[Rtebydou]

Turn in this.

[creewespock]

Ditch the classes and write yourself. Seriously, I don't think such classes can do you any good. If you have the writing talent, you'll come up with good stories anyway, and will likely just be slowed down by the classes.

[mGUuZRyA]

And what exactly is the problem with that? Half finished novels would indicate that you can write but just (I assume and may be off) lack the dedication to finish them off. The completed short stories indicate even further that you can write. So why do you feel you need the courses?

I've written a few short stories myself. It isn't something I do often, but I really enjoy writing when I do, and largely because I do it however the damn I see fit.

[denyffishh]

you could always go with main themes: love, loss, war, suffering, etc. You know all that bs.

[Grarypealumma]

Buy "On Writing" by Stephen King, now that will contain some useful info.

As a freethinker of sorts, I'm very much inclined to agree that these classes will restrict your imagination in all probability. Worst case scenario, you lose your style and get a slightly different version of your professor's style.

I think that, if you're in a class as a means of seeking dedication, you're there for the wrong reason. It likely won't improve your quality of writing, even if it does improve the quantity/dedication. Put a gun to my head and tell me to write a full story in a day, I will do it - but the quality will suck.

Real-life writers mostly have deadlines, though, yeah. And that can suck. But I personally find (in all things), that dedication comes from inspiration. If I have the inspiration to do something I like, I'll finish it - no inspiration, no finishing. And being forced by a class to write amount X by time Y will give you the dedication, but rather a rather forced one, akin to that proverbial gun.

[Shipsyspeepay]

Orson Scott Card definds a story as a character trying to solve a problem.

Start with a [hopefully] interesting character, give him/her a problem....then make it worse. What did he do it make it better?? --Oops, that made things even worse! Ooooh, what's he going to do next.

[feroiodpiop]

Try writing crime fiction.

[qilmuz6v]

What should this hopeless amateur writer write about? Write about a guy who goes to this online forum everyday to figure out how to feel about certain things, what to do, and what the next step in their life should be. The guy goes through life this way and becomes very succesful mainly because of this one poster named "Japher". It becomes as though his life is one big chain of luck, as long as he does what Japher says. Then, as he is heading into his golden years he decides to meet Japher, but Japher doesn't want to meet him. However, he has Japher's IP address and tracks him down to a remote building in Eastern Montana where he learns that Japher, is in fact, a room full of monkeys banging on keyboards and that a group of scientists have been posting any coherent (or sometimes coherent) thoughts to the internet forum. Thus, in the end, this characters life of success has been based on the logic and decisions of monkeys.

That would be so awesome...

[suilusargaino]

bananas can't type

[largonioulurI]

very good point

[phernikas]

It will win you an award!

[Uplillacype]

Having been faced with a similar situation years ago, I wrote a story about me writing a story. It was partly thrown together, but when the class read it and talked about it, it came out as some sort of metastory filled with commentary on modern life with isolation themes.

I was mildly amused

[DF9sLGSU]

I remember back in my college days when one of my fellow students tried that. The prof. panned the work saying that this idea was too obvious and that the final break-up with the narrator's girlfried at the end of the story was engineered just to give the story an ending.

[Caliwany]

Originally posted by Zkribbler
I remember back in my college days when one of my fellow students tried that. The prof. panned the work saying that this idea was too obvious and that the final break-up with the narrator's girlfried at the end of the story was engineered just to give the story an ending. Ah mine was a short story, in it I was at my computer and all the dialogue was through electronic means (incidentally the other characters were posters on Poly ).