Writing involves the desire to dance with words.
Novel/essay writing resembles choreographed dance, with steps defined. The writer hones her ability to hit the steps just so, so that she doesn't detract from the feeling the dance is supposed to convey.
Poetry writing looks more like interpretive dance, where there's less direction yet even more need for precision, as poetry and interpretive dance both seek to convey impressions that crawl into the subconscious and affect the reader from the inside.
Lyrics derive their power from their deep roots in the chants of the oldest peoples. Through rhythms and melodies, they become a common prayer to God or nature or life itself, one shared from mitochondrial Eve.
Technical writing has the most regimented steps, seeking as it does the utmost clarity of thought. Its structure of "tell the reader what you're going to say, say it, summarize by telling the reader what you said" thoughtfully takes the reader through a journey of education and provides signposts to where they can find the information again quickly.
In all of these, the words are important. There's a difference between dancing the nae-nae, slam dancing, grapevining through a Jewish folkdance, or mincing through a minuet. The differences in written forms comes from the words chosen. The words present the music for the dance. A thought exercise: imagine a couple making love through Pink Floyd's "Run Like Hell", or Ed Sheerhan's "Shape of You", or Bach's Brandenburg Concertos, or "Latcho Drom" by Tony Gatlif (if you don't know some of these, listen to a preview on iTunes). Different moods, different feels, right? In writing, the words chosen represent the music.
Choices made in active vs. passive verb forms, length of sentences, point of view (omniscient, limited omniscient, or first-person) change the steps of the dance. Some of these things, like passive verb form and sentences all the same length, put stumbles in the step.
In conclusion, writers dance with words -- and invite their readers to the dance.
I like the metaphor using different dances and genre of music to the different kinds of writing. The picks the dance, song, tempo and the entire program. So you are a choreographer of words.
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