It’s an age-old question. Can you teach creativity? Can you instil into someone the intangible gift of creating something from nothing?
That isn’t quite what creative writing courses do, of course, even if some claim to. Creative writing courses offer tips and advice and a framework on how to work. They teach you how to create a cogent story, a tight plot, the major elements of conflict, suspense, world building, stakes and so on. They teach you which words not to use (go easy on the adverbs) and highlight how sentences can be improved with a couple of simple edits. They nurture creativity, not make it burst into existence.
Different Types of Creative Writing Courses
There are creative writing courses out there for every discipline. As a children’s fiction writer, I tend to look for courses exclusively geared towards children’s writing. There are a number of different ways such courses are run.
1. In person with lessons, group discussions and each participant either giving or receiving feedback on a weekly basis.
2. Online though similar to the above. The human interaction is somewhat diminished though calls via Skype or Zoom can still be arranged.
3. Pre-record courses where the co-ordinator will review work sent in before giving feedback
4. Finally, there are pre-recorded courses that are simply there to provide information. There is no co-ordinator and no one to contact for further help or advice.
Of course, there may be other creative writing course setups out there, but these are the ones I have come across.
My Experience with Creative Writing Courses
I’ve tried a number of these courses. In 2015 I was a part of the inaugural 3-month Curtis Brown Creative’s Online Writing for Children’s Course with Catherine Johnson. It was highly exclusive with only 15 people accepted onto the course. It was incredibly well run and extremely professional, teaching everything from first chapters to characterisation to world building and rewriting. There were weekly tasks we had to complete and everyone submitted work to be reviewed by the teacher and their peers on two separate occasions. At the end of it we had the opportunity to pitch our books to the agents of Curtis Brown and C&W.
Around the same time, I did an elective in University College Dublin (where I was in college at the time) on Creative Writing led by award winning author Colin Barrett. We had weekly classes and assignments and at the end of the term we submitted a portfolio of work to be graded on.
Another course I took was a Masterclass run by literary phenom James Patterson. This was simply Patterson talking about how he writes and addressing different aspects of storytelling with reference to his own books. I did a similar, and more recent, course with David Walliams and BBC Maestro where he taught how to write compelling children’s books.
Currently, I’m in the middle of a Novel Submission Prep course run by the Big Smoke Writing Factory. This is different in that it doesn’t teach Creative Writing from start to finish, but rather the nuts and bolts behind creating an attractive submission for agents and publishers with the assumption that you have already written a book. It focuses on elements such as the cover letter, synopsis and first ten pages of your manuscript.
Did Creative Writing Courses Help Me?
With all those courses taken, the question is…were they beneficial? The answer is undoubtedly yes. They helped me improve, focus on my mistakes and develop as a person and as a writer. The course by Curtis Brown was particularly beneficial but there was just one huge problem.
Me.
I was 21 at the time of doing my first tranche of courses and simply not mature enough to make full use of the feedback being given. I was too defensive whenever my work was put under scrutiny – I’m sure nearly all writers feel the same way but something I now very guilty about. Even though I had a number of manuscripts behind me at that point, my writing hadn’t progressed as much as I would have liked and again, even though Curtis Brown provided the answers, they didn’t sink in as well as they should have. I guess some skulls are just thicker than others.
The same is true of the James Patterson Masterclass and the Creative Writing module in University College Dublin. I was trying to learn, trying to improve, but it was like I was stuck in the middle of a lake on a little rowing boat with only one oar. I paddled hard, but only on one side of the boat and ended up going around in circles.
The most recent Creative Writing course I took was the BBC Maestro, David Walliams course. By the time I took it, I felt like my writing had transformed. After fourteen years of writing in different genres and tones I had finally found my voice. And when I took the course I was able to acknowledge where I had made mistakes. I was able to better understand the lessons and what Walliams was saying. And I just wish that I had had that same mindset and maturity going into all the other courses.
As previously mentioned, I am on a Novel Submission prep course. It’s a four-week course and I’m about halfway through. It has been very helpful so far in clearing up some of the shadowy elements of the submission process such as first chapters, the synopsis, the role of agents and publishers and what they are looking for.
Are Creative Writing Courses Worth It?
This then brings me to my final verdict. Are creative writing courses worth it? Will they help you improve as a writer? It would be easy for me to say no and that since I have not been published thus far, they are a waste of money. But the simple fact is that writing courses do have their value and it really depends on the person taking part how much they will get out of it. In my mind, the more interactive the course, the better it is. To get real time feedback on your work and have a support group of other writers providing advice and support is invaluable and again, something I never utilised properly.
If you’re reading this and have your heart set on the idea that writing courses won’t be of any benefit, then don’t bother taking one. It won’t help. If you go into the course thinking it will be ineffective, then that’s exactly what it will be. But if you go into it with open arms and a steely heart and a willingness to improve, you will reap the benefits.
But it’s important to point out that neither approach is better than the other. The person who feels they don’t need writing classes may be completely correct and the person who thinks it’s the way forward for them is equally correct. But for me, writing courses work. You just need to have the right attitude.
Writing Courses aren’t a smoking gun. If you’re looking for a quick fix to your novel, they won’t help. But if you’re looking to gain the correct tools and are prepared to rewrite with your newfound knowledge, they can be worth their weight in gold.
All the best,
Ian
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