Types of Writing
Novice writers often think the novel is the thing to write, but for the serious writer, or the one who hopes to make a living writing, it's essential to look beyond one type.
English students are taught that there are four main types of writing: expository, persuasive, descriptive, and narrative
Expository writing seeks to explain, teach and give information
Persuasive writing deals in opinions, and tries to convince the reader of a point of view
Descriptive writing will describe a scene, event using considerable detail
Narrative writing tells a story
But what does this mean for the writer? Each type has a distinct writing style which is appopriate to that type of writing - descriptive writing will use imagery, adjectives and adverbs. As a writer, part of your task is to identify the appropriate style of writing for the purpose of your piece - a newspaper article on a sporting event should focus on facts, and not opinions.
These four main types of writing can be divided into specific mediums or genres,
each with their own distinctive characteristics. For the writer discovering their medium, it's worth exporing these. It's also worthing noting that different mediums may mix writing styles - a novel for example can contain both descriptive and narrative writing.
While you may excel in one type of writing, you may have less success in another. A good exercise is to study each type, and then try to write it, and see which is most comfortable and natural to you as a writer. The list below is by no means comprehensive:
Expository:
Newspaper articles
Magazine articles (remember, each magazine has their own style and audience)
Essays
Reports
Research papers - assignments, projects and theses
Academic writing
E-learning / teaching materials
Websites
Business Writing
Persuasive Writing
Essays
Advertising
Copy writing
Blogs
Descriptive Writing
Travel writing
Essays
Novels
Short stories
Poetry
Biography
Narrative Writing
Novels (think of all the different genres: Adventure, Romance, Horror, Science Fiction;,Mystery, Detective etc...)
Short stories
Poetry
Plays
Biography
There are many sites that show writing jobs for these types of writing.
A good list of types of fiction can be found here: https://www.dailywritingtips.com/35-genres-and-other-varieties-of-fiction/
More information on the writing style for different genres can be found here: https://twp.duke.edu/twp-writing-studio/resources/genres-of-writing
There are so many types of writing to choose from. A good starting point is to write what you like to read, then broaden into other types of writing, and see what fits.