def cast_elements_to_string(cast_list):

    """ This function casts the top level elements of a list to strings. Note that it
    does not flatten lists before doing so, so if its elements contain lists, it will
    cast these lists to strings.

    Apply flatten_list() before applying cast_elements_to_string() if you want to
    change this behavior.
    """

    if isinstance(cast_list, list):
        return [str(element) for element in cast_list]
    else:
        raise TypeError('cast_elements_to_string() must be passed a list!')