There are creative writing courses at most universities, and it is advisable to study the language that you would like to be writing in as well.
It is not enough to go into the world of screen writing with just a degree. Companies will look more at your level of creativity than the degrees you have, so it is possible to get into the industry without formal training if you have a natural talent for creative writing.
“Getting into the traditional writing industry is no mean feat, you have to be writing every day for quite a while before your work will meet the standards expected,” says game writer and designer Ben Myres.
“Luckily, there are lots of avenues to pursue writing in: screenwriting, novels, short stories. You either have to get good enough to be hired or just forge your own independent path.”
There are so many facets of writing that you can get into with a creative writing degree, from actually writing books and movie scripts to working in the advertising field, although this might require your to take a short marketing course as well.
Writing movie scripts is a challenging and interesting part of creative writing. There are some website-based communities such as the Writers Guild (www.writersguildsa.org) where writers can communicate and share work and ideas.
The screen writing industry is one of the most difficult to get into, with some writers only getting their big breaks after five or six years. Once the writer gets their break, it’s not easy sailing from there. Countless hours are put into screen writing, but the result, if you are lucky, is millions of people watching the movie that you wrote.
A very interesting path to go is writing plot and dialogue for the gaming industry. For those interested in gaming, and even those who are not, it is one of the most challenging forms of writing you can attempt.
Fantasy writers, science fiction writers, and scriptwriters all have an advantage in the gaming industry. Writers play many different roles in video game development, including creating the plot and character backgrounds as well as the setting the game will take place in.
“A budding game writer should get involved in communities such as Make Games SA (www.makegamessa.com), so that they make friends and contacts that could hire them in the future,” says Ben.
With many games these days, the player’s decision affects the outcome of the game, so the writer has to write multiple stories for each decision that can be made, so you need to plan the entire game out before actually sitting down to write it.
“Game writing is so rewarding when you get it right, though. The added emotional power that games’ interactivity provides stirs people in ways few other media can achieve. Being a game writer is particularly rewarding in this period of time because of the growing need and acceptance of writing in games,” says Ben.
One of the best things you can do as any kind of writer is to network as much as possible. If you are serious about a career in creative writing, specifically screen writing, Listen to Jeff Goldsmith’s free podcasts for Creative Screenwriting magazine. These in-depth interviews with working writers are goldmines of screenwriting wisdom.
