Creative Writing Skills
Do you need creative writing skills to function well in your job role? This article provides a guide on how you can develop the skills and include them on your resume.
What are Creative Writing Skills?
Creative writing skill is the ability to write short stories, poems, novels, or any creative write-up that will appeal to the minds of people. Creative writing skills are very rewarding skills that are highly sought after. Creative writing skills are often acquired by enrolling in a creative writing degree program. Creative writing skills involve the use of figurative language and you also need to discuss what will arouse the interest of readers. Creative writing skills involve the ability to inform, persuade and entertain customers to read your work.
Examples of Creative Writing Skills
Storytelling
Storytelling is the ability to narrate a story in a captivating way that will appeal to the minds of the audience. Creative writing skills utilize storytelling to arouse the interest of the audience with their writing and to also convey the information about the brand in a way readers can understand. They utilize figurative languages such as metaphors, images, and other symbolism to convey a message. Storytelling involves creating strategic keywords that will make it very easy for your customers to search words.
Imagination
Imagination is an essential creative writing skill because it enables you to formulate new words and characters. Imagination helps you to think outside the box and come up with a writing piece that is original and unique. The best way to improve your imaginative skills is by brainstorming and daydreaming new ideas. You can also picture events or scenes in your brain before documenting them.
Research
Creative writing skills involve that you conduct in-depth research to gather current information about topics. It enables a writer to write credible articles on subjects and also makes the article very elaborate for better understanding by the readers. The first step in writing is to get the idea or topic you want to write about and then make thorough research. Competent research skills involve the analysis of data and also giving credit to sources you consulted in the course of your writing.
Editing
After writing content, you must edit it to ensure it is free from errors and grammatically correct. You will need editing skills to make your writing readable and appealing to the audience. Most employers in the industry have a particular writing style that their organization has adopted and you need to ensure that your writing aligns with the writing style of the organization. Being an excellent editor enables you to have a standard writing piece that readers will love.
Importance of Creative writing Skills
- Imagination Booster
Creative writing skill is very important because it stimulates and improves your imagination ability. Once your imaginative ability is improved, it helps you to think outside the box and bring solutions to problems. Creative writing helps you to think innovatively, thereby bringing about development to you as an individual and the organization at large. Creative writing skills help you to create a world of your own that you can always escape to whenever this present world is suffocating you.
- Artistic Self- Expression
Individuals who create creatively can express themselves better without even realizing it. Once you begin to write regularly and unveil characters and emotions, you will have a broader perspective of life and do away with the negative energy in you. This will allow you to be positive and express yourself better. Writing can also help you to let go of physical, psychological, and mental trauma as an individual. Writing is very beneficial for both physical and mental health.
- Building Your Confidence
Creative writing boosts your confidence and helps you to develop your perspective without limitation. You can explore ideas about topics, characters, and philosophies of life. This will allow you to feel very comfortable expressing your opinion or viewpoint about a subject matter. This will also enable you to become an excellent public speaker with firsthand experience.
As a result of your understanding of perspective, it will help you to communicate better or pass across information from various vantage points.
- A better understanding of the mechanics of reading and writing
The more you read and write, the more vocabulary you know. This helps you understand the mechanics of reading and writing. It helps you to know more about grammatical rules and once you have mastered the rules, you can be able to make your writing unique.
How to Improve your Creative Writing Skills
- Enroll for online Studies
To improve your creative writing skills, you can enroll in online studies in creative writing. In the course of the class, you can get feedback from your instructor or classmate to checkmate if you are doing well. This will enable you to practice your skills in a well-structured setting such as an organization that employs creative writers.
- Request feedback from Editors
Once you are done with your work, give it to editors for constructive criticism. You can use the feedback you get from them to analyze the areas of your strength and weaknesses. For instance, if an editor said you elaborated the story well then you are very good at storytelling. You can also ask editors to recommend areas where they feel you need to put in more effort. You can also learn how to criticize your work from other people’s perspectives so that you can write in a competent way that will arouse the interest of readers.
- Research new Writing Styles
Another way to enhance your creative skills is to seek out ways how to tell a story. You should look out for educational resources or seek discussion forums from writing communities. You can learn different writing styles from professionals in the field and then engage them to write your articles. For instance, if you want to strengthen your editing skills, you can look for software that is used to edit articles. Consider experimenting with different techniques until you get the one that best works for you. Another way is to be updated about new writing trends and adopt the one that you think is best for your write-up.
- Volunteer for interesting Projects
To improve your writing skills, you need to pick up a challenge to engage your creative writing skills. Look for voluntary writing opportunities at school, or the workplace or join a writing completion online. This will boost your skills and will make you more confident about the quality of your work. You can also volunteer for multiple writing projects to test your ability and perseverance.
- Join a writer’s club
Joining a writer’s club where writers meet frequently is a great way to get feedback for your work. You can also submit your article in the writer’s forum for critique. Most writer’s groups meet regularly to discuss their work and offer feedback.
