and their own expertise. Human writers connect with a live audience, rather than simply count the number of clicks on an item. A writer cares about been read, but also cares about being understood and making a lasting impact.

Like any tool, AI works best when used for the tasks that suit it. So, let’s recognize that writing is different from content creation.

I’m Frances Jaeger, and that is my Perspective.

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The Creative Penn

Writing, self-publishing, book marketing, making a living with your writing

How Writing Work For Hire Books Led To Becoming An Indie Author With Aubre Andrus

posted on May 13, 2024

Podcast: Download (Duration: 1:09:09 — 56.1MB)

Subscribe: Spotify | TuneIn | RSS | More

How can you blend ‘work for hire', ghostwriting, and being an indie author into a successful hybrid career writing books for children? Aubre Andrus gives her tips.

In the intro, Countdown Pages on FindawayVoices by Spotify; the impact of AI narrated audiobooks on Audible [ Bloomberg ]; Ideas for short fiction anthologies and Kevin J. Anderson's Kickstarter ; Penguin Random House launches internal ChatGPT tool for employees [ Publishers Lunch ]; 2024 is the year AI at work gets real [ Microsoft ].

Plus, reasons for the new theme music, licensed from AudioJungle for 10m downloads (the podcast is up to 9.7 million with the old tune); and planning for my Kickstarter launch for Spear of Destiny .

This podcast is sponsored by Kobo Writing Life , which helps authors self-publish and reach readers in global markets through the Kobo eco-system. You can also subscribe to the Kobo Writing Life podcast for interviews with successful indie authors.

This show is also supported by my Patrons. Join my Community at Patreon.com/thecreativepenn

Aubre Andrus is an award-winning children's author with more than 50 books, as well as being a ghostwriter and former American Girl magazine editor. Her books, The Look Up Series, feature women in STEM careers.

You can listen above or on your favorite podcast app or read the notes and links below. Here are the highlights and the full transcript is below.

The background of the American Girl brand
Pros and cons of work for hire and ghostwriting
Work for hire best practices to make it worth the money
Differences in work for hire contracts and payment models
How to seek out work for hire projects
Using lessons learned from past projects in your own series
Creative control over content and marketing a self-published author
Marketing self-published children's books

You can find Aubre at AubreAndrus.com .

Transcript of Interview with Aubre Andrus

Joanna: Aubre Andrus is an award-winning children's author with more than 50 books, as well as being a ghostwriter and former American Girl Magazine editor. Her books, The Look Up Series, center around women in STEM careers. So welcome to the show. Aubre.

Aubre: Thank you so much for having me.

Joanna: I'm excited to talk about this today. So first up—

Tell us a bit more about you, how you got into writing children's books originally, and how you started out in work for hire.

Aubre: So I started at a kids' magazine right out of college. If anyone is familiar, the company was American Girl. So they publish magazines, books, and also have an extensive doll collection that's very popular in the US.

So while I was working at the magazine, I noticed the book department next door and all the wonderful books they were creating that I had also read as a child. I learned that they were developing all of their concepts in house, and then just hiring authors to execute those ideas.

I also learned that a lot of them were former magazine editors. So it was interesting to me that one day, perhaps, I could leave the magazine and then pitch myself to become one of these authors. So that is what I did.

It was interesting because American Girl was based in Middleton, Wisconsin, in the US. That's very much in the Midwest, not near New York City publishing. So we're very much an island separate from any other type of children's publishing, like the industry.

So even though I got my foot in the door in publishing books, I was still kind of stuck. Like, uh oh, is there any way I can expand this anymore? Do other publishers in New York do this also? I had no idea.

I just started networking at children's book conferences, and frankly, just blindly reaching out to people and saying, “Hey, do you offer any work for hire projects? I've done a couple. I'm interested in doing more.” So I was able to slowly build up that work for hire career.

Joanna: I have a few questions about this. So first of all, I have been in of the American Girls stores in New York. So I am aware of this, but I know some listeners won't be. So can you maybe just talk a bit about that?

I was just fascinated. It did seem to be more modern as in it wasn't just really old school stuff, there were more modern female role models, I guess. I mean, that's what the worry is with these older IP brands, is that they have an old, outdated version of what women are.

Talk about how these IP brands work, and if people don't even know what American Girl is.

Aubre: So it started as kind of like an heirloom doll company from a former teacher and textbook author. So she was really like an educational entrepreneur. So she was sort of not interested in Barbie for her nieces, and she was trying to create something better, in her mind's eye.

So she developed this line of three dolls that were historical characters that then also had a series of six books that accompanied them. It basically was teaching girls what it was like to be a girl back in time.

You know, so what was it like to grow up during World War Two? What was like to grow up as an immigrant coming to the US for the first time? Then it kind of expanded from there, the historical doll collection.

