I took online classes from Gotham, and I'm glad I did. I've read tons of books on writing, but the one thing they can't give you is feedback on your own work. In a workshop-style class, you not only have an instructor, you also have a group of serious and dedicated fellow students, and these people will evaluate your work honestly and fairly. And you, of course, must evaluate their work in the same spirit. I really think there is nothing more valuable for a beginning writer than some honest critiques of his work. The writing workshop environment gives you that. I recommend taking classes.
I would say workshop style, hands-on - yeah. If you can afford it, if it's from a known/respected school/organization - yeah. If it's all about theory and little or nothing about having pen in hand - no (that you can get from books/online). If you're talking a college degree - well, that's a whole 'nother discussion
Formal classes in the basics of writing, including grammar and punctuation, may be worth your money if you have problems in those areas. Literature classes may be helpful to expose you to a range of writers you might otherwise never be inspired to seek out. Also, liberal arts classes will give you a broad base of knowledge and experiences that are useful for any kind of writing. Other than that, there are far less expensive ways to learn what you need to know as a writer. Reading voraciously from a variety of authors and genres is the best education you can use as a writer.
Reading lots and writing even more is the best way to develop you're writing overall. However, if you are looking to develop a specific project then the occasional critique/ workshop is very helpful. But you don't need to take classes to get that.
It's possible to write (and write well) either with or without formal training. However, you might find that classes help you to progress faster, especially because it's a way of getting good quality feedback. Personally, I'm attending workshops and free classes in my local community, and considering an online course. Maybe going back to college to take a proper course would be better, but I don't think it would be so much better that I can justify spending thousands on it.
I took a creative writing class years ago, and it helped me greatly. What mostly helped was the assigned reading -- The Making of a Story by Alice LaPlante. What also helped were the writing exercises -- each week we had to write something (based on a prompt) and read it to the class. The critique I got from the professor had some value. The critique from the other students was more or less useless. What I found most valuable was forcing myself to write something I thought other people would want to read or hear. So it was great, but I could have gotten about as far with just that book and a writing buddy.
i have to ditto cog on this... i only recommend taking writing courses for those i mentor who can't seem to learn how to write well enough on their own, simply by being constant readers of the best writers' works... those who need a course or two are generally the ones who didn't do well in basic english courses in grammar and high school and those to whom english is not their birth tongue... in such cases, formal classes are pretty much a must... and nyc's gotham writers workshop courses are the best you can find anywhere... though a bit pricey, they're well worth every penny to any who are serious about writing...
It really depends on your situation and the kind of learner you are. I think it is very important to get education in some kind of writing, and then to practice it, but there are many professions other than writing itself that will achieve this. Psychologists, teachers, journalists and a whole host of other jobs allow a person to hone in the skill of writing. To move from that onto fiction is not all that difficult, and lots of reading, practice and a few good books on the art of storytelling is usually all that's needed. On the other hand, if you never managed to become really confident in communicating your ideas effectively through writing, such as, you are still in school or your job never required this particular skill, then perhaps a bit more immersion in the teaching side of it might be needed. Ultimately, I think, every aspiring writer can easily tell whether their writing is satisfactorily close to the writing of their favourite authors, quality wise. If the answer is yes then there is no problem, but if the answer is no, then they need to do something about it. But there are many ways to achieve the same goal of.
Just out of curiosity. It occured to me that I often like to open a Word document and just type whatever I want. A scene I could use, "articles", notes, etc. Is this what you're supposed to be doing when you're not writing a book, but just being creative? Could this be considered 'writing' even though it's not a story I'm working on?
I do this all the time. Even when I'm not actually working on my story/book, I'm usually doing some kind of brainstorming or writing exercise. Just now I bookmarked a good six pages that are relevant to a young adult thriller I'm working on. At the moment I'm making notecards and writing chapter scenes and synopses on them.
Supposed to be doing, according to whom? Considered writing by whom? What you describe above does not strike me as mindless. Do you ever get a good idea out of it, something you decide to pursue and try to make into a finished work of some kind? If so, who cares what anyone else would call it? To me, yes, it certainly seems like creativity.
I think it is a good idea. I find picture writing is cool. It is almost like painting with words. Looking at a picture or a film for example that you like and turning it into an articles. You could write film reviews/games/articles as blogs or of latest film/painting/cartoons/sports articles to keep yoru flow of writing going. It works if you have hobbies or you like certain things you can justwrite a summary/an opinion poll or even a comedy sketch just for fun.
Absolutely it's creativity. Maybe it's not anything you'll ever use, but it's still making those brain cells work. The more you write--no matter how useless it might be--the better your writing will get.
I think it's creative, because in spite of what you said, it isn't really mindless. It's practically impossible for a human being to type mindlessly. There's always thought going on, ideas popping up, the music of prose appearing on the screen. The thoughts and ideas may not be well connected - may be very disorganized, in fact - but that's what happens when you sit down at the computer and just spew out whatever pops into your head. But I bet after you've done this for a while, you could go back and read it over and find a gem of an idea or two in there. You are, after all, simply brainstorming at the keyboard.
Of course it's writing! Though you may feel it's mindless because you aren't deeply concentrating on the details, it really isn't -- and sometimes good works can come from a natural flow of words.
Well, I consider it writing. It's a healthy way of letting your spirit free. When you don't know what to write, just write!
I did something like that a couple of days ago, and what I typed out became what I will use in the next weekly writing contest. It's not all that long, but I got an idea and ran with it.
I think that any time you're trying to write something down, you're working your brain in some way. Even writing down my grocery list makes me think... and word games help too.
Thanks for the responses. It makes sense, as the random things I write may eventually turn into a story. Just now I wrote a climax about a daughter and her distant father joining together to finish off a powerful enemy. Long story short, I wanted to see what would happen if the father, a former POW from a rival clan, wound up having to raise a child from the clan that once persecuted his people. The climax is the two finally putting aside their differences to save the day.
Perhaps we need to consider that not all prose need become a novel or even a short story. Perhaps, like a haiku, just one brief disconnected beat in time, is enough to complete the art. I tell myself this because that's pretty much all I have!
