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| Hearsay: |
A Melbourne creative writing student rails against creative writing courses and their armies of half-wit graduates. The article has its own ratio of cliches and whatnot, besides a self-righteous tone and a complete lack of perspective on the irony at hand — you’re TAKING a creative writing course. And it’s not your first! It’s one in a series.
EVERYWHERE I turn, it seems, I see advertisements for writing courses, writing workshops, writing weekends, writing holidays. All of them promise to help participants polish their prose and carve out their characters.
It should be stopped. The only people writing should be those who must write, I scrawl in a notebook as I sit on the side of the running bath while my young son makes duck noises at me.
There is no shortage of people who can, with a little encouragement, write. There are lots of skilled craftspeople. Even more say they want to write, and many of those find their way into university courses, adult education or privately run seminars on the novel, genre, short story and importance of plot. Some can write like angels from the outset, others can’t write at all, as I’ve heard for myself in classes I’ve attended.
This multiplicity of courses promises a way forward, a way into print, possibly even that chimera, a writing career. But desire and training don’t equal genius or that je ne sais quoi that allows a writer to connect, to slip refractive glasses over a reader’s eyes, to say, “see this”. They don’t give the writer something to say that can be said in no other way.
What they do is provide toolboxes, and with those toolboxes the vaguely talented often turn out the equivalent of high school carpentry projects: a procession of by-the-numbers breakfast trays and carved wooden animals.
Lady, everyone in that course thinks of you exactly like you think of them. You’re in a playpen from which perhaps only one of you (more likely none) will ever climb. And that’s okay. Just look at the pretty dials on the walls and fill your pants over and over. It’s a good life. And remember, if you do get out of the playpen, then it’s time to figure out how to get out of the living room. Oh, why do I bother? Okay. Got it. Writers are rubber ducks with glasses on breakfast trays.
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January 29th, 2007 at 9:26 am
Ok but it’s still a great place to meet chicks.
January 29th, 2007 at 1:34 pm
Middle aged ladies who have had a scare with death are a joy to teach, a handsome friend who teaches creative writing once told me. I bet the person who wrote this article is a real treat in the classroom.
January 29th, 2007 at 1:37 pm
Might elitist, isn’t it?
I prefer to celebrate the act of creation, wherever it may be found. The more of it, the better. Writing wonderful prose is not the only reason to write; and I’ve learned that the people who guard the label of “writer” most jealously tend to be those who have few other reasons to write than that they like to think of themselves as a rare and special breed.
Writers don’t need to tear each other a part for even trying to put pen to paper; the “outside world” is hostile enough to the creative arts. I’d like to see a greater celebration of each other, in all our various types, ilks, sensibilities, and skill levels. In truth, we need each other.
January 29th, 2007 at 2:15 pm
Anna Clark. Yep solidarity is better as is celebration. Here here.
January 29th, 2007 at 2:28 pm
I don’t understand her point. Writing can be taught at first, but a few years out of a classroom only real writers are going to still be writing? So? Those real writers don’t need advice from this kind of rant, and for the rest of us, what harm is there in fancying ourselves poets in college? We’ll subscribe to a few lit. mags, buy a few books, and support those precious few “real” writers out there.
January 29th, 2007 at 3:02 pm
What she really means: Wah! Nobody’s noticing meeeeee!
January 29th, 2007 at 6:14 pm
But desire and training don’t equal genius or that je ne sais quoi that allows a writer to connect, to slip refractive glasses over a reader’s eyes, to say, “see this”. They don’t give the writer something to say that can be said in no other way.
There is no doubt about that, for me at least, but the question is if writing classes will help those who DO have real talent and genius. My experience has been yes, even if only to provide a place where writing “matters” and they are encouraged to do their thing.
January 29th, 2007 at 6:43 pm
I have had, on several occasions, the luck to teach talented people, and these people soar when given the support with craft they need. This is because they can hear, what is being suggested, most likely because it resonates with their talent. But, I must say, that even people with less talent, or even none to speak of, can improve their writing skills in a creative writing class. And more, some people can come some way to healing themselves, however hokey that may sound, by having a group of people listen to their voices with respect.
January 30th, 2007 at 7:09 am
Hi George!
Maybe you should send this writer a link to the novel writing software you mentioned in a recent post. I bet the writer would love that! Better yet, we could start a new fiction writing course based solely on the use of this novel writing software. I bet the ranter would be the first to sign up and endorse it heartily!
Cheers!
January 30th, 2007 at 4:47 pm
Writing classes can really help, mostly by showing talented writers those things that are cliche, dull, and done. There’s no better way to learn self-editing. Also, they can help a writer get over that fear of showing work to others and the sting of criticism. What they don’t do – and no one should expect they would – is teach a person how to write.
January 30th, 2007 at 6:44 pm
Writing classes are like music classes. Only an infinitesimal number of students will become first class. But the joy of writing or playing music better will be enough for most.
February 26th, 2007 at 10:55 pm
Zen of Writing I agree.
And the more people that take a chance to be creative the better, I am not an artist but have taken on drawing as a subject to study in order to understand how it works. This has given me a far greater appreciation of other painters works. Remember that taking a creative writing course will also do the same and produce more people who enjoy what they read and that is good for everyone.
February 26th, 2007 at 11:01 pm
Just sitting here reading the above comments and the name Barbara Anderson sprang to mind. A women who started writing in her late 50’s and was first published at age 63. Thanks goodness she wasn’t scared away from taking a writing course, which she found difficult but sallied found and has produced many fantastic books. So all you middle-aged people out there…give it a go, celebrate and enjoy !!