Writing Courses...

Well, I'm back at it again. A writing course, that is. The last one I took was an unacredited 'writing your novel' at York U. This time it 'Writing Fiction for Young Adults' and it is acredited, although that doesn't matter as much to me as getting something valuable out of it will. And, once again, it seems to be taught by someone who has just put the course together, and who has no actual experience in what they're talking about. It all starts to feel like a constant money grab against desperate authors.

Those of you who know me, probably realized I'm not that big of a fan of writing courses. As mentioned, I've had one earlier, in addition to a Writers' Digest convention with panels and agent meetings in York. Neither impressed me terribly, although something good did come from each. In the first case, the course led to the creation of the writing group I'm in, The York Novelists Society (hey, it's York, you have to have something a little pretentious) and in the second case, I learned that agents really aren't that scary and can actually be nice people. Also in the second case, I was quite surprised that I actually met more agents from Canada that are now working in London, than actual British natives.

So, why the dislike of writing courses?

Well, for starters, unless you're published, I'm not entirely sure you're qualified to teach writing at the university level. Especially an acredited course. I mean, for all the books I've read and panel discussions I've listened to, I'm don't think it would be a stretch for me to teach a writing course either.

I have learned most of what I 'know' about writing from either reading books or listening to people in the industry: published authors, agents, editors. I always research the writing books I choose before buying them, and often pick those that have both good reviews and are written by respected authors--or at least are in a respected series. For example, I've found two books by Orson Scott Card (first back to back Hugo / Nebula winner), one specifically on sci-fi/fantasy, and one on Characters and Viewpoint, to be very helpful. Stephen King's book on writing was also very useful and interesting. In addition, conventions like Eastercon have very informative panel discussions with authors, agents and publishers about the state of the market/industry.

So, when it comes to writing courses, I invariably feel like most of the information in the course I've already assimilated. That leaves me with the question: is it really worth it for me to take these courses? Especially since I'm not interested in a general creative writing degree.

In the end, for me, it always comes down to the same thing: getting out of the house and meeting new people. Most of my life these days is spent either at home on the computer, at the gym, or having another check-up at the hospital. So this year, when I learned there was a course on a topic that interested me--I have recently had the vague stirrings of an idea for a YA novel--I jumped at the chance to get out of the house one night a week. Will I learn much about writing YA that I don't already know, or couldn't learn myself? Time will tell, although I'm not holding my breath (I know that makes me sound pretentious at best, but I am a serious student, and very analytical). Will I be richer for interacting with the class, and meeting new writers? Undoubtedly.

Insight and longevity.