Creative Writing classes

lorenicole · Post by **lorenicole** » 07 Dec 2014, 10:54

Hello I have just started classes for a bachelors in Creative Writing. Is there anyone else out there who did this and was it at all helpful? No matter what I will continue on with the schooling but I just wondered what to expect.

Ava Mara · Post by **Ava Mara** » 09 Dec 2014, 09:59

I took a creative writing class about four years ago. It was a non credit course though, it was the only one offered in my city. I actually found it very helpful, I liked having assignments because it gave me a base for something to write and I never had a problem coming up with something. They were usually pretty simple ideas but very helpful. I also really enjoyed getting feedback from the other students.

lorenicole · Post by **lorenicole** » 09 Dec 2014, 10:45

Thank you Ava Mara. I'm doing a degree in it. I am in the basic English course right now and am looking forward to taking a creative one soon. Right now the basic class is just too easy...

jsam757 · Post by **jsam757** » 09 Dec 2014, 14:30

8 basics of what he calls Creative Writing 101: *

1)Use the time of a total stranger in such a way that he or she will not feel the time was wasted.
2)Give the reader at least one character he or she can root for.
3)Every character should want something, even if it is only a glass of water.
4)Every sentence must do one of two things—reveal character or advance the action.
5)start as close to the end as possible.
6)Be a sadist. No matter how sweet and innocent your leading characters, make awful things happen to them—in order that the reader may see what they are made of.
7)Write to please just one person. If you open a window and make love to the world, so to speak, your story will get pneumonia.

Give your readers as much information as possible as soon as possible. To heck with suspense. Readers should have such complete understanding of what is going on, where and why, that they could finish the story themselves, should cockroaches eat the last few pages.

-- 09 Dec 2014, 14:31 --

There is a common belief that because most of us are literate and fluent, there is no need to serve an apprenticeship if we want to become a successful wordsmith. … That’s what I thought until I tried to write my first novel. I soon learnt that a novel, like a piece of furniture, has its own set of requirements, laws of construction that have to be learnt. Just because I had read plenty of novels didn’t mean I could write one, any more than I could make a chair because I had sat on enough of them

Avid SciFi Fan · Post by **Avid SciFi Fan** » 09 Dec 2014, 20:30

I've found a simple outline provides a very good path for writting, but don't put too much detail in it. A start and finish with a few points in between if needed. Let inspiration fill in the branches of the tree and the sights along the way.

I recommend you explore your major and make sure it will pay your bills when you graduate (That's just my opinion). A little planning can go along way.