The most effective and most challenging form of writing is one that evokes the emotion of readers and keeps them engaged with your words. The whole process of producing creative content not only ranks you among other writers but also ranks with your own earlier works. Hence, we find creative writing, one of the interesting parts of writing. In this article, let us discuss a few creative writing courses in India you must consider, before joining one.
What is Creative Writing?
Writing content that is not professional and formal is considered creative writing. Although writing generally is defined as a channel of expression, it is creative writing that requires more flow of imaginative ideas and a vivid visualizing writing style. Each author holds their own style of writing when it comes to creative writing. There are wide varieties of creative writings. It includes poetry writing, short story writing, novel writing, etc.
Elements of Creative Writing
In order to build your creative writing skill, you need to find if you possess the following elements, and if not, there is always a way to build it with constant practice. Creative writing courses in India are provided by various institutes all over the country. The elements are discussed below:
- Avid Reader: To be a writer, you should be a reader first. Writers who are creative and imaginative help themselves by reading the works of others. It is a very important trait to possess as a writer. In order to enter a niche, you have to know what is in that niche. And this knowledge can be obtained only when you do read the like books and contents you wish to write.
- Regularity: Creative writing skills improve with regularity in writing. The more you write, the more ideas you get. That’s the way to keep yourself on your toes without getting worried about the right flow in writing. That’s why there is a saying ‘Practice maketh men’. You should write on a regular basis in order to enhance your ability to produce standard content.
- Rewrite: Editing is one of the crucial processes of creative writing. Although everything in the first draft sounds very well inked, you should give room for improvement in your writing. This might bring out a better version by adding some new original ideas or saving the irrelevant ideas for your future project. Make a first draft, second draft, and third draft and no matter how many drafts you take to finish a complete piece of your work, I believe in proofreading and rewriting for presenting a very well-polished piece of work.
- Explain your stand: As an individual person in this world, we all have our own views on things. You should decide whose perspective you are going to put forth. Since creative writing involves poetry, short stories, and novels, in all these genres there are characters you create, mood, place, and the environment you expect to deliver to the readers. If so, you should decide from whose point of view all these emotions and feelings are delivered.
- Take time to interact with fellow writers: Get some fresh air, by attending workshops and interactive sessions with other writers. The trendy flow of a budding writer and the confident sound of a veteran writer is something you cannot learn from sitting alone in a chair in front of a screen.
- Explore: Look into multiple topics, and try out new stuff with the mindset of a learner. Learning and gaining knowledge is the only aspect that never becomes old and unuseful. If you are a writer who wants to be a remarkable poet, invest some of your time in learning various forms of poetry. This practice gives you an opportunity to build an open mind and helps you come up with refreshing ideas. Sometimes, this can be a great way to find the niche that you can own.
- Everything for the readers: Although the works you create are written by you, ultimately the readers are the people who will help you establish your works in society. If no one is going to read your works, then you better save them for your journal. Creative Writers out there! I call you out to carry a resolve that you will either write what people will read or practice writing compelling pieces of work. So, if you know your reader, you can figure out your path.
- Use Figures of Speech: I call them the tools which enhance the nature of output the words deliver to the reader. The figures of speech include alliteration, metaphor, simile, personification, and other tools you can use in your writing. They can add rich flavors to your content and keeps it vivid to imagine and enjoy reading.
- Empathy: Having an empathetic heart is a plus for a creative content writer. As a writer, you should be the bridge between the reader and your story. Having such a privilege is given to a writer to help the character in your story communicate with the reader. Practice writing various emotions to find a better way to convey an emotion in your language or style of writing.
- Accept criticisms: This is one of the important elements you should possess as a writer. When you are open to criticism, you can find the flaws and help yourself to rectify them. This process is nothing but growth. Growth in writing increases when reviews are taken positively not being so skeptical about it.
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Creative Writing Courses in India
There are multiple opportunities available to enthusiastic students and aspirant writers who wish to obtain Certification in Creative Writing. In this article, let us discuss the best Creative Writing Courses in India.
1. IIM SKILLS:
IIM SKILLS is one of the best institutions to provide quality Creative Writing courses in India with placement. They have got a placement cell dedicated to helping the students to find their path in the field of writing. The course comprises online sessions for a period of one month which is followed by the internship phase for a period of three months.
They also guarantee to pay you back 100% of the money you pay for the course if you want to leave the course after the first session.
What Do You Gain From This Content Writing Course?
