Who has taken writing courses?

trocadero · Jul 23, 2009

How many successful, published novelists have taken formal writing courses at college level? Have any of you? Did they make a big difference to your work?

KTC · Jul 23, 2009

i am neither a successful published novelist, nor someone who has taken writing courses at college level. i don't know if the two are related or not...i hope to achieve the first and i have no intention of ever exploring the second.

GD Marks · Jul 23, 2009

Nah,

Qualifications are overrated and hark back to the days of the protected guilds. <imo>

Learn about writing however you want - by paying, bartering, forum-ing, and write however you want too. And just hope it's what people want to read.

gdm

Caramia · Jul 23, 2009

Hah! I took two years from 18-20 (37 now). I received high marks even. Alas, I think it did more damage than good, truthfully. Most of the rules and techniques I learned and adopted as gospel were shredded in SYW forums. I had to retrain my brain. The best teaching method I've found is reading over the other crits on SYW and examining writings of published authors I respect.

What got me high marks in class, would get me turned away from professionals in the business. Now with that said, I imagine just like anything else, there are schools/classes that are pros and cons, good and bad, worthy and wasteful. All depends on the flavor of the times.

Mumut · Jul 23, 2009

I took a couple of writing courses when I started writing, at about the age of 57! They just confirmed I'd not lost all my creativity after years working in the public service. Unfortunately I'd not found AW at that time or I'd have saved the cost.

unicornjam · Jul 23, 2009

Many successful writers have gone through the Iowa Writers' Workshop. Alumni "have won sixteen Pulitzer Prizes (most recently Philip Schultz in 2008), as well as numerous National Book Awards and other major literary honors. Three recent U.S. Poet Laureates have been graduates of the Workshop."

Here's a Wikipedia page about it: http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Iowa_Writers'_Workshop

I was accepted into the IYWS and that's it. Creative writing classes won't make or break you.

ETA I found another program. Clarion Workshop, for science fiction and fantasy writers, has graduated people like Octavia Butler and Cory Doctorow. If you're a fan of either genre, you might be able to find better names on their website. I didn't know who anyone was. :X

RJK · Jul 23, 2009

I'm involved in a writers' workshop right now. I'm getting some good things from it. Great feedback on my short story, from the other members and the facilitator. Good ideas from the other members. Interesting work critting others' stories. A good experience all around.
I'm not published yet.

trocadero · Jul 23, 2009

Interesting answers. Thanks everyone. I am not going back to school; I just didn't want to be the only kid who didn't... The Iowa Writers' Workshop looks interesting. It looks like a lot of workshopping and critiquing of each other's work, which sounds a lot like AW. I am planning to go to the SCBWI conference in January, but will happily forgo any ideas about further study.

GD I used to be in the piemakers' guild. Well, I wanted to be... Thanks everyone!

ChaosTitan · Jul 23, 2009

I took three writing-specific electives in college. One was essay writing, so it didn't do much for me fiction-wise. One was called Fiction Writing, but half the semester was spent covering poetry, the other half short stories--neither are my strong suits. I don't remember the other one, just that it was short stories and poetry, once again. I did a lot better in the essay class, than the fiction-related classes.

I can't say taking them hurt, but I also don't credit any of them with my success.

Danthia · Jul 23, 2009

I took a few creative writing courses in college, but like ChaosTitan, they focused a lot on poetry. Most of my improvement came from just writing, and tons from critiquing and being critiqued by others. Workshops and crit groups have been far more beneficial.

firedrake · Jul 23, 2009

I took three courses at evening school, at Pitt, years ago. Basic Writing, Descriptive Writing and Writing Short Stories. All three were great courses, I learned a lot and, in the intervening thirty years, I forgot almost everything.

Red-Green · Jul 23, 2009

I earned an MA in Writing (before MFAs became fashionable.) It was a positive experience in that it gave me an "excuse" to spend several hours a day writing. I met some fellow writers I've kept in touch with. I learned to take criticism and how to use it. I learned everything thing I needed to know about grammar, syntax, etc.

In short...pretty much everything I got out of the program, you can get by taking advantage of AW, reading a lot, joining a writer's group, and attending the occasional conference.

trocadero · Jul 23, 2009

Wow. Thanks for all the responses. I'm really pleased to hear that people generally think AW is just as or more useful than formalized study in the real writing world. So.... have any of you bought brilliant books about fiction writing? I nearly bought Donald Maas's Write the Breakout Novel but didn't.

One of the reasons I'm after a book is that since I've been on AW I've learned that a lot of the stuff we teach kids in middle school about writing isn't really true. I'd love a good book to shake in the air at curriculum meetings. Thanks - I appreciate your discussion.

