Top 12 Creative Writer Skills to Put on Your Resume

In today's competitive job market, standing out as a creative writer involves showcasing a unique blend of skills on your resume that highlight your storytelling abilities and adaptability across various writing styles. This article delves into the top 12 skills you need to feature on your resume to capture the attention of potential employers and demonstrate your prowess in the art of creative writing.

Creative Writer Skills

1. Storytelling
2. Editing
3. Scrivener
4. Grammarly
5. Plotting
6. Character Development
7. Worldbuilding
8. Microsoft Word
9. Google Docs
10. SEO
11. WordPress
12. Adobe InDesign

1. Storytelling

Storytelling, in the context of a creative writer, is the art of conveying a narrative through the imaginative construction of events, characters, and settings, aimed at engaging the audience's emotions, intellect, and imagination.

Why It's Important

Storytelling is crucial for a Creative Writer as it enables the effective conveyance of ideas, emotions, and experiences, engaging the audience's imagination and fostering a deep connection between the writer and the reader.

How to Improve Storytelling Skills

Improving storytelling, especially for a creative writer, involves honing various skills and techniques. Here are concise tips with relevant resources for deep dives:

1. Read Widely: Exposure to different styles, genres, and authors can inspire and teach you new methods. Goodreads offers extensive book lists and recommendations.

2. Practice Writing Regularly: Like any skill, storytelling improves with practice. Websites like 750 Words encourage daily writing habits.

3. Learn Story Structure: Understanding classic story structures can help in crafting compelling narratives. This guide on The Write Practice offers insights into structuring stories effectively.

4. Develop Characters: Characters are the heart of any story. Learn to create multidimensional characters with this resource from Writers Digest.

5. Show, Don't Tell: This principle helps readers experience the story through actions, senses, and feelings rather than through the author's exposition. This article from AutoCrit explains it further.

6. Seek Feedback: Getting critiques from other writers or readers can highlight areas for improvement. Consider joining a community like Scribophile for feedback.

7. Edit Ruthlessly: Great stories often emerge in the editing phase. Learn editing tips from The Creative Penn.

8. Study Storytelling Techniques: Dive into storytelling techniques and how to apply them with courses from platforms like MasterClass or Coursera.

By incorporating these tips and utilizing the linked resources, you can significantly improve your storytelling skills as a creative writer.

How to Display Storytelling Skills on Your Resume

2. Editing

Editing, for a creative writer, involves revising and refining a manuscript to enhance clarity, coherence, structure, and style, while correcting errors in grammar, punctuation, and spelling to improve overall quality and readability.

Why It's Important

Editing is crucial for a creative writer as it refines and polishes their work, ensuring clarity, coherence, and engagement, while also enhancing the narrative's impact and reader's experience.

How to Improve Editing Skills

To enhance your editing skills as a creative writer:

1. Read Widely: Exposure to various writing styles and genres can inspire and refine your editing skills. Goodreads offers a wide selection of books to explore.

2. Practice Self-Editing: Start by taking breaks between writing and editing to gain a fresh perspective. Tools like Grammarly can help catch basic errors before deeper edits.

3. Join Writing Groups: Feedback from peers can offer new insights. Websites like Scribophile facilitate critique-sharing with fellow writers.

4. Study Editing Guides: Books such as "The Elements of Style" by Strunk and White provide invaluable editing advice. Visit Project Gutenberg for free access to classic literature and references.

5. Attend Workshops and Courses: Platforms like Coursera and MasterClass offer courses taught by professionals to hone your editing skills.

6. Use Editing Software: Advanced software like ProWritingAid offers in-depth analysis that can improve your writing and editing over time.

7. Practice, Practice, Practice: Regular writing and editing are key to improvement. Set aside dedicated time for both activities each day.

By incorporating these strategies, you'll enhance your editing skills, contributing to your growth as a creative writer.

