Im going to read a part time (50%) university course on creative writing. The teacher is a published writer. I have been to a weekend seminar she held when I was teen, and from that experience and from friends that read this course before i know she will be an OK teacher at least or even a great teacher. The problem for me arises that the course is aimed at beginning level writers, that never picked up a pen and many of the exercises seem to be almost junior high level. 2 pages, maximum of writing on each exercise. With instruction as "Listing to music an inspire poetry." etc, which isn't really useful if you are a total noob. We will meet for 2 full days 1-2 a month, reviewing each others work. Hence the small size of the workload. I been writing for 3-8 hours a day the last 10 years. How do you think I should approach the course to get the most out of it?
In my courses that seemed aimed at newer writers, I took the attitude that there was always something more to learn, and threw myself into the writing exercises anyway, practically role-playing a new writer. As long as they're not lecturing you on grammatical stuff you've known for years, but actually on ideas and stuff, there's always something you might pick up on. Start a new body of work for the course rather than getting frustrated with how it doesn't help you with stuff you're already writing, and, um, see how it goes?
I wish I am lucky enough to attend such a class physically. No such luck for me so I may take up the next best thing, that is, Gotham's online writing class soon. Personally, I think such class can only help me, if nothing else it will help me gain confidence. You may think you have reached a particular level in writing, but it becomes validated if experience writer or critique says so. My advice... take the class, chances are you'll do well, which will give you the much needed moral boost. On the other hand, you thought the class will be a cakewalk but realised it is not easy as you think, that's reality check for you. Either way, it can only be helpful.
I agree with Mel - I am only just new to writing but a really good teacher and lecturer can teach many levels at once. What you get out of a course is always down to attitude and what you put into it. A lot of them maybe new writers but even new writers may have skills you don't they can share. It may also help you get a fresh view of your own writing by going back to basic in a subject. I know even with subjects my academic level and understanding is reasonable sometimes reading a primary school text book can give me new ideas and approaches.
Whow! I'm impressed. Wish I could say that. I'm starting a full time creative writing course at uni on Monday. I applied for this course because I thought it was time I took my writing more seriously. One thing I'm sure it will do is make me write more, which does not seem to be a problem for you. Here's hoping we both get what we need out of it. Best of luck
I e-mailed the teacher asking that the workload seemed pretty easy, if you already write a lot and asked her how I could get the most of the course. She said that she thought i should experiment more then usual, to stretch and broaden my abilities and will keep it in mind while giving me critique.
I agree with your professor that you should take this opportunity to take more risks and chances; try your hand at poetry if you're normally a prose writer or experiment with genres that are hard for you to write (and even to read). Or really focus on a part of your writing that you do all the time that you feel is lacking --character development, dialogue, establishing themes, whatever. And see if you can take advantage of her office hours. I find I learn best when I am speaking with a teacher one on one as opposed to in a class setting. I wouldnt mention how you feel you're more experienced / better than some of the other students (even if it's true), but ask her questions about assignments, writing in general, and how to improve your work personally. Good luck and have fun! Even if you feel like you might not be at the right level, take full advantage of this opportunity.
Tja w176, I'm also doing a course at the moment. I have spent the last two years writing like you, 3-8 hours a day. I find that, although I am one of the more experienced writers amongst the students, there is still so much to learn. The fundamentals of writing need to be reinforced as strongly as possible, I feel. Show don't tell, less is more, character is conflict etc. These are things that you really need to hammer into the head as hard as you can!
Hey guys, I'm new to the board. Anyway, I just started in my 3rd year of college. I actually transferred to a university, having spent my first 2 years at a community college. Now, I've taken a few creative writing classes while in college. At my community college, I took a creative writing class and a fiction writing class, both 2000 level courses (meaning lower division, typically for sophomores). Those classes had some amazing writers in them. Everyone came with an original idea. There were stories in 1st, 2nd, 3rd person; comedies, horrors, sci-fis, dramas, mysteries; fiction, non fiction, poetry. Also, everyone had good insight to give when we would workshop each other's work in class. Now, at my new school (the university) I'm taking a 3000 level (meaning upper division, typically for juniors) creative writing class. I expected these people to be even more advanced writers and give even more critical critiques. So far we have workshopped 16 stories and I am very disappointed. I would say that 12 of them were your basic, 1st-person, past-tense, non-fiction story about either a family member they lost or a friend they like or whatever. Really lame **** to be honest. Nothing imaginative, just real life not-very-intestesting stories told in a safe and simple way. And the class discussions are even worse. Nobody really has anything constructive to say. It's a lot of "This was beautiful" without explain WHY it was beautiful. Very disappointing. Anyway, I am being workshopped next week so I am going to try to hit these ****ers with something creative and original. I have this 2nd-person, future-tense, reverse-linear, black-comedy, sci-fi/horror, suspense/thriller I wrote. Let's see if they have anything constructive to say...
Are you saying that a story in first person, past tense, and based on real events and people is automatically lame? Or uncreative? And are you saying that something in second person, future tense, sci-fi will automatically be good and creative? Hmm.
