Five reasons why you should do a creative writing elective
“Creative writing? But I’m not a writer!” Don’t worry, everyone says that. You don’t have to be. Creative writing units can seem daunting for people who don’t consider themselves ‘creative types’, but below are five reasons you should consider trying it out anyway.
It’s easy marks
Let’s be upfront with each other. You’ve got a lot on your plate. Your core units pile enough stress on you already, you work part-time, and then there are all the student protests and toga parties to attend, not to mention family functions and the occasional date. You don’t want an elective that’s going to make life harder for you.
Creative writing might just be the free ride you’ve been looking for. If you’re a half-decent writer it’s an easy distinction, but even if you’re not it’s hard to fail. Make up a story, write it down, pass the course, move along. Piece of cake.
You might meet someone interesting
Maybe it’s your first year and you’re trying to find your tribe. Maybe it’s your third year and you’re kinda sick of your tribe. Creative writing can be a great place to meet interesting new people. There might be a brooding poet who doesn’t talk to anyone and a couple of sci-fi nerds who speak only in an invented language from an obscure fictional planet. But you’re bound to find a few friendly, open-minded people with a creative streak who thought they’d give writing a go.
Pro tip: complimenting their work is a great way to strike up a potential friendship. Writers have terribly big egos – I should know.
You get mad skills
If you’re willing to attend a couple of lectures and actually pay attention, there’s a lot to learn from a creative writing course. You’re probably not going to be a published author or an internationally touring poet, but creative expression is a useful skill in a wide range of fields.
Being able to explain complex ideas in easy-to-understand, memorable ways is crucial for marketing a product or persuading someone of your point of view. One day you’ll be telling a potential investor about the new dating app you’ve designed, and it will be all thanks to skills learned in this useful elective. If getting rich isn’t an incentive, I don’t know what is.
You get playtime!
The jury is in and it says ‘play is good for you’. Creativity for its own sake is strongly correlated with good mental health and characteristics like openness and empathy. This has been reflected in modern trends all over the world, from ‘adult preschool’ to the inescapable adult colouring book.
Unfortunately, creative writings units do still have deadlines, but there’s still a strong playful element to them. The average uni course doesn’t give you many chances to flex your creative muscles, so grab this one and run with it. Even if your marks aren’t great, it might make you feel just a little bit better.
Guaranteed entertainment
The best part about reading other people’s creative writing is that you know it’s going to be entertaining one way or another. If they’re a good writer, it’ll be a good read – you’ll be able to invest in the characters of a short story or really feel the scene described in a poem. And if they’re not, well, sometimes it’s a bit of fun to read terrible writing too. Especially bad erotic fan-fiction. Dramatic readings in the library to your mates or around the dinner table are highly recommended.
Give creative writing a shot. It just might surprise you.
Matt Norman
Matt is a freelance writer, poet, educator and student from Perth.