Purposes of Creative Writing by Allison Symes

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What would you say were the purposes of creative writing?

I would say there are a fair few of these.

Entertainment
Education
Enlightenment (and this can be done separately to being educated. A poem can enlighten you with the depth of feeling it produces in you but isn’t necessarily educational in the traditional sense).

Expressiveness (for the writer in creating the work and for the reader enjoying the turns of phrases, language used etc. I find this to be the case for Wodehouse and Pratchett. Their turns of phrase give me as much joy as the actual stories do).
Empathy generation (readers root for characters so have to care about what happens to them. That can lead to empathy as a reader realises why a character is acting the way they are, they literally understand where the character is coming from. Hopefully that leads on to being more empathic with “real people”!).

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A greater appreciation for the books and stories I love. I have some idea at least of the hard work behind them! And to come up with the dialogue or turn of phrase that suits your character so well is a joy to do yourself and, as mentioned above, to read in the works of other authors. I believe creative writers effectively have two interests here – as well as the writing, there’s the reading we do.
You also get to improve your analytical skills as you work out what it is you love about the stories of others and sometimes you can learn a lot from the ones you can’t stand. For one thing, you learn what not to do! Writers work out how to solve problems. We set these up for our characters and then figure out how those characters will overcome them (or what will happen if they don’t). Another form of analysis going on here. And this kind of mental workout is good for our brain.

None of these are any “better” than the others in that list. They are all wonderful things to emerge from the practice of creative writing. And yes the more you practice creative writing, the more you will get from it, whether you aim to be published or not.

Stories That Matter

I am sure George Orwell didn’t set out to be a prophetic novelist. Did Mary Shelley realise she was the founding mother of science fiction/horror when she produced Frankenstein? What matters is they wrote the stories that mattered to them.

What creative writing can do for you is to help you to get better at writing the stories which matter to you. You should care about your characters and what happens to them (else why would the reader do so?).

So what is the story you simply have to write? If it matters to you, it will matter to others. Okay, tastes vary. I’m not into the gorier horror/crime stories but I can understand the purpose of, say, a crime story being written where justice is done and seen to be done, when it so often isn’t in the real world.

Fiction can sometimes be a comfort like that and sometimes that is what people need. It matters to them to see this, if only in print. But you have to care enough to write it and care enough to go through several drafts of that story before it can go anywhere and be ready to cope with rejections and other setbacks.

The good thing with the latter though is you can learn from these, especially if you can get any feedback on what you submit (and if you do have that option seriously consider taking it. It can give useful pointers. You won’t necessarily agree with feedback received but if a couple of people make the same point or similar about your tale, that should make you take another look at your story).

Show and Not Tell

One of the things it took me some time to “get” was the whole idea of “show and not tell”. Well, think about it. We do talk about storytelling.

But the more I wrote (and still write), the more I find I want to improve on what I do. Flash fiction with its reduced word count limit has helped me get to grips with the idea of show and not tell. For one thing, it is more immediate and reduces the word count! Helps a lot with what I do! But it was getting the idea it is the characters’ stories and “they” show it to the reader that helped me develop my show and not tell technique.

When I realised the author is the conduit for the story, for the tale to flow through, that helped too. I didn’t want my authorial voice getting in the way (and still don’t!). I want people to read my tales and be transported into the minds of my characters so they can see why my people (and other beings of choice) are being the way they are for my stories.

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Other Benefits of Creative Writing

Naturally, in wanting to improve on what I do, I then went (and still go) to writing events and workshops where I can continue to learn and I get to talk with other writers. I’ve learned many a helpful tip over a chat over a tea break at a writing event as well as from the courses themselves but it was my interest in creative writing which got me to go to these things. I’ve made wonderful friends thanks to my interest in creative writing and I very much want that to continue.

Sometimes creative writing has taken me out of my comfort zone. I expect that to continue and now welcome it. When I first started writing, I dreaded that. Just wanted to stick to what I knew. A lot of writers feel like that but you do have to push yourself a bit to find out just what you can do.

Creative writing has led me to be interviewed (and therefore learn to prepare for interview), to run workshops, to speak publicly. Hadn’t anticipated any of that on starting out.

Finding Your Creativity

I believe most people do have at least form of creativity in them. It’s sometimes a question of finding it. In my case, I can’t draw for toffee (or any other confectionery!). I’m not great with my hands but I can write. That’s my form of creativity and it can be amazingly therapeutic at times.

When life is stressful, I can sit at my desk and write up my characters’ latest adventures and forget my cares for a while. That aspect of creative writing shouldn’t be underestimated. If I can get my work out there and published, even better! This is another reason to go to events. The more I can improve and develop, the greater my chances of publication success.

Also, you need to get to know the industry you are in so you know which markets and competitions might suit you and what dodgy companies/publishing services (e.g. vanity publishers) to avoid.

Developing your creativity does you so much good. Being creative in any way is a wonderful thing and something to be positive about. It is something positive to share with others too.

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Conclusion

Writing can encourage empathy in the writer because we are thinking of our audience. We are writing to entertain them, to reach them. To do that effectively we need to have some idea of who they might be and what they are likely to like in terms of character. The trick here is to write the kinds of characters you love and then find your audience for them. They will be out there. You won’t be the only one to like that kind of character.

I also believe a reader picks up on when a writer really loves what they do. (I’ve experienced this feeling myself too many times to count on reading others’ works). It’s a joy to sense the joy behind the writer’s creativity here. It’s even better when it’s your own!