How to Display Editing Skills on Your Resume

3. Scrivener

Scrivener is a versatile writing software designed for creative writers, offering tools for drafting, organizing, revising, and compiling long texts like novels, scripts, and research projects.

Why It's Important

Scrivener is important for creative writers because it provides an all-in-one platform for organizing research, structuring ideas, and composing long texts in a flexible and user-friendly environment, thereby enhancing productivity and creativity.

How to Improve Scrivener Skills

To enhance Scrivener for Creative Writers, consider these concise tips:

1. Master the Basics: Start with Scrivener's interactive tutorial to grasp the fundamentals tailored to writing projects.
2. Customize Your Workspace: Tailor the interface to suit your writing style. Focus on Composition Mode for distraction-free writing and adjust the Editor to your liking. Learn more through this customization guide.
3. Utilize the Corkboard and Outliner: Plan and structure your narrative effectively using the Corkboard and Outliner tools for an overview of your project.
4. Leverage Project Targets: Set word counts and deadlines using Project Targets to keep on track. This guide on setting targets can help.
5. Compile Like a Pro: Master the Compile function for exporting your manuscript into various formats. This compilation guide offers insights.
6. Sync with External Editors: Use Scrivener in conjunction with external editors like ProWritingAid for advanced editing. Explore syncing options here.
7. Explore Scrivener’s Research Capabilities: Organize your research within the project for easy access. Tips on harnessing these features are found in this research management guide.

By following these steps and exploring the provided resources, Creative Writers can maximize their Scrivener experience, making the writing process more efficient and enjoyable.

How to Display Scrivener Skills on Your Resume

4. Grammarly

Grammarly is a digital writing assistant that provides grammar checking, spell checking, and plagiarism detection services, helping creative writers enhance the clarity, coherence, and correctness of their work.

Why It's Important

Grammarly is important for a creative writer as it enhances clarity, corrects grammar and spelling errors, and refines the overall readability of their work, ensuring their ideas are communicated effectively and professionally.

How to Improve Grammarly Skills

To improve Grammarly for a Creative Writer:

• Customize Style Goals: Use Grammarly's goal-setting feature to tailor feedback to your genre or writing style, enhancing creativity and coherence (Grammarly Support).

• Expand Vocabulary: Leverage the vocabulary enhancement feature to diversify language and avoid repetition, enriching narratives (Grammarly Blog).

• Integrate with Writing Tools: Utilize Grammarly's integration with popular writing platforms like Google Docs and Scrivener for seamless editing and feedback (Grammarly Apps).

• Learn from Insights: Analyze performance statistics provided by Grammarly to identify common errors and areas for improvement, refining your craft over time (Grammarly Insights).

• Engage with the Grammarly Community: Share tips and seek advice from other writers in the Grammarly community, fostering creativity and learning new writing strategies (Grammarly Community).

How to Display Grammarly Skills on Your Resume

5. Plotting

Plotting in creative writing refers to the process of planning and structuring the sequence of events that make up a story, including the setup, conflict, and resolution, to create a coherent and engaging narrative.

Why It's Important

Plotting is crucial for a creative writer as it provides a roadmap for the story, ensuring coherent structure, pacing, and character development, which engages readers and delivers a satisfying narrative experience.

How to Improve Plotting Skills

Improving plotting as a creative writer involves developing a structured yet flexible approach to crafting your story's roadmap. Focus on these key strategies:

1. Outline Your Story: Start with a basic outline to organize your thoughts and plot structure. This can range from a simple bullet-point list of events to a detailed chapter-by-chapter breakdown. Well-Storied offers a comprehensive guide on different outlining techniques.

2. Understand Story Structure: Familiarize yourself with classic story structures like the Three-Act Structure, the Hero's Journey, or the Save the Cat! Beat Sheet. These frameworks provide a blueprint for pacing your narrative effectively. Reedsy breaks down these and other structures.

3. Develop Your Characters: Characters drive the plot. Ensure your characters have clear motivations, obstacles, and arcs. This depth makes the plot more engaging and believable. Writers Digest offers tips on character development.