Then it really ballooned into just creating contemporary content for girls. That's what I was a part of at the magazine, which was just like a lifestyle magazine for 8- to 12-year-old girls.

Similar to at the time there was Nickelodeon Magazine, Disney Magazine, Highlights Magazine, like in that same vein, but specifically targeted about girlhood and for girls in that 8 to 12 age range.

Then from there spun the contemporary line of books, and a lot of like crafts, and activity, and recipe, and slumber parties, and just anything that kind of celebrates that girlhood from ages 8 to 12. Then the dolls also then became more contemporary, a line of dolls that looked like you.

Joanna: Like customized content.

Aubre: Yes, and that's really where the company stands today. The historical characters, I think maybe girls today aren't as interested in them, but there is the line of dolls that look like you and you can dress.

They have partnerships with Harry Potter and anything you can imagine, so it's quite a fun company. I loved it as a kid, so it was amazing for me to work there as a grown up.

Joanna: I mean, as business people, we have to think this way. I feel like so often because we are, and the listeners, we're authors first, we're books first, and I think we forget that there's so many other things .

Brands like American Girl, they're good examples. Even if no one is interested in that particular type of thing, the business model is great. I mean, obviously, Barbie does it so well as, as well. So I do like this idea of thinking further than just a book, even if, of course, we're not going to grow a whole empire like this.

You mentioned it was separate from New York publishing. Did you almost feel like sort of second rate? I don't want to use that word, but you know what I mean. Did you find that difficult?

Aubre: I did. I mean, we were so isolated from New York publishing. I think, you know, this isn't an offense to anyone who's working there, I think they would all agree. Some of them have gone on to work for more like New York City publishers, and it is more fast paced, and it's just different.

We sort of had our own little bubble and had our lovely little pace, and we were creating amazing stuff for kids. So I felt like I knew American Girl publishing, but I did not necessarily know children's book publishing. So it was a little intimidating to dive into that.

Joanna: Yes, and on that, I mean, you mentioned networking and going to conferences. I still remember how it felt as a newly self-published author, to feel kind of second rate, to feel looked down upon, to feel like I was a second-class citizen . I imagine you kind of felt that way when you were networking and at conferences.

How did you get through that mindset in order to meet people at these conferences?

Aubre: Well, I mean, I felt that way, that second rate way, in so many ways, because A, I had only done publishing in Middleton, Wisconsin, and then B, I was doing middle grade, which at the time was not hot, not sexy. Everyone was doing YA.

Then I was also doing nonfiction, which also is not fiction, which is where most people want to be. Then also, I was doing work for hires, I wasn't even developing the concepts myself. So there were so many reasons why I felt like a second-rate author. Like, am I a real author? I don't know. So for a while there, I really second guessed myself. Then I just kind of had to get over it like that .

I started working with really amazing brands, like National Geographic Kids and Disney. I mean, these are amazing, and people would kill to have these opportunities . So I just really started embracing work for hire. I get to work on so many fun projects for really amazing brands and IP, and that's really cool. So, yes, I just had to kind of mindset shift.

Joanna: You gave yourself like a talking to and said, make the most of it.

Aubre: Yes.

Joanna: I do think it has to be a mindset shift if people feel that way. Like you mentioned, whether it's the type of publishing you do or whether it's the type of genre you're writing.

What's so funny, I think, with the self-publishing world, is that the romance writers in old school publishing were always looked down upon. People who wrote romance were considered sort of lesser in some way. Now, it's very clear, and it always has been true I think, but before it wasn't so known that they make so much money and they prop up basically the rest of the industry.

Aubre: Exactly. I mean, it blows my mind if anyone ever looks down upon romance. It is the industry, and they are so savvy . I actually keep quite an eye on the romance industry because they are just so smart and what they're doing works. So even though I'm writing books for kids, I'm always kind of peeking over there. Like, wow, they're creating these universes, they're doing this on TikTok. I'm always so impressed by the romance community.

Joanna: They are always ahead. Well done, romance writers listening. I always wish I could do it, but I can't.

Aubre: I'm thinking about it. I'm always like, hmm could I do that? I'm starting to read more in that genre because it is interesting.

Joanna: That's interesting. Okay, so let's come back to the work for hire because, of course, you mentioned some of the great brands you've been writing with. So I guess one thing is that that is an amazing experience.

What are some of the pros and cons of work for hire and ghostwriting?

Aubre: Well, for me, it was a great way to dip my toes into the water, instead of just jumping into the deep end, and slowly build up my skills as an author. I imagine some people who hit it big on their first novel, I mean probably are just absolutely drowning in the industry and don't feel very savvy.

I've really been able to build up a knowledge of different publishers, of different types of projects, discover what I'm good at, what I like . I've really just got a wide range of experience that has only made me a better author.

