Creative writing tutors and why every writer needs a coach
Creative writing tutor or not, creative writing is a team sport. You may sit down to write and create alone, but your ideas are born of your environment. They are shaped by everything you have read, seen, felt and absorbed. And depending on your project, play, screenplay, novel, short story, it’s almost definitely destined for an audience somewhere. Writing is solitary in practice but collaborative in spirit. Even the most personal work exists within a web of influence, conversation and exchange.
How can a creative writing tutor or coach break this patter with you?
Writing without feedback is like sealing your ideas inside a vacuum. A closed system.
In systems theory a closed system is one that does not interact with its environment. No new information enters and no feedback loops form. Over time closed systems tend toward stasis. Without exchange there is no adaptation and no growth. (See: Ludwig von Bertalanffy, General System Theory, Encyclopaedia Britannica)
Now picture a forest. It is an open system that thrives through exchange. It breathes in carbon dioxide, exhales oxygen, and flourishes through countless interconnected relationships. When that exchange is cut off by drought, pollution or enclosure, the ecosystem begins to stagnate. Growth slows. Vitality fades.
Writers who work entirely alone are more likely to damage their own creativity
Without an outside perspective, creativity loops back on itself. Clarity begins to slip away. Blind spots remain hidden. Ideas that once felt alive start to flatten.
A creative writing tutor or coach is the antidote. It’s not about dictating how your work should look. It’s about breathing new life into your process.
A creative writing coach, REALLY?
Yeah, it’s a team sport. You need strategies, practice, targets, and goals, to write anything. That’s what I do, I join alongside you to ask questions, challenge assumptions and open up possibilities. Think of it as oxygen for your creative forest. A current of energy that keeps ideas flowing and stories growing.
The key idea is that creative work is an ecosystem. It needs exchange in order to thrive. Left sealed off it stabilises not into brilliance but into stagnation. Opening your practice to coaching is not about surrendering control. It is about creating the conditions for your best work to emerge.
There are three simple ways a creative writing tutor or coach keeps your creative ecosystem alive
Fresh perspective brings blind spots into view.
Regular conversation creates momentum and keeps ideas moving.
Thoughtful questioning deepens the work so it expands rather than contracts.
I’m Doug Crossley, I tell stories and I help people tell theirs. If you’re looking for an online scriptwriting course, consider instead working with a writing coach. Find someone you trust to walk beside you. If you’re ready to work with someone who brings warmth, rigour, and creative partnership to the process, explore my website and The right collaboration can help your story become what it’s meant to be. Want to discover more? Book in a free call to discuss your project.
