Introduction:

Are you fond of writing? Do you have the flair to juggle words to explain your thoughts creatively? Creative writing is another potential career field that promises good monetary returns. But the field is not for everyone. A career in creative writing is considered as an artistic work gifted by God to special people. These people are the creative writers, known by various names such as novelists, poets, lyricists etc. who are engaged in writing books, articles, stories, especially as an occupation or profession. Most of writers have magical powers in writing and through their work, they can influence the readers and can make them upset, disgusted, spellbound or happy.

Creating writing is a long process which requires a lot of research and hard work. Creative writing is the writing in which a writer aims to express his/ her emotions, feelings, imaginative ideas and thoughts, through prose and poetic verses. Any kind of writing like novels, poems, stories, drama, autobiography, script writing, copy writing etc. can be considered as creative writing.

The foremost and the essential things required to become a creative writer is the passion for writing and love to communicate with words. Creative writing is a field which requires a lot of imagination, observation and an inborn ability to create pictures of the natural world. One can become a good writer by reading articles on variety of topics and styles; experiencing life in every way and learning and listening to a lot of idioms, accents, and local expressions. One can also improve their writing skills by taking a course in creative writing.

The major task of creative writer is to create a work in an interesting or appealing manner. Each work has to be organized cohesively with a clear beginning, middle and an end and must be targeted at an audience. Creative writers are expected to deliver original and high class content with no grammar and spelling mistakes. Copying of content from any other media is strictly prohibited in the field of creative writing, as it may create serious legal complications. So one has to write the content, whatever the topics may be in an original style and language. For this, a thorough research is needed that can be done by referring related informative book, encyclopedia, talking to people proficient in the topic or by searching the internet.Many people enjoy creative writing as a hobby. They can turn it into a profession and start earning with great opportunities. The demand for creative writers has increased at the global level, with the recent boom in the print media. Scope in this field is endless and one can become a novelist, journalist, short story writer, copywriter and so on. Creative writing jobs promise a good career path with excellent growth prospects and attractive salaries, if it is taken seriously with complete devotion

Eligibility:

The field of creative writing does not require formal education. Those with a flair for writing with imagination, observation and creativity can excel as a creative writer. An educational background in English literature or Journalism & communication will be an added advantage for a fruitful career in creative writing.

Few institutes in India offer short term courses in creative writing and these training courses enable a candidate to be successful in the field of creative writing. The minimum educational qualification for applying to creative writing course is Higher Secondary or 10+2 with humanities or arts as the main discipline. The minimum duration of these courses is one year. Most of the universities offers courses in creative writing as an optional subjects with its bachelors and masters.

One can also avail a course in creative writing through distance education mode, Indira Gandhi National Open University (IGNOU), Karnataka State Open University, U.P. Rajarshi Tandon Open University are among the universities. IGNOU offers Diploma and Postgraduate diploma in Creative Writing (both in English and Hindi) through its distance learning program.

Course Content:

Creative writing course content includes lectures and workshops which helps students to bring out their hidden talents and polish their creative potential to shape their thoughts in the profession. Through these courses, one can get an idea about when and how to use words liberally and develop their thoughts and imaginative power to make their work a pleasing experience for readers. The students are taught to write book reviews, travel articles, interviews, writing for children as well as developing stories on their own. Several techniques and methods are taught in the creative writing course and the successful completion of the course enables an individual to create an excellent piece of work in a professional manner.

Personal Attributes:

Creativity, which is considered as an in-born talent is the first and foremost quality needed to become a good creative writer. Another equivalent trait is their imagination. An aspiring creative writer must have tremendous passion for reading and writing, should be a good observer and communicator and should have the qualities like good vocabulary and comprehensive skills. They must possess good communication skills, have the ability and interest to research on different topics, have a sound knowledge of grammar and power to express in words. Determination, hard work and honesty are very much required in the creative writing field. Those who think differently and have innovative ideas of presentation can excel in this field.

Job Prospects & Career Options:

To get into this prolific career, it is not mandatory to have a certificate in creative writing. Graduates or post-graduates with good command over languages, any language especially English, from any field can enter the interesting and challenging field of creative writing.

Ample job opportunities are available for creative writers. Professional creative writers are involved in the creation and development of all types of creative works, like different types of fiction, memoirs, poetry, nonfiction, novel, lyrics, science fiction, romance, script, play, travelogue and so on. He/she can write reports, interviews, features, criticism and reviews for journals, magazines and newspapers etc. Besides, creative writers can also create content for web sites or compose articles for print media.

Some of the existing designations for creative writers are:

  • Copy Writers - Mainly involved with the advertising field, the task of the copy writer is to create content describing a particular product, its features, benefits, uses etc. for convincing the customer. These people are responsible for writing the brochures, advertising letters, product catalogs, newsletters etc.
  • Article Writers - Article writers can write variety of articles on topics such as fashion, food, travel, health, business, entertainment, sports, education etc. and can choose writing for dailies, magazines, websites etc.
  • Book Writer (Author) - One can become an author of a book, by narrating a story or any other topic. They can try writing fiction and non-fictional books, for children and grown-ups. Good public relation is needed for this and your book has to be published through a good publishing house.
  • Online Writers - Plenty of online opportunities are available for creative writers, right from content writing to blogging to technical writing to freelance writing. They can write articles on various topics.
  • Script Writers - Those who prefer writing dialogues, can excel as script writers. Script writers write the content and stories for movies, plays, television shows etc. They conduct thorough research to work out the story line of a given theme or topic. Writing authentic, sparkling and well-crafted dialogues that individualise characters is the ultimate challenge for the script writers.
  • Novelists - Those with a very good power of imagination, can explore the world of fiction writing as Novelists.
  • Lyricist - Those who can play with words and string them into songs, can become a lyricist, or write jingles for advertisements.
  • Technical Writers - A Technical writer translate or explain the technical usage of a companies products in simple language so that even a common man who could not understand the technical words and language could figure out the advantages or the operation of products or services. In short, Technical writers specialise in writing technology for non-technical persons.
  • Content developer, legacy writer, travel writer, news reporter, book translator, screenplay writer, columnist, food critic, etc. are some more forms of creative writing which are very popular.