So after I left American Girl, I took a job in marketing, but I was freelance writing on the side. So compared to freelance writing—because then my dream was to eventually go freelance and just to be a freelance writer—I would have had to take on so many freelance writing projects that pay like two hundred bucks .

I mean, I still see some of these come across my social media feeds. So if they're paying $200 for an article, I mean, how many articles would you have to write and pitch to make a living?

So compared to freelance writing, this is fewer higher paying projects. I like that so much more. I get to control the workload. I can even take on some freelance projects outside of this field. In the past, I've dabbled in content marketing and social media to kind of balance my day.

I don't need to come up with the ideas, I just need to execute someone else's ideas. So it's a little bit, you know, I have felt that I was on a hamster wheel of content production, for sure, absolutely.

There is a hustle element to it of always trying to find the next gig, but I have to remind myself that I'm in control of my workload.

I can turn down a project, if it doesn't pay well, I can hold out for the higher paying project.

I do get a lot of the benefits of a traditional process. I get royalties, I've gone on book tours, I have fan mail, I do school visits, I've done book events . So really, I've gotten everything I wanted out of being a children's book author from these work for hire projects. Also, I see that most books don't earn out their advances.

So there is a balance to it, where I'm like, am I on a hamster wheel? Can I ever get over this hump? But at the same time, I feel like we're all kind of on a hamster wheel. Unless you really hit it big on one huge book project, like you're always going to have to keep pumping out books in a series or—

Joanna: Marketing the backlist.

Aubre: Exactly. I mean, marketing is exhausting as well. So in general, I've very much had a good experience with work for hire. I get my name on the cover and on the spine, depending on the project. I think it just really depends on the publishers you're working for and the relationships you establish. Then from there, you can put your own ideas, you know.

Then the cons would be like, maybe you're working on some projects that you're not as excited about. You can always say no, but you know, when you're getting your foot in the door, you might take on a few things that aren't exactly in your wheelhouse.

I always saw these projects as stepping stones to where I wanted to go , whether it was a stepping stone to get into a certain publisher, or just establish myself with an editor, or kind of wade into new waters.

I kind of slowly stepped into narrative nonfiction and eventually started doing narrative nonfiction novels. Now I'm doing a lot of short story fiction, and I hope that leads to a fiction novel. So there's these ways to slowly build up your skills through work for hire.

Joanna: Yes, I mean, I think some people will be like, yes, but you said they're not your ideas. You're basically writing someone else's ideas, and that, to me, seems one of the biggest issues. So I have co-written a few fiction projects and nonfiction. The fiction, I found extremely hard because I don't play well with others. I was like, I do not want to write anything that is not what I feel is me. So how do you get over that?

I mean, tell us how the process works. If you take one of these projects on, do you get given story beats? Is there anything you can do that's individual or—

Do you just flesh out what someone else has written as an outline?

Aubre: Well, I can speak to my experience in the nonfiction children's book world, and that is often I'm just given like a title . So I really can run with it. You know, I get a lot of control and a lot of the responsibilities put on me to flesh out a project.

I have also done ghostwriting for fiction, so I think it just depends on the project. I agree with you that fiction is much harder. I have a place where I want the story to go, and it might not be the place where what we would call the author—which is the person who came up with the idea, you would be the ghostwriter—where they want it to go.

So you've got to look at it more like, this is my client, and I am trying to make my client happy. On those type of projects, I don't want my name on them. I want my name on the paycheck, I don't want my name on the book.

I think that's how I get over it. I'm just like, this is not mine. I am helping them do theirs, this is their thing, and that is what it is .

In the kids' nonfiction, I've had a ton of fun and a ton of agency to do what I want with the project. They're looking for my expertise to really bring this to life.

Joanna: So the other thing I've learned about people, like yourself, is you have to be incredibly professional, and you have to work to deadline, and you have to do a whole load of things that, frankly, some authors can't do. So tell us about the level of professionalism and your best practices.

How do you get these projects done in a timely manner that make it worth the money?

Aubre: Yes, so most of the projects have pretty quick deadlines, like the writing portion is really just going to be like three months. So I'm a fast writer, my background is in journalism.

So at this point in my career, I just know what I need to do to get this project done. Get your butt in the chair, get the outline, just start writing . I might start at the middle of the book, the beginning of the book, the end of the book, whatever is like hitting me in that moment so that I can get it done.

If some idea is flowing, I'm going to run with it. I'm not going to necessarily write the book from beginning to end because, again, I'm doing a lot of nonfiction. So that has helped me make these projects worth it. Also, maybe not like over researching , because I know, especially with a journalism background, I could easily fall into that rabbit hole.

