Narrative writing is all about sharing anything from an epic tale to a small anecdote; it can span years of time or a few minutes; it can be fact or fiction.

Narrative writing uses many of the most common elements of storytelling, such as plot, character, setting, conflict, emotion, and a core message you’re trying to get across. You can use it to shape your narrative writing, such as coming of age, rags to riches, or the hero’s journey. Your character’s journey will have a conflict or interesting experience, and then ultimately reach a resolution.

Persuasive writing is all about getting your point across. The goal is to share your opinion in a thoughtful way —or, even better, to actually convince the reader of a viewpoint or idea. Whether you have a strong stance on an issue or need to inspire people to take action towards a cause, persuasive writing is the way to do it.

Of course, you can’t expect to simply state your viewpoint and have everyone convinced—you need to effectively back it up to bring the reader over to your side. There several main types of evidence in writing you can use when trying to persuade, including:

• Statistical evidence, such as hard facts or studies.
• Anecdotal evidence, such as personal experiences or interviews.
• Testimonial evidence, such as quotes from experts in the subject.
• Textual evidence, such as passages from books or primary sources

Expository writing exists to explain a subject or inform about a particular topic area. The goal is simply to teach the reader something.

Expository writing should aim to answer any questions a reader might have about a subject: think about the classic who, what, why, when, how questions. You want to lay everything out clearly, avoiding any jargon or overly technical language that may confuse people. Try to approach expository writing from a beginner’s mindset to make your piece as useful as possible.

Most importantly, keep your emotions and opinions about a subject out of it. Unlike persuasive writing, expository writing shouldn’t have an angle or agenda — just the facts.

As with any artistic medium, the rules are really only there to be broken — and creative writing is any writing that exists outside of the styles above, or even combines the styles in surprising new ways. The goal of creative writing is really to find new ways to tell stories that can surprise and delight readers.

When it comes to creative writing, you can let yourself literally rewrite the rules of what great writing can be. You could try a new format or structure that you haven’t seen before. You could bring other languages or multimedia elements into your work. Let yourself have fun with it!