Creative writing

A degree in creative writing allows you to develop your writing, research and creative thinking skills. These skills are useful in a range of careers such as writing, publishing, marketing, PR and teaching

Job options

Jobs directly related to your degree include:

• Advertising copywriter
• Arts administrator
• Community arts worker
• Creative director
• Digital copywriter
• Editorial assistant
• Higher education lecturer
• Lexicographer
• Magazine journalist
• Newspaper journalist
• Publishing copy-editor/proofreader
• Writer

Jobs where your degree would be useful include:

• Academic librarian
• Digital marketer
• Film director
• Marketing executive
• Public librarian
• Public relations officer
• Secondary school teacher
• Social media manager
• Talent agent
• Web content manager

Remember that many employers accept applications from graduates with any degree subject, so don't restrict your thinking to the jobs listed here.

Work experience

Make sure you create a portfolio of your written work, especially any that you've had published. This will provide evidence of your writing skills and establish your reputation as a writer.

You can gain valuable experience by writing for your student newspaper or magazine, volunteering in schools, or getting involved with writers' groups. Also, try submitting work to journals or anthologies, entering competitions, performing at spoken word events or approaching local drama groups to see if they will use your scripts. This will boost your profile and help build your confidence.

To make yourself more employable, look for opportunities to gain some solid work experience. This could be in the form of paid administrative work for a company, or volunteering with a local charity, for example, helping them to promote the work they do.

You can also look for related work experience with, for example, publishing houses and advertising and marketing firms. You could write speculatively to a number of businesses to ask if you could complete some short-term work experience or shadowing. This can help you get a foot in the door in a highly-competitive industry and could lead to a permanent position.

As well as creative talent and writing experience, you will also need perseverance and determination to succeed as a writer.

Search for placements and find out more about work experience and internships.

Typical employers

As a creative writing graduate you may work to establish yourself as a writer on a self-employed basis, either writing your own works, or writing for others in a freelance capacity.

Alternatively, you could find opportunities with a variety of employers, including:

• publishing houses or editorial/technical writing service companies
• advertising, marketing and public relations agencies, particularly in a copywriting capacity
• primary, secondary, further and higher education institutions
• media organisations and social media companies
• general businesses - in an administrative or general management position
• Civil Service, library or charitable organisations.

Find information on employers in marketing, advertising and PR, media and internet, teacher training and education, and other job sectors.

Skills for your CV

As well as building specialist knowledge of creative writing, you also develop effective written, oral and presentation skills through your degree. Other skills include: 

• creative and critical thinking and problem solving - these skills are useful for many jobs and you'll have gained them from developing characters and storylines
• independent working - having to be self-motivated as a writer means you can effectively determine and direct your own workload 
• time management and organisation - learning to structure your time effectively as a writer means you can be highly organised 
• a good understanding of information technology 
• collaboration - from liaising with students from other related courses such as journalism and film studies 
• independent research and analysis - you'll be adept at this from turning ideas into well-rounded stories 
• editorial and proofreading - from producing accurately written content 
• negotiation and networking - learning how to market your work effectively gives you the skill to negotiate in other workplace settings. 

Further study

As a creative writing graduate you can develop your creative writing skills further by undertaking postgraduate study at Masters or PhD level. You can also specialise in an area such as screenwriting, the graphic novel, writing for young people, writing poetry, or writing and producing comedy.

Alternatively, you may want to undertake further vocational training in areas such as teaching, journalism, librarianship or publishing. Vocational courses allow you to study in an area in which you would like to have a career.

You may also want to consider further study in areas such as PR, marketing or advertising.

For more information on further study and to find a course that interests you, see Masters degrees and search postgraduate courses in creative writing.

What do creative writing graduates do?

A tenth (9%) of creative writing graduates in employment in the UK are working as authors, writers and translators, while 7% are working as advertising and marketing associate professionals. 4% are secondary teaching professionals, and a further 2% are library clerks and assistants.

Find out what other creative writing graduates are doing 15 months after finishing their degrees in What do graduates do?

Graduate Outcomes survey data from HESA.