Comments on: Writing Excuses Season 2 Episode 19: Do Creative Writing Classes Help

By: Travis Manley

Travis Manley — Wed, 23 Sep 2009 14:46:30 +0000

I swear you guys read my mind. Every time I think of a question you have already done a podcast on it. Great info. Thanks!

By: Listener

Listener — Wed, 25 Mar 2009 13:41:21 +0000

While I appreciate the podcast and the work you do, I have to, respectfully, disagree with what you said in this episode.

You talked a lot about being ‘willing’ to do this, and ‘working hard’ on that to be a good writer, and while I agree with you completely on the result, I see the process differently.

I love the craft. Every aspect of it, and I can’t be the only one.
This means that I am not only willing, I am *thirsty* for knowledge. I want to learn more.
There has never been a ‘have to’ when it comes to my writing. You almost make it sound like it should be painful and the aspiring writer should rather be doing something else.
But if you truly are a writer (this is my personal opinion of course), it comes naturally. You are starving for more knowledge on how to be better, to understand your craft, and it is a joy to hone your skills.
I am thrilled every time I find out something new that helps me, and I know there’s so much more to learn it would make my head spin if I caught a glimpse of the vastness.

I can’t honestly think of a writer who wouldn’t want to do these things. The only example I can come up with, is a 15 year old fan-ficcer. He/she might think that reading all those books on writing and pinpointing the weaknesses in their writing is too much work.

The question on talent and skill has more to do with what naturally interests us, than what we hypothetically CAN learn if we put in the hours.
I suppose I could learn a bit of maths, but it doesn’t interest me, and my brain just doesn’t work like that. I am number-blind.
Our brains work differently. Some of us think in spaces and abstracts and numbers, some of us think in colours and emotions etc.
That’s what I personally think talent is about, synapses firing in different parts of the brain. In this way, some of us really were, more or less, born to be storytellers, and some of us were born to reverse-engineer Ancient devices in Pegasus Galaxy.

Also, the question ‘can everybody be a writer’ is moot. There are people in this world who don’t want to write.
I don’t want to fix cars or design buildings, or weave carpets, or act, or sing, so I think it all balances out.

You know if you truly want to write.

This said, I honestly enjoy listening to your podcast. Especially your talk on the Three Act Format was great, I hope to hear more about formats. Form is one of many weaknesses in my writing.

P.S. I would love to hear you discuss writing with a female writer. Maybe have her as a regular in the show?

By: Brittany

Brittany — Fri, 06 Mar 2009 20:32:59 +0000

Howard, thank you for mentioning Scott McCloud’s “Understanding Comics”. I’ve found it to be a great resource for making the most of the medium (I also enjoyed his “Making Comics”). Another book that I found extremely helpful and enlightening is “The DC Comics Guide to Writing Comics” by Dennis O’Neil. It put into words a lot of concepts of comic-format storytelling that I’d been having trouble grasping on my own.

As far as learning, I would say that one of the best subjects a writer can study is history – but from a person’s-eye-view as well as a global one.

By: Howard Tayler

Howard Tayler — Mon, 23 Feb 2009 03:32:00 +0000

Sorry about the holding of comments — Jordo installed Akismet to trap our spam, and then we all went to LTUE for the weekend. I just flushed the spam-trap this evening, and made sure to teach Akismet a bit more about what’s good and what isn’t.

By: Winter Sunday Stats #10: Things Are Looking Up. « The Unfocused Life

Winter Sunday Stats #10: Things Are Looking Up. « The Unfocused Life — Sun, 22 Feb 2009 23:32:04 +0000

[...] with “Too”); Writing Excuses, Season 2, Episode 18 (World Building Governments) and Episode 19 (Do Creative Writing Classes Help?); and various episodes of NPR’s Planet Money. Auria Cortes from the blog Murder She Wrote [...]

By: Bitter

Bitter — Sun, 22 Feb 2009 00:19:39 +0000

@ Howard – Ha, you didn’t slide through anything. Music is a hard major, you earned it. (BYU right?) Hmmmmm, let’s see, did you ever have classes by Murray Boren, Dr. Sargent, or Dr. Hicks? They were my favorites.

By: Elizabeth

Elizabeth — Thu, 19 Feb 2009 08:19:32 +0000

I enjoyed this episode quite a bit, but for someone who probably won’t have a chance to take creative writing classes for the time being, can you suggest more book titles? I know Brandon had three, and Howard had one about comics. Any others you’d recommend, either about the business of writing or the craft itself? I’m focusing on short stories right now but eventually want to write novels. I’m writing fantasy.

@Mike Barker: Thanks for the transcript.

By: Mahlon

Mahlon — Thu, 19 Feb 2009 04:16:35 +0000

Goodness, was this a great episode! I thoroughly enjoyed every minute of it. I also really appreciated the college tips you offered. I’ve been taking Classics as of late, and I find that it is very stimulating for my creativity, general knowledge, and composition of sentences. (Latin… Oh, you whacked-up language, you.) But, I’ve honestly never thought about taking a shop class, or a pottery class. Now that you’ve brought it up, I can’t help but think of the experience it will lend me! I graciously thank you from the bottom of my soul. This episode was divine! Can’t wait for the next.

I play the bassoon, too, Bitter!

The Orson Scott Card Boot Camp seems ominous, and strangely befitting…. (._.)

By: Mike Barker

Mike Barker — Thu, 19 Feb 2009 00:30:48 +0000

And a transcript for fun

http://mbarker.livejournal.com/103881.html

By: WEKM

WEKM — Wed, 18 Feb 2009 11:28:09 +0000

Yea! There’s hope for me after all.