Jobs that require Creative Writing Skills
- Content Writer: A content writer is a writer who writes creative content for publication. They usually work remotely and they engage creative writing skills to write fascinating contents that will arouse the interest of the
- Technical Writer: A technical writer is someone who writes technical articles such as articles about computers or technology. He engages creative writing skills to write interesting content.
- Grant Writer: He is someone that writes articles about grants, that is how to get a grant and the benefits of the grants. He or she engages his creative writing ability to convince to obtain a grant.
- Copywriter: A copywriter is someone that writes copy about products or services an organization is selling. A copywriter uses persuasive words to motivate people to patronize the products of the organization. A copywriter must possess excellent creative writing skills to patronize the products and services of the organization.
- Journalist: A journalist is someone that gathers information to be reported as news to the audience. Journalistic skills involve creative writing to be actualized.
- Blogger: A blogger is someone that owns a blog and uses creative writing skills to write about different subjects on the blog such as news, sports, health tips, and other interesting subjects.
- Communication Specialist: A communication specialist is a professional who is trained to communicate or pass out information in a very clear manner to the audience. A communication specialist can be the mouthpiece of the organization. he or she needs creative writing skills to be able to express the mind of the organization with
- Public Relation practitioner: A Public Relations practitioner is responsible for building or safeguarding the reputation of the organization by communicating with the public. A public relations practitioner engages creative writing skills to draft a press release or a circular for the audience.
How to include Creative Writing Skills in our Resume
- Demonstrate your writing skills from your experience. You should demonstrate you’re writing skills from the previous places you have worked whether online or offline.
- Use action verbs. When describing your writing skills, utilized action verbs to showcase your accomplishments. Action verbs will go a long way to showcase that you are very innovative and you can produce results.
- Discuss your experience in publishing projects. You should discuss your experience with challenging projects you have published in the past. This will go a long way to prove that you can do a layout or graphic design.
- Include links to your published article. If you are applying online or emailing your resume. You can include some of the links to your published work. You can also provide the link to your published work if you are mailing your resume. This will enable the hiring manager to ascertain if your writing style adapts to the organization’s writing style.
- Itemize both the hard and soft creative writing skills you possess. You can highlight your creative writing skills thus:
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- Storytelling
- Research
- Editing
- Self-sufficiency
- Time management
- Imagination
- Creativity
- Originality
- Fluency
- Flexibility
- Eloquence
- Persuasion
- Vocabulary
- Grammar
- Search Engine Optimization
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Examples of How to Include Creative Writing Skills in Your Resume
Blogger
Google Docs, SEO, WordPress
- Utilized Google Docs to create 300+ long-form blog posts. Collaborated with editors on 3 drafts each.
- Used high-level SEO skills to do keyword research for 700+ articles. Grew traffic from 0 to 600,000 readers a month in 18 months.
- Constructed 500+ articles in WordPress, including all metadata, charts, tables, and 5-10 images per article
Grant Writer
- Wrote 17 grants with a 70% success rate. Assured a total of $145,000 for the organization
- Used storytelling skills to show the organization’s needs. 95% of the officials said they were touched by your story.
Business Writer
- Composed 50+ business reports, including monthly and annual business intelligence reports, and project reports
- Composed weekly newsletter for 2 years with 5,000+ readers. Gained 2000+ subscribers for the company’s website.
How to Demonstrate Creative Writing Skills in Your Resume
- Discuss your Most Pertinent Writing Experience: one of the best ways to demonstrate your writing skills in an interview is to discuss how you are an accomplished writer and your articles that have won awards or accolades. If you have a self-published article that has won an award and it is online, kindly share the link with the interviewer.
- Discuss your writing Style: Discuss your writing style and why you adopted such a writing style. Discuss why you feel the writing style is better than other writing styles. This will go a long way to convince the interviewer that you are a competent writer.
- Be confident: one of the best ways to demonstrate creative writing ability is by being confident during the interview session. Answer the questions you are being asked boldly; proffer solutions to problems or make recommendations. This will prove to the interviewer that you are an imaginary writer that can bring solutions to the challenges the organization is facing.
- Demonstrate that you have Mastery of Words: Demonstrate that you are an excellent communicator and that you are very eloquent when speaking. Speak good English and follow all the grammatical rules. You can also play on words to showcase that you are a figurative writer.
- Display courtesy: at the end of the interview session, display courtesy by taking a bow and saying thank you. Remember to always keep a smile on your face.
Examples of interview Questions that Test Creative Writing Skills
- What is your experience with content writing and creative writing?
- What are your methods to keep up with the trend?
- What will you do if people don’t like your writing?
- What is your greatest achievement as a writer?
- What writing style do you prefer?
- Where do you think you will be in your writing career 5 years from now?
- How do you prioritize your projects?
- Do you prefer to work independently or with others?
- What are your writing strengths or weaknesses
- What is your biggest inspiration as a writer?
- How much writing have you done in your previous job?
- What are the steps you undertake to build your writing skills?