Besides these opportunities, one can start their own freelance creative writing establishment or can choose a freelance writing job with a newspaper or a website and can write articles, stories, reviews, etc. for these mediums. They can also get into teaching profession, after acquiring a master's degree in creative writing. Another option is to seek employment in firms which are in the business of content development and publishing. Prominent publishing houses hire creative writers

Tremendous job openings are available for creative writers abroad in countries like US, Europe etc. There, Creative Writers are selected for the post through a written test, group discussion which is followed by a personal interview with the HR of the company. Candidates will have to face language related and general knowledge questions in these rounds of selection.

Only those people with consistent improvement in their writing skills can survive in the highly competitive, tough and challenging field of creative writing. The exposure in this field mainly depend on the quality of work and the professionalism of the individual. Once you carve a niche for yourself as a professional and have recognition in the field, there won't be any looking back.

Institutes:

From a wide range of colleges and universities in India, here is a list of the ten most popular and sought after institutions which offer courses in creative writing:

  1. The British Council located in all metro cities in India offers degree, diploma and certificate courses in Creative writing.
  2. The JNU (Jawaharlal Nehru University) in New Delhi offers creative writing as an optional subject in its MA (English) course
  3. Calcutta University offers a Diploma course in Creative Writing
  4. Bharatiya Vidya Bhavan in New Delhi offers a Postgraduate Diploma course in Creative Writing
  5. Xavier’s Mumbai Central Institute of Indian Languages, Karnataka
  6. Center for Research in Art of Film and Television, Delhi which offers a one-year diploma course
  7. Indira Gandhi National Open University, New Delhi which offers a PG diploma in Creative writing though the distance learning program
  8. U.P.Rajarshi Tandon Open University, Allahabad offers diploma courses through the distance mode
  9. Dr. Babasaheb Ambedkar Open University, Ahmedabad

Challenges:

Being self-employed causes problems just as much as any other profession. A lot of us writers find that one of the hardest things about being self-employed is being your own boss! I know it’s a strange one.

Strange or not, it is interesting to ponder on why so many of us find we actually prefer working for someone else rather than ourselves.

Lack of Structure: Going out to work for someone else imposes a structure on our days. Lack of structure can cause us to lack motivation.

Lack of Ideas: You’re very sure you can write that article, but you don’t have ideas or points to write on. It happens to everybody, and the good news is that there’s a solution to this.

Lack of Confidence:

This is the most dangerous problem that can plague a writer. It doesn’t matter how skilled you are or how much experience you’ve got; you won’t go so far unless you are confident of what you have to offer.

Getting REAL Clients:

Getting clients is probably the number one challenge most writers face. A lot of people believe they have the skills but just can’t seem to get clients. Most importantly, a lot of writers reading this don’t want just any client; they want REAL clients that are willing to pay them what they’re worth.

Another problem with being self-employed is that we must make all our own decisions. In other words we are the ones taking the risk. Some of our problems are business problems rather than artistic ones. Business problems are our own responsibility if we work for ourselves. If we fail in our writing business we have nobody else to blame but ourselves. If we are working for someone else and the business goes under, it’s their responsibility and their problem. We can go off and get another job.

One of the growing writer’s problems we face today is the Internet. It is a glorious resource filled with loads of interesting and helpful stuff for writers, and more, and more, and even more

Remuneration:

Remuneration in this field varies with the genres of creative writing. At the initial stage, creative writers can earn a payment of Rs. 8000/- to 10,000 per month, depending on the organisation they are working for.

Within a short span of time, if they are excellent in their work, the pay scale may increase rapidly.

Working as a free lancer is the finest option to earn more. But in the initial stage, one may have to struggle a lot to establish their name in the field. After achieving recognition, they can demand on their returns. They can earn income per word. Reputed publishing houses hire creative writers to write books, articles etc and make payment according to the contract which may range in five figures.

Besides for authors, each time their book is sold, they are assured of royalty. Sky is the limit for renowned creative writers in terms of remuneration.

The average pay for a Content Writer is Rs 243,264 per year. People in this job generally don't have more than 10 years' experience. The skills that increase pay for this job the most are Writing Procedures & Documentation, Microsoft Excel, and Creative Writing. For more details visit: http://www.payscale.com/research/IN/Job=Content_Writer/Salary

Bibliography:

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Anon, (2017). [online] Available at: https://www.quora.com/Which-is-the-best-creative-writing-course [Accessed 12 Sep. 2017].

Practicalcreativewriting.com. (2017). Writer's problems. Original and practical solutions for your writing problems.. [online] Available at: http://www.practicalcreativewriting.com/writers-problems/ [Accessed 12 Sep. 2017].

Payscale.com. (2017). Content Writer Salary (India). [online] Available at: http://www.payscale.com/research/IN/Job=Content_Writer/Salary [Accessed 12 Sep. 2017].