By John Sammon
“My advice if you’re thinking about taking a writing class in an effort to become a novelist or entering a writing contest is—-let the buyer beware.”
I have to admit I am not a fan of either.
First of all, often enough both will cost you money, a class or entering a writing contest. Whether it’s worth the money is up to you to decide, whether you got any good out of it.
The worth of taking a class will depend on the teacher. In my own case years ago I took a writing class (in technique not in basics like punctuation). I would be hard pressed to tell you anything good that I got out of it.
In fact I can’t even remember much of it. But I was out a hundred bucks.
That’s not to say you can’t get good out of taking a class.
If you have a teacher who inspires you and shows you how to improve your stories by showing you what works and what doesn’t—for you individually— then good take the class.
But all too often a teacher might try and force you to adopt a writing style that is perhaps right for them—but not for you. It has been said that creativity can’t be taught. It has to come from within.
In some cases the teacher can’t write well themselves but makes a little money teaching what they are unable to do.
I favor exploring for myself what works for me and what doesn’t (in plotting or characterization). Rather than having someone else decide for me how I should write a novel.
I also don’t want to be a copycat.
“It’s one thing to be inspired by a writer. Ernest Hemingway was influenced by Mark Twain’s use of humor and witty dialog. I have been inspired by the prose of Truman Capote.”
It’s another thing to copy, which I look down upon.
I know of a writer who to learn to write a novel found a successful writer they admired and then reading that writer’s work page by page, copied the style of the successful writer. Same exact style, but it worked (today she sells well). While this isn’t plagiarizing, literally copying something exactly word by word off a page, it is copying the voice and style of another writer.
I will refrain from calling such a copycat writer a “hack.” I don’t want to do a put-down.
But it certainly isn’t coming up with your own unique voice as a writer.
You must evaluate the class teacher and decide if taking their class is worth it. I was once in a class where we didn’t seem to talk too much about writing. One of the people in the class used it as a dating site to meet attractive women. Another, a woman, began talking about her family and broke down and started sobbing. She was using the class as a psychiatrist’s couch.
What is a bad teacher? Watch out for a teacher who:
Uses disparaging comments on your work and puts you down, evaluates work on their own bias, politics, religion whatever, treats the genre you write in (for example science fiction) as worthless, lacks clarity in showing you the worth of your work and how to improve it.
Or who assumes there is only one way to write a story (the teacher’s way).
If you sense any of these, hold your wallet and run.
A good teacher will show you how to develop a strong writing voice and how to use vivid imagery. A good teacher uses their own work to show the mistakes they made and how they improved.
A good teacher deals with you individually and not just the class as a whole. A good teacher is a mentor not a dictator.
