Many people know that creative writing should be a staple of any English class. Most people are confused about how to teach creative writing. The answer depends on your students’ ages. Creative writing is a fun way to spend your afternoons. It can also be a comfortable way to share your emotions during a creative writing course.

As students become older, it can sometimes be challenging to learn how to teach creative writing to older students in their grade level. Creative writing courses are often open to younger students in grade school who are just learning to express themselves in different ways. However, here is information that will help you discover how you can teach creative writing fiction to older students and make your class a success.

What is Creative Writing?

Creative writing is an art of writing that has no limits. Writers can write about anything, from their own life experiences to make-believe stories.

Creative writing classes usually focus on developing the writer’s imagination and creativity. Students are encouraged to experiment with different writing styles and develop their skills through various exercises and assignments. Some creative writers use fiction while others use non-fiction, but they all have one thing in common—they have a great imagination!

What is Taught in Creative Writing?

Given the vast differences between creative writing and other forms of academic writing, you may wonder what is covered in a creative writing course. There might not be any specific guidelines for introducing students to creative writing if you look through your district’s curriculum. Unless you call British Columbia home, a course outline for creative writing can be found in the BC Curriculum.

Most curricula do include some sort of narrative and descriptive writing instruction, though. Students must “use narrative techniques, such as dialogue, pacing, description, reflection, and multiple plot lines, to develop experiences, events, and/or characters” as part of the Common Core State Standards.

Students in Ontario are expected to “write for different purposes and audiences using several different literary, informational, and graphic forms,” as stated in the province’s secondary English curriculum. As a result of these mandates, classroom instructors are encouraged to engage their students in more descriptive and narrative forms of writing. However, these expectations are vague.

Some courses on creative writing show students where to look for ideas. Writing teachers typically provide students with various writing assignments to foster imaginative thought and expression. Students will use well-known authors’ descriptive and narrative styles as models in their writing. They could also collaborate by presenting their work to the group and providing suggestions for improvement. Instructors will help students work through writer’s block.

Creative Writing Prompts

Creative writing prompts are used to spark your imagination and creativity. They help you get started, keep you focused and even finish a piece of writing. Here are some creative writing prompts for kids, teens, and adults:

1. Write about a dream you had last night. Was it scary or fun? What happened?
2. Write about something unusual that happened to you recently (without using the word “I”).
3. Make up a story about an animal that doesn’t exist (like the mermaid). What does it look like? How does it act? Where does it live? How did it come to be? You can write an entire book about this imaginary creature! (Can be done in first or third person)
4. Make a song about something in nature that interests you (e.g., birds, trees, flowers). Then sing this song out loud with friends/family!
5. Write a short story about how you would spend a day in a character’s life from a book or movie.
6. Write about the last time you did something for the first time.
7. Write about the weirdest thing that happened to you recently.
8. Write about what it would be like to be invisible for a day.
9. Write about your favorite place to go when you want to escape reality.
10. Write about your favorite place to go when you want to escape reality.
11. Write about one of your past lives (or present lives).
12. Write an essay or poem on why it is essential to live in the moment or be grateful for what we have now instead of dwelling on past regrets or future worries.
13. Write an essay on how technology affects our relationships with family and friends, good and bad sides (could be from personal experience or just an opinion piece).

Creative Writing Activities

1. Write an article about a famous person (living or dead) that has inspired you.
2. Write a poem about your favorite place.
3. Write a short story about a character who conflicts with another character over something.
4. Write a piece of dialogue between two characters, then rewrite it from their perspective, showing how each character thinks about themselves, their relationship, and what they want from each other.
5. Write an essay on how pop culture affects our lives today.
6. Pick two random objects (say a book and a pillow).
7. Write down everything that could happen between those two things given unlimited time and resources (and no other restrictions).
8. After doing this for a while, start removing restrictions one by one until you have what feels like a reasonable set of circumstances under which these two things would naturally interact; this is called worldbuilding.
9. A brief description of your product/service.
10. Your target audience or market segment.
11. Identify your competitors and discuss how you will differentiate yourself from them.

