Writing Class

[The Shadow One]

To All:

At the risk of sounding presumptuious, I was wondering if anyone would be interested in a writing class. Since we have quite a few writers here, I thought it might be helpful to sharpen storytelling and writing skills.

I was thinking of series of essays (with examples and exercises) following this rough syllabus:

Introduction:

Choosing a topic or why write at all?

Experience and Storytelling -- Writing About What You Know

The Art of Storytelling:

Conflict

Drama

Theme and Emotion

The Mechanics of Storytelling:

Descritptions

Dialog

Character

Narration or Action

The Story Form:

Beginnings

Middles

Endings

Editing:

Edit, Edit, Edit

Five Things to Edit Before Your Story Is Done

Conclusion

I could do two or three essays a week, if there is any interest. By this, I'm not saying I'm the best or have all the answers; I love to write and I enjoy teaching others to do the same.

The course would contain grammer explanations as necessitated by the topic.

We could do this at the rate of two or three essays per week and people can participate at their convenience or desire.

I don't have carloads of time to do this, but if there's enough interest, I'm willing to do it.

The Shadow One

[Monk]

well TSO, (can I call you TSO, TSO? i like acronyms. sorry )

Anyway. I like the idea, but through all the essays we should stress the fact that, when it comes to crafting a story, nothing is set in stone. (at least, not in my experiences) Some things work in one situation, but not another. So...

I suppose i could write one or two essays about some of these subjects. we need a few more "how to" threads around here imho.

[shifty157]

That would be very nice and i think it would help out most everyone here including myself. If you need any help to lessen the workload just throw me a pm and id be happy to help out.

[The Shadow One]

well TSO, (can I call you TSO, TSO? i like acronyms. sorry )

TSO is perfectly acceptable.

Agreed that I am not the final word. I would think I'd learn as much from writing these essays as anyone else. I'm actually in line to teach a writing course this fall and so it would be a good way for me get some ideas and share them with some very talented people.

Writing is my life. I don't say that emotion; it's simply the truth. When I go days without writing, even a few days, I get edgy, I drink too much coffee and beer, I find myself depressed and short with the world.

Anyway, more than one point of view on any topic is good thing.

BTW, I like your story, I did.

The Shadow One



"Theirs not to make reply,
Theirs not to reason why,
Theirs but to do and die."

Ah, to be able to write like the Lord.

[CrackedAxe]

It's a great idea, TSO, I'm sure many of the writers here in the mead hall would find the info invaluable. Monk's point is a good one, though - if you're writing just for the enjoyment of it, then anything is acceptable. Not everybody wants to sell short stories to magazines or write that best-selling novel. If, though, a writer wants to learn the forms of proper short story or novel writing, then certain forms and structures have to be adhered to. This isn't due to academic dogma, but to ensure that the work is readable and enjoyable. You have to be a master of the written word before you can break the rules and still have marketable work.

To give some examples of TSO's points:

Conflict: ALL stories should contain conflict of some sort, whether internal, external, emotional, physical or all. This is what drives a story.

Drama: physical conflict alone is never particularly dramatic, unless it's incredibly well done. The internal conflict of characters needs to be included to push the physical events along

The point of a story: all stories should have a clear point and premise, a reason for being, this should be worked out before the story is started.

Descriptions: should never be overdone or exist seperately from the plot, but worked into it.

All stories should have a beginning, middle, and end. Writing your story to a structure will make it incredibly enjoyable to read, and believe it or not, make writing a story a hell of a lot easier for the writer.

These are just a few points about story writing that are invaluable to learn and it would be great to get some of the info up on here for us all. I'd welcome it if you want to go ahead with this, TSO. I study a degree in Creative Writing and would be glad to help out.

[Monk]

You have to be a master of the written word before you can break the rules and still have marketable work.

Cracked is quite right in all his points. You must know the rules before you break them . Anyway, this is a great idea; not just to let new writers a chance to get a 'how to' so to speak, but also a good way for our older writers to get a fresh look at the 'rules' of writing.

[Nevyn]

That would be great TSO. Although I started to write to learn English better I would love to know more of the actual art of writing. My lack of writing skills are beginning to show, my first chapter in my Brutii campaign for example lacks something. I don’t know what it is, but there is something that should be in there that is not (if anybody has a clue please let me know ). A writhing class would hopefully help me with that. Anywhoooo I like you’re suggestion.

Cheers
Nev

[master of the puppets]

i have been disappointed in much of my work of late so mabey a bit of schoolin outside of school would be nice (yeah i never learn crap in my writing class, usually i teach my teachers) and thats no joke!

[Ludens]

I am definetly interested, The Shadow One. I do write to entertain myself, and sometimes others, but I often feel I am missing something. Perhaps your essay could make me aware of what I am missing.

