Creative Writing is a style of writing most people recognize as the basis for literature. It encompasses both fiction and nonfiction genres, and poetry. There are also sub-genres such as science fiction, romance, thriller, fantasy, biography, narrative, memoir, and more. What differentiates Creative Writing from other disciplines of writing is the control the author has when approaching the writing. While some conventions appear in sub-genres (someone should be hanging from a cliff very soon after the opening of a cliffhanger), writers are free to design and employ creative techniques throughout the writing. 

Creative Writing can often be identified by its use of character-driven storylines, as well as the original way the writer crafts the narrative of the story.