You get Certification from IIM SKILLS, moreover, they help you get a Content writing certification from HubSpot and the Test Of Legal English Centre Cambridge. They cover various types of writing. At the end of the course and even after, you can get their help to publish your E-book.
The institute provides the students with tools for writing which amount to around Rs. 35K and you are given access to use them for a lifetime. The alumni of this institute have been placed in top companies. They allow students with queries to have a one-on-one discussion in order to clarify their doubts.
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The motivational mentors you get there are friendly and are as determined as you are in making you a professional writer. The classes are conducted in flexible hours with an option to get a recording of sessions to recall or catch up if you miss them.
The minimum number of students set for a session allows the mentor to give attention to each and every student’s queries and clear their doubts then and there without making the students get perplexed.
2. Sri Aurobindo Centre For Arts And Communication
Another top institution that provides worthy Creative Writing Courses in India is Sri Aurobindo Centre for Arts and Communication, a Delhi-based institute. This institute has made a vow to hone the skills of students who reach out by helping them find the best of themselves.
They explore poetry, prose, journalistic works, short story, flash fiction, non-fiction, and other experimental works. Writing brings out the part of you that couldn’t be brought out otherwise. So they consider this course as a part of bringing out the better versions of the students.
Writing tools, techniques, writing for media, interviewing skills, investigative writing, interpretive writing, editing, pitching, and publication methods are also taught in this course. Due to the limited availability of seats, the institute conducts entrance exams to find genuine applicants who really want to pursue writing as a profession not just as a hobby.
By the end of this course, they aim to teach students how to write better and think creatively to get interesting ideas. Developing plots and building characters, trying out new genres, thinking out of the box, and expressing emotions are also dealt with in this course.
The students are also taught interviewing skills and listening skills and use all their senses while creating a piece. Anyone above the age of 16 years can apply for this course. This is a three months course that consists of only 25 students per batch. The course is offered both online and offline.
3. British Council India
British Council India is another top institution that provides quality Creative Writing Courses in India. This is a 36 hours long course that extends to about 9 weeks. On completion, they provide you with a digital certificate. They clearly do not teach academic writing and technical writing.
What Do You Learn in This Course?
In this course offered by the British Council India, you can learn to build a plot, maintain blogs, character settings, short story writing, novel writing, dialogue writing, poetry, tools and techniques for writing, travel writing, memoirs, and other forms of writing, which requires creative and imaginative quirks.
This institute also guides the students with publishing their books. You are helped with getting novel ideas for writing and gaining more literature knowledge through this course. This course is conducted online mode with interactive live sessions where the mentors will assess your work at the beginning and the end of the course.
The institute is known for having enthusiastic mentors who clarify your doubts and help you correct the errors if any in a very friendly manner. The only requirement for this course is the English language level. You should have an upper-intermediate level (Level B2) English language level to join this course.
4. Indira Gandhi National Open University (IGNOU)
Indira Gandhi National Open University is another great institute to offer Creative Writing Courses in India that produce better writers. The University offers a Creative Writing Diploma course under the School of Humanities. This offer can be availed through distance study mode by aspirant writers.
The University set the eligibility of this course as 10+2 graduates or applicants should be above 20 years old. Those who have the determination to become a writer can apply for this course. This university says that the object of this course is to guide the students through the way of developing an imaginative mind with fresh new thoughts and ideas.
The applicants should have a knack for writing and be ready to take writing as their career. This course has two compulsory topics to cover, one is the principles of creative writing and the other one is the project work.
The students are given four options out of which they shall choose three topics as their electives in this course. They have regional study center all over the country and the course duration is for one year.
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5. Henry Harvin
Henry Harvin is the next top global institute to provide Creative Writing Courses in India. The Creative Writing Course offered by Henry Harvin extends to a duration of one year. They conduct classes via online mode and also give opportunities to practice what they learn with creative projects.
In order to encourage aspiring writers to enter the field which is very rare for an average Indian student to enter, they provide a placement guarantee for one year period after the internship. You can find the voice of your words at the end of this course.
They teach you the techniques of creative writing and implementation of the same in your works. The mentors assess your work during the internship period and give you feedback.
Who Can Join This Course and What Do You Learn?
Students, marketers, bloggers, teachers, and professors can join this course.
Here you learn to write poetries, lyrics, memoirs, scripts, plays, speeches, and so on. They tell you that you need to have a strong base in language, the right spirit and motivation, communication skills, patience, and practice to become a creative content writer. Basic technical skills and a knack to promote your work is the cherry on the cake.
