The Ready Writer

When it comes to genre, there’s a lot to unpack. Miriam-Webster defines genre as “a category of artistic, musical, or literary composition by a particular style, form, or content.” A lot of the time, there are big umbrella genres that encompass smaller genres. Creative writing is probably the umbrella genre people are most familiar with. This type of writing is – you’ve guessed it – creative because it is not limited to the confines of reality. Additionally, different genres in this umbrella category help the reader to focus, learn, and help establish the type of behavior or setting between writers and audiences. This is not to say that you can’t write about what you know – there are just many ways to do this. Let’s attempt to unpack all there is that goes into this umbrella category.

See below for the five types of creative writing:

1. Poetry

Poetry is a form of text that follows meter and rhythm. Additionally, poetry can follow rhyming patterns, although it doesn’t have to. Have you heard of a haiku or a sonnet? These are both types of poetry. There are also epic poems, such as the Odyssey by Homer. Even modern song lyrics can be considered poems. There are other forms of poetry, as well, such as ballads, elegies, epitaphs, hymns, limericks, villanelles, and free verse. One famous example of poetry can be found in “The Road Less Traveled”by Robert Frost. Another example can be seen in children’s “Ring Around the Rosie,” a children’s nursery rhyme about the bubonic plague a.k.a. the black death. Purdue Owl is a useful source when it comes to explaining poetry.

2. Prose

Prose is, in some ways, the exact opposite of poetry. Prose focuses on characters and plot rather than sounds, rhythm, meters, etc. Additionally, prose can be both fiction and non-fiction, which we will see later, Reader. Prose includes short stories and novels such as the Goosebumps series by R. L. Stine and the United States’ “Declaration of Independence.” 

3. Drama

A drama, a.k.a. a play, is a text that is performed in front of an audience. There are sub-categories for this, too, such as comedy, tragedy, farce, musical drama, and melodrama/tragicomedy. There are many examples of dramas that we see performed worldwide. Some examples include Midsummer Night’s Dream by William Shakespeare (comedy), Romeo and Juliet by William Shakespeare (tragedy), The Glass Menagerie by Tennessee Williams (tragedy), The Comedy of Errors by William Shakespeare (farce), Hamilton: An American Musical by Lin-Manuel Miranda (musical drama), and Wuthering Heights by Emily Bronte (melodrama/tragicomedy).

4. Fiction

Works of fiction are my personal favorite because I feel that there is a lot of freedom here. Fiction is divided into three separate categories – realistic, non-realistic, and semi-fiction. Additionally, these categories have their own subcategories, but we can talk about that in a later post! Elements used in this type of writing include the following: foreshadowing, rising action, climax, falling-action, resolution, etc. Some of my favorite works of fiction include To Kill a Mockingbird by Harper Lee (realistic), the Harry Potter series by J.K. Rowling, and Jane Eyre by Charlotte Bronte (semi-fiction – fiction, gothic, Victorian, and romantic).

5. Non-Fiction

Last, but not least, non-fiction is all about real people and events. It includes sub-categories such as biographies, autobiographies, diaries, essays, memoirs, journals, etc. This type of writing does not always have to tell a story. Some writing such as biographies, autobiographies, and essays can also be considered academic. Some examples of non-fiction include but are not limited to The Diary of a Young Girl by Anne Frank (diary), Sapiens: A Brief History of Humankind by Yuval Noah Harari (essay), and Into Thin Air by Jon Krakauer (memoir).

Share Your Thoughts! 

So, Reader, now that we’ve covered the five types of creative writing, what are your thoughts? Do you have a favorite category when it comes to writing or reading? What do you find easiest to write or understand?

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