Welcome to Writers Talkback. If you are a new user, your account will have to be approved manually to prevent spam. Please bear with us in the meantime
I really want to do a writer's course but I can't decidev which one to do
I've chosen to do one with writers news because I can't find another one and its cheaper
Maybe not a good reason really
I was gonig to do one with BSY but they only have a short stories or creative writing
Anyway fiction writing course or short story writing
I'm writing a novel at the moment but I would like to write better short stories
Can't decide my novel is supernatural
I really want to see what i can do on my own with that
Any advice
(adding info) writers bereau has had bad reviews and the ones on this site are tailored to you and cheaper
Open Uni is expensive
Anyway im writing a novle it could be in the horror genre ive alwasy wnated to finsih one so im worknig on it
I do like writing short stories but my goal is to finish a novel and get one published maybe not this one
Im concerned that if i do the novel writing one they mgiht not like the content/idea being about vampires (ive always liked vampires)
And also im a bit shy of showing my work-in-progress to someone until its finished. Its hard for me to actually finsih one so im a bit wary just in case i get put off
or whatever
I might decide to do both course but what first
Comments
WN come highly recommended. Other courses are offered by The Open University and Writers Bureau (I'm sure others will mention more.) Another one to check out is The Open College of Arts.
Do you have a preference over novel writing or short stories? Or would you prefer a course that mixes the two? The novel and the short story are different art forms in themselves.
What is the book about? It could be that it sits in the horror genre (for some reason gothic ends up there too.)
I've never done any of these courses, but have always heard good comments on the quality of the WN ones.
i dont want this to get criticism yet until ive finished it and redrafted since ive never finished one before
its going to be poor quality
my thought is to do the short story course so that i can improve on that as i'd really like to enter a competition in my local paper at xmas
so far ive not be confident enough and im useless :)
also if i get a short story printed ( i did have one printed a few years ago in a small magazine/ computer booklet )it would give me the confidence i need
in my writing
im thinknig about it over the weekend and will probably decide on monday i dont like rushing into things ive made bad decsions in the past
thanks for all advice:)
If you have the money for the course, I'd say go for it. The course I did (in a completely different field - poetry) was one of the best things I've done to improve my writing. The best part of it was the personal, one-to-one interaction with a tutor who quickly got me figured out and knew how to push me to get the best out of me. (You can read more about my experiences in the discussion "Amboline's WN home study poetry diary" in the Poetry category, if you like).
But heed the advice others have given, too, about joining a writers' group. It's one of the best things you can do to get you motivated!
There is a group on the island but I'm too involved with writing to go to the meetings.
How much does the WN course cost?
my parents computer doesnt have word and my laptop doesnt have the internet so im gonig to have to wait to sort that out
hope word 2003 works on vista or ill have to post everything
i spent the whole day trying to write my first assignemtn yesterday and today i wrote my frist draft on one sitting how brilliant it that
and it was a normal story not a vampire story not a weird story
thats unusaul for me i hope its not a one off
not only did i write it but i want over the word count by about a hundred words, im so happy i actually finished a story:)
oh well
never mind
my laptop has had it
Does the group also have speaker meetings? Workshops? Internal competitions? All these things can be used to get a more experienced person, or a professional, to give some insight into the group's work and some suggestions for how to stretch and challenge the group. If you meet once a week, maybe you could aim to get a speaker maybe once every 6 weeks, or do an internal competition every few months, with an invited judge from your area. So you keep your regular schedule of manuscript meetings, but get some valuable new ideas in from outside too.
I book the speakers for our club and we endevour to support published writers from within our region if at all possible. I find that a speaker is often willing to judge a competition. And if you can't offer much of a fee, letting them sell their books and sign them on the night is always popular.
We've found it getting harder to get judges so have started offering a thank you of book tokens.
Also, writers groups - I joined one years ago when I lived in another city but since moving back home have struggled to find one locally - any Dundonian writers out there???
As mentioned above: I could be available, if the price is right :)
[quote=ttofee]any Dundonian writers out there??? [/quote]
NAWG don't have an affiliate group in Dundee, at least not according to their website. But there's likely to be something - perhaps through the university, a Further Education college, the Workers' Education Authority, or a library. It's always worth asking in local libraries etc. and keeping your eyes peeled for any local notices. Alternatively, how would you feel about starting one up?