For the most part, I've had very few projects where I'm like, ugh, that was not worth my time. Those were mostly like kids' craft and science experiment books. Those just take more time because you have to test the crafts, test the science experiments, maybe something didn't work and you have to scrap that whole page or that chapter, do it again. So again, I've just kind of learned that if I'm going to take on a project like that it has to pay quite high.

If I'm going to take on an early reader for National Geographic or something, those are really fun and quick to write and they pay well. So there's such a wide range in the kids' publishing world.

I have friends who do a lot of work for hire fiction, and they are just excellent at it. They love developing story and just pumping it out, like that's their favorite part of the process. They're just going through the process and can just do it as fast as they can. I'm not super fast with fiction, which is why I haven't taken as many fiction projects. I do really well with short stories where I have some constraints, but not the idea of a whole fiction project that is work for hire .

I think, for me, it's good because you are given some characters and a loose outline and an idea. So it's more almost like a writing prompt. You know, like I'm almost getting paid to execute a writing prompt.

So it kind of just depends on if that's something that sounds exciting to you or not. Like, for me, I work good under deadlines, I work good when I have a little prompt and a format. You're often given a title and the page count.

Usually it's part of a series because this is work for hire. So I wrote something for American Girl, it was A Smart Girl's Guide: Travel , and they have a whole Smart Girl's Guide series.

Joanna: So you get a style guide?

Aubre: Yes, like I know what these other books look like, I know kind of how they're divided up. I've read a lot of them. I'm just familiar with it, so it just comes faster.

Joanna: I've met quite a lot of writers who have written in the Star Wars universe, or The X Files. All of these franchises, they do have the book of the TV show or the film. You know, Doctor Who, or that kind of thing. So I feel like this is quite common. It's funny, it's kind of common, but not talked about that much.

Aubre: Well, exactly, which is why I wanted to talk about it.

Joanna: It's so interesting. You said earlier that you do get royalties. Now, I thought this was one of the biggest issues, certainly with some of the worlds and universes that people have written in, is that they do not get royalties. Often work for hire is—whatever's in the contract, obviously—but usually it's: you write it, we pay you once, and you never see any other money. That is kind of the freelance model.

Does that just differ by contract?

I mean, even if you do get royalties, it must only be a small percentage.

Aubre: Yes, it just depends on the contract and depends on the publisher. So I've gotten them for multiple publishers. Then also some publishers decide, well, if we came up with the idea in-house and you executed, then it's a flat fee. If you come up with an idea and we run with it, then we'll give you royalties. So I've had that happen too.

So it just depends on the project, and the publisher, and the budget, and also on negotiating . Most people don't use an agent for work for hire projects because the pay is less. So it's not really financially worth an agent to go seek out these projects.

So when you establish these connections and relationships, you can learn a bit more depending on the publisher . There's certainly a lot of work for hire opportunities that pay royalties.

I mean, I just see like Disney Publishing coming out with a lot of different fiction series and working with big name authors. I have to assume that those are paying royalties. So there's all different levels of work for hire projects.

Joanna: Okay, so you said there's loads of work out there. So how would people get into it if they wanted to? Like I sometimes say to people, well, you can write a book for them, and one for you. You can use it as almost day job type money while you're building up your own stuff.

How would people get that kind of work?

Aubre: So I think particularly in the kids' book industry, it would be beneficial if you had some experience writing for kids.

Whether that be magazines, or your own stuff that you've created, or even if you have a teaching background, you've developed curriculum, or you've created programming and libraries. School teachers and librarians often become children's book authors.

Then I do a lot of networking at, as I said, children's book conferences. So very occasionally there'll be a panel about work for hire, but even if there's not, anytime you meet an editor you can just ask them. “Do you do any work for hire projects? Does your publishing house do any work for a prior projects?” You know, “Do you know an editor who does any work for hire projects?”

You can find a lot of this on LinkedIn too if you search for editors at various publishing houses . Not everybody fills out their LinkedIn, but if you are looking for keywords like “works with freelancers,” “hires freelancers,” like “develops concepts in house,” and then “finds writers to execute them.”

If you look, a lot of these editors work in the licensing division because this is who's in charge of the intellectual property and franchise and those types of projects.

There's so many TV shows, and if you've walked around a bookstore, you've seen this.

So many TV shows, movies, brands who then want to create a publishing program around that IP.

They reach out to a publisher, and the publisher acts as a consultant and helps them develop this program.

Usually, that means they're developing the concept in house, and then they're hiring a writer to execute it. So basically, LinkedIn and conferences is where I've done a lot of my networking. Then I have—I'm a little bit extra—so I have like flown to New York and set up meetings and gone out of my way to really get my face in front of some editors.

Joanna: Then I guess once you've done one or two things, then you know the right people.

Aubre: Yes, then it's much easier to spin those projects into further work.

