The most in-demand jobs today don’t require a four-year college education, but they do require a solid set of skills. If you’re looking to break into the creative writing field, here’s a comprehensive list of the skills you need to have in order to be successful.
Creative Writing: An Overview
If you’re reading this, I assume that you’re already thinking about pursuing a career in creative writing (although it’s never a bad idea to have ideas, it’s always a good idea to have a plan). Creative writing is all about putting words together in interesting ways to create a narrative that appeals to a broad audience. Some of the most in-demand jobs today will have you writing for TV or digital media; whether you’re creating scripts for films, games, or web content, your work will be judged on its creativity rather than on its marketability.
While it’s always great to have an idea for a story, if you want to be able to write creatively and earn a good living at it, you’ll need some training. Luckily, there are some relatively inexpensive courses that will help you get on your feet and start earning money immediately.
Copywriting
Even if you don’t end up pursuing creative writing as a career, you’ll still need to have some knowledge of copywriting to excel in your job, whether it’s blogging for businesses or helping them write sales letters or ads. In a copywriting role, your job will be to take complex information and present it in a clear and concise manner that is engaging and memorable. The most commonly needed copywriting skills are
- Research: You’ll need to conduct extensive research in order to find key tidbits of information that you can use to strengthen the argument or support the point you’re making. This includes looking at competitor analysis reports as well as analyzing previous press releases and media coverage to find the
- Principles
- Topics
- Topics Trends
- Language
- Metaphors
- Adjectives
- Nouns
that are effective in creating a persuasive writing piece.
- Marketing
- Business
Editing
Even if you’ve never published a piece of writing before, you’ll still need to know how to properly edit someone else’s work. When you’re handed a piece of writing to edit, you’ll need to check for spelling errors, correct grammar and syntax, and ensure the content is engaging and flows well. While this might seem like a daunting task, there are several free tools available online that can make the process much simpler. With a little bit of guidance, you’ll be able to polish your writing skills and bring your creative ideas to life.
Marketing
If you’re looking to break into the creative writing field, you’ll probably end up doing a fair amount of marketing, whether it’s through social media or traditional marketing. In a marketing role, you’ll be tasked with getting the word out about a product or service – whether it’s a book or an app – and inspiring people to buy what you’re marketing. In order to succeed, you’ll need to build and grow a brand, develop marketing strategy, and track the performance of your marketing campaigns. Using this data, you can constantly improve your efforts and find new ways to market your product or service.
Management
Since you’ll probably be working in a team, you’ll need to be able to effectively manage people. As an editor or a marketer, you might have to work with a team of writers and researchers in order to make the piece as good as possible. In a management role, you’ll be given the responsibility of overseeing the work of others and ensuring that each member of the team is carrying out their responsibilities effectively and according to plan. The most commonly needed management skills are
- Organization
- Time Management
- Accountability
A career in creative writing is a broad field that can lead you to many different directions, but you’ll need to have some sort of plan in mind. If you want to break into the field, you’ll need to know what skills are needed and how you’ll need to progress.