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this writing life...

edited September 2009 in - Reading
Interesting piece by writer Sadie Jones in The Telegraph books page- the most revealing paragraph is toward the bottom where she talks about
"very young people being trained up in creative writing courses and universities around the country."

http://www.telegraph.co.uk/culture/books/books-life/6137914/Sadie-Jones-this-writing-life.html

Comments

  • She may have a point.

    I remember my early 20's and remember feeling an immense pressure to be young and successful. Not possible, just maturing now. Pressure has started relieving as I'm at University, but still find I'm pressuring myself to be ready to sell when I graduate.

    I can imagine creative writing graduates could feel more pressure: they've been trained and don't have an excuse (which is myth.)
  • I agree. It is the more mature students who realise that acceptance and publication don't always follow straight on...
  • Hmm. Write what you know? Write what sells?
  • I studied for an imaginative writing degree at Liverpool JMU (though I had to defer in my 3rd year due to serious family issues at the time, and haven't gone back to it). Each year they only accept, I think, 15 or 20 people to join the course out of about 5000 applicants. I got a firm acceptance, so I knew when I started that I was there because I could write (there was a lot of writing stuff involved in applying- a portfolio of short stories, poetry, a short script, etc). The others on the course all had their own talents, and some of them were truly amazing, but as far as I know none have been published yet, and they graduated in 2002. I'm not sure that I learned that much during my time at uni, and I think the only reason I'm a better writer now than I was at 18 is that I'm older and, hopefully, a bit wiser than I was then.

    *SA*
  • Having a degree does not automatically qualify you for success, unfortunately.
  • Something to think about...
  • Reading that has made me feel so much better about my 'failures'.

    I don't want to do a creative writing course. Yes, I may look into english language courses as I feel my grammar leaves a lot to be desired. I like her thinking. I may save that, for when I feel I am not doing well enough because I haven't been paid for something etc.

    I will re-learn to embrace the act of writing itself. When I was younger, I would write stories for the hell of it. Unfortunately, growing up and money showed me that I can make money from this hobby, and I seem to have forgotten that I do, in fact, love writing.

    So now, I can find my crazy imagination, and revel in peoples repulsion when I write about the unspeakable, and not worry about reward. :D
  • I did a creative writing course at an Adult Education centre. Should have done it before my first book was published! :)
  • what do you learn in a creative writing course?
  • To watch out for too many adjectives and adverbs, repetition of your favourite words, cliches (to be honest, I love a good cliche), too many "he whispered/shouted/yelled/murmured/etc" when "said" would be much less obtrusive. And to try different things such as poetry and articles.
  • Things we really should learn in English - but don't.
  • If you are at University and studying for a degree (in anything) and you really put your heart and back into things and work hard, there is no way you cannot get a degree at the end of it.
    You can work hard at your writing ALL YOUR LIFE and still 'fail' (to get your novel published - unless you choose to do it yourself)
    ... so which is the harder?
  • The second one, Ceka. I've done the first and that was a walk in the park compared to writing.
  • edited September 2009
    With the credit crunch it's becoming harder to get an agent/publisher to take you on.
  • I have been having lengthy discussions with my editor on the whole publishing scene at the moment, particularly in light of Nexus/Black Lace giving up and several others in difficulties. He learned the full extent of the advances and percentages paid by Nexus and realised they were not in the real world. They were, when they began, they were selling to Smiths Retail but Smiths pulled the plug on all erotica and literally halved the company's sales, if not more. At that point they should have slashed royalties and advances (just as the BBC is endeavouring to do at the moment) and if you lost someone, you lost them. I feel it is better to take a lower percentage and be out there, earning, than not earning at all, which many of them are not. The Nexus authors are scrabbling for a new place but they won't get the same money. Realism needs to come in. Big time. Remember the item on academic historical books getting up to £30,000 advances ... time they came into the real world. They are no more than reference books and are not likely to hit the best seller lists and recoup their money and have royalties.

    This credit crunch is going to hit a lot of genuine people but it is also going to sort out the wheat from the chaff too. Only good books will get through in future, we may not consider them 'good' every time but more realistic figures will be quoted for books and authors, more sense in what is put out there. Less books thus creating more demand for what is out there would be better. I liken this to the Black Death which effectively transformed English society, the credit crunch is transforming the publishing industry. And I hit it at the right moment with something challenging and different ... did I get lucky or was it, as I believe, designed by Spirit.
  • UPSIE...............
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