Joanna: I just want to come back on another of the negative things here. So there's been some court cases around this type of stuff, so if you're writing in someone else's world, even if the contract is that you come up with your own ideas. Let's say you come up with a new character, but you write it into an American Girl world, you no longer have control of that character. That's usually the way it works.

If you've written it into their world, then they own it.

Aubre: Right. I feel like even in the traditional model of publishing, you're giving up the copyright as well. So I don't see it as too different than that way. Even if you pitched your project to a traditional publisher, and they signed you, they would own the copyright to that project, you know.

Joanna: Only if that's what the contract was, how long you assign the copyright to a publisher. Only if they ask for life of term of copyright, do they have it for term of copyright.

I think this is really important in terms of mixing IP. So it might be tempting. Like, I know people who get co-writing deals with bigger names, and then they kind of feel like they want to write a character from their series into someone else's world.

You just have to be so careful with this commingled IP because you don't know. I mean, the thing is that so many authors think, oh, well, my stuff isn't that valuable, and that other person's stuff is more valuable. That may not be where it is in like 20 years though.

Aubre: Right. I've never experienced that. Any fictional character writing that I've done has been in a pretty strict universe , like Disney Princess, you know, where there's very strict brand guidelines. I wouldn't even be allowed to necessarily create a new character. It would really be existing characters within the universe. So I haven't really confronted that.

Joanna: Okay. So it's interesting because, of course, you've done a lot, and you still do a lot of this writing in other universities, but you also have your own series, The Look Up Series.

Tell us more about that and why you're so passionate about STEAM.

I thought it was “STEM” and you used both, I think. Explain that if people don't know.

Aubre: So STEAM and STEM. STEM is science, technology, engineering, and math. The A in STEAM is for art . So STEM has sort of naturally progressed into STEAM because, and as I've met many women in STEM and interviewed them, you really can't do a lot of these more scientific and technical fields without a creative mindset.

As a kid, I was always creative and thought that meant I'm an author, I'm an illustrator, that's where I am. I'm not a scientist, I'm not good at math. I t turns out that these more scientific and technical fields actually require you to be super creative when it comes to problem solving or anything. So I have a series called The Look Up Series, and it features real women in STEM. It's targeted for 8- to 12-year-olds, it's like a middle grade nonfiction series.

Each book features a really awesome career, really amazing woman, and sort of what she was like as a kid, what this career is like, how do you get into this career.

So for example, I have Dr. Maya, Ice Cream Scientist . So she's a real woman who is an ice cream scientist. So it's interesting to see how she has her PhD in food science, but she's also being very creative using flavor, and visuals, and ice cream.

It's this cool mix of science, and arts, and just helping kids get excited about really cool careers in science and technology and engineering , and also learning that just because they have maybe been pegged as creative or artsy, doesn't mean that they can't also land in these more scientific and technical fields.

These jobs are really in high demand, you know, as the next generation enters the workforce. We need people to be solving the world's biggest problems, which is often in these STEM fields. There's obviously a huge wage gap and gender gap when it comes to these careers, which is why I'm featuring women. I have diverse women on the cover, just so every kid can see themselves in these roles.

Joanna: What did you bring to your series, in terms of the lessons learned from all these other IP worlds you've worked in?

Aubre: So it was very important to me to, one, create a series. So I'd always been interested in self-publishing. I'd always been traditionally published, I've written more than 50 books for kids for like major publishers.

For many reasons, like we mentioned the content hamster wheel, we mentioned royalties, IP, all that, and I wanted to create my own thing and have more income potential. I also just wanted to write on a project that was purely me that I was super passionate about .

I certainly could have pitched this to a publisher, and I think I could have got some bites, but I really wanted to do it myself. It was a nice test of all of my publishing knowledge. So it was important to me to create a series, so there was more potential in marketing it and making an income . Then I really just got to learn everything.

I would say it's been both easier and harder than I thought . Easier, in that like none of the systems, or the technology, or the gatekeepers behind ads, or awards, or reviews, or whatever are complicated. Like you can definitely figure it out as an indie author.

What was harder for me was like the mindset and the investment, like you really have to cut out to be an entrepreneur. That means spending money on ads and maybe not turning a profit right away. That was really hard, and still is hard for me.

It's an investment, but it brings me back to the books I've written where, you know, a lot of my books are only marketed for couple of weeks. So the benefit is that I can continue to market this series, and it won't get pulled off the shelf. I can recover it, I can retitle it, I can kind of do whatever I need to do with this series.

Also, as we mentioned with American Girl, thinking beyond the book. I can create a web series, or I see a lot of indie children's book authors creating plushies or like little stuffed animals to accompany their books. So there's just like more potential because I chose to do this project on my own.