7 Types of Creative Writing

The following are the types of creative writing:

1. Fiction: This type of creative writing uses imagination and creativity. It can be in any form or style, like a short story, novel, play, or even poetry. The writer creates a fictional story based on real-life events or imaginary ones.
2. Non-Fiction: This type of writing is used to create facts about something that is not fiction. It can be a biography, autobiography, travelogue, or cookbook! The writer needs to do enough research before he starts writing about it to make his work credible enough for others to read and enjoy!
3. Scripts: Scripts are another form of creative writing where the author writes down dialogues between characters in the story which will be acted out by actors on stage or on camera later on! They might also write directions for camera operators and other technicians involved in making films or videos to know what they should do while creating them!
4. Short Story: A short story is a piece of fiction that typically tells a complete story and ends within one or two pages. The characters in a short story should be well developed and realistic so that the reader can relate to them quickly. The plot should be interesting enough to keep the reader glued to the book until the end.
5. Poetry: A poem is a piece of work written in verse form using language that appeals to emotions through imagery and symbolism. Poetry should not be difficult to read and understand, as it should be simple enough for everyone to comprehend its meaning without having to go through any explanation or interpretation.
6. Drama: Drama refers to plays that are usually performed on stage by actors or actresses who act out fictional situations created by playwrights for entertainment purposes only; these plays do not have any kind of plot whatsoever but rely heavily on dialogue between characters for their development towards climaxes.
7. Prose: Prose is an ordinary language that expresses ideas with clarity, detail, and order; it may or may not use figures of speech. Prose may include everyday conversation, lectures, journalism, or nonfiction books produced by journalists or novelists. Prose may be spoken or written; it provides everything from slang.

31 Creative Writing Topics

Here are some interesting topics you can use to write your next creative piece.

1. Write about a place that has a special meaning for you.
2. Write about a time in your life when everything seemed to go wrong.
3. Write about something you have never done before but wish to do someday (e.g., skydiving, bungee jumping).
4. Write about an experience in which you learned something new about yourself or others around you (e.g., getting lost in a foreign country and meeting new people).
5. Write about an embarrassing moment that happened to you recently or from long ago (e.g., someone saw me eating at McDonald’s while on vacation in Paris).
6. Write about the happiest moment of your life (e.g., when I got married, when my first child was born).
7. Writing from a first-person perspective.
8. Writing in the third person narrative.
9. Writing a character sketch.
10. Writing a short story.
11. Creating an outline and plot summary for a play or screenplay
12. Creating a persuasive essay or argument paper
13. Creating an informative speech outline and thesis statement
14. Creating a storyboard for an advertisement or commercial video production.
15. Write a short story about an imaginary friend. It could be a ghost, an alien, or even a mermaid!
16. Write a short story about your pet and how it changed your life.
17. Write an essay on “What I would do with $1 million”.
18. Write a song about yourself and what makes you unique (or not so special).
19. Write about someone who inspires you and why they inspire you so much.
20. Write a story about a person who is going through a difficult time and how they overcome it.
21. Write about the first time you realized that you were different from other people.
22. Write about your life if you had never been born (or something similar).
23. Write about the process of falling in love with someone so much that it hurts when they reject you, but then having them finally accept your love and give you the happiest day of your life.
24. Write about someone who has lived their entire life without ever experiencing any kind of sadness or loss until one day something happens to them that makes them realize that all people suffer.
25. Write about a person who has suffered from depression for their entire life but never asked for help because they thought it was shameful (this could be written from either perspective as long as both perspectives are touched on).
26. What’s your favorite thing about summer?
27. What would you do if you won the lottery?
28. If you could change one thing about yourself, what would it be?
29. What would happen if there was no school on Mondays?
30. If you could make any book into a movie, which one would it be and why?
31. What’s the most exciting place you have ever been? What made it so enjoyable?

How to Write a Creative Story

     Introduction

This is where you introduce your topic and give some general information about it. It should be interesting enough to make people want to read further, but not so detailed that they get bored.

Start with an exciting opening sentence that draws the reader in, then keep going for at least 1,000 words (and more if you can).

Start with something that grabs the reader’s attention right away. A good way is to start with an interesting question or an anecdote related to your topic.

     The Body

This is where you give more in-depth details about your topic. It can be divided into sections or paragraphs, each covering one aspect of your topic. You should also use supporting evidence such as statistics or facts from research studies to back up your ideas and opinions. Do not just talk about what you think; back up everything with facts from reliable sources like books or journals etc… Your aim is for people to believe your point of view, so you must provide them with solid facts so they feel confident that what you are saying is valid before they will accept it as accurate themselves!

Keep your writing clear and straightforward so that anyone who reads it can understand what it means without thinking much about it.

Use simple words, short sentences, and paragraphs because they are easier to read than longer ones with complex structures.

     Conclusion

In this section, you should summarize everything that has been discussed in an easy-to-understand way so that readers have no questions left unanswered at the end! Try to leave people on a positive note.

Bottom Line

If you follow the above steps, you’ll be an expert in teaching creative writing to older students. As a result, you will be able to teach them to make up stories and showcase their creativity through various activities. Creative writing is an excellent way for older students to express themselves and have fun. If you want to ace as a writing teacher, ensure that you know about all the primary components of creativity, including physical, intellectual, and emotional.