Rahvin

I've been looking into this lately. Basically, my question boils down to this: is it worth it? I've been thinking about a course in creative writing and journalism (or the other way around, for that matter), but I'm just wondering if the benefits (if any) of such courses are worth it?

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Noirllyn

I find benefit in the creative writing course I'm in right now. I'd rather not discuss the journalism class... so, I won't.

My creative writing class is full of all sorts of interesting people, pretty much all of them have something neat to write about, but everything winds up being very different. In forcing myself into a situation where I need to work with other people and collaborate on things, I've definitely expanded my horizons. Even though I've known about most everything we discuss for the longest time, it helps to be reminded to focus on each thing as the lesson comes up during class. Line breaks were pretty standard and useless for me until I got into the class I'm in now.

Plus, the added deadlines/due dates can help you stay on top of your work and produce more in general. I'm not sure the approach is at all the same on your side of the pond or at your school, but I enjoy class very much.

This poem was created for class as a "circle poem" assignment. Essentially, the poem was written by about 10 other members of the class with no discussion (one line a piece), then I had to refine it and make it my own and coherent. True, I removed the drug references and a lot of "blah blah blah", but I still wound up with a fairly decent product I wouldn't have written on my own. The first line I've written on the top of a piece of paper has never been "bright lights, big city", but I made it work for me.

I actually have class in a few hours, so I'd better get cracking on tonight's assignment.

I think that generally, whatever class you take, you should be able to get at least one major thing out of it.

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Sam Winchester

I don't think creative writing courses are as good as they're made out to be. Sure, they'll make you a better writer, but they won't give you what's required to succeed as an author. The sad fact is that a mediocre writer will never become a brilliant one. They may become an average, or slightly better than average, one, but they'll never be brilliant. (If you read this, Mike C, apologies). Crap writers will always be crap writers. Give them a degree and they'll be crap writers who can spell.

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.

Ilasir Maroa

I agree. creatve writing courses can teach you a lot about seeing problems/mistakes, but if you can't come up with good stuff in the first place, there's not much you can do.

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My hopeful book:

Crap! Haven't posted it anywhere yet, darn!


"Only tyranny cloaks itself in shadows. The light of justice can not be hidden."

strangedaze

I disagree with Stephen King - I mean, with Sam. I wonder what Captain King would have to say about Hubert Selby, who went from being functionally illiterate to writing one of the most harrowing books about substance abuse issues ever?

That's a tangent, though. On topic, I've been involved with writing classes most of my stint in university, and I'm going to be doing grad work in a creative writing program. Without the classes I've taken, I'd be lightyears behind where I am now. I've workshopped with oodles of different people - playwrights, poets, published novelists, harlequin romance fanatics - and learned something from each experience.

I believe the experience of being in a CW workshop / class to be uniformly beneficial. Just how beneficial depends on a lot of variables, and the question of whether it's worth shelling out whatever cash you need to do it depends on even more.

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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

Katastrof

I laughed out loud when I read that. You sure do sound like King, Sam.

I agree with strangedaze, creative writing classes aren't just about spelling or English, but about refinement of craft and exercises to get the creative juices flowing. ( I think that's what you meant at least...)

Besides, it would at least make you polished writer, if anything else. I'm going to take one next year to try and kill my procrastination habit.

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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

HarryG

I studied English literature initially, which 'forced' me to read the classics, and I benefited greatly. Some years later, I tried to study creative writing and found that it didn't help me at all, if anything, it damaged my understanding of what I had been taught.


At the time, I reasoned that the particular creative writing course was at fault, and tried another one, which was quite different to the first, and much better, but still put me off.


Therefore, my personal view is that once you have the proper writing skills and have read yourself to death, you have your own writing voice, yours and yours alone, for better or for worse. Creative writing courses thereafter, this is my personal opinion, can easily damage that voice with unnecessary and sometimes foolish embellishment of an existing skill.


But, horses for courses.

lin

Not the first time this question came up, and I'll say it again. Studying writing in college is worthless. Journalism, there might be a point to. Creative writing, useless.

They can't really teach you how to write. And all the "oh, but they can make me better" is bullshit. You can do that yourself. Or you can't: in which case they aren't going to be able to do it for you.

AND, you're cheating yourself out of a great opportunity to learn something useful, maybe even something that will get you a job. (Good thing to have if you're a creative writer...a good-paying, non-creative job.)