4. Incorporate Conflict and Tension: Conflict is the heart of any plot. It can be internal (character vs. self), external (character vs. character, society, nature), or both. Tension keeps readers engaged. Now Novel discusses how to effectively write conflict and tension.

5. Use Subplots Wisely: Subplots can enrich your main plot, offering depth and complexity. Ensure they tie into the main storyline and contribute to character development or theme. MasterClass provides insights into creating effective subplots.

6. Revise and Refine: Plotting doesn’t end with the first draft. Revising allows you to spot plot holes, pacing issues, and areas where the conflict or tension may sag. Be open to restructuring your plot during this phase. The Creative Penn has tips on revising your plot.

Remember, plotting is a skill that improves with practice and study. Don't be afraid to experiment with different plotting techniques to find what works best for your storytelling style.

How to Display Plotting Skills on Your Resume

6. Character Development

Character development is the process by which a writer creates and evolves characters' personalities, backgrounds, and motivations throughout a story, making them more complex and relatable to the audience.

Why It's Important

Character development is crucial for creative writers because it deepens the audience's emotional connection, drives the plot through characters' decisions and growth, and creates a more immersive and believable story world, enhancing overall engagement and investment in the narrative.

How to Improve Character Development Skills

Improving character development involves deepening your understanding of your characters' backgrounds, motivations, and changes throughout your story. Here's a concise guide to enhance your character development skills:

1. Create Detailed Backstories: Understand each character's history. What events shaped their beliefs and behaviors? This depth adds realism and relatability.

2. Define Clear Motivations: Know what drives your characters. Their goals and fears should influence their actions throughout the story.

3. Show Growth and Change: Allow your characters to evolve. Their experiences should impact their decisions and viewpoints, reflecting real human growth.

4. Use Dialogue Wisely: Dialogue can reveal a lot about a character. How they speak, what they say, and what they don't say can all add layers to their personality.

5. Explore Relationships: Characters don't exist in a vacuum. Their interactions with others can highlight different facets of their personality and trigger change.

For further reading and more detailed guides, consider the following resources:

• Creating Characters on Writer's Digest offers tips on making memorable characters.

• Character Development: How to Write Great Characters from Reedsy Blog provides a comprehensive overview of character development techniques.

• The Art of Character Development on MasterClass features professional advice from established authors on crafting compelling characters.

These resources will give you a deeper insight into the nuances of character development, helping you to create more engaging and believable characters in your writing.

How to Display Character Development Skills on Your Resume

7. Worldbuilding

Worldbuilding is the process of constructing an imaginary universe with coherent qualities such as history, geography, ecology, and culture, providing the setting and context for stories within that universe.

Why It's Important

Worldbuilding is crucial for a creative writer because it establishes a coherent and immersive universe, enriching storytelling by providing a believable and engaging backdrop for characters and plots, enhancing reader experience and emotional investment.

How to Improve Worldbuilding Skills

Improving worldbuilding, especially for a creative writer, involves enriching the details and consistency of the universe your story inhabits. Here's a concise guide:

1. Start Broad, Then Narrow Down: Begin with the large-scale aspects of your world (geography, history, politics) before focusing on the smaller, everyday details that affect your characters' lives. This approach ensures coherence and depth. World Anvil offers tools for organizing these aspects.

2. Culture and Society: Dive into the cultures, religions, social norms, and languages of your world. These elements should influence your characters' behaviors and the plot. The Seventh Sanctum provides generators for inspiration.

3. Economy and Technology: Determine the level of technology and the state of the economy. How do these factors impact the daily lives of your characters and the plot? Springhole has resources for generating ideas.

4. Consistency is Key: Ensure the rules of your world (magic system, technology, culture) are consistent. Inconsistencies can break immersion. Evernote is a great tool for keeping track of all these details.

5. Engage the Senses: Make your world feel real by describing not just what is seen, but also what is smelled, heard, tasted, and touched.

