By Jan Watson

Creative writing and academic writing are often viewed as radically different disciplines—different in their intentions, different in their outcomes, and perhaps even hierarchically distinct, depending on whom you ask. Proponents of composition studies sometimes see creative writing as intellectually flimsy, incompatible with scholarship. Proponents of creative writing may see composition studies as stodgy, unimaginative, and tone-deaf to what good writing really is. This article explores why both perspectives may be wrong and how the two disciplines not only inhabit some of the same spaces but can be further conjoined to improve student writing outcomes.

First, let’s dispense with the understatement: Writing instructors in 2026 face unprecedented challenges. As artificial intelligence (AI) gains capacity for mimicry, universities scramble to integrate ethical AI tools to mitigate plagiarism, promote originality, and help students understand contexts in which AI can be used as an assistive tool. Bringing AI components and assistive tools to our classrooms is a must; however, I submit that presenting these tools alongside creative writing principles may be the unlikely pairing we need to increase efficacy, boost originality, and improve students’ attitudes toward writing.

The good news is that many creative writing strategies are already hiding in plain sight within composition curricula and within the general vocabulary of academic writing. In some instances, it’s simply a matter of letting go of pedagogical preconceptions and rethinking how we parse our vocabulary about craft. To illustrate this, I’ve assembled some binary pairings of elements from both academic and creative writing below.

• Conflict and Rival Hypothesis: Both academic essays and narrative prose have conflict (protagonist vs. antagonist vs. argument/rival hypothesis) and the delicious tension that stems from both, requiring resolution. 
• Voice and Figurative Language: Academic writing and creative writing both use voice, diction, and tone to help convey meaning. Note that diction can include such traditionally “literary” devices as figurative language and metaphor even within academic contexts. Additionally, writing across all genres has a purpose and an explicit or implied audience. 
• Pathos and Emotional Impact: Writing across most genres uses pathos to aid in emotional resonance. One might even argue that the best essays transport the reader and leave them feeling changed in some way, just as the best stories and poems do. 

While this list could go on, there is enough here to suggest that the narrative arc of creative prose and the intellectual arc of the academic essay may not be so different, after all. The question, then, is how we might apply these principles to scholarly writing. We might start by considering two stalwarts of creative writing—narrative and metaphor—and discussing their possible role in an academic essay.

Narrative is often a solid entry point for a student who is trying to connect with a topic. Let’s say, for example, that a student is writing a persuasive essay recommending communication training for radiologists. The goal is to reduce some of the mystery of diagnostic imaging and allay patient fears. Given such a topic, instructors might guide students in perspective-taking or point-of-view freewriting exercises: e.g., “Put yourself in the mind of a fearful patient getting an X-ray. List what they are afraid of.” The resulting list is not only an empathy exercise and an exploration of what Linda Flower (2003) calls “the-story-behind-the-story” but also invites the student to inhabit the mind of a “character,” just as a fiction writer does. From the list, a paragraph may develop. From that paragraph, some specific research needs might emerge. These types of creative prompts, when paired with students’ experiential connections, help students to feel more confident in their imaginative capabilities and, by extension, their ability to support an argument (Ruegg, 2025).

Another staple of creative writing instruction is metaphor, which Aristotle viewed as a valuable rhetorical tool and described as a means of “bringing things before the eyes” (ca. 350 B.C.E./1997, p. 60), resulting in clarity and vividness. Metaphors also help to assist in learning and semantic memory, allowing students to link a new concept to something that is familiar (Gu et al., 2025). While metaphor and the use of figurative language may be under-discussed when we talk about academic writing, they can certainly be folded into conversations about voice, style, and connecting with an audience. 

One of the challenges in teaching metaphor is helping students to distinguish between an effective metaphor and a not-so-effective one. In this way, AI resources like Google Gemini can be a veritable gold mine. If a student is seeking a metaphor to describe what the experience of getting an X-ray feels like, they might put a prompt such as “Give me 20 metaphors to describe the experience of getting an X-ray from the patient perspective” into Gemini and end up with a result like this:

The machine acts as a silent blade, slicing through layers of clothing and skin without leaving a mark, leaving only the gift of your frame exposed (Google, 2026).

Imagine the discussion opportunities that this metaphor presents. From an evaluative lens, one might argue that a blade is far more invasive than an X-ray and that the body as “gift” doesn’t work so well in this context. (Why is it a gift? Who is the recipient of said gift in this instance?) Students could then look at better metaphors—whether AI-generated or culled from publications—and assess what makes the imagery effective before attempting to create their own relevant metaphor in a workshop-style setting. From there, real critical thinking and creativity begin.

Given the evidence that creative writing principles strengthen students’ critical thinking, improve their attitude toward writing, and even support their memory and retention, the next steps seem clear (Lardner, 1999). As instructors, we must first recognize how to capitalize on the creative writing opportunities already inherent in our courses, if not always couched in the same vocabulary. Second, in our writing-based courses, we might consider ways to acknowledge creative strategies and principles in course revisions and updates. These might include guided imitation exercises, focused rewriting to address different audiences, small-group, process-focused workshops, and designated freewriting time, to name just a few possibilities. In the best-case scenario, such measures may be transformative ways of introducing students to the power and agency of original creation. 

References

Aristotle. (1997). Aristotle’s Poetics (G. Whalley, Trans.; J. Baxter & P. Atherton, Eds.). McGill-Queen’s University Press. (Original work published ca. 350 B.C.E.) 

Flower, L. (2003). Talking across difference: Intercultural rhetoric and the search for situated knowledge. College Composition and Communication, 55(1), 38–68. doi:10.2307/3594199

Google. (2026, September 19). Gemini (Version 3.8 Flash) [Large language model]. https://gemini.google.com/

Gu, J., Wang, X., Liu, C., Fan, J., Sun, J., Kennett, Y., & Qiu, J. (2025). Cognitive and neural mechanisms of mental imagery supporting creative cognition. Communications Biology (8)1365. https://doi.org/10.1038/s42003-025-08513-x

Lardner, T. (1999). Locating the boundaries of composition and creative writing. College Composition and Communication (51)1, 72–77. https://doi.org/10.2307/358962 

Ruegg, R. (2025). Assessment of written assignments in first-year humanities and social sciences courses: textual features of academic writing. Assessment in Education: Principles, Policy & Practice, 32(1), 60–76. https://doi.org/10.1080/0969594X.2025.246767 

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About the Author

Jan Watson is a full-time faculty member in the English and Rhetoric department and the Course Lead for CM220: College Composition II. She is the author of two published novels and has just completed a book-length work of creative nonfiction.