This is probably the single most useless and pointless course of college study. (Now that the whole Black Studies, Women Studies lunacy seems to have blown over). Even dance and painting classes can teach you technique. Writing doesn't even have that. It's like going to college to be a comedian.

Don't waste your time or money.

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Dawnstorm

That's my impression, too.

Literature, linguistics and sociology classes helped me a lot more than any creative writing excersise I ever did. Workshops do help, as they give you motivation and, if you're lucky, a beneficial social environment (i.e. people who get what you do, whether they like or don't).

The most beneficial workshop I ever attended was a poetry translation workshop (I learned to read on syllable level; lots of phonetics, too; and thinking about the same text in another language is an eye-opener - I'm convinced now that translation - beyond crude meaning - is impossible).

Heid

I'm coming to the end of my second year doing a Creative & Professional writring course at University (As well as Film Studies).

I'm finding it a lot of fun and it's really interesting to interact with people who share an interest/passion for writing. Okay, sometimes the assignments aren't always the best but I have found the learning process extremely helpful. I am more confident both in my writing skills and my criticism skills.

Alongside the modules I am currently doing a journalism class which isn't too bad.

What I really like about the course is its variation. For instance, I've done classes in short story writing, writing for children, humour writing and I am currently doing travel writing (not one of the most interesting but it's not too bad). And so it has given me a chance to reflect on what avenue I want to go down once I graduate. I always wanted to be a novelist; that was my main goal, but doing other things has given me a taste of other aspects of writing.

In short: do it!

Malone

I majored in fiction writing. Yeah, it helps. It introduces you to different concepts and forces you to try different styles. My writing professors were all fairly respectable writers on their own accounts and were friends with many famous writers which allowed them to expose those famous people's ideas on writing to me. My advisor was friend's with Chuck Palahniuk, and they both teach the same way to write. That was probably the most beneficial stuff I ever got out of any of it. There were all sorts of other, more specific, courses I had to take too, like children's writing, mystery writing, crime writing, etc., and those were fun and introduce the necessary elements to successfully write in those genres. As others have beaten to death, it's not going to make you a great writer, but it's worth the experience, especially if you're just talking about taking one course.
I didn't pay for my own college tuition, though, so maybe if you're having to decide what classes are worth your hard earned money it becomes a different matter.

I can honestly say that no college course ever really taught me anything I either didn't already know or wasn't capable of finding out quite easily on my own. To me, the whole point of higher learning is just to avoid the real world for another four or five years. So, again this is just my perspective, sitting around writing stories, doing drugs and drinking, and trying to make myself a better writer was all I was looking for. Hence, a fiction writing major.

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HarryG

Scientists have just developed a method to demonstrate how our forefathers, the Neanderthals of 30,000 years ago, communicated, I've watched it on a News programme. They squawked at each other, with guttural sounds.


Progress followed, language developed, stone tablets were written, then came the books. Now we have education at the highest levels, and in our field, creative writing courses.


I'm trying not to stray. As well as creative writing courses, we now have computer games and Internet usage that surpasses anything from the past, like Youtube, texting on mobiles, chat rooms galore, and bloggers polluting the 'airwaves', with often innate nonsense.


From squawking at each other in caves, our language has developed so that gang members in New York, as an example, speak in a language foreign to anyone else. Texters write in a language that is incomprehensible to most other people.


While totally in favour of progress, I instinctively feel that some forms of creative writing are a step too far, on a level with texting and virtual war games.

strangedaze

I think we've learned that everyone has a different opinion on creative writing programs. From the mixed responses, I think it's fair to say that they work for some people, and less so (or not at all) for others. If you're seriously considering studying creative writing, do some research on schools your considering, find out who teaches there and how the courses are taught, then decide, one, if you think that style would suit your needs, and two, if you have the cash to pay for it.

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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

Sam Winchester

By the way, I don't take that as a compliment. Now, had you said I sound like Tom Clancy...

Oh well...

Strangedaze - that's one person who was illiterate and became a published author. The odds of it happening, though, are probably astronomical.

If creative writing classes work for some, good luck with them. They still aren't going to help you write the next great mystery/horror/thriller novel. There is no English, Creative Writing, or Journalism class in the world that can teach you to write a good novel. If there was, everyone would be a published author. 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.

Katastrof

King's not that bad. He may not be a literary masterpiece and TT may adore him, but that doesn't mean his writing is bad.

Anyways I meant your opinion sounded like King's opinion not that your voice sounds like his.

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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