Then I was pregnant with my second daughter as I was creating the series. I was like birthing five books while also preparing to birth a child. So I created this whole series while I was pregnant with her. It was just like I felt more of a legacy to leave for them. I felt like it was a passion project , and it just felt good to do this project. So that was why I wanted to do it on my own.

Joanna: Yes.

A lot of it comes down to control when traditionally published authors go indie.

Most people say it's creative control, that's the main reason, because you don't have that. Once you've written something, even if you've got a lot of freedom in writing some of these things before, you weren't in control of anything else. You can't fix it later or change the cover, and like you said, there's no point in marketing those projects.

Aubre: Yes, if I'm not getting royalties on a book, what's my incentive to market it, and many books have been taken off the shelf.

So it just felt, as I said, just really good to be in creative control, know that my efforts are going to continue to help this series be a success , and also know that it was just aligned with my beliefs. It was just a project I was truly passionate about. It was funny how it kind of came to be because I was actually pulling onto the Disney campus for a project, I was meeting with my editor, and I passed the Disney Imagineering building.

I used to, when I was a kid, I wanted to be an Imagineer. They're like the engineers and artists that designed the theme park rides, and I had just completely forgot about it. I was like, oh my god, in another life, I would have been going into that building instead of this building. Like, you know, what was missing that I didn't become an Imagineer? So every project informs another project, I guess.

Joanna: Absolutely. Well, it's interesting, I mean, you did mention that you're an illustrator.

Did you illustrate these?

Aubre: Well, I wouldn't call myself an illustrator, but I was always very into art. So on these books, because my background is at American Girl and we were very until girl aesthetic, I decided to make little doodles on the cover.

So the covers have my doodles , which are not great because they're supposed to look like girl doodles. So I have made doodles for American Girl Magazine and some books, but I am not a formal illustrator.

Joanna: So you didn't hire someone separately to do that?

Aubre: I didn't. The books are nonfiction, so each book is sort of a combination of a biography and activity book. So I relied on the women I interviewed to provide a lot of photos from their childhood. Then combined with these doodles of mine, we were able to piece this project together without an illustrator, because frankly, it would have been quite expensive. I was funding this project myself and launching with five books from the jump.

So maybe one day, I'll be able to invest in an illustrator and add that to this project. I know my covers feature real women on them, like we did a little photoshoot . So that makes the series stand out a little bit, in a good way or bad way, in that it's a biography for kids, but it features a non-illustrated cover because these are real women. So it was just kind of a creative decision that I decided to give a try.

Joanna: Yes, because there is a series for girls that has real people, but a sort of cartoon version of them, isn't there? Like sort of Maya Angelou and people like that.

Aubre: Yes, most of them are illustrated. Even if they feature real people, the covers are illustrated.

Joanna: That's interesting. It's interesting that you have based this on, and you've got photos from, real people.

You must have had some proper contracts done to work with those people and use their image and their photos in your books.

Like that must have been a bit of a process.

Aubre: Yes, I did work with a lawyer to draft up some contracts . Also, I didn't want them to think I was like owning their story. Like they can go on and write more books about themselves if they would like.

I basically did the two-plus hour interview with each woman and then translated that into a biography, like a first-person biography. Then I combined it with knowledge of what the field is like, and you know, what this particular career is like.

There were also just questions like: What is college? What is a major? What is a PhD? Then I created some activities at the end so kids can feel like they are an ice cream scientist. We also have Amanda, Toy Engineer , and Angella, Beauty Chemist , and Tracey, Theme Park Designer . So I didn't get to become an Imagineer, but I did get to interview one. So I got part of what I wanted as a kid.

Joanna: That's very cool. I guess that contract with those women—

They understand that they're not getting royalties from the books.

Aubre: Correct. I did compensate them for their time , which is unheard of in a journalistic sense, but I felt that was important. I was really relying on their knowledge, and I think the women I work with are really passionate about getting other girls into STEM. So it was a passion project for them as well. They were very happy to be a part of it.

Joanna: I think all of that is so important. So if people are wanting to work with real people, in whatever situation, there should be communication of what everything is and contractual terms.

The point of a contract is it doesn't need to be confrontational in any way, it's more a case of just making sure everything's right for copyright and all of that.

In the self-publishing space, I get questions from people because people are bootstrapping, they're doing it themselves. But in these cases, it is very important to get all of those permissions and stuff up front.

Aubre: Yes, that's one of the reasons I didn't have an illustrator because of the legal fees.

Joanna: Yes, I get you. Although if people do use an illustrator, for example, then they also need a contract to make sure the copyright is assigne d, and all of that kind of thing. So publishing is a business, like it's a proper business.

Aubre: It is. Absolutely.

Joanna: You've learned that as well. So I do want to ask you about the marketing, because of course, when you're doing work for hire, the marketing is not really your job, but when you're self-publishing, it is your job.

How are you doing marketing for your own series?

