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Career Description

Create original written works, such as scripts, essays, prose, poetry or song lyrics, for publication or performance.

What Job Titles Poets, Lyricists and Creative Writers Might Have

• Author
• Freelance Writer
• Novelist
• Songwriter

What Poets, Lyricists and Creative Writers Do

• Revise written material to meet personal standards and to satisfy needs of clients, publishers, directors, or producers.
• Choose subject matter and suitable form to express personal feelings and experiences or ideas, or to narrate stories or events.
• Plan project arrangements or outlines, and organize material accordingly.
• Prepare works in appropriate format for publication, and send them to publishers or producers.
• Follow appropriate procedures to get copyrights for completed work.
• Write fiction or nonfiction prose, such as short stories, novels, biographies, articles, descriptive or critical analyses, and essays.
• Develop factors such as themes, plots, characterizations, psychological analyses, historical environments, action, and dialogue to create material.
• Confer with clients, editors, publishers, or producers to discuss changes or revisions to written material.
• Conduct research to obtain factual information and authentic detail, using sources such as newspaper accounts, diaries, and interviews.
• Write narrative, dramatic, lyric, or other types of poetry for publication.
• Attend book launches and publicity events, or conduct public readings.
• Write words to fit musical compositions, including lyrics for operas, musical plays, and choral works.
• Adapt text to accommodate musical requirements of composers and singers.

What Poets, Lyricists and Creative Writers Should Be Good At

• Written Expression - The ability to communicate information and ideas in writing so others will understand.
• Written Comprehension - The ability to read and understand information and ideas presented in writing.
• Fluency of Ideas - The ability to come up with a number of ideas about a topic (the number of ideas is important, not their quality, correctness, or creativity).
• Near Vision - The ability to see details at close range (within a few feet of the observer).
• Oral Comprehension - The ability to listen to and understand information and ideas presented through spoken words and sentences.
• Oral Expression - The ability to communicate information and ideas in speaking so others will understand.
• Deductive Reasoning - The ability to apply general rules to specific problems to produce answers that make sense.
• Inductive Reasoning - The ability to combine pieces of information to form general rules or conclusions (includes finding a relationship among seemingly unrelated events).

What Poets, Lyricists and Creative Writers Should Be Interested In

• Investigative - Investigative occupations frequently involve working with ideas, and require an extensive amount of thinking. These occupations can involve searching for facts and figuring out problems mentally.

What Poets, Lyricists and Creative Writers Need to Learn

• English Language - Knowledge of the structure and content of the English language including the meaning and spelling of words, rules of composition, and grammar.
• Communications and Media - Knowledge of media production, communication, and dissemination techniques and methods. This includes alternative ways to inform and entertain via written, oral, and visual media.
• Sales and Marketing - Knowledge of principles and methods for showing, promoting, and selling products or services. This includes marketing strategy and tactics, product demonstration, sales techniques, and sales control systems.
• Fine Arts - Knowledge of the theory and techniques required to compose, produce, and perform works of music, dance, visual arts, drama, and sculpture.