What is Creative Writing?

As I was working on my next exercise in the Writing to Improve Series, I came across something while doing some research that I never really gave much thought to. The subject is Creative Writing. In the past, whenever I thought about "writing creatively" I just assumed that I would write whatever it was I was writing (fiction or not) in such a way as to elicit "ooh's" and "ahhh's" (something i've still yet to do by the way). I mean, it just sounds so general that you wouldn't think much of it, right? That the definition of creative writing couldn't be more than a sentence or two, right? Then I came across this explanation of it.  It kind of shed some new light on the matter for me and takes me a step forward into better understanding the whole profession of writing. Anyway, here's a brief excerpt. Check out Wikipedia's take on Creative Writing.

From Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia.

Creative writing is a term used to distinguish certain imaginative or different types of writing from generic writing. The lack of specificity of the term is partly intentional, designed to make the process of writing accessible to everyone (of all ages) and to ensure that non-traditional, or traditionally low-status writing (for example, writing by marginalized social groups, experimental writing, genre fiction) is not excluded from academic consideration or dismissed as trivial or insignificant. This distinction is helpful in separating the writing from more technical writing, professional writing or journalistic writing.

Read the full entry on Creative Writing

I've also included some great links to a few more things related to creative writing, follow the post's continuation to read on.

I'm including two links here that provide some additional help with creative writing. The first link goes to a site that provides you with creative writing prompts. I thought some of these were pretty nifty while the others were, well, OK I suppose.  I'm not complaining though! I get stuck a lot when trying to come up with some ideas. Creative writing prompts like these do a great job in sparking a brainstorm for me. Anyway, go check it out when you can:

CreativeWritingPrompts.com

Also, I'm including the next link as one to a book instead of a site. This was one that I read a while back and so thought i'd share it with you.  I'll keep it short though.  It does provide some great tips on the creative writing process. However, if you've already had some experience in writing, then this probably isn't a book for you.  It is completely geared towards "newbie" writers like myself.

Anyway, here it is:

Comments

[1ConfusedWriter]

Thanks Nathalie, you're right. This blog ensures that I write on a regular basis and get the practice I so desperately need. :)

Thanks for your post and I hope your efforts pay off in the future.

Visit often and feel free to comment.

Take care!

[Nathalie]

Just wanted to wish you luck on writing your book. I think having a blog that people read will definitely keep you motivated o keep writing.

I'm trying to write a book myself.