Novels have been capturing the imagination of readers and taking them into worlds of their own for centuries. There are a lot of novel genres, including romance, science fiction, fantasy, mystery, thrillers and others. There are also subgenres such as historical romance that many people aren’t even aware of.

Today novels attract more writers than any other forms of creative writing. They all have elements that are key to every kind of novel. These elements are the following: theme, plot, setting, characters and dialogues between them. Different authors use these elements in different ways. Some prefer to pay a lot of attention to a theme and a setting. Others start with a character and develop a story by providing readers with insights into the character. While the elements can interact with each other in a countless number of ways, it is important for all of them to be present in a novel, be strong and work smoothly together with other elements.
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Many authors try writing short stories before venturing into other forms of creative writing. Short stories may seem easy to write, but in reality, writing short stories requires a lot of skill.

Short stories are different from short novels and other works. Most writers, editors, and publishers define short stories as works of fiction that are shorter than 5,000 words. The novella is a bit longer than a short story and its length is usually between 5000 and 40000 words.

The keyword to the format of a short story is the word “story.” The best stories are able to tell in not too many words a tale of feelings, thoughts, sights and action. A reader of a short story needs to be able to relate to a compelling moment of the story. What characters say and do needs to provide insight into their condition and at the same time help the readers understand themselves and the world around them.
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Some people feel offended when they hear the term “creative writing” because they think that the term diminishes other kinds of writing, such as non-fiction or technical. In reality, this term is very innocent. It came to life in American colleges as a way to differentiate a course on writing from other courses, such as English 101 or Technical Writing for Scientists. A need for a course in creative writing has emerged in part because other courses in composition had too much of cookie-cutter approaches mixed with political correctness, gentility, and exercises that were the same for everyone.
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