SilkFX

I find it amazing that in 2008 there are people who still don't understand why studying something other than White European Male Achievement and Conquest is important. Neanderthals, indeed.

Anyway...back to the topic...

I took creative writing workshops in undergrad and, much later, went for an MFA. All of that study benefitted me IMMENSELY as a writer and (gasp) as a person. You understand the difference between a jackhammer and a pickaxe, right? The RIGHT creative writing study, in the right amount, can be the jackhammer that makes your work, if not brilliant, then (hopefully) better.

Sure, you can save your money and keep on writing on your own, but how far down into the concrete will you get and how long will it take you to get there? For some folks, it might not take long (because they're good, and dedicated) but for a lot of others, it'll be a while.

Go for it, I say. Take one course as an elective. I'm pretty sure Corporate America won't hold it against you. Just make sure you get recommendations from others about the course and the person teaching. Good courses involve critique, ideally constructive, but some folks can't handle ANY kind of critique and, years later, point to that one class as the one that made them quit writing forever. Hopefully that's not you...go forth with an open mind and a ready pen...

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To everyone who keeps saying "I can't start!" or "I can't keep going!" or "I can't finish!":

Early drafts are ALLOWED to be crap. Feel free to write the crappiest crap that ever crapped. Don't think about it...just get it all out on the page. Then roll up your sleeves and turn that crap into something worth reading.
The REAL work of writing is in REWRITING.
http://grammar.ccc.commnet.edu/gramm...torm_block.htm

Sam Winchester

I don't really think he's that good. Sure, he's had a few good novels - The Shining, Cell, Insomnia, but he is verbose to the end. Half the crap he writes has no bearing at all on the novel. Koontz is the same. Far too descriptive. Clancy is descriptive, too, but at least his descriptions have purpose. I swear, I think King is writing like that to fill up the pages.

Sam.

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To those who live by and never stray from the creedo of "show, don't tell," here's a thought - it's called storytelling not storyshowing.

Sam Winchester

What people don't understand is: that no matter how many courses, or how many classes of creative writing, writing 101, or just plain writing you take, they will NOT make you a better writer. It will improve what you've already got inside you. If it isn't there to begin with, there's no amount of teaching in the world that will put it there.

Writing isn't about being able to place commas and full-stops correctly. It's a creative act - one that requires the brain to be wired in a particular way. If it wasn't, then any Joe Schmuck could practise and become the next King, Clancy, or Koontz. It doesn't work that way.

Sam.

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To those who live by and never stray from the creedo of "show, don't tell," here's a thought - it's called storytelling not storyshowing.

ash somers

ditto

lin

So how'd it turn out for you?

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lin

Actually, I don't believe that course if offered. The whole "ME Studies" program sort of admitted "White Studies" form the syllabus.

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ash somers

i beg your pardon, are you addressing me > ?

drovers-sunrise

I think that creative writing classes are very useful. I've done a few and found that they introduced me to different styles of writing that I never knew existed.

I say go for it. It'll help you develop your own style or give you some new ones to run with for a while.

strangedaze

I call thorough bullshit on all of this. You can babble all you want about how creative writing courses are balls, but unless your opinion can magically erase the experiences of those who've taken courses and found the courses incredibly helpful for a number of reasons (myself among them), your sweeping generalizations have, and will continue to have, absolutely no weight for me. And since we're on the subject, how many creative writing classes have you taken? Because if the answer is nil, I'm not even going to bother addressing any more of your theoretical speculation as to what they are or aren't.

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'First I lick the mucilage - it's kind of sexy. I put the little metal diddle through the hole.'

- Kurt Vonnegut, A Man Without a Country

RebelGoddess

As much as I love some of my professors and the classes I have to take while under the English literature major, I have to agree with those of you that say it's not worth it.

I have had some amazing professors for typical classes and so I figured that taking my college's creative fiction writing class would be taught by one of them.

Nope.

It was taught by an adjunct professor who barely know what story structure was. She tried to teach the course like an English 101 class on how to form a sentance.

Basically, for me it wasn't worth it at all.

If you don't a professor who knows what they're talking about or who is passionate about the material it will suck.

If I were you, I'd try and meet the professor before signing up and shelling out a lot for the course.

Racheal

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Writing is life.

Writers' block doesn't exist. It's actually called work avoidance procrastination.
-Jasper Fforde

Katastrof

Description isn't bad Sam. Just because there is a trend for dialog in stories now doesn't mean that it will always be the norm. I find, as someone who reads alot of King, that he has more allusions to pop culture than anything else. If you meant that when you said verbose than I agree with you, but if you meant that he writes alot of filler than I don't.

Even if King is over-descriptive at least it's not technical over-description *cough* Clancy *cough*.

But I guess King must be a horrible descriptive purple prose monster considering he's one of the most popular authors alive. Those plebs wouldn't know a literary masterpiece if you put it on audiotape for them!

...But ya, I can't wait to start my creative writing course next fall.

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Read:

When The Man Comes Around

"Carpe Diem, quam minimum credula postero"
(Seize the day put no trust in tomorrow.) ~ Horace

lin

So how are those classes working out? Getting lots of publication?

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ash somers

*rolls eyes*

ash somers

i'm 'write' on your tail, buddy

got anything constructive to add > ?

astralis

Take journalism instead where storytelling is actually taught. Creative writing is more about writing your inner feelings. While journaling can make you a better writer, it does very little good for storytelling.

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How to write a story