In praise of the creative writing course

[JackLuis]

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Can people really be taught how to write novels? Doubts have plagued the inexorable rise of creative writing workshops. But the cynicism is beginning to look outdated

In this, (paid by the word) article, I found that The Guardian offers writing courses!

"How to write an original script" is only 4,000 pounds! It already started, poo.

Anyone up for education?

 

[sr71plt]

Although I took pointers from the creative writing classes I've taken, I've found them more channeling and limiting than my muse enjoys.

 

[JAMESBJOHNSON]

http://static.guim.co.uk/sys-images/Books/Pix/pictures/2013/1/17/1358440646014/Creative-writing-students-010.jpg



In this, (paid by the word) article, I found that The Guardian offers writing courses!

"How to write an original script" is only 4,000 pounds! It already started, poo.

Anyone up for education?

Sure. But is the novel interesting? How do you test for interesting?

 

[oggbashan]

One of my local friends has just started teaching a six evening course on Creative Writing. Next week she will include writing 50-word stories.

I revised the How-To I have posted on Literotica to remove the erotic bits and gave her enough printed copies for her class.

But she's unlikely to use it. The contents are too advanced for her group.

 

[TxRad]

Read it aloud in a crowd and see if they stop and listen or throw eggs and rotten fruit.

 

[JackLuis]

Sure. But is the novel interesting? How do you test for interesting?

The writer puts in the 'interesting parts', the teacher critics them and then the rewrites start. That's the most difficult part for me.

Then the readers vote, or not.

 

[TxRad]

The writer puts in the 'interesting parts', the teacher critics them and then the rewrites start. That's the most difficult part for me.

Then the readers vote, or not.

I like my way better. Except maybe for a loving wives story.

 

[TE999]

I've always thought that the term 'Creative Writing' was a misnomer. You can teach proper grammar, sentence construction, elements of style and form, plot development and so forth, but you cannot teach creativity. Writers are born, not made. You can hone your writing skills, but if there's no passion, no soul involved, the writing falls flat.

 

[sr71plt]

Well, yes, having a class to tell folks how to do it is the opposite of "creative."

 

[oggbashan]

Well, yes, having a class to tell folks how to do it is the opposite of "creative."

I'm not sure that I wholly agree.

One course I took started with the idea of telling a story for the first two sessions. We were each encouraged to tell a story aloud from our own experiences and then discuss how we could improve our presentation of that story, still as a spoken anecdote.

Creative writing is about telling a story. If there is no story, what is the point of writing?

Some of us found the story-telling far more difficult than others. Some could tell stories, some could write well, and only a few could do both. By the end of the 13 week course most of us could tell a story in the written word even if no one would want to read some of the results.

One of the local writing teachers' tools is the postcard. The class is given a heap of picture postcards which have not been sent. The reverses are blank. The class is asked to choose one, and then write for next week the story behind the postcard, or use the scene as an illustration from the story. Most of the postcards are bland scenes. The class members have to use their imagination - their creativity.

 

[PennLady]

I took a creative writing course in college and while I enjoyed it, I'm not entirely sure what we all got out of it. Maybe more than I realize. We would submit our work anonymously, and it ranged from poems to short stories to unfinished novels. So you'd submit the stuff, the teacher would hand it out and the next class, everyone would discuss it.

I don't recall the teacher ever setting us up and saying these are the elements of a story, this is how to set up a character -- I just don't remember discussing any rules.

I did like the course, seeing what other people had written, finding out what everyone thought, etc. And I thought the greatest compliment I got on one of my stories (one that unfortunately I can't find a copy of, hard or electronic) was one of the students couldn't tell whether it had been written by a man or a woman.