6. Feedback Loop: Share your world with others and be open to feedback. Insights from readers can highlight areas that need more depth or clarity. Online forums like Reddit’s r/worldbuilding are great for this.

Remember, worldbuilding is a marathon, not a sprint. Taking time to layer in details will make your universe more immersive and believable.

How to Display Worldbuilding Skills on Your Resume

8. Microsoft Word

Microsoft Word is a word processing software used for creating, editing, and formatting written documents, offering tools and features tailored to enhance creative writing and storytelling.

Why It's Important

For a creative writer, Microsoft Word is crucial as it offers versatile tools for editing, formatting, and organizing text, enabling efficient drafting, revising, and finalizing of creative works.

How to Improve Microsoft Word Skills

To enhance Microsoft Word for a Creative Writer, consider the following concise recommendations:

1. Utilize Add-ins: Leverage ProWritingAid or Grammarly for advanced grammar, style, and vocabulary suggestions directly within Word.

2. Explore Templates: Explore and customize Word's range of creative writing templates for different genres to streamline your writing process.

3. Master Shortcuts and Features: Familiarize yourself with Word's keyboard shortcuts and utilize features like "Focus Mode" to enhance productivity and minimize distractions.

4. Use the Navigation Pane for Structure: Utilize the Navigation Pane to easily organize and navigate through your document, making it easier to structure your story.

5. Integrate Cloud Services: Save and access your documents from anywhere by integrating with OneDrive or Dropbox. This facilitates easy backups and sharing with editors or beta readers.

By employing these strategies, you can significantly enhance your creative writing process within Microsoft Word.

How to Display Microsoft Word Skills on Your Resume

9. Google Docs

Google Docs is a cloud-based word processing application that enables creative writers to create, edit, and share documents online in real-time, facilitating collaboration and accessibility from anywhere.

Why It's Important

Google Docs is important for a Creative Writer because it offers real-time collaboration, easy access from any device, and automatic saving, enhancing efficiency and flexibility in the writing process.

How to Improve Google Docs Skills

Improving Google Docs for a creative writer involves enhancing its functionality for drafting, revising, and sharing written work. Here are concise tips with relevant resources:

1. Use Add-ons: Enhance your writing with tools for mind mapping, grammar checking, and more. Explore add-ons like ProWritingAid for in-depth editing assistance.

2. Voice Typing: Boost productivity by dictating your story. Activate this feature under Tools > Voice typing. Learn more about voice typing.

3. Version History: Track changes and revert to previous versions easily. Access this via File > Version history. Understand version history.

4. Use Outline Tool: Organize your document with headings for easy navigation. Find this under View > Show document outline. Outline tool details.

5. Research Tool: Quickly look up references without leaving Docs. Access through Tools > Explore. Explore feature.

6. Collaborate in Real-Time: Share your document with editors or co-authors for live feedback. Click Share on the top right. Sharing and collaboration guide.

7. Keyboard Shortcuts: Speed up your writing and editing process. View shortcuts.

8. Customize Styles: Tailor heading and text styles for consistent formatting. Learn about custom styles.

By incorporating these features, creative writers can streamline their process, from research to writing to revision, directly within Google Docs.

How to Display Google Docs Skills on Your Resume

10. SEO

SEO, or Search Engine Optimization, is the practice of optimizing web content to increase visibility and ranking in search engine results, helping a creative writer's work reach a wider audience online.

Why It's Important

SEO is crucial for a Creative Writer as it enhances visibility online, attracting more readers to their work, and increasing opportunities for engagement and monetization.

