Creative writing is my favorite form of art. It allows me to communicate my ideas with much more precision and beauty than through any other medium. Unfortunately, writing is too often associated with tedious school essays and review papers and reports...yet, although those essays are rather rigid and formulaic, the purpose of creative writing is, well, to be creative. All forms of creative writing push away boundaries, and through their welcoming freedom, encourage writers to develop and prune their voices in an uninhibited setting, without having to feel as though they must remain in any well-defined lines. However, each type of creative writing also has something unique to offer.

Novels

In the summer after fifth grade, I wrote a novel. At the age of eleven, it was quite a terrible offering; major elements of the plot was interrupted with loopholes, and the protagonist was hardly likable. In retrospect, I’m impressed that I was able to finish the project from the first to last chapter without laying down the pen. Mostly, however, the experience taught me several lessons that I still bear with me today.

First of all, unless your ultimate goal is publication, there is infinite territory to explore through writing novels. Writing one is like facing a barren landscape and filling it as extravagantly or as modestly as desired. You can push the limits of your creativity, conjuring up characters and setting and plots. You can go into so much more detail than through short stories.

Writing a novel taught me the importance of planning and commitment. The biggest reason why my novel was a mess was because I did not sit down and etch out a map of each scene to the end. I literally just jumped into the first chapter with a vague idea in mind. Planning novels is what fuels the writing, sparks enough motivation to finish a story. I have started novels which I dropped off after two chapters because I hadn’t planned and, thus, wasn’t motivated enough to write. What pushed me through to the end in this rare instance was my rather egoistic interest in what I was writing. As I pulled through the chapters, my imagination exploded with the possibilities of where to next carry the story, so I would always be planning two to three chapters ahead-- but only so. Though in this method I did finish writing, it evidently wasn’t adequate enough to save me from the plot holes.

Short Stories

Short stories help bolster the basic facets of writing. Like in most situations, less is more, and short stories develop succinctness of speech, conciseness and clarity of words. In a limited number of pages, a writer must be able to effectively illustrate a scene, introduce characters with enough information so that the reader cares about them, and lock the reader into an emotional grip.

Poetry

Poetry is possibly my favorite form of creative writing because it is literally boundless. There are countless forms of poetry-- haiku, free verse, quatrain and prose poetry. But these are merely popularized structures-- poetry does not need to follow any set structure at all.

Anything can be expressed through poetry-- it can offer an emotional outlet, it can satirize, it can reflect, it can endorse. I usually write it in times of heightened emotions because, in those states, I really can’t be bothered to follow any rules. Even binding, all-powerful grammatical laws can be ignored with purposeful intent.

Because of the freedom of poetry, writers can feel the most uninhibited. Through poetry and its changing structures, it is never boring. You can challenge yourself by rhyming in varying patterns, adjusting the rhythm of the words and utilizing different tones and punctuation, still maintaining the same powerful effect.

Song Lyrics

For the musically inclined, song lyrics are an ideal match. They are much like poetry, except there are a few restrictions. First of all, there must be parallel rhythm through the different stanzas. There should be at least slant rhyme throughout the lines (I find that slant rhyme is usually more effective than pure rhyming, because it is less predictable). Feel free to use repetition; while a key element in poetry, it is especially rampant in songs. In the traditional song structure, the chorus is repeated three times. Song lyrics, when mastered, are one of the most entertaining forms of creative writing, and it’s especially gratifying after putting them to a melody or chords.

Diaries

The most cathartic form of writing, diaries are not intended to be displayed to the world. Thus, diaries are a non-judgmental sphere. Writers can unleash confessions that they don’t dare speak to the world. They aren’t stuck there contemplating the most appropriate word choices to use, wondering whether they should adjust syntax or paragraph order so that their writing reads the best.

More than anything else, writing in a diary helped me discover my voice in writing. It is where I revealed the true shades of my heart, undressed, unadorned and unmarred by any filter that added to portray to outside audiences. Inking emotions between worn lines of notebook paper makes tangible any confusing emotion that may be consuming me, and though it can’t fix the source of my external problem, it offers invaluable emotional relief and introspection.