Many fiction writers (especially those of the commercial variety) write by instinct, and then perfect their craft through trial and error, often referred to as "writing by the seat of the pants." That means no outlining and definitely no creative writing classes. Some claim to have never studied a book on craft. Their guide? Reading literature, of course. They learn by osmosis. Good stories, read over the years, is all they need to make a go of it.
So I tried it on my own, and progressed.
Slowly.
But I had no way of gauging if my writing was any good.
Sure, my family and friends liked my work. Heck, they loved it. But I wanted to know if my work was publishable.
So I caved.
And I wrote and wrote and wrote.
Eight years and four novels later, I needed more.
Though I was warned against them, told they'd constipate my style, bury my voice in literary mumbo-jumbo, I decided to take a creative writing class. College level, of course. Nothing else would do.
And I'm glad I did.
In what seemed like no time (July 2008-March 2010), I’d earned UC Davis Extension's Creative Writing Certificate. I was their first graduate, "the first one over the line."
My classmates included a court recorder, a deacon, a school dean, a lawyer, a psychiatrist, a mayor, a teacher, a farmer and a newspaper editor, to name just a few.
The in-class writing exercises and homework assignments definitely helped us generate new material and polish our writing skills, but, in my opinion, the true value of the classes was the workshopping. I was blown away by the quality of the comments made on my work. The teacher and my fellow students (usually twelve to sixteen, depending on class size) pointed out manuscript strengths and weaknesses that I would never have discovered on my own.
An added bonus to workshopping is that you become a better critiquer. And when you learn what to look for in other people's writing, it's easier to find it in your own.
The teachers at UC Davis Extension are flexible. They want you to do your best. And, considering that the classes are Pass/Fail, this gives you a tremendous amount of freedom to explore and express yourself.
By the end of the Creative Writing Certificate program, I had a good grip on my writing strengths and weaknesses. I also made some interesting discoveries, that I can write humor, for instance. One teacher wrote, "You're pretty funny! I hope you can hear me laughing! Hysterical laughter!"
Another discovery: There's room for commercial fiction in this college program. Yep. Check out what one of my teachers wrote. "Your novel has undeniable commercial appeal, and what I hope you take from the class is that you can maintain that commercial appeal and still provide a depth to its scope that won't shut readers out. This is a novel worth fighting for. So please don't tire in the fight."
Did I tell you I really liked the instructors?
During the course of the program, I was able to workshop and revise nearly my entire novel, Between Now and Forever, and as a result, I entered it in the Amazon Breakthrough Novel Award Contest, where it progressed to the quarter-finalists (250 out of 5,000 entries). It also won a Publisher's Weekly review.
Spring 2010, UC Davis Extension started offering creative writing courses on-line. The workshopping may not be as close and personal, but you can "expose" your writing in ways impossible with family and friends.
How good is that?