[Uesugi Kenshin]

I would be interested in helping out. I am a native English speaker and can help with a lot of grammar type instruction, I don't know how good I would be at teaching anything else, but I would be happy to try. Please pm me.

[The Shadow One]

Everyone:

There appears to be a great deal of interest in participating in this class, from both a teacher and student perspective -- and at the end of the day, are the rolls really all that different?

I look forward to everyone's participation.

I suggest two possible approaches:

1. I can open a series of threads that deal with the fifteen or sixteen topics. Then anyone who wants to contribute an essay to that topic could feel free to do so. We can then sticky the threads here for ease of reference, but that's going to be a lot of stickies.

2. We can open an entirely new forum under Story/PBM called: The Academy or something and sticky the threats there.

3. We can create one thread here, called the Academy or something, and sticky all the treads there (this is my least favorite option because the notes would be ordered according to when they were written and, in time, an index would have to be created).

I am open to suggestions and alternatives. If we decided to open another forum (probably the best solution), I would be willing to moderate. Not a plug for extra work, just volunteering.

[master of the puppets]

i like the second idea best. we could encourage people to write about there experiences in s-m-r-totalwar in a story form as well as give them confidence in there writing.

[Aenarion]

I have to agree that the second one is the best option!:D

[Ludens]

The second option would be the best, but I don't think Tosa will open a new forum unless he is convinced that this is going to last longer than a forthnight. You can always ask him, though.

Should he says no, then the best option would be to start several threads with roughly related subjects. Sixteen threads is rather too much, so I think you would need to merge a couple of related subjects. It would be helpfull if the first two posts of each thread would contain the summary of the entire thread (which means they need to be regularly updated) and if there also was an index/organisation thread.

I am willing to help organise the writing class, should you require my assistance.

[Monk]

Create three threads:

The Art of Storytelling(1)

in which the following topics are covered:

Choosing a topic or why write at all?

Experience and Storytelling -- Writing About What You Know

Conflict

Drama

Theme and Emotion

and

The Mechanics of Storytelling (2)

in which you discuss

Descritptions

Dialog

Character

Narration or Action

The Story Form(3)

in which:

Beginnings

Middles

Endings

Editing

that's my suggestion to keep the thread number to a minimum. If you want my help i'll give it, but only if you need me

[Aenarion]

Wow i like that structure Monk! Great Idea!

[AntiochusIII]

Excellent idea! I am able to recognize that my works have (somehow :) ) lack a lot of parts. Amateurs and interested people like me would benefit greatly from the contribution of other, more skilled, more experienced writers. Indeed, I know some of my weaknesses but do not know what should I change "them" to. Such writing "classes" would be very helpful.

And Monk's ideas work nicely. There is already (at least) one thread that can be classified as "guide" about writing in place, the old (and genuine) topic about dialogue punctuations. More would be useful.

[dessa14]

heres my tip for writing....
(i am a good writer btw..., well at least i've been told that by published authors)
its the same tip that my writing "coach" (my literary theory teacher) told me
write more... write as much as possible.
talk to someone who knows something about writing and criticism...
redraft the idea consistently, always try to find your idea (normally ideas are watered down with other rubbish, try to filter out the rubbish and work out what you want to say)
redraft again, try to write the form to connect to your idea (interrelationship between form and thought)
proofread it, make sure the idea is connected, if not redraft, if it does connect well with the form just clean it up and polish it, add some fancy punctuation and fix typos, and viola you're done after six months of work.
thanks,
dizzy
Addition: don't take my short story i entered as a geniune piece of my best work, i threw it together in 2 hours, with a fresh idea....

[The Shadow One]

Monday. It has the worse reputation of any day of the week and deservedly so.

Monday. I arrived at work and my boss, the courseware director, came to me and said, "J. is sick. You're going to have to fill in for her."

"Really? What's J. doing today?" I ask in complete innocence.

"J's going to New York. For the _____________ photo shoot. Except she can't, so you're going. You fly out at 1:15."

So, I got to spend the week in New York City, the City that never sleeps, the City that smells really strange, the City of, I kid you not, rank rudeness. I mean, it's like everyone in the city is on the brink of an emotional meltdown.

Anyway, what all this means is I got back last night, drank a bit, drank a bit more, went to my neighbors, drank some more . . . I think you get the idea.

This morning I'm drinking Coke for the carbonation and catching up on the news here at the Guild.

Let me say to Monk and the others: I'd really appreciate your help. I'd like to start this maybe by next week or so -- I may be traveling again in a few days, but I'll post a note so people know.

Thanks to all for your interest.

[CrackedAxe]

When you get time, TSO, do you want to go ahead and create those threads that Monk suggested, and we'll start to fill them up? There's a few of us here itching to get some ideas up on there!