De-fanficcing experiment and an ultimatum.

Remember that de-fanficcing experiment last week? I wanted to convince my professor to let me do NaNoWriMo for my Creative Writing class this fall.

Just got this email:

Hi [Icarus],

It's coming up on time to start thinking about the beginning of class, and I haven't received any of the stories that you said you would send to me. If you'd like me to consider your proposition, please send me those stories. I have to warn you, though, since thinking about your proposition, I've become increasingly uncomfortable with the idea. It sounds like you've done enough genre writing on your own, and that maybe this class would give you the opportunity to inform your genre writing by trying something a little different. Also, the official goals of the course do not mention anything about writing genre fiction, and indeed most of the syllabi I have looked at expressly forbid any submission of genre fiction. I think that your comprehension of a character's motivation will serve you well in whatever writing you undertake, but we are aiming for a depth of character in this course that most likely goes beyond that of genre writing. Anyway, I'd like to see your examples if not to just see some of your writing.

[Creative Writing Prof]

I didn't have anything but fanfic to send him, so, frustrated, I just sent this:


( Slightly de-fanficc'd and focusing on an OC. Please read and give your opinion. )

Now I need to scrape up something else I've written. Anyone available to help me de-fanfic Out Of Bounds? That should work, too.

In other news, the federal gov't has yanked all my student loans. Again. Yay! More fun with financial aid. You know, I was starting to miss those guys.

I just heard back from my prof.

Just heard back from my writing professor whom I sent this story earlier today to prove I could write and therefore deserved to participate in NaNoWriMo as part of my classwork this fall. I've been in hope/fear freefall until I opened this:

Hi [Icarus],

Thanks for sending me that excerpt. At least the Federal Government can't touch your writing talent. I'm really impressed by what you've given me. I don't quite know what's going on in terms of the story/plot, but it shows a real intuition about starting a scene in the moment and being attuned to what's going on in an environment. It also seems to show some real character development and depth. It seems to read like literary fiction so far, but if cars start blowing up in the next scene...well, then maybe it isn't. Anyway, we can talk about this more once class starts, and I really don't see anything wrong with doing NaNoWriMo during class. Lord knows you're a brave soul. Good luck with your adventures in bureaucracy, and I'll see you in class.

[Writing Professor]

P.S. I'm switching classrooms because the original one sucked, so keep an eye out for an email telling you where the new location is.



Okay, now I'm teary-eyed. So I can write. This was from a professor who was expecting junk from a wannabee "genre" writer. And, barring any more financial aid problems (I'm still hoping what's going on now can be resolved), I'm doing NaNoWriMo this year as part of my class.

He didn't need as much as I thought. teaphile, I think this let's you off the hook, but if you still want to beta "Out Of Bounds" I would welcome it.