We typically refer to poems and stories, novels and plays—even, these days, some kinds of nonfiction—as “creative writing.” Each one of these kinds of writing, or genres, works differently, and if you want to produce pieces of writing in a given genre, you need to know how that genre works. In these lessons I do not discuss the specific things you need to know to write a poem or a novel or a play; there are hundreds of books available which will teach you these things. Instead, here (and in my book, How To Be a Writer), I provide you with the opportunity to learn some basic creative writing skills you can then apply to work in whichever genre interests you. I do this because my experience as a teacher has shown me that most people don’t realize that creative writing requires the use of different faculties than other kinds of writing.
What makes “creative writing” different from, say, academic papers or a report at work, is not creativity; for the creative faculty (the part of our minds that comes up with things to say and the words to communicate them) can be used in any kind of writing (though, sadly, it often is not used very skillfully). What sets creative writing apart is the necessary use of the imagination. And so I think it would be more useful to call poems and stories imaginative writing.
Many people don’t understand what the imagination is; they think it’s simply invention or fantasy. But at its most basic, the imagination is the faculty that enables us to make mental pictures of things that are not actually in front of us. Many people who want to write believe that they have no imagination; they are wrong. Everyone has an imagination— without one we couldn’t function. It’s just that most of us don’t get a chance to use the imagination, and so—like any muscle we don’t use — it gets weak and atrophies. With practice, though, we can bring our imagination back to life and make it strong and healthy so we can use it in our writing any time we want to.
Why do we need the imagination in certain kinds of writing? Because one of the essential characteristics of any piece of creative writing is that it makes people and places and things come alive in the minds of readers. More specifically, it makes people and places and things come alive in the imaginations of readers. Poets and novelists and other creative writers are, like all writers, engaged in the work of communication. But while writers of academic books or professional reports use information and ideas to communicate, creative writers use verbal pictures. Creative writers, then, are those who make pictures (also called images) in their own imaginations and transfer those pictures, through language, into the imaginations of others.
You have probably been taught that only specially gifted people can be creative writers. I don’t believe this is true. Rather, I believe that the use of the imagination comes naturally to us all, but that we learn to write in an educational system that completely ignores this essential human faculty in favor of the intellect. As a result, many people who want to write don’t have access to their imaginations and don’t understand how the imagination works. Even so, you can get back in touch with your imagination, no matter how long it’s been since you last used it. And you can learn how this faculty works, and exercise and strengthen it so it will serve your writing.
If you are following these lessons in order, you have now come to a fork in the road. If you want to proceed into the realm of imaginative writing, I invite you on to the following lesson. Perhaps, though, you feel you are not quite ready to enter what may be, for you, a new world of writing. Perhaps you prefer simply to exercise your creative faculty by itself without adding the imagination. (Return to the lessons on content-mind.) Or perhaps you feel that right now you need to learn some skills to help you do the writing you must get done, in school or at work. (Go to Do I Have To Write That?) You may want to take some time now to consider, on paper, the next step on your learning journey.
When was the last time you used your imagination in a piece of writing? What happened? Are you ready to move forward in the world of imaginative writing, or does your learning path take you somewhere else right now?
Suggested next lesson: The Power of Observation
© 2010. All Rights Reserved. Barbara Baig