What Are the Topics Included in the Creative Writing Courses in India?
- Memoir: Memoir is a type of creative writing where the writer writes a story out of their memories. These are true stories since it is written from the memories of a person. This form also includes Auto-biography and Biography writing. Journals and diary writing are great examples of memoirs but in a more narrative way.
- Journalism: Although journalism is non-fiction, it is considered creative non-fiction. The other creative non-fiction is technical writing and academic writing. Essay and docufiction are other examples widely seen in this type of writing. Journalism requires a huge amount of research and factual confirmation since it is mostly published and it is one of the top requirements to have writers’ ethics for journalism. It is also prone to criticism which is why this type of writing focuses on the accuracy of the content.
- Children’s books: Short stories with pictures are drawings written for younger audiences are covered under this category. This category of writing includes fairy tales, lullaby folklore, and other such stories we hear in our childhood. There are many budding writers who wish to write children’s books. They can pursue creative writing courses in India to get guidance in writing and publishing books.
- Drama: As soon as you hear the word ‘Drama’, plays, mime, or opera might cross your mind. This is one of the challenging types of writing. Drama writing shall also include other writing styles like dialogue writing and playwriting.
- Flash Fiction: Micro-Stories with character development are called flash fiction. This type of writing has less than a thousand words within which a writer narrates his story. It is a challenging as well as an attractive way of narrating a story. Most of the young generation nowadays prefer reading short quick stories with catchy climaxes.
- Novel: A novel is the lengthiest form of writing known today. It is in the form of narrative prose with numerous chapters and parts. The novels narrate stories of fiction in nature. It is said that there were various transformations through which the novel went through before arriving at the modern novel writing form.
- Poetry: Evolution in poetry writing is so remarkable and it cannot go unnoticed even by laymen who do not read poetries. Poetries use many embellishing writing techniques and figures of speech to make them more aesthetic and pleasing. Even poetry writing includes various poetic forms each has its own beauty in it.
- Screenplay: As opposed to stageplay, screenplay means writing for television, games, and other action or movement-based content. This could be an original or adaptation of an existing piece of work.
- Short Story: Short Story is the most popular form of creative writing which is narrative prose. A short story usually is written around 1000 words but it does not exceed 10,000 words. This is another form where stories are narrated in prose format. The novella is one form of writing which is neither novel nor a short story and has a word limit between the above two types of writing.
Frequently Asked Questions About Creative writing courses in India
1. Who can apply for creative writing courses in India?
Anyone who has a knack for producing imaginative and creative words can apply for creative writing courses in India. You should have a strong base in the language, be good at communication skills, and have graduated. Writing is a career that can be pursued by a graduate from any major as it is not compulsory to hold a language degree to become a writer.
A creative mind and a natural flow of writing compelling content are the traits expected of a writer. Anyone who is good enough to fulfill these traits can become a writer. Even if you do not have these traits, practicing can help you become an outstanding writer.
2. What is the difference between Creative Writing and Content Writing?
Content Writers write with an ultimate goal in their mind such as marketing, sales, business, etc. Whereas, creative writers produce content for entertainment purposes which need not have any ultimate goal other than entertaining others. Sometimes creative writers write just out of amusement and inspiration without any other motivation.
3. What is the scope of Creative Writing?
Creative writing has multiple opportunities today. You can become a journalist, social media manager, columnist, ghostwriter, scriptwriter, copywriter, Article writer, Blogger, Editor, Proofreader, and many more opportunities are waiting for you after completion of Creative writing courses.
4. What is the highest degree in Creative Writing?
The highest degree in Creative Writing is Ph.D. in Creative Writing. This path shall take around four years to ten years to become a professional creative writer. But it is advantageous to the writers that they can practice writing and publishing while learning.
5. What are the advantages of becoming a Creative Writer?
You can find your style of writing which has its own voice and it is a better way to express your thoughts and ideas raising inside your head. It is proven to have developed empathy in writers when they write more often.
Conclusion About Creative writing courses in India
As discussed in this article there are various opportunities available for aspirant writers who are clueless about their start. Creative Writing courses in India offered by recognized institutes and universities have been guiding many students in the last few years. Writing nourishes not only your knowledge but also the minds of the readers. So if you are in a dilemma about whether to choose writing as a career or not, ask yourself if you have patience and determination.
Because that’s what is needed to become a professional in any field and writing is no exception to that list. With the facility to get online classes, it has become easier for you to attend classes from any corner of the world. Hope you can find the right start for your career from this article. Enjoy writing!