Aubre: So I feel like I kind of have two customers. It's the kids' book world, so it's different. So I've got parents, but then I also have teachers and librarians.

So I'm on Amazon, I did KDP, I did print on demand to start with. Then I've also done a print run and have a direct-to-consumer site, thelookupseries.com, so I can offer discounts to teachers and librarians and discounts on bulk orders.

I went to the American Library Association Conference, and it was very clear to me very quickly that they don't have large budgets. You know, they are really tight in these schools and libraries. So it was important to me to be able to offer something off of Amazon where I could offer like a bulk discount.

Then I've got the Amazon business, relying on Amazon ads. I do a little bit of Facebook marketing where I'm offering a free activity download, kind of targeting Girl Scout troop leaders or teachers or anyone who has like a STEM space, like a makerspace in a library.

I've pulled a little activity from Amanda, Toy Engineer and from Tracey, Theme Park Designer , to capture email addresses and build up my email list. I have done the LA Times Festival of Books and some other children's book specific conferences.

My next step is I want to go to more STEM-focused conferences. I live in Los Angeles, and there are a lot of like STEM events for kids. Free one-day events where you can get a booth, and I think that would be a great place for me to be.

So I need to remind myself to step out of the children's publishing world a little bit. I'm very much like, oh, I'm going to go to the library conference and go to LA Times Festival of Books.

It's like, oh, there are other marketing opportunities besides book people . Like there are STEM people and people who are looking for science content for their kids. So I'm trying to be better about marketing on a more broader sense to those people as well.

Joanna: I think that's such a great idea, because let's face it, the children's book conferences are full of traditional publishers, but also all the other books are there. Whereas if you if you've got a booth, and then you're next to some science thing and some genetics thing, you're the only one with books , and that makes you stand out.

So I think that's so good for anyone who writes anything that has a theme, some kind of theme. It doesn't have to be nonfiction, I think you could still do it with fiction, as long as the theme aligns with that.

Aubre: Absolutely.

Joanna: Do you do any live events?

Going into schools or anything like that? Or is that just not scalable enough?

Aubre: I do. I'm looking at building that up more. COVID really took a hit on that. So I had a little momentum, and then it got squashed. Now I'm trying to maybe pick that up again. Now that I have done my own print run, and I can offer bulk discounts and that kind of thing, I feel better about investing some time into that.

So I have done some school visits, in particular, that are more like going into the auditorium for multiple grade levels , something a little bit bigger than just visiting one classroom. I do offer like a free 15-minute virtual visit on my website , just for individual classrooms. I just kind of see that as a volunteer thing I can offer. That's kind of where I'm at right now with that.

I do think it's important that you've done your own print run and are able to offer your books at a discount. If you're buying your author copies from Amazon, from KDP, like I don't know if the financials will start to work out for you.

Joanna: Oh, no, completely. A lot of kids' authors use Ingram Spark, and then the schools can order direct .

Aubre: Yes, so I do have that as well. I just have a little bit more of a royalty from my separate print run.

Joanna: Absolutely. Well, then how do you see your future?

How are you going to balance the work for hire with building your own brand and your own book series?

Aubre: I mean, I definitely focused solely on The Look Up Series for like six months as I was launching them, before I had my second daughter. Then coming back, I really hit the ground running on marketing those books, even more after my maternity leave.

Now I'm doing both, I'm balancing work for hire projects with The Look Up Series. It's actually really nice because with work for hire, like I mentioned, it can feel like you're on a treadmill and hustling your next gig. Now I feel like I can kind of calm down a bit and wait for the next good gig that I actually want.

I know I'm not wasting my time because I'm in the between because I'm working on The Look Up Series. I'm bringing in an income and building up my business for this more financially lucrative potential.

I'm not just like wasting my time waiting around for a project, and maybe taking a project that doesn't pay well or that I don't want to do. I just feel like I'm actually working on something that can last with The Look Up Series.

Joanna: Fantastic.

Where can people find you and your books online?

Aubre: So I'm at AubreAndrus.com . You can check out The Look Up Series at TheLookUpSeries.com .

If you want to learn a little bit more about work for hire, you can go to AubreAndrus.com/WFH. If you're interested, in particular, in like how to break into the children's book industry, you can learn a bit more about my background in that.

Joanna: Fantastic. Well, thanks so much for your time, Aubre. That was great.

Aubre: Thank you for having me. It was so nice to bring this to light. I know so many people who it's their life dream to become a children's book author. So that's why I like sharing this like secret backdoor, this other part of the industry that people don't really talk about.

It's just another skill in your toolkit, like as an author and a writer. If you ever have a goal to write for a TV show or something one day, writing in these IP, and these characters, and for these brands is just always like a really good skill to have.

Joanna: Yes. Well, thanks so much for your time.

