Writing Classes

 

     I've studied writing at The New School; Vermont College; Antioch McGregor; with Shannon Gilligan at Coaching for Writers; with Kim Moritsugu at Humber College; and with many others. Some of the teachers and classes were outstanding.

     Sydney Offitt's fiction writing class at The New School in New York is terrific. Given the cutback in courses there, miraculously it is still being taught. He's a marvelous teacher, and a truly fine person. The New School used to have one-day Saturday writing programs, including a class on suspense and, long ago, Renni Browne's lecture on Self-Editing for Fiction Writers. Unfortunately, they rarely offer those one-day workshops these days. I wish they'd revive the practice.

 

 
 

     A writing course can be more about encouraging people to write than about writing skills. I enjoyed In A New York Minute, a six-session course at the 92nd Street Y in New York. I took it as an exercise in 'loosening up'; I'd been writing nonfiction for so long I wanted a class to stimulate my imagination. It was fun, and exactly what I needed at the time.

     What about on-line classes? I've had problems with some of them, not with the faculty, but with the other students. There's often no screening of students, so you encounter all levels of writing and education in a class, and some students have uninformed opinions they don't hesitate to express. For example, in an on-line class at Gotham Writer's Workshop, where you post sections of your manuscript for classmates' comments, a woman insisted that the Chanel suit one of my characters wears in Restrike should be spelled 'Channel.' (I don't object to anyone correcting my spelling, but those doing the correcting should make sure they're right.)

     Some distance learning courses require the student to send the instructor a certain number of pages of a novel at specific intervals, such as 45-50 pages a month. Problems can arise if the instructor doesn't keep copies of earlier chapters. I've had instructors tell me to put material in a chapter that had appeared earlier, but which the reader had forgotten.

     Size of class is important. I found an on-line Vermont College class taught by Shawn Merwin useful. Shawn was a good teacher, and there was only one other student in the class, so it was more efficient than other on-line courses I've taken. A big on-line course can be a nightmare, with everyone scrambling to express him or herself.

     Antioch Ohio had a distance learning program with a novel twist: the student designed his/her own curriculum, and found his/her own faculty. I didn't complete the program, but I learned a lot from the experience, because I tailored each class around books I was writing, or planned to write, and subjects that interested me.

     I arranged courses (each with a faculty member I found in New York) on Mysteries Set in the Art World; Books and Films Set in the Business World; Mysteries Set in Closed Societies (schools, hospitals, etc.); and Golden Age Mysteries. Since I also wanted to study technique, I set up courses on Creating Suspense; Authentic Settings; Character Development; and Writing Effective Dialogue. I tried to identify the best books of the types I wanted to write, the best writers of dialogue, the most successful plotters, the most brilliant builders of suspense, and the most creative designers of settings. I set out to learn from each of them. The experience was useful, and made me long for more, but I must add that what I got out of the program was only because of all I put into it; I could have done almost as much without the Antioch affiliation. There was neither feedback nor support from those in charge of the program, and the administration (those who sent bills, etc.) was terrible. Antioch Ohio subsequently closed, and is undergoing a restructuring. Perhaps they'll reinstitute an improved program. I hope so, because it's a great concept, and implemented well, could be very successful.