I did a Council-run evening class a few years ago, pretty basic but I found it challenging and rewarding (all it was was the “tutor” giving you a few sentences to start stories with and you taking them where you wanted, then reading out your favourite one).

I imagine I was pretty crap but I would like to do more & maybe get some feedback…anyone done similar and able to share?

Your bones don’t break, mine do. That’s clear. Your cells react to bacteria and viruses differently than mine. You don’t get sick, I do. That’s also clear. But for some reason, you and I react the exact same way to water. We swallow it too fast, we choke. We get some in our lungs, we drown. However unreal it may seem, we are connected, you and I. We’re on the same curve, just on opposite ends.

(not exactly my own work… more sort of lifted verbatim from an online Samuel L Jackson random generator.. but it’s the sort of thing that I would write to you if I had the inclination..)

2retro4u
Marin County, Cali

I published the first mountain bike magazine. I wrote most of it also.

I took a creative writing course decades ago. The instructor favoured me because I actually had been published, and because most of the others didn’t have a prayer of ever being published.

Hoping for answers to the OP ta!

I think most of what I post on here is creative writing.

I do, but not at a level sufficiently mature enough to publish. I have published a non-fiction (academic) book, and many papers, but am wanting to turn my hand to fiction.

I have not taken any course, but stay alert to the techniques deployed in the fiction I read, with the hope of developing an approach of my own.

Here you go Al; my never-to-be-written novel will start with one of the following paragraphs:

I had a very vivid nightmare recently where the modern-day citizens of Paris (though it might well have been New York or East Kilbride; hard to tell with dreams) were being terrorized by heretic monks who have fallen through a tear in the fabric of space-time and must return to their own epoch by making their way to a particular building which had a bricked-up cellar where they had been tortured and hanged by their oppressors some hundreds of years previously. Their latter-day manifestation was sudden and alarming for the citizens of the present; they’d suddenly materialise in corporeal form from nowhere into the middle of a crowded street and make their way through the horrified onlookers and into what was now a hospital. Those who caught a glimpse of their faces beneath their cowled robes saw a rictus of agony and bulging, strangulated eyes protruding from their skulls causing paralysing fear. Once inside the hospital, where patients and nurses alike screamed in mortal panic, they made their way into the old basement and settled in an attitude of supplication inside curious stepped stone wells, each designed to hold a single kneeling soul. Above the wells were stout wooden beams marked by the hanging ropes of their inquisitors from that bygone age.
.
.
.
.

Every year I forget just how vicious they can be at that time of the year.
I’ve a very vivid memory from last August, turning up to a campsite in the North West to meet some friends. It was a beautiful evening and the campsite appeared to be busy. There were lots of tents but something wasn’t quite right… Food lay partially eaten on picnic tables; bikes lay abandoned on the grass, back wheels slowly turning to a halt; a frisbee hung momentarily in the air before clunking to the ground; but nowhere was there a human being to be seen.
I pondered this weird land-bound Mairi Celeste tableau as the sunset faded and I turned off the car ignition. The low bass thrum of the diesel engine died to be replaced by a growing sound, first at the edge of my consciousness, but steadily intensifying; the sound of light rain. But how could it be from a cloudless sky on that last perfect day of summer? I felt a shiver run down my spine as my hand reached for the door pull and I opened my cocoon to the gathering gloaming.
I stepped out…
Later that evening I sat in another car drinking heavily with friends as others arrived. They’d blithely and gaily spring forth and we’d take wagers on how long it’d be before they were clawing frantically at their exposed flesh as if beset by madness or bees.
“9 seconds I reckon, Ian”.
“Nah, 14”.
“1-2-3-4”.
“Whoah!”

There was a Scotsman who used to but he’s banned now.

(There’s a bit of creative writing in that sentence too)

i had a poem published before i turned 10years old. do i beat repack rider?

we’d have to see if the tutor ‘favoured’ you Phil.

Al; my Wife is an English teacher and also does a bit of writing; email in profile and I will put you in touch.

Oui,

Poetry only tho’

It’s in my genes. I’m a direct descendant of Henry Longfellow. Got lots of writing, but never done anything with it. I do find the writing process a wonderful thing.

I do it for a living.

I’d like to do it for a living.

Matter of fact, a major publisher is ‘considering’ an opus of mine as I write. Fingers and all other flexible appendages crossed…

I did a night course at a local college for a term. I found the tutor to be very good mainly because she was very open minded to style and content.

However nearly all the other students were older ladies who all hoped to write romantic novels, so i never really had anyone to bounce ideas around.

I think it cost £40, and i would say definitely worth it.

Also entering competitions is a good way to hone your skills, as it makes you edit you work to fit a word count and really encourages you to write worthwhile content that an audience would appreciate.

I found the best competitions were the ones with a specific brief rather than open (write whatever you like). I once came third in a competition where the brief was ‘communication’. It really made me think about how to approach a theme, and i really enjoyed the writing process as a result.

There are forums for wannabe writers, but i found them to be inhabited by quite self indulgent people only really concerned with having their work read rather than critiqing others – That was a few years ago mind so it may be different nowadays.

Matter of fact, a major publisher is ‘considering’ an opus of mine as I write. Fingers and all other flexible appendages crossed…

Good luck – I hope that’s genuine interest! I’ve known a few people ‘on the inside’ who got one of my submissions in front of various people (agents and pubs) but nothing came of it. There’s a lot of BS amongst the touts IMO. I have no issues with it though – I believe in my work and will persevere until one day it comes off …

And check out NaNoWRiMo – given the time it’s a great way to ‘get something delivered and out there’.

Cheers spacemonkey!

I have no idea how serious the interest is and I totally get that the touts are full of BS. It’s hope, not expectation, that’s keeping me going!

Good luck with yours!

Yeah, it’s one of those industries, dare I say like the music biz, where you can be genuinely skilled + work your nuts but never get anywhere. Likewise, you can be sh1t + get lucky and have a deal land on your plate.

Lots of recent talk abut self-pub (i.e. Kindle route etc) + self marketing being a great way to get something out there while raising your profile. Others are now poo-pooing it partly because the PR side can be a real drain. Depends on a number of variables though. My advice: subscribe to loads of relevant blogs, start blogging, comment on others’ blogs, start tweeting, make yourself interesting and get people following you. Even if you don’t go down the self pub route, an agent/editor/etc may well see more potential (sales) in you if you have an audience to play to.

Thanks all, I’m not looking for critique or publishing just yet tho!

I may try another class or some online stuff.