How to Improve SEO Skills

To improve SEO for a Creative Writer, focus on these key strategies:

1. Keyword Research: Identify relevant, high-search-volume keywords related to your content (Google Keyword Planner).
2. Quality Content: Write engaging, original content that provides value to your readers, incorporating your keywords naturally.
3. On-Page SEO: Optimize your content's title, meta descriptions, and headers with target keywords (Moz On-Page SEO).
4. User Experience (UX): Ensure your website is mobile-friendly, fast-loading, and easy to navigate (Google PageSpeed Insights).
5. Backlinks: Gain backlinks from reputable sites within your niche to enhance your site's authority (Ahrefs Guide).
6. Social Media: Share your content on social media platforms to drive traffic and engagement (Buffer Social Media Guide).
7. Analytics: Use tools like Google Analytics to monitor traffic, refine your SEO strategies, and understand your audience better.

By consistently applying these strategies, you can improve your website's SEO, attract more readers, and increase your visibility online as a Creative Writer.

How to Display SEO Skills on Your Resume

11. WordPress

WordPress is a versatile content management system (CMS) that enables creative writers to easily publish, manage, and organize a wide variety of content on a website, without needing advanced technical knowledge.

Why It's Important

WordPress is important for a Creative Writer because it offers an easy-to-use platform to publish, manage, and share their work globally, facilitating a direct connection with their audience and enabling them to establish their personal brand online.

How to Improve WordPress Skills

To enhance WordPress for a Creative Writer, focus on these key areas:

1. Choose a Responsive Theme: Select a theme that adapts to different devices and screen sizes, ensuring your content looks great everywhere. WordPress Themes Directory is a good place to start.

2. Install Essential Plugins:

   • Yoast SEO: Improves your site's SEO, helping your content reach a wider audience. Yoast SEO.
   • Akismet: Protects your blog from spam. Akismet.
   • Jetpack: Offers design, marketing, and security features in one. Jetpack.

3. Optimize for Speed: Use a caching plugin like WP Super Cache and optimize images with Smush to improve site loading times.

4. Regularly Update Content: Keep your site fresh and engaging by regularly updating your blog with new, relevant content.

5. Use External Links: Enhance the credibility of your content by linking to reputable sources. Ensure all external links open in a new tab to keep readers on your site.

6. Engage with Your Readers: Encourage comments and feedback. Use plugins like Disqus to manage comments more effectively.

7. Backup Regularly: Protect your content with regular backups using a plugin like UpdraftPlus.

8. Secure Your Website: Implement security measures with plugins like Wordfence to protect against threats.

By focusing on these areas, Creative Writers can significantly improve their WordPress site, making it more user-friendly, secure, and optimized for search engines and readers.

How to Display WordPress Skills on Your Resume

12. Adobe InDesign

Adobe InDesign is a professional desktop publishing software used primarily for creating and designing layouts for print and digital media. For a Creative Writer, it's a powerful tool to design and format books, magazines, brochures, and eBooks, allowing for precise control over typography, image placement, and page layout.

Why It's Important

Adobe InDesign is important for a Creative Writer because it provides advanced tools for creating professional layouts for books, magazines, and digital publications, enabling effective storytelling through visually engaging content.

How to Improve Adobe InDesign Skills

To enhance Adobe InDesign for a Creative Writer, consider the following concise steps:

1. Learn the Basics: Start with Adobe's official tutorials to understand the core functionality and tools available in InDesign.

2. Use Templates: Leverage InDesign templates to save time on formatting and focus more on content.

3. Master Text Formatting: Dive deep into text formatting options to improve readability and visual appeal. Adobe’s guide on formatting text is crucial.

4. Incorporate Graphics: Learn to import and adjust graphics within your documents for more engaging content.

5. Utilize GREP for Advanced Search: Use GREP expressions to find and replace text patterns efficiently. This GREP resource is invaluable.

6. Explore Scripts: Automate repetitive tasks with scripts. The InDesignSecrets’ scripting resources can be a great starting point.

7. Stay Updated: Keep your software updated and explore new features with each release, as outlined in Adobe’s What’s New page.

By focusing on these areas, a Creative Writer can significantly improve their efficiency and creativity within Adobe InDesign.

How to Display Adobe InDesign Skills on Your Resume