Creative Writing

It is my strong belief that creative writing or writing for leisure can go a long way in improving academic skills and grades among students if embraced and nurtured well. For many people, creative writing falls outside the normal boundaries of academic, journalistic, professional and technical writing styles that are deemed more appropriate to learn and pursue. Nonetheless, creative writing is a craft like any other as it allows writers to express their thoughts, emotions and feelings through writing. Given that every normal human being has thoughts and emotions, then it means that anyone can be a creative writer if taught how to harness these thoughts and ideas into writing. Therefore,creative writing should be nurtured like any other form of art. The main difference is that creative writing is more applicable in everyday situations. Getting used to expressing feelings ideas and emotions in writing has many benefits for the regular student.
To start with, creative writing improves an individual’s writing skills and vocabulary. By learning how to clearly and successfully describe, express and illustrate ideas and even explain and narrate processes ensures that these skills can be adopted in the formal academic context. Teachers are more likely to be impressed by a student who not only understands concepts but also knows how to express these concepts clearly. There are those students who may have a clear idea of an answer but the process of putting this answer in writing is problematic. In this case, students end up losing marks.
Ideally, writing is not just about sticking to grammar rules. There is a need to make writing interesting and flawless. Ideas and sentences should flow seamlessly in a manner that keeps the reader interested and engaged. To achieve this, individuals have to be keen on their choice of words and practice doing so continuously. As the adage goes, “practice practice makes perfect.” For beginners, there is an article on some of the basic steps learners can follow to improve their writing. This allows a writer to impress the reader and at the same time pass the intended message. There are numerous people who have excelled in creative writing and turned it into a profession.
For instance, JK Rowling, author of the famous Harry Potter book series and George R. R. Martin of the Game of Thrones book series have impressed in creative writing. For those lucky enough to have read of the works of these two writers, or by any other, one can attest that these writers are able to transport their readers into a unique fantasy world of their own making very easily; using through carefully chosen words. However, they did not just wake up one day and became successful writers. They have progressed over time through practice. Regular students have a chance to reach this level through training and practice. Several institutions are already offering creative writing courses as a full course as opposed to being a mere topic in literature.
Additionally, there are organizations that seek to promote creative writing. Some there are such organizations that seek to promote creative writing among the youth and the general population. They hold regular contests on various categories targeting different age groups. Some of the best known are Overland , Wheel centre , which cater to different categories of writing such as poetry, narratives, short stories and journalistic articles. In fact, Overland recently launched the Melbourne Writers Festival that seeks to induce change in society though creative writing.
Similarly, learning institutions have also joined the campaign to promote creative writing in other ways apart from offering related courses. Monash University recently linked with Emerging Writers’ Festival to launch the Monash Undergraduate Prize for Creative  Writing. This is a contest that seeks entries from all over Australia on various writing categories. This year’s event received thousands entries from various participants from all over Australia. A number of entries were shortlisted with winners getting to have their story published in Rebecca Starford’s Killing your Darlings as well as receiving a monetary prize.
It is thus clear that students have a lot to gain in pursuing creative writing. Apart from benefiting from improved writing skills academically that can improve grades, writers can benefit immensely in forms of prizes and cash by participating in writing competitions. Moreover, all individuals can learn the art of creative writing to drive social change.