I don't get that. Why would you start a writing class of any kind talking about the don'ts? Seems like you'd be jumping over the important things, like talking to people about how to write. Now, mind you, I have no issue with a teacher informing you to be careful of trite endings that have been done to death. Like the infamous: and it was all a dream. But there's a difference between making it clear to the class the types of tropes and ideas that have been beaten to death, with the warning that you probably aren't going to approach those as originally as you think you are early in a writing career as you might later, after you've got a lot more experience. But that's not the same as telling people: don't do this or that, or the other thing.
I'm never interested in someone foisting limitations down my throat, all the while claiming: you have to know when to break the rules. That's lovely. Instead of telling me trite advice, perhaps they'd be better off giving assignments that fill up my tool box with better understandings of what makes good poetry or fiction.
One of my better writing professors in college did just that. He'd say: today we're going to learn about dialogue. I want you to tell me a story only using dialog. You have to convey everything that makes up a story, the plot, the action, the description, all of it, it has to happen only through the dialogue. Yeah, you stretch it. You probably over stretch it. And maybe some of the dialogue is kludgey, or feels too much like "As you know Bob" etc. But it also shows you how much you can accomplish in dialogue and hopefully you can take that with you into other stories.
Don't build walls around me. Show me the tools. Show me how to use them. Tell me why they work. Then let me know where I fall short where I misstep. That's what I wanted out of my college writing classes.
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Date: 2010-08-30 04:46 am (UTC)I'm never interested in someone foisting limitations down my throat, all the while claiming: you have to know when to break the rules. That's lovely. Instead of telling me trite advice, perhaps they'd be better off giving assignments that fill up my tool box with better understandings of what makes good poetry or fiction.
One of my better writing professors in college did just that. He'd say: today we're going to learn about dialogue. I want you to tell me a story only using dialog. You have to convey everything that makes up a story, the plot, the action, the description, all of it, it has to happen only through the dialogue. Yeah, you stretch it. You probably over stretch it. And maybe some of the dialogue is kludgey, or feels too much like "As you know Bob" etc. But it also shows you how much you can accomplish in dialogue and hopefully you can take that with you into other stories.
Don't build walls around me. Show me the tools. Show me how to use them. Tell me why they work. Then let me know where I fall short where I misstep. That's what I wanted out of my college writing classes.