Creative Writing Activities

Jennifer was an English teacher in a high school. She also took up several freelance projects for creative writing. Being a professional in her field and having the love for creative writing, Jennifer easily excelled in training people. Most of her students, be it at school or else where, showed extraordinary proficiency, post her training. She followed a simple fundamental, she "did not train, but induced and fostered". Her training modules are referred and copied. Let us see how did Jennifer attain her great ability to "foster and induce" creativity.

One needs to be aware of the fact, that creativity does not really depend on the age or educational background of the individual. If the person is creative by nature, there can be no limitation to his creativity. Nonetheless, there are activities for creative writing, that can bring about more creativity in the person's nature.

Creative Writing Activities for Children
There are several creative writing activities that can be used to induce creativity in a child's expression. However, the activities may differ depending on the age (or grade) of the child.

Creative Writing Activities for Elementary Students
This is the stage in a child's life when creativity is at a natural high. They indulge in make-belief and try to analyze everything creatively. So, at this age, it would not really be difficult to "induce and foster" creativity in a child. However, at this age, expression needs to be trained. The child may be very creative, but if he has not been able to understand, how to express that creativity, it may be wasted. More so, psychologically, it could create a block in his mind, driving him further away from creativity.

So, the best creative writing activities would be those that would teach the child the right ways to express. This could include regular story book reading in his daily routine. This will help them think creatively. Another creative writing activity that one could use is, poetry reading and reciting. This teaches the child that creativity can mould the language. More so, he will start understanding that lines can stand for more than what they literally mean. An added benefit of these creative writing activities would be the self confidence in the child.

Creative Writing Activities for Middle School Students
By the time the child is in middle school, he has started reading all sorts of books and poems. More so, he has just started dealing with a concept known as "peer pressure". He has his friends and has started to find a certain someone more special than the others. This is the stage, where his creativity can go up a notch. Not only will improvement at this stage be higher in magnitude, but his creativity could help him deal with other aspects of his surrounding as well.

At this stage, the best creative writing activities would be the ones that help him bring out what he is suppressing within. He could start writing a journal. Granted, no one other than him would read it, but it will help his creative writing to improve and get enhanced. It is also imperative to make him read between the lines and think outside the box. Not only will this expand his creativity, but also help him understand the phenomena in his surrounding better. Essay writing and report writing on a regular basis in school should work well, as well. Further, he will get better at his studies too.

Creative Writing Activities for High School Students
So, now it is high school and I am pretty sure that the child is now, almost completely, aware of his creativity. At this stage, it is best to let his creativity go with the flow. Do not try to tame or prune it. The best creative writing activities at this age, as well, would be journal writing, reading and poetry. All these combined will gain a completely new meaning and motive in his life. The element here is to ensure that creativity is not the only way of life for the child. The child should be able to think analytically and logically as well. One thing that I have noticed in my career is that a concoction on creativity and analytical reasoning with a catalyst of logic can, truly, make magic. So, mix it up and see the impact.

Regular essay writing and other creative writing activities will make sure that he stays in touch with his creative writing, as well as, give him enough practice to allow his vocabulary and miscellaneous knowledge to get used effectively.

Creative Writing Activities for Adults
Well, the fact remains that children are not always the only one who require creative writing activities. Often, many adults realize their requirement for creativity at a later stage. Let me tell you, creativity is a necessity in life. Even if you pride yourself for being completely logical or analytical, you should have some creative streak, for the rainy day.

Adults face quite a bit of difficulty in creative writing, if they have never done it before. This is because, they have a set mindset and a set writing style that could come in their way. The best creative writing activities for them would be these creative writing exercises :

• Reading a paragraph and rewriting it without doing any plagiarism.
• They could write a daily journal, with complete details of their day. But not in bullet points.
• They need to start reading all kinds of books, this will introduce them to different writing styles.
• Write a review or critique on any book that they may have read or any movie that they may have watched.

These activities on a regular basis, will really help the person in improving their creative writing abilities.

A very important aspect in creative writing, is that the writer needs to put himself in the write up and enjoy writing it. Remember, if you don't enjoy writing it, no one will enjoy reading it. This is where I sign off! I had fun writing this article, hope you did too, while reading it!