Aubre: Thank you.

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Nigerian Writer Adams Adeosun Receives Wisconsin Institute for Creative Writing Fellowship

by Kuhelika Ghosh

May 20, 2024

Nigerian writer Adams Adeosun has received a highly prestigious fellowship from the Wisconsin Institute for Creative Writing. He will be the 2024-2025 Carol Houck Smith Fiction Fellow and reside at the University of Wisconsin-Madison.

Since 1986, the University of Wisconsin’s Institute for Creative Writing has provided time, space, and an intellectual community for writers working on a first book of poetry or fiction, while developing their skills as instructors in one of North America’s top-ranked creative writing programs.

Adeosun distinguished themselves out of an applicant pool of nearly 800 emerging authors. They will receive a stipend of at least $40,000, and will join the faculty at UW-Madison in late August, for a nine-month appointment meant to provide the time, space, and collegial support to complete or revise a first or second creative book-length manuscript.

This is a prestigious fellowship that many African writers are beginning to be recognized for. Last year’s WICW fellows include Motswana writer Gothataone Moeng and Somali writer Sadia Hassan.

Adams Adeosun holds an MFA from the University of Iowa. They are a writer from Nigeria whose work has appeared in magazines and anthologies including Transition, The Offing, Catapult, Isele, Limbe to Lagos: Nonfiction from Cameroon and Nigeria , and Rele Gallery’s Five Years of Young Contemporaries . Their poetry chapbook, If the Golden Hour Won’t Come For Us , is forthcoming from Akashic Books’ New-Generation African Poets box set. They are a 2024 MacDowell fellow.

If you are interested in applying to the fellowship program, applications for the 2025-2026 WICW Fellowships will re-open on November 1, 2024, with a deadline of January 1, 2025. Stay tuned!

Congrats to Adeosun!

Adams Adeosun
Wisconsin Institute for Creative Writing

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Aubre Andrus is an award-winning children's author with more than 50 books, as well as being a ghostwriter and former American Girl magazine editor. Her books, The Look Up Series, feature women in STEM careers. You can listen above or on your favorite podcast app or read the notes and links below.
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May 20, 2024. Nigerian writer Adams Adeosun has received a highly prestigious fellowship from the Wisconsin Institute for Creative Writing. He will be the 2024-2025 Carol Houck Smith Fiction Fellow and reside at the University of Wisconsin-Madison. Since 1986, the University of Wisconsin's Institute for Creative Writing has provided time ...
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What Is Creative Writing? (Ultimate Guide + 20 Examples)

What Is Creative Writing (Long Description)?

Types of Creative Writing

Short Stories (The Brief Escape)

Novels (The Long Journey)

Poetry (The Soul’s Language)

Plays (The Dramatic Dialogue)

Screenplays (Cinema’s Blueprint)

Memoirs (The Personal Journey)

Flash Fiction (The Quick Twist)

Creative Nonfiction (The Factual Tale)

Fantasy (The World Beyond)

Science Fiction (The Future Imagined)

What Are the 5 Cs of Creative Writing?

Conciseness

Consistency

Is Creative Writing Easy?

What Does a Creative Writer Do?

How to Get Started With Creative Writing?

Final Thoughts: What Is Creative Writing?

10 Types of Creative Writing (with Examples You’ll Love)

“Ozymandias” by Percy Bysshe Shelley

“Trying to Raise the Dead” by Dorianne Laux

Song Lyrics

“Hallelujah” by Leonard Cohen

“I Will Follow You into the Dark” by Death Cab for Cutie

Plays and Screenplays

All My Sons by Arthur Miller

“Everything is Fine” by Michael Schur ( The Good Place )

Personal essays

“On Selling Your First Novel After 11 Years” by Min Jin Lee (Literary Hub)

“A Cyclist on the English Landscape” by Roff Smith (New York Times)

Short Fiction

“An MFA Story” by Paul Dalla Rosa (Electric Literature)

“Flowering Walrus” by Scott Skinner (Reedsy)

Convenience Store Woman by Sayaka Murata

Erasure by Percival Everett

Creative Nonfiction

Men We Reaped by Jesmyn Ward

Cork Dork by Bianca Bosker

Illustrated Narratives (Comics, graphic novels)

Calvin & Hobbes by Bill Watterson

From Hell by Alan Moore and Eddie Campbell

Video Games and RPGs

80 Days by inkle studios

What Remains of Edith Finch by Giant Sparrow

‘How You Hope Your Extended Family Will React When You Explain Your Job to Them’ by Mike Lacher (McSweeney’s Internet Tendency)

‘Not a Foodie’ by Hilary Fitzgerald Campbell (Electric Literature)

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Creative Writing 101

For novelists: do you want to write compelling opening chapters?

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About the Author: Hasa

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