Izz · Jul 23, 2009

Clarion (as well as Clarion West and Clarion South) is a well respected workshop--but it's not a college level course. There's plenty of info here on AW about it. At least one AW member who's taken the workshop has achieved SFWA membership status. Also, its primary focus is on short fiction, afaik.

Viable Paradise is another workshop (again, not a college course). It's a one-week workshop and one of the instructors is AW's very own James D. MacDonald. I know a few people who've taken it and highly recommend it. It, like the Clarion workshops, is geared towards speculative fiction.

As far as college level courses, i'm another unpublished novelist--but with some published short fiction--who hasn't taken any college writing courses (i didn't even finish high school), but i don't think there's really a correlation between the two. Hard work and being able to accept critique and reading lots are the main ingredients, i think.

The advantage of college courses are, as have already been mentioned: helps with developing a writing schedule; helps with developing a network of writing associates; and--for a writing friend of mine, at least--can lead to paid work that can support oneself while they write (she'll be teaching at the college she got the MFA from).

Shadow_Ferret · Jul 23, 2009

I took several writing classes, including fiction workshops back in the 80s. I was majoring in the English, Creative Writing concentration.

I'm still unpublished.

Do the math.

C.bronco · Jul 23, 2009

Shadow_Ferret said:
I took several writing classes, including fiction workshops back in the 80s. I was majoring in the English, Creative Writing concentration.

I'm not published yet, but, Darn! I'm good!.

Ditto.

Shadow_Ferret · Jul 23, 2009

Wait. I never said that.

KTC · Jul 23, 2009

Shadow_Ferret said:
Wait. I never said that.

she's that good.

Matera the Mad · Jul 23, 2009

I am neither a published novelist nor an entirely unpublished writer (I exist in a weird place between the worlds, full of cold mists and wailing spirits). Nor have I ever taken any kind of writing course, unless a failed foray into journalism in high school counts. It would be wasted time for me, I learn best on my own. The only formal education that I can say my writing has benefitted from is the grammar basics and typing.

blueobsidian · Jul 23, 2009

I have no published novels, but I make a full-time living writing non-fiction right now. During college I took quite a few writing courses on a variety of subjects (poetry, short fiction, legal writing, etc). I had great teachers for all of them, so I definitely found them to be a valuable use of my time.

I would suggest, if you are taking college writing classes, to try and talk to the professor ahead of time. Yes, I mean go to office hours for a professor you don't have yet. They'll be glad for the visit. Ask them about the structure of the class class and their philosophy on teaching writing. See if their answers jive with what you are looking for from a class.

Plus, if they aren't willing to give you the time of day, they are probably worth avoiding as teachers anyway.

Kenzie · Jul 24, 2009

I'm not a published writer - at least, not any novels, but I've had plenty of articles published. I did my entire degree in creative writing, plus an extra post-grad year researching Australian niche market magazines. I don't know that it taught me much as far as actual writing goes, though the critique was very helpful, but I always thought the most valuable thing to come out of it would be the contacts I would make, as well as having the time to just hone my skills. And in the meantime it led me onto an unexpected and very enjoyable career path as a magazine editor.

So basically, it was a very good thing for me, but I do think that a website like AW is just as beneficial in learning actual writing techniques.

barbilarry · Jul 24, 2009

I agree with above posts. I tried for many years to learn any and all about writing. I never really got it. I had it fall in place when I joined AW.

Jane

trocadero · Jul 24, 2009

Thanks everyone. Makes you think. Or SYW. I know I've only been on here a few months, but it's made a huge difference to my work, and my knowledge of what's happening out there.

caitlin_constantine · Jul 24, 2009

I have a degree in journalism, which meant writing, writing and more writing. I also took a creative writing course and a rhetoric course. I pretty much spent three years writing for hours every day. I left journalism school a far better writer than when I started. Probably the most important thing I learned was how to treat writing like a craft and a profession. However, I still have yet to be published in anything but newspapers and alt-weeklies. I hope that will change in the next couple of years.

bettielee · Jul 24, 2009

This thread makes me feel better. I have always felt incredibly under-educated.

Who has taken writing courses?

Stand in the Place Where You Live

...One in a Million...

Alliteration Afflicted

Well begun is half done...

Sheriff Bullwinkle the Poet says:

Around

Danthia

practical experience, FTW

KoalaKoalaKoala!

Doing the Space Operatic

Court Jester

I have plans...

Court Jester

Stand in the Place Where You Live

Bartender, gimme a Linux Mint

I just wanna write

I'm a sparkly fairy princess!