Not sure what you're trying to get at here.. If it's about the quality of work by the other students, then not everyone will be a writer like you and that somewhat unimaginative storyline does appeal to lots of people. Did you tell them what you thought, and suggest some advice to help them? As for the rather useless comments, it doesn't seem like workshopping is doing what it's supposed to. Maybe you should talk to your tutor about it, or specifically tell the other students that you would like constructive criticism without sounding like a snob or something. In one of my workshopping seminars, we had a system where you said three good things about the piece and then one thing that needs to be improved, it was basically three ticks and a wish, so there was a balance.
No I'm pretty sure he's just saying at his new university everyone is writing boring clichés. He says halfway through his post that people were writing great first person and non-fiction works in his previous college.
Well, he kept emphasizing person and tense. It seemed like he places a high value on simply being unusual.
I was saying that everybody is writing safe. We would do little practice writings in the class the first few weeks before students starting workshopping their stuff. So lots of the practice writing was just getting a feel for non fiction stuff. So when it came time to workshop your own orginal story, all the people were just using the non fiction stuff they wrote for the practice and just expanding it. Basically taking the easy way out. They probably already wrote 2-3 pages, so they just expanded it 2-3 more pages. At my old school, even if some of the writers weren't as strong as others, I have to applaud them because everybody was so original.
Sounds like a class for those just getting their feet wet, Joey. You should probably be in a more advanced class.
Originality doesn't mean good writing. I'm sure that some of the "basic, 1st person, past tense" stories will be of good quality after revision. From the last sentence of your first post it seems like you're trying to be original just for the sake of being original, which can be a bad thing. Writing "safe" isn't necessarily a bad practice since there's always room for improvement. If you're really having concerns about the course, then talk to the instructor. I'm sure he/she will be able to address your concerns far better than we can.
Well, Joey did point out that the second class he took was supposed to be on a higher level. The difference seems to have been mostly in the people attending the class. Perhaps most of the students in the second class had only ever read straight real-life stories, and were unfamiliar with the very idea of writing creatively or experimentally.
Joey mentioned that those in the upper level class had nothing constructive to say when critiquing a piece. He didn't say anything about the quality of writing, so I'm assuming (perhaps naively) that those in the upper level class can write better than those in the lower level class. Also, I know that some creative writing departments choose to focus on writing only one or two genres, so the students might not be encouraged to write something other than short memoirs or literary fiction. By the way, are there any prerequisites for the upper level class?
I did take a college course in creative writing. However, it was so long ago that we had to write on papyrus, and I can't remember much else.
I hope it's worth whole to take those courses. A lot of people told me it isn't, but I'm a lot more interested in those than pretty much any other subject. When I go to post-secondary I wanna focus on writing and east asian languages. I wonder if I can consider my future promising if I take and work hard in those departments... Anyway, I can't help but feel some kinship with him - There are so many more interesting fiction ideas that haven't been used, we're not running out! I think the way things are now, it is more good than bad to go outside the books, although there's nothing wrong with the more "orthodox" or "safe" novels mentioned earlier, but I'm also not the type to write those... I want to create a world! Right? haha There are two things I focus on most when I write (although I'm just starting out) fiction novels. 1 - Get a really awesome idea for the story. This is just luck and talent I guess. 2 - Plan it all ahead, then plant little bomb-like seeds that take place early on somewhere and explode into effect later, in a way that's both surprising and thrilling to the reader, giving them a nice rush. I've experienced this some times when reading manga or watching anime, and I think novels (maybe western ones?) could use a bit more of that genius. I'll stop talking now. Go for it! Make it original and awesome, but above all it must be reader-friendly.
To answer a few of the questions. The prereqs for the 3000 level class were the same for the 2000 level (basic College composition). The quality of the stories were not better, not at all. Perhaps the students are just shy or dumb. The only explanation that I can come up with is that, in the community college writing class, lots of the good writers were bad students. They would barely show up, be hungover, etc. But they were great writers. Perhaps they were older, more experienced in life and writing, and just took the class for the hell of it. And the university class is all full time students who just focus primarily on school and perhaps don't have experience. Some of the people in the community college class were local rock stars, rappers and spoken word artists. And maybe the other students fed off their energy. So it was basically a tougher breed of people. They worked full time, were dong bad in school, had families, felonies, etc. The university class is all school kids.
What platform of experience? I'm just going by what I heard. I heard one of the guys is the leader singer of a band who performs regularly in the local scene. One is a local rapper. Etc. I live in New York City. It's a ghetto community college in Brooklyn but lots of the people are somewhat established. At the university, most of the people are young, non-NYC kids who have never experienced much. Sure they've read a few books, but that's it.
Since the topic of discussion is writing fiction, having read "a few books" is more relevant experience than band experience, wouldn't you say? If they are all around the same age as you, they have comparable quantities of experience, even if the experiences themselves are different than yours. Don't automatically assume their experience is inferior.
