Creative writing, just like other kinds of writing, requires practice and patience. Because of its “less important nature” and difficulty, many people avoid it altogether. However, creative writing can help you hone important skills like critical thinking, test-taking, and interpersonal communication. It’s not just an “easy” elective!
Problem Solving Skills
Creative writing improves your problem solving skills. Why? As a creative writer, you must create problems for characters and construct narratives that ultimately lead to solutions to those problems. Creating narratives for characters requires thinking about the overall significance of problems and situations -- like how these problems affect real life -- understanding relationships, and considering variables in new angles. The writer can “learn how to handle those problems in the real world as well, without the stress of trying to figure it out when they’re already in the middle of the situation.” It strengthens your ability to see solutions that others have not considered before. Problem solving is an essential skill for school, so creative writing can only help you become better at, say, test-taking, essay writing, and working with others. It can even help you understand and develop solutions for our world’s most pressing problems!
Become Better at Friendships
When you practice creative writing, you also practice empathy and understanding interpersonal relationships. Blogger Phil Jamieson asserts that “when writers create universes with imaginary characters and settings, they must also imagine personalities, emotions, places, and walks of life outside of their own lives.” The departure from one’s self to another is empathy; you are practicing empathy by feeling the emotions of the characters that are not your own, by envisioning a life that is not your own. Think about your favorite book. Didn’t you feel the pain that the main character went through? Did you feel their anger, their happiness, and the weight of their journey by the end of the book? Even if you are not a regular book reader, you can think about times that you have watched your favorite movie or TV show, and know that you felt the pain and happiness of the characters. That’s empathy. And by developing and cultivating the habits of empathy, you will be able to place yourself in a friend’s situation, understand it from their point of view, and try to help them through whatever problem they are facing. Although you may not know the answer to their problem, by being there for them in a time of need and considering their perspective, you can become a better friend or family member. Ultimately, these are skills you need to be successful in college and your future career!
Are there other benefits to creative writing that we have not touched on here? What are your thoughts? Let us know in the comments below!
This blog post was co-written by Rachel Stuart and Amon Pierson
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