Creative writing can be about anything! Yay! Huzzah!

This is not a blog post about focusing your plot. This is a blog post about freedom.

Phew. A lofty statement, that one, am I right? But here’s the deal: So many of us (like, sooo many) sit down to write and are stricken by the belief that it must look a certain way.

But it doesn’t! Here are some “wrong” ways to write creatively:

• Run-on sentences or fragments

• No structure or text with doodles

• Word clouds as prose
  

Can you just imagine? Egad, the nerve!

What creative writing is all about is using words to express something. That’s it.

That’s it, you guys.

That means to be a creative writer, you don’t need to have:

• A desk or computer

• A college degree

• An invitation to attend the Iowa Writers’ Workshop

• A bookshelf

You also don’t need to have earned money from your creative writing.

Not all writers wear sweaters

Today, I’m talking with two creative writers. By the world’s definition, they work in law and quality control. But by their definition — and mine — they’re creative writers.

Jessica Busch: attorney by day, crime-fighting writer by night (not really)

One of my editing clients is the incredibly talented Jessica Busch. (Seriously, Jess, write another book already so I can read it.) There’s loads of writing as part of her day job, yet it’s a different type of writing.

“As an attorney, my writing tenets are simple: be concise, be clear, and eliminate extraneous details,” she told me. “So when I write fiction, I generally don’t care what’s on the walls when my character walks down a hallway, or that she burned her tongue on her tea in between dialogue. But sometimes these little details matter.”

It’s in Jessica’s nature, training, and schooling to be succinct. Which is so great! I really appreciate clear, to-the-point writing, particularly in content marketing. But when it comes to fiction, we’re invited to take our time.

“Often, I’ll think I’ve painted a clear picture for my reader, only to have my editor tell me to slow down — whether to take a beat to set the scene or merely provide some additional background details to ground the reader,” she said.

Not sure if you need an editor, you say?

“Your editor will see your blind spots, and your manuscript will be better because of it,” said Jessica.

So there.

Douglas Humphries: he probably already wrote a story about you

Douglas Humphries is another author I know and have long interacted with on Twitter. (What a community!) He has a riveting job in quality control for a company handling health and pension benefits. Like Jessica, writing in his role is technical and professional, focused on information transferral.

“It’s unique, in that I write it, but it doesn’t really draw on any artistic or creative side of me, for the most part,” he said to me in a message. “I don’t find the characterization all that helpful in real life, but if I had to draw a distinction between my approach for writing in my day job and writing creatively, I’d say it’s like left-brain/right-brain in the sense that writing for each is really coming from different parts of my brain and myself.”

Pay attention, because what he said next is so great:

“In my day job, I’m writing to report information, usually as succinctly and clearly as I can. In creative writing, I suppose I’m doing something similar, but it’s more from a place of quality. I’m not merely relaying information but feeling and value. The language can be succinct, but at turns, it needs to be lengthy. Because it needs to be whatever it needs in the moment.”

So how does stiff writing in one’s day job affect creative writing? For Douglas, it’s made all the more evident that he prefers creative writing.

“At the same, there is a lot of exposure just from the types of communications most employees in the modern workplace get. You learn, even among the technical and the professional, to notice how each person still manages to leave their voice on their writing: a turn of phrase, a particular kind of vocabulary they may favor, those who have rapid responses and those who save it all up for one, clear-cut reply. That manages to be a good slice of humanity, which is always good for character work.”

Feel like you still need some direction?

Rapid-fire Q&A, go:

1. Which university should I attend for creative writing?
   None. None university.

2. How can I study creative writing?
   You can read — read anything and everything. Read great writing, and read poor writing. Read my writing, decide if it’s great or poor, and then never tell me about it.

3. How can I become a creative writer?
   Try to write. That’s really all it is: you try, then try again, then try something else. Some of it will work for you. Most of it, you’ll think is trash, because we’re entirely too rude to ourselves.

4. Why is creative writing important?
   Creative writing is important because anything you feel is important to you is important to you, OK? Also, humans have a predisposition to enjoy the creative process. It’s, like, science.

5. When should I start writing creatively?
   At age 7. When it’s raining. If you’re bored. If you’re overwhelmed. The day you retire. After your grandkids go back home. While waiting in line at the grocery store. During the Super Bowl. On Groundhog Day. Today.

6. How do I make creative writing fun?
   YOU STOP PUTTING SO MUCH G-D PRESSURE ON YOURSELF. Honestly. No one ever has to read your creative work, so only you care that it looks a certain way. Unplug yourself from the idea of social sharing.

You might also be interested in:

• 7 questions to ask before ditching your writing

• The important reason to write what you don’t know

• The 